Lone Star Project 4/26/12

Greg Abbott Exposes Millions of Texans’ Social Security Numbers

AG releases file containing over 13 million Texas SS numbers.
Misuse avoided only by vigilance of opposing counsel.

A legal brief filed by opponents of the Texas Voter Photo ID law reveals that Attorney General Greg Abbott exposed millions of Texas voters’ full Social Security numbers to possible theft and abuse.

The brief, filed Monday, April 23, 2012 states:

“… after vigorously fighting the production of data containing full Social Security numbers, Texas mistakenly produced to Intervenors data from the VR [voter registration] data base that contained full Social Security numbers.” ( Defendant-Intervenors’ Motion for Clarification of the Trial Schedule, 4/23/12, page seven.)

Texas voters escaped public release of their Social Security numbers only because of the vigilance of conscientious lawyers working against the Voter Photo ID bill. Rather than attach the files to documents circulated to other attorneys or expose them to access by the general public, opposing counsel immediately notified the AG’s office of the bungled release of private data. Abbott then, at the expense of Texas taxpayers, sent a courier to both New York and Washington, DC to retrieve the files. As the brief details:

AAS 2/24/12
Justice Department moves to postpone state's voter ID case

A motion by the federal government in the fight over Texas's voter identification statute could jeopardize chances that the law would be in place for November's elections.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal court in Washington to push back the scheduled trial date of July 9, when a panel of judges would have decided whether the state's Senate Bill 14, the voter ID law, is legal.

Michael Li, a Democratic election lawyer who has followed the case, said that if the court approves the motion, then state elections officials would have a difficult time putting the law into effect for this year's general election, which the state's Republican leaders had sought.

"It's still technically possible, but the possibility is remote," he said.

The state has until Thursday to respond to the motion, and Li said he expects a decision from the court by early next week.

AAS 4/1/12

Texas House likely to become less Republican, more inexperienced

Last month at the Austin headquarters of the Republican Party of Texas, a nervous-looking state Rep. J.M. Lozano of Kingsville stood with his young family beside some the state's most prominent Republican figures. Lozano announced he was joining their team, becoming a Republican. At that very point, the reigning party in Texas reached its high-water mark in the Texas House with 102 members in the 150-person chamber.

But, by most accounts, the party won't enjoy the atmospherically high numbers very long. Most everyone agrees that Republicans will lose seats in the November election, although the smaller majority could end up being more conservative than ever. And at the same time, thanks to numerous retirements and a large turnover in 2010, the chamber could be the least experienced in decades.

Chris Elam, a spokesman for the Republican Party of Texas, said he expects Republicans to number in the mid-90s. The Texas Democratic Party sees 84 Republicans and 66 Democrats.

Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, splits the difference, projecting a Republican count closer to 90. He said Republicans were not able to protect all their seats during the redistricting process, which led to the creation of more minority districts that tend to vote Democratic. (Unlike Congress, new legislative seats are not added as the state's population increases.)

"The pendulum just went as far as it can go," Jillson said.