Legislative Update

Independent Texans Statewide Meeting
Bastrop, Texas
June 9-10

Veterans and Bikers have one thing in common:
98% of them don’t seem to care that politicians are screwing them left and right. Now, for the 2 percent of you that are concerned about your rights you have an opportunity to meet politically active people from around the state and a chance to learn how best to fight the corruption in our government.

Dana Young
Southern Raiders West Houston

Hotel Reservations at Loblolly Pines
http://www.loblollypines.com/
(512) 321-2499

QUESTIONNAIRE: PLEASE SEND YOUR ANSWERS TO MARIE DAY
http://us.f812.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Marie.Day@Shell.com
361-772-8306

___ Yes, please reserve a seat for me on Saturday

___ I will bring my own lunch
___ Please order lunch for me ($11.50) -- soup and sandwich (includes tax and gratuity)
___ Please order dinner for me ($15) -- includes tax and gratuity

___ Yes, please reserve a seat for me on Sunday

___ I will bring my own lunch
___ Please order lunch for me ($12) -- Chicken Taquitos, Rice & Beans (includes tax and gratuity)

___ I will be staying over on Saturday night. We will be staying at the Lob Lolly Pines Village just outside of Bastrop on 1441 and Hwy. 21. This is where our conference room is. If you are staying over, please let us know that you will be making a reservation here. They can be reached at 512-321-2499. A king size room is $65, including tax, and a double room is $68, including tax. Pool, Refrigerator, microwave, beautiful walking trails on 35 acres, but no phones or internet. Clean, restful place.

Below is the conference agenda. You won't want to miss this! Feel free to distribute! This is also attached at the very end of this email.

Texas Populism – Where the Rubber Meets the Road
(without tolls, of course!)
Independent Texans Statewide Meeting
Bastrop, Texas
June 9-10

Saturday, June 9

10:00 Welcome: The Glue of Political Independence: Corruption
Linda Curtis, founder, Independent Texans

10:30 – 11:30 Reform or Revolution: The Tools for Change

Initiative, Referendum & Recall: Mike Ford, Initiative for Texas
Paper or Electronic Voting: Vicki Karp, Vote Rescue
Redistricting Reform: Jeff Harper, Julia Soto Cabrera, DFW Independent Texans
Open Records?: Sarah Baker, Save Our Springs Alliance (not confirmed)

11:30-12:45 Community Leaders or Rebel Rousers?

Brian Rodgers, Austin businessman, Stop Domain Subsidies aka corporate welfare
Patty Jacobs, Bastrop community leader & former County Judge candidate
Greg Stewart, Houston environmental and socially concerned activist

12:45-1:15 Lunch (catered or bring your own)

1:00-1:30 Deciphering Tax Notices - The Truth About Property Tax Rates,
former Cibolo Mayor, Charles Ruppert

1:30-2:45 Texas Water: The New Gold Rush

Marie Day & BJ Nolan, Lavaca County Taxpayers
Annalisa Pease, Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance
Bill Addington, landowner & Sierrra Club

2:45-3:45 Special Guests

3:15-4:00 Losing to Win: Learning from Losing Elections

Joe Tave, former Dallas City Council candidate (not confirmed)
Justin Rosales, former candidate Dallas City Council
Melvin Dodd, former candidate Upshur County Judge
4:00-5:00 Break

5:00-6:00 Dinner & the Anti-Corruption Award! (catered dinner)

6:00 to whenever! Special Interests Hit a Road Block – the people of Texas!

Gina Parker Ford, Eagle Forum
Sputnik, Texas Motorcycle Rights Association
Bill Addington, Sierra Blanca leader
David Rogers, Texas Legal Foundation
Chris Hammel, Blackland Coalition (not confirmed)
David & Linda Stall, Corridor Watch

Sunday, June 10

10:00 Strategy Meeting

What are the hot races, who do we want to defeat, who do we want reelected how will we participate in the Presidential campaign? We will work through lunch. We will discuss how and where we can build Independent Texans and work with coalition partners in upcoming elections.

Working Lunch

2:00 – 3:00 Steering Committee Meeting

We will constitute our statewide steering committee
Presentation on IT Structure – we will be voting on this!

3:00 adjourn

Editorial Reviews Book Description This fascinating and disturbing book is the official record of testimony taken by the Democratic Members and Staff of the House Judiciary Committee, presided over by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the Ranking Member. Originally published in January, 2005 by the Government Printing Office, it has been edited and re-designed for maximum readability. Both a riveting and alarming report on the status of our ailing presidential election process, this book provides new insights into the abuse and manipulation of electronic voting machines and the arbitrary and illegal behavior of a number of elected and election officials which effectively disenfranchised tens of thousands of voters in order to change the outcome of an election. The material in this report should be used as a guidebook to fixing our

What Went Wrong In Ohio: The Conyers Report On The 2004 Presidential Election (Paperback)
by Congressman John Conyers (Author), Anita Miller (Editor), Gore Vidal (Introduction) --

First they came for the Communists,
and I didnt speak up,
because I wasnt a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didnt speak up,
because I wasnt a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didnt speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.
Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

For the first time in a very long time I was unable to attend the last
week of the session. I kow a few attended Sine Die but apparently no one
stayed for the Final Gavel.
Don't know if my presence would have helped ANYTHING BUT AT THE CRUCIAL
MOMENT WHEN THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD face to face counts the most. I
apologize for non attendance but while heading back to the office from a
meeting with the Liberty County San Jacinto Highrollers (where we met with
very strong support to the tune of $3000 in membership) I suddenly lost my
oxygen level and had to get an ambulance ride.
I am still in the hospital in Baytown but I am doing better and the doctors
say I may get out Thursday. Then I will be ready to rock and roll. We will
get a venue set for the concert next week and get that show scheduled.
Got to rest now as it is hell trying to type with monitors taped to my
fingers and IVs in the back of both hands.

Sputnik

Jenifer and I spent the morning in the capitol working to keep Amendment #13 in SB 792. We let the Conferees know removing that amendment could be catastrophic for some of them.

Monday the 28th is Sine Die for the Legislature. That means adjourn without tomorrow. Hopefully for some of them this may just be true. Since Monday is a holiday what better way to spend it than saying a prayer on the capitol steps for those who gave their all for a Constitutional Republic form of government. Then we can move from office to office to thank those who continue to work for that goal and let the others know of our displeasure with their actions this session.

Of course there will be food and drink in every office for those who drop by. It won't get much better than that. The party will go on all day.
PS Independent Texans will be holding a Press Conference on the TTC at 10:00am. Be nice to have a few riders in on that also.

See you there.
Sputnik
Chairman Emeritus
Texas Motorcycle Rights Association

1. Urgent, Call to Action from Sputnik Chairman Emeritus, Dennis ChildersTMRA2 Chairman, Terri Hall with Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, AndDavid and Linda Stall from Corridor Watch.

PERRY VETOES FIRST OF TWO TOLL ROAD MORATORIUM BILLS

Gov. Rick Perry today vetoed House Bill 1892, a transportation bill thatis being reworked as Senate Bill 792. We are not surprised by this. It isobvious we have a governor that thinks he is the KING and not the publicservant.

CONTACT Lt. Governor David DewhurstHe wants to be Governor and he alone has the power to pressurethese senators to keep Amendment 13 in the bill. He thought, as weall did, that HB 1892 included the Trans Texas Corridor in themoratorium. So please ask him to ensure the TTC IS in themoratorium as our legislators, including Dewhurst, intended!

THIS IS OUR LAST STAND!
I'll try to put the moratorium rollercoaster in plain English...The private toll moratorium saga continues to be VERY complicated.Perry, as promised, vetoed HB 1892. Here's the trouble withoverriding the veto...Grassroots HERO, Trans Texas Corridor EXPERTand Founder of Corridor Watch, David Stall, found a legal loopholein HB 1892 that would PREVENT the TTC from coming UNDER themoratorium. Thank you TxDOT. So HB 1892 DOES NOT STOP THE TTC. Inorder to STOP the TRANS TEXAS CORRIDOR, SB 792 is the LAST STAND.Both HB 1892 and SB 792 have 281 and 1604 IN the moratorium. Butthe best case scenario, overriding the veto of HB 1892, just becamethe last resort due to the loophole... an option we don't want totrigger yet.

The compromise bill, SB 792, was amended in the House to FIX thisloophole (post 97and post 98). So the TTC is UNDER the moratoriumin the current language. SB 792 will not get to the Governor intime for an opportunity to override a veto of it this session. SoSB 792 has to be something he'll sign, which means WE'LL ALL HATEparts of it! He placed many highway lobby goodies in SB 792 thatare DISASTROUS public policy which is why he wants this bill. Butonce Rep. Lois Kolkhorst added Amendment 13 to SB 792 to INCLUDEthe Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) in the moratorium, Perry now saysit's a deal breaker. Mr. 39% WON'T sign SB 792 unless Amendment 13comes out.

If our senators want a get out of jail FREE card, this is it!Terri Hall
Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom
www.TexasTURF.org

"Please INSIST that the Trans Texas Corridor unquestionably be INCLUDED inthe moratorium as you all intended by RETAINING Amendment 13 in SB 792!We're counting on you TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN!"

Dewhurst contact info:
Via a web mail form: http://www.ltgov.state.tx.us/Contact/#email, (512)463-0001 (his voicemail is already full!)

You can contact each senator and find out their fax
> numbers (also on the web) by calling the Capitol switchboard
> Monday: (512) 463-4630 and/or you can email them using this formula:
> firstname.lastname@house.state.tx.us or
> firstname.lastname@senate.state.tx.us
_________________________________________________________________________

I hope the phones are ringing and you are telling your senators and DavidDewhurst, that we are not pleased and we will not forget.

Dennis Childers, MBA
"SEPIUS EXERTUS, SEMPER FIDELIS, FRATERS INFINITAS"
(Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever)
URGENT URGENT URGENT URGENT
___________________________________________________________________________

The House stood true to their vote on HB 1892 the Moratorium Bill. Led bythe ever vigilant Rep Kolkorst they placed amendments on SB 792 to make itkeep the faith with Texans an keep the Moratorium wording intact. Theythen passed it out by a vote of 147-2.

Call your senator immediately and David Dewhurst as stated above and tell them they get one more chance to get a backbone and represent the voters.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE PASS THIS ON IMMEDIATELY

Sputnik

How quickly resolution turns to lip service in the Texas Legislature. HB 1892, the Moratorium Bill on the Trans Texas Corridor and other private Toll Roads passed both Houses and was sent to the Governor. His Royal Hindass said he would veto the Bill.
Senator Kurt Watson went on TV and said the governor could do what he wants but we have a veto proof majority to override him.
Suddenly after working all weekend on SB 792 which was a companion Bill to HB 1892, it was turned into an 80 page compromise. It gives TxDOT and the governor what they want. Senator Williams agreed to it and it was off to the races.
Senator Carona put the Bill in committee and the rest of the senators folded like dominoes in a row. By set aside every Senate Rule and the Texas Constitution they passed the Bill out of Committe, both readings on the Floor and sent it to the House in one day. So much for honor and integrity in the Senate. All this has taken place with almost no one having read the Bill.
The House now appears ready to follow suit. The Bill was passed out of Committee today, passed calendars and is scheduled for a Floor hearing Wednesday. Only one Representative, Mike Krusee voted against HB 1892. It will take 76 votes to pass SB 792. Will your Rep fold? call immediately and try to stop this from happening. Let you voice be heard NOW!!! Pass this on quickly.
THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!!
Sputnik
Chairman Emeritus TMRA 2

The Chair's Corner
Promoting high quality by setting high standards

I would like to take this time to introduce myself to the members and other organizations. My name is Dennis Childers, I live in Austin, TX, and as of 5/5/07, and I was elected as your new State Chair for the TMRA II. I would like to thank all for choosing me as your leader and look forward to working with each and every one of you to accomplish our organizational goals. Even though the TMRA II has had it's share of challenges, as most other rights organizations, we feel fortunate to have been able to keep our steady focus on important issues related to strengthening and making more transparent what we do as our primary mission to continue to be one of the most effective rights organizations in the country.

The guiding force for the work of TMRA II is peer review, which by its very nature means that the TMRA II process and protocol must rely inescapably on peers from other rights associations, groups, members, and others with relevant expertise and experience in law making. As your new chair, I am committed to making the peer review process effective. We would all probably agree that before we can reach our ultimate goal of building an expanded pool of properly trained advisors and chapters is that we need to be successful and have representatives of our districts actively involved.

Lastly, I take this public opportunity to thank members of the TMRA II for being cooperative and supportive of our important expanding agenda to improve our standards, policies, and protocol for the TMRA II. I would like to thank our relatively small but industrious professional staff especially in addressing protocols while at the same time dealing with a range of issues. Fortunately, our chair emeritus "Sputnik" maintained the appropriate background to deal with our current challenges and he took appropriate administrative actions to assure the continued viability of the organization. I also want to call attention to the positive support and cooperation we continue to receive from members of our communities:
COC, Motorcycle Clubs, NCOM, AIM, and United Clubs of the state just to name a few. When all parties in our organization fully understand their roles and responsibilities, as well as how to respond, we will be making TMRA II more effective in its decision making and services to its clients, communities of interest, and the public at large. As our organization evolves and becomes larger and more diverse, we will surely be tested and be able to maintain the tradition of the TMRA II.

The TMRA II has demonstrated and will continue to demonstrate that it is ready for both opportunities and challenges that come its way.

Dennis Childers, MBA “Breezeâ€
TMRA II State Chair
"SEPIUS EXERTUS, SEMPER FIDELIS, FRATERS INFINITAS"
(Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever) ________________________________________________________________________

HB 727, OUR HELMET bILL WILL BE VOTED ON THE HOUSE FLOOR TUESDAY THE 8TH.
WE NEED ANYONE WHO HAS THE TIME TO BE PRESENT IN THE GALLERY. I am scheduled to leave Tuesday morning for the NCOM Convention but will delay my departure to attend this vote and then drive all night to make Charlotte by Wednesday evening.
We had a very sparse meeting yesterday for our general Membership meeting.
with only 160 votes cast in the election Breeze edged out Dee for the position of state chair by two votes.
A new District Advisor for 14 and 15 were appointed by the chair and approved by the District Advisors. District 4 is yet to be determined.
The Constitutional Amendment was approved bestowing upon Sputnik the position of Chairman Emeritus by unanimous vote.
A Special Membership meeting was called to coincide with the August 18th Advisors Meeting to look at making changes to the By-Laws. There will also be a vote taken on the recommendation by the Advisors to increase the dues to $30 per year for single membership and $50 per couple.
Thanks to those who attended the meeting. We had requested that one officer from each chapter be present but didn't even come close. Thanks to El Paso, our chapter that is the farthest from the meeting place for making the effort to send an officer. Your dedication is greatly appreciated. Hopefully the next one will be better represented
MULTIPLE EFFORTS TO DELIVER TOLL ROAD MORATORIUM BILL TO GOVERNORS OFFICE ARE UNSUCCESSFUL
Moratorium supporters checking to see if Governor for the Day, Senator Mario Gallegos can receive it on Saturday
Rep. Wayne Smith (R-Baytown) tells Quorum Report that multiple efforts to deliver HB1892, the private equity toll road moratorium bill to Governor Perry's office today were frustrated by an absent clerk. Multiple efforts to reach the clerk failed because he left early.
The urgency in delivering the bill is because the clock starts running on a gubernatorial veto when the bill is time stamped as having been received. Once the governor vetoes the bill as expected, it will be a test of legislative will to see if 2/3s actually holds to over ride the veto.
Sources in the governor's office dismiss any conspiratorial explanations and say they will receive the bill on Monday, plenty of time for both the veto and the possible over ride. Nevertheless, the delay gives the Governor and his allies an additional three days to round up votes to block the over ride.
However, an unusual wrinkle popped up this evening. Sources tell us that supporters of the bill are looking into delivering it to Senator Mario Gallegos (D-Houston) tomorrow, while he is Governor for the Day. The spot is generally considered honorary for one senator each session. It requires both the Governor and the Lt. Governor to be outside the state.
The question is whether or not Gallegos' office can receive the bill and time stamp it, therefore starting the clock running.
ã Copyright May 4, 2007 by Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
Sputnik
Chairman Emeritus TMRA 2