Here is the release on Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s charge for the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, released today.

AUSTIN — Today, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst announced Interim Charges relating to the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice.

“The state of medical and mental health care within the prison system presents an opportunity for Texas to improve a process that could ultimately save money and reduce the rate of repeat offenders while better protecting public safety,” said Dewhurst. “Texas has always been tough on crime and these charges can make us even smarter on crime. I look forward to the findings of the Criminal Justice Committee on efforts to make the system more efficient for all Texans.”

Lt. Governor Dewhurst issued the following charges to the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice:

HEALTH WITHIN THE PRISON SYSTEM. Lt. Governor Dewhurst asked the committee to study the...

Republican candidate Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is 11 percentage points ahead of probable Democratic governor’s race rival state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. That’s up from a 6 percent lead during the last poll. Ross Ramsey has an overview of the governor’s race and other statewide races.

In fundraising, Abbott said he raised $2.45 million and Davis said she raised $2.85 million over the last reporting period, although Abbott still has the advantage with $30 million on hand vs. Davis $11 million. My report here.

A campaign to promote gay marriage is targeting Southern states, including Texas, with a $1 million. Mark McKinnon, the head of media for former President George W. Bush, is helping. My report here.

By Matthew Waller
AUSTIN — New statewide polling data shows the lead Republican and Democratic candidates for governor are within 11 percentage points of each other, broadening the gap with the Republican candidate in the lead. Meanwhile, the candidates are dominating their primary races.

According to the University of Texas and Texas Tribune Poll for February, Republican Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is ahead in his gubernatorial bid with 47 percent while Democratic candidate state Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth has 36 percent support of those polled.

The gap between the candidates had been 6 percent in the same poll in October. At that time Abbott had 40 percent and Davis had 34 percent. In October, Davis had just announced her run for governor

The other option for those polled was “Haven’t thought about it enough to have an opinion.”

The favorable numbers favored Abbott...

By Matthew Waller

AUSTIN — State Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, the lead Democrat running for governor, outpaced Republican front-runner for governor Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in the latest fundraising period, although she is still behind Abbott in terms of cash on hand.

Before the midnight deadline for the latest reporting period, Davis’ campaign said she raised $2.85 million from Jan. 24 to Feb. 22, with more than $11.3 million cash on hand.

Abbott’s campaign reported raising $2.45 million over the same period and reported having $29.98 million cash on hand.

“We are surpassing expectations,” Karin Johanson, the campaign manager for the Wendy R. Davis for Governor Campaign, said in a statement. “The level of support we are receiving across the state demonstrates the issues we are emphasizing — education, the economy and caring for our veterans — are Texas values.”

Abbott...

From Ellis Brachman, Battleground Texas spokesman: “Battleground Texas is in full compliance with the law. In our efforts to register voters, we are facing unfounded, inaccurate and misleading assertions by Republicans directed at one thing - making sure fewer Texans vote.

“The allegations are based on footage by admitted criminal James O’Keefe whose partisan Republican antics of doctoring videos are well known. Those associating themselves with him, making claims of fraud and using his rhetoric for their political gain should be ashamed of themselves. What is undoubtedly true is that if Republicans are willing to stoop to such transparent tactics then they are terrified of the prospect of more Texans going to the ballot box.

“In the next few days we will send a more detailed response exposing these claims as utterly without foundation in Texas law. We will show that these claims...

Here is the release sent out Friday: Link to story about video of Battleground Texas here

Lt. Governor Dewhurst Calls for Investigation of Possible Election Misconduct and Invasion of Privacy by Battleground Texas

AUSTIN — Today, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst submitted the following letter to the office of Secretary of State Nandita Berry in response to recent reports of voter registration exploitation in San Antonio:

“I am outraged at the recent reports of private data harvesting by Battleground Texas. As a strong believer in the democratic process who wants every eligible Texan to vote, I find these efforts to hijack the registration process for partisan gain entirely unacceptable. It appears that representatives of Battleground Texas were either official registrars who misused personal voter information, or they unlawfully posed as official voter registrars to trick people into...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry shrugged off comments from Ted Nugent, who helped Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott campaign for governor recently. Nugent has called President Barack Obama a “subhuman mongrel.”
From The Dallas Morning News blog post: “That’s Ted Nugent…. That’s just Ted. Anybody that’s offended – sorry, but that’s just Ted,” Perry said after a breakfast appearance before the Texas State Society. “I don’t take offense, no. If we would spend a whole lot more time talking about how to create jobs instead of trying to pick apart people’s descriptions of somebody, we’d probably get a lot further along in life.”

A hearing at the Capitol to examine the state of women’s health brought flares of tension. The Republican chairwoman of the senate committee that was meeting pointed to the increase in resources for women’s health, but Democrats harped back to policy decisions they say are...

AUSTIN — A conservative group that uses undercover videos to allegedly expose corruption released a 7-minute video Wednesday purporting to show members of a Democratic organization telling volunteers to copy phone numbers from voter registration forms in apparent violation of the state election code.

The organization is James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas, which has had people infiltrate groups to show alleged fraud.

The group that Project Veritas looked into is Battleground Texas, a group that aims to make Texas Democratically controlled state and has been advocating for state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, in her bid to become governor of Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott.

“So every time we register somebody to vote, we keep their … name, address phone number, just so we can get back to them” a purported Battleground Texas member says on the video in the raw footage from San...

James O'Keefe’s Project Veritas released a video alleging that Battleground Texas, in its efforts to turn the state blue, has contrary to the state election code copied numbers from voter registration forms it collects.
Jonathan Tilove with the Austin American-Statesman reports here.

Three organizations have joined together for a massive report linking fracking in the Eagle Ford Shale with poor air quality.

A state Senate committee is looking at women’s health and child protective services in a hearing Thursday morning, and the Texas Tribune’s Becca Aaronson reports on concerns about an apparent absence of new abortion regulation discussion.

By Matthew Waller

AUSTIN — A conservative political action group’s mailer has brought confusion to some places across the state.

The mailer comes from the Conservative Republicans of Texas PAC, and some confused the pamphlet as correspondence from the official state GOP party.

The PAC mailer, complete with a picture of a bald eagle, provides people with paperwork to request a ballot by mail, paperwork that is all filled out except for the signature. In another section highlights the candidates that the PAC wants voters to choose in the coming March 4 primary. Early voting is already underway until Feb. 28.

“Each one had the Elections office already on the address line and this has increased the confusion,” Tom Green County Republican Party Chairman Jeff Betty said in an email. “The voter saw that it had the ‘Tom Green Elections Administration’ on it and thought it was official...