Rick Noriega Takes $100K on ActBlue

With nearly 1,000 contributors, Rick has garnered over $100K in contributions on ActBlue, with all but 15% from Netroots for Noriega.

In fact, I'm so excited, any word you click in this post will bring you to the ActBlue contribution page.

Make your contribution today!

Mikal Watts: So Rich, He Redefines Rich!

This from a Wall Street Journal piece about Watts and Bayer:

Midway through the trial, Mr. Watts e-mailed Bayer lawyers suggesting they fly to his Texas ranch over a weekend. He provided the coordinates of his airstrip. Bayer's Mr. Lykos says he was dumbfounded, telling Mr. Beck: "I've just changed my definition of rich. It's not just having your own airplane but having your own airport."

For the record, Mikal has two airplanes.

Watts Self-Contribution Up To $7.5 MILLION!

That's right. Daddy Wattsbucks has now contributed another $3.7M to himself, bringing his total to $7.5M self-contributed wattsbucks. See Below:

Watts loans $3.7 million more to campaign

Associated Press - September 13, 2007 4:25 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney Mikal Watts loaned his Democratic primary campaign $3.7 million in his bid to ultimately unseat Republican Senator John Cornyn in 2008.

The latest loan, announced today, raises to $7.5 million the total personal money Watts has put toward his campaign for the Democratic nomination. He raised an additional $1.1 million in June, bringing his total for his campaign to $8.6 million.

Watts reported substantial personal wealth earlier this month, including $40 million in earnings over about 18 months. He has said he would spend $10 million of his own money on the campaign.

Cornyn is seeking his second 6-year term and is expected to be unopposed in the Republican primary. Democrats nationally have said they consider him vulnerable, although all Texas' statewide elected offices are held by Republicans.

This is even more of a reason to contribute to Rick. Click the boots on the right -->

Mikal Watts Thinks Money Buys Everything

As bloggers wake up this morning, we're all checking our emails and noticing the Houston Chronicle and The San Antonio Express News articles from last night, and not only finding out about Watts' significant contributions to justices that hear his appeals cases, but also that he's using that fact to pressure courtroom opponents into out of court settlements. This may be a bigger story than I originally thought at 2am...

PS. Here's the letter in PDF

Here's more Commentary from refinish69 at DMPFTL about Watts' appeals court buying:

Mikal Watts wants to buy a US Senate Seat. He has no experience in politics but thinks his money entitles him to one of the highest elected positions that of US Senator from Texas. What is worse than his stances on Choice (womens or the fact that he thinks Gays and Lesbian chose to be gay) and his touting of Republican speaking points when calling for "Clean" steam cell research is his touting that he bought Justices.

Mikal is starting to sound more and more like Cornyn or -god forbid, Shrub everyday. Texas deserves better than this.

PDiddie at Brains and Eggs seems to agree:

The only qualification Mikal Watts seems to have in standing for public office is that he has millions of dollars to spend getting himself elected. I just can't see much difference between him and John "Bush's Box Turtle" Cornyn.

Pretty hideous if that's our two choices in 2008.

Vince Leibowitz at Capitol Annex on how Watts has opened himself up to attacks by the GOP:

Admittedly, Watts’ defense isn’t totally illegitimate, although I disagree that the [Texas Supreme Court] rarely up cases on appeal when the plaintiff prevails at the intermediate appellate level. However, the letter is a pretty tough smoking gun for a candidate who, should he win the party’s nomination, will be relentlessly attacked by the GOP because he is a trial lawyer. Having that added piece of baggage won’t help.

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme:

It seems that Mikal likes to throw his money around to gain personal power. Okay, that's not news. What is news, is that Mikal claimed in a letter to an opposing attorney that he had bought the Democratic appeals courts judges. Of course, the opposing attorney noted that the Texas Supreme Court was a bunch of Republican corporate puppets.

Do you want someone with that kind of arrogance to win the Democratic primary? Do you want someone that politically tone deaf to win? Do you want such a poor excuse for a politician to officially carry the Democratic label?

I say no. (oops, were those rhetorical questions?)

Check out a new posts:
Paul Burka from BurkaBlog at Texas Monthly: Don't Put It in Writing
MyDD by Texas Nate: Wanna Be Bush Dog Practices Law the Way He Campaigns
Burnt Orange Report, also by Texas Nate:Mikal Watts: A Pattern of Buying Influence
Daily Kos by Kos himself: TX-Sen: Watts used campaign donations to threaten foe

Watts Sways Appeals Court With Campaign Contributions (Or So He Claims)...

Millionaire Mikal Watts' and his law firm have contributed over $2.6M to candidates and political action committees since 2000. That's not a problem, but $82,500 of that amount was spent in 2001 for the election of several justices on the 13th Court of Appeals.

Why is this important? Because the same justices that Watts is making contributions to are also the same justices that Watts and his law firm stand before with appeals cases. It's buying influence and tilting the scales of justice in the favor of Watts Law Firm.

In fact, during 2001, Watts used the contribution issue to pressure a legal opponent during a $60M case, claiming that his firm would have advantage on appeal because of his firm's "heavy" financial support to the court's justices. He even wrote a letter to that effect.

The Houston Chronicle:

What made the letter unusual was the linking of campaign contributions to sitting justices and the potential of an appeal. The letter then noted that if the case went to appeal, it would go to the 13th Court of Appeals.

"This court is comprised of six justices, all of whom are good Democrats," Watts wrote. "The Chief Justice, Hon. Rogelio Valdez, was recently elected with our firm's heavy support, and is a man who believes in the sanctity of jury verdicts."

The letter goes on to name Justices Errlinda Castillo, Nelda Rodriguez, J. Bonner Dorsey, Federico Hinojosa and Linda Yanez, and says his firm also has financially supported them. Hinojosa, Castillo and Dorsey are no longer on the court.

"Justice Bonner Dorsey, is more conservative than the others, but has been a friend of mine and the sanctity of jury verdicts for many years," Watts wrote.

Watts and his law firm in 1999 donated $5,000 to Valdez and $2,500 to Rodriguez; in 2000, $15,000 to Hinojosa; and in January 2001, $10,000 to Castillo. The firm donated $50,000 to Yanez in 2002.

Watts sent the letter to a lawyer representing American Electric Power in an automobile accident case, and it seemed to work, as the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

That is exactly the sort of shady business that the Democrats are working against. We're backing legislation that makes the back-scratching in Washington more transparent. Watts represents just more of the same. More influence-buying, more cronieism, and more murkiness in how political dealings are made.

We want accountability. We want experience. We want Rick Noriega for US Senate.

Mikal Watts Makes in 8 Hours... What I do IN A YEAR!

So I was watching Lou Dobbs tonight, about the "War On the Middle Class," and they're talking about how real earnings are declining, except for CEOs. The first millionaire that came to mind was Mikal Watts, and I remembered a post from last month, comparing Rick Noriega's $175K income (over 18 mos) to Mikal Watts' $40M(12 mos).

So I did a little math. Last year, I made $37K. In Connecticut, due to cost of living, it's worth even less, but I'm not going to factor that in (because that makes this demonstration really depressing). Now Watts made about $40M. Over 365 days, that's $109,589.04 a day. Now that's over all 365 days. We're not just talking about workdays here. (which would make it about $200K a day).

Now, I'm not against people that make a lot of money, but it's just almost wrong. I'm paying off $20K in student debt, still paying off moving back to Texas from Connecticut, and then saving up for a new pair of glasses (my current ones are more than four years old). You know what I mean? This is when people like Mikal Watts can put away two brand new Porche Boxters a day.

Anyways, back to the point. Watts makes almost $110K a day. I made in a YEAR, what Watts does in 8 hours.

This cheery Labor Day note brought to you by NoriegaBlog.

UPDATE:
$40M/2000(number of typical hours worked by a full-time professional)=$20,000 per hour

$37K Adjusted for Cost of Living = $29,030.48
$29,030.48/2000 = $14.51524 (I'll round up for my half a cent, it makes me feel better)...

So Watts makes $20,000 per hour, I make $14.52, a difference of 1,378 times.

I must have done something horrible in a previous life...