Early Voting Starts Monday!

Election day for city councils and school district boards across the State of Texas are set for May 14, 2011.   Early voting begins May 2, 2011 and runs through May 10.  Click here for a list of Early Voting venues in Bexar County.

Unfortunately it's too late to register to vote for this election (voter registration cards become effective 30 days after you have received it), but if you're not sure if you are registered you can find out here.

To find out who's running outside Bexar County, do a web search for a May 14, 2011 sample ballot for your county.  Here's a link to the Bexar County ballot. 

Here are the candidates for the City Council of San Antonio.

District 1		District 2		District 3
Chris Forbrich Carolyn Kelley Diego Bernal Lauro A. Bustamante Ralph Medina		Ivy R. Taylor Darrell Boyce		Jennifer V. Ramos Elizabeth “Liz” Campos Ernest Zamora, Jr.
District 4		District 5		District 6
Rey Saldaña Leticia Cantu Kathy Luna		Raymond Zavala Andro Mendoza David Medina Lourdes Galvan		Pete Galaviz Ray Lopez Steve Shamblen
District 7		District 8		District 9
Ruben A. Cortez Cris Medina Fred A. Rangel Gloria Rodriguez Elena Guajardo		Caron West Reed Williams		Elisa Chan Jose Valdez, Jr.
District 10		Mayor
Isy Perez Laura Thompson Bud Little Carlton Soules		James Rodriguez Will McLeod Michael “Commander” Idrogo Julián Castro Rhett R. Smith

For news about each of these races click on your district below.

District 1                                          District 7
District 2                                          District 8
District 3                                          District 9
District 4                                          District 10
District 5                                          Mayor
District 6

If you're not sure what district you live in here's a map.

Here is a link to the Express-News Voters guide for all the races in San Antonio.

Remember, your vote counts a lot more in local elections, so get out there and VOTE!!!

A Tale of Two Salaries

In Texas you better have a good day job if you want to be a politician.

State legislators are paid meager salaries. Senators and representatives alike earn only $7,200 per year, or $14,400 for a two-year legislative period. Some may consider this salary generous, since after all legislators work only for 140 days over two years. However, this salary equals just slightly over $100 per day. Even if our legislators worked only eight hours per day, this would equal only $12.86 per hour for the people who make our state laws and conduct oversight of executive branch offices.

The San Antonio City Council makes even less.  According to the City of San Antonio Frequently Asked Questions page

Per Sections 6 and 9 of the City Charter, the Mayor receives as compensation of fifty dollars ($50.00) for each meeting attended while members of Council receive twenty dollars ($20.00) as compensation for each meeting attended.

But in Bell, California, a small blue collar town with a population of maybe 40,000 it pays to be a politician.  Each of their 5 council members is paid close to $100,000 a year for part time work.

Bell is one of the smallest towns in the country at only 2.5 square miles and 17% of its residents live in poverty.  So how did this tiny town end up with such well paid council members?  Most of them didn't vote.

In 2005 an election was held to set up a city charter, according to the Los Angeles Times, only 400 people voted (probably the city employees, the equivalent to our city manager makes over $700,000, almost twice as much as Sheryl Sculley.)

The highly paid members of the Bell City Council were able to exempt themselves from state salary limits by placing a city charter on the ballot in a little-noticed special election that attracted fewer than 400 voters.

This is why it's important to pay attention to all elections, not just the biggies.

Now I have to put a little plug in for paying legislators in Texas a higher salary.

1. They work much more than just during the legislative session.
2. Only wealthy people can afford to be legislators.
3. If a politician isn't wealthy, he/she will be attractive bait for well endowed special interest groups.

It pays to pay attention and vote.