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Thursday, September 28, 2006
From the Plainview Daily Herald:
The visit at the Hale County Courthouse was part of a tour of all 254 county seats in Texas. Van Os is making the visits not only to meet with voters, but also to file affidavits at the courthouses that outline his intentions should he defeat incumbent Greg Abbott.Van Os refers to the affidavits as his "Written Oath" to be the "People's Lawyer." The statement reads, in part, "I am placing my written oaths in the public records in every county because I believe my fellow Texans have a right to know that I mean what I say." Van Os said that his campaign is an attempt to take the state government back from moneyed interests and return it to the people of Texas. In particular, he is opposed to the political process that has led to work on the Trans-Texas Corridor. Van Os said the efforts undertaken by current state leaders to use eminent domain as a tool for securing property for the TTC not only are a slap in the face of traditional rights of private landowners, but also are unconstitutional because they take private land for the purpose of enriching others -- specifically, European corporations which he says will profit from the tolls they extract from usage of the corridor. Other targets for Van Os are oil companies which he said have reaped exorbitant profits at the expense of consumers. He makes similar claims against monopolies and the insurance industry. Van Os referred to the current state government as an elite club. "The price of inclusion is campaign contributions." He went on to say that voters have allowed politicians to wield too much influence through high-priced media ad campaigns -- particularly through television advertising. He said that is symptomatic of the problems the state faces across the board. "We're living in a time of greed gone crazy," he said of the interests he is campaigning against. By contrast, Van Os praised the spirit of the average Texan. "The average Texan does not have a greedy heart," he said, adding, "My message to you is we can fight back. Somebody's got to stand up and fight for the people and for the middle class that is under attack. I'm tired of the way rural Texas keeps getting ignored."
posted by PDiddie at 1:54 PM
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Tuesday, September 26, 2006
David Van Os Reaches 211 Counties in Sterling
"My whistlestop tour of the 254 counties in Texas reached its 211th county courthouse on September 22 in Sterling City, Sterling County.
"Greg Abbott is sitting on a campaign bank account of approximately $7 million from big business executives and corporate law firms who have written huge checks to purchase the office of Texas Attorney General. But I am reaching out to every county in Texas, placing my trust in the people and in democracy.
"Abbott's millions are nothing but legalized protection money. Greg Abbott serves his paymasters well. He uses the office of Attorney General to protect the corporations from the people, when it should be used to protect the people from the corporations.
"All over Texas, the good people of this great state want their government back. They want government to serve and benefit the people, as Article 1 of the Texas Constitution guarantees.
"A Texas government that serves the people as it should will include an Attorney General who understands that his job is to be the people's lawyer and that the office belongs to all the people, not just corporations, business executives, rich lawyers, and political hacks. I am working harder than I've ever worked at anything in my life, taking to all the people in every part of Texas my message that the Attorney General's office belongs to them. Just as government belongs to the people, my campaign and my message belong to the people in every part of Texas.
"I am placing written oaths in the public records in every county, because my fellow Texans have a right to know that I mean what I say.
Under written oath I promise that I will use every legal means available to me by that office to protect Texans and their property from the unconstitutional attack on the integrity of our land and property known as the Trans-Texas Corridor. I will enforce and uphold the Texas Constitutional promise that runaway corporate monopolies will not be allowed to devour democracy and free enterprise. I will defend the people of Texas from Big Oil and the Insurance Jackals. I will honor and treat all persons involved in the child support system as individual human beings entitled to impartial and equal justice under law, rather than as statistics to be exploited in self-congratulatory press releases. The office of Attorney General will belong to the people and I will be the people's lawyer."
~David Van Os
posted by snarko! at 8:34 AM
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Sunday, September 24, 2006
From the Midland Reporter-Telegram:
David Van Os, the Democratic candidate for Attorney General, vowed during a stop in Midland to combat corporate malfeasance, derail the Trans-Texas Corridor and return the government to the people by riding a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment into office. ...
"We don't have to sit idly by while runaway corporate greed runs roughshod over everybody's standard of living," Van Os said, later citing high utility bills brought about by industry deregulation and high insurance costs as examples.
Van Os described large corporations as speeders and the public officials responsible for ticketing them as unwilling to even bother using their radar guns. The reason for this complacency, he said, is in part because these same corporations are significant contributors to Abbott's campaign and the campaigns of other high-ranking state politicians. "Politicians in the highest levels of government, with their responsibility and tools of office to protect the people, are not doing it because they've actually been purchased by special interests," Van Os said. If elected, Van Os said one of his primary goals would be to attempt to halt the development of the Trans-Texas Corridor which he said is "a monstrosity, because it's going to take away hundreds of thousands of acres of private land and property through forcible eminent domain." Van Os said European corporations will profit from the development of tolls along the corridor and in his opinion it is unconstitutional for public land to be taken for private profit. He said the seizure of lands by eminent domain also will establish a precedent that will pave the way for similar actions in the future. He said he is confident he has a chance of being elected because he feels Texas residents, both Republicans and Democrats, are weary of incumbents who rely on opinion polls and political consultants to get elected and are ready for a candidate who will make decisions based on what he feels is right and wrong. "The political history in Texas goes in long, 20-to-25-year cycles and the way I read it is the people of Texas will go through a long period of time where they're forgiving of those in office and they're very complacent," Van Os said, adding this encourages incumbents to become lax in their duties and their dedication to public service. "There always comes a time where something sparks and a critical mass is reached and the people decide to clean house. We're in one of those times now, there's no doubt about it."
And from the comments there:
Child abuse is not unique to parents as perpetrators. Lately the perpetrator with the largest and greatest impact, in the wake of federal welfare reform, are states attorneys general and state government. Texas AG Greg Abbott has deprived more children from equal access to each and both parents, especially thier fathers, than at almost any time in the prior history of this state... Robert Gartner, Houston
I don't know much about David Van Os, but a yellow dog on the street would make a better Attorney General than Greg Abbott.
Don Mathis, Sherman
It's hard to govern when you are beholden. If you doubt what I say, go to the Texas Ethics Comission and look at Greg Abbott's contributor reports. You will also note, oddly enough, that he has John Colyandro on the payroll in 2002 during the Tom Delay/Rick Perry 3-special session redistricting. I won't even address the child support division ...
Melissa Puntenney, Austin
If this Democrat will see his following statement through to fruition, he has my vote hands down and I dislike Democrats as much as I do Bushism.
Tom Partain, Midland
posted by PDiddie at 6:09 PM
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"Something big is happening"
From Friday, September 22, a report from West Texas:
=======================================
This afternoon in Sterling City, Texas, Rachel and I completed our 211th courthouse stop. It was a terrific week, with very friendly West Texans greeting us warmly and expressing their appreciation over a candidate for state office coming to some of their communities for the first time in decades.
In Crane this morning, due to a bangup effort by the County Democratic Chair, the County Commissioners Courtroom was filled to capacity to meet me at 8:00 a.m. In Rankin at mid-morning, when I came to the County Judge's office she got on her intercom and encouraged all county employees to come to the ground floor hall and listen to me.
In Big Lake the grounds crew, Joe and Carlos, met me and told me they had freshly mowed the grounds this morning in order to welcome me. Inside the whole courthouse staff gathered in the hallway to meet and hear from me, except for one deputy county clerk who had to hold down the fort.
Yesterday in Odessa the county chair and the central labor council president worked together to gather a crowd, both Odessa local television stations came to interview me and cover the event, and even a reporter from the Austin American-Statesman showed up. This morning in Rankin the women in the county clerk's office told me they saw me on their TV news last night (out of Odessa) and the news also announced my schedule for today -- so they were expecting me.
A lot (but not all) of these people I've been meeting think they are Republicans, but inside they're really Democrats. They all like what I'm saying about fighting back against runaway corporate monopolies and power-grabbing politicians, they all make fun of the establishment Republican political machine (they DO NOT like it!), and they like what I'm saying about protecting the Constitutional rights and liberties of the people.
The Trans-Texas Corridor is a hot button with them just as much as in central Texas -- they detest the idea of a public highway system being run for private corporate profit. They think the big oil companies are greedy hogs, they know that government is being run solely for the benefit of big business and they don't like it, and they hate the water profiteers who are trying to go into the aquifers and corporatize their water and make them buy it back in bottles.
This afternoon in Garden City, Glasscock County, a young mother whom I introduced myself to while we were both pumping $2.60 gasoline told Rachel and me that as a Christian she is sick and tired of the Republicans using religious faith as a political toy and their doing so is an offense against God -- and she wanted to know what she and her husband could do to help the Democrats win the elections.
Something big is happening. Thank you all for being involved in it. When we beat Greg Abbott in this election after being outspent 50-1 by going back to the people in the most total grassroots campaign, it will show others the way back to the basics.
posted by PDiddie at 5:44 PM
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Monday, September 18, 2006
David Van Os Whistlestops October 3-6
Tuesday, October 3
8:15 AM - Lynn County Courthouse, Tahoka
10:00 AM - Dawson County Courthouse, Lamesa
12:00 NOON - Gaines County Courthouse, Seminole
2:15 PM - Andrews County Courthouse, Andrews
4:15 PM - Martin County Courthouse, Stanton
Wednesday, October 4
8:30 AM - Howard County Courthouse, Big Spring
10:15 AM - Mtchell County Courthouse, Colorado City
11:45 AM - Scurry County Courthouse, Snyder
2:15 PM - Borden County Courthouse, Gail
4:00 PM - Garza County Courthouse, Post
Thursday, October 5
8:30 AM - Kent County Courthouse, Jayton
10:00 AM - Stonewall County Courthouse, Aspermont
11:45 AM - Haskell County Courthouse, Haskell
2:30 PM - Knox County Courthouse, Benjamin
4:00 PM - King County Courthouse, Guthrie
Friday, October 6
9:00 AM - Dickens County Courthouse, Dickens
MORE WHISTLESTOP INFORMATION >>
posted by snarko! at 9:31 AM
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Sunday, September 17, 2006
David Van Os Whistlestops September 26-29
Tuesday September 26
8:30 AM - Terry County Courthouse, Brownfield
10:15 AM - Yoakum County Courthouse, Plains
12:00 NOON - Cochran County Courthouse, Morton
2:30 PM - Hockley County Courthouse, Levelland
4:00 PM - Lamb County Courthouse, Littlefield
Wednesday September 27
8:30 AM - Bailey County Courthouse, Muleshoe
10:00 AM - Parmer County Courthouse, Farwell
11:45 AM - Castro County Courthouse, Dimmitt
2:15 PM - Swisher County Courthouse, Tulia
3:45 PM - Hale County Courthouse, Plainview
Thursday September 28
8:30 AM - Briscoe County Courthouse, Silverton
10:30 AM - Hall County Courthouse, Memphis
12:00 NOON - Childress County Courthouse, Childress
2:30 PM - Hardeman County Courthouse, Quanah
4:00 PM - Foard County Courthouse, Crowell
Friday September 29
8:30 AM - Cottle County Courthouse, Paducah
10:00 AM - Motley County Courthouse, Matador
11:30 AM - Floyd County Courthouse, Floydada
2:00 PM - Crosby County Courthouse, Crosbyton
3:45 PM - Lubbock County Courthouse, Lubbock
WhistleStop Central >>
posted by snarko! at 12:26 PM
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Van Os Report from the Texas Panhandle
Friday afternoon Rachel and I completed our 194th courthouse stop in Hereford, Deaf Smith County. Tuesday through Friday the tour took us to the 20 northernmost counties of Texas in the Upper Panhandle.
It was one of the most amazing and rewarding weeks of the whole campaign. We fell in love with the poetic beauty of the vast rolling plains, the sudden canyons and ravines, the horizon-stretching fields of wheat and corn, the endlessly wide blue sky and the spectacular sunrises and sunsets.
Everywhere we went we were welcomed by extraordinarily friendly fellow Texans who seemed ready to give us the shirts off their backs in a heartbeat. In town after town we found both dynamically active Democrats and vigorously open-minded Republicans. We found everywhere a universal disgust toward the incumbent Establishment Republican political clique.
Whether Democratic or Republican, the local townspeople and elected officials opened their arms to us in a constant display of warm hospitality. We were given the same hospitable welcomes even in the 4 counties where there is no Democratic County Chair and no Democratic Primary has occurred in years. In every conversation we found an uninterrupted commonality of disgust and anger toward the arrogance and greed of the top levels of our state government and their unholy alliance with big business.
Everywhere we found a common desire to get rid of those who have created government of, by, and for big business. The hosts of three radio talk shows who had me as a guest eagerly embraced my offer to fight the runaway corporate monopolies and political power grabbers on behalf of the people of the Panhandle, as did the editors and reporters of local newspapers.
Texans everywhere are FED UP with the reign of greed that is afflicting us all. My exhortations to my fellow Texans that we CAN FIGHT BACK through the processes of democracy against runaway corporate monopoly power and arrogant politicians who only care about their big-money contributors and let corporate interests run our government are striking resonant chords.
I urge my fellow Democrats to reject and/or abandon all write-it-off political philosophies. Reach to all your fellow Texans and offer to help them fight back. Do not write anyone off. They're all getting kicked in the teeth and they know it. It's not happening to them as Democrats or as Republicans or as Independents; they're getting kicked in the teeth as humans and as Texans.
The time has come for a successful, trans-partisan people's revolt at the ballot boxes RIGHT NOW. As Chris Bell is saying, there is a new Texas Revolution rising and working together we are going to win it.
~David Van Os
Candidate for Texas Attorney General
posted by snarko! at 12:01 PM
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Wednesday, September 13, 2006
David Van Os Whistlestops September 19-22
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
8:30 AM - Ozona, TX (Crockett County)
12:00 NOON - Sanderson, TX (Terrell County)
3:45 PM - Fort Stockton, TX (Pecos County)
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
8:30 AM - Alpine, TX (Brewster County)
10:15 AM - Marfa, TX (Presidio County)
12:00 PM - Fort Davis, TX (Jeff Davis County)
4:00 PM - Pecos, TX (Reeves County)
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
8:15 AM - Mentone, TX (Loving County)
10:00 AM - Kermit, TX (Winkler County)
11:45 AM - Monahans, TX (Ward County)
2:30 PM - Odessa, TX (Ector County)
4:00 PM - Midland, TX (Midland County)
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
8:00 AM - Crane, TX (Crane County)
9:45 AM - Rankin, TX (Upton County)
11:30 AM - Big Lake, TX (Reagan County)
2:30 PM - Garden City, TX (Glasscock County)
4:15 PM - Sterling City, TX (Sterling County)
posted by snarko! at 1:05 PM
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Tuesday, September 12, 2006
David and the BOBs
"Texas Politics", the blog belonging to the San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle, posted today about David's Big Oil billboards:
Democratic attorney general candidate David Van Os is asking supporters to buy miniature versions of a billboard expressing his desire to crack down on high gas prices. He says as attorney general he will "blow the dust" off of anti-trust laws to bring gas prices down.
Texans are waking up to the manipulation of gasoline prices by the oil companies. We have all watched the price of gas drop more than 60 cents a gallon in the last six weeks, despite the supply disruption of the Alaskan pipeline which went unmaintained by BP.
And just in time for the elections. How conveeeenient.
If you want to contribute specifically to the BOBs, go here.
posted by PDiddie at 5:30 PM
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Monday, September 11, 2006
Whistlestops September 12-15
Tuesday, September 12
8:15 AM - Oldham County Courthouse, Vega
10:00 AM - Channing County Courthouse, Hartley
11:30 AM - Dallam County Courthouse, Dalhart
2:00 PM - Sherman County Courthouse, Stratford
4:00 PM - Hansford County Courthouse, Spearman
Wednesday, September 13
8:15 AM - Ochiltree County Courthouse, Perryton
10:00 AM - LipsComb County Courthouse, Lipscomb
11:30 AM - Hemphill County Courthouse, Canadian
2:15 PM - Wheeler County Courthouse, Wheeler
4:00 PM - Collingsworth County Courthouse, Wellington
Thursday, September 14
8:15 AM - Gray County Courthouse, Pampa
9:45 AM - Roberts County Courthouse, Miami
12:00 NOON - Hutchinson County Courthouse, Stinnett
2:30 PM - Moore County Courthouse, Dumas
4:15 PM - Potter County Courthouse, Amarillo
Friday, September 15
8:15 AM - Carson County Courthouse, Panhandle
10:15 AM - Donley County Courthouse, Clarendon
11:45 AM - Armstrong County Courthouse, Claude
2:45 PM - Randall County Courthouse, Canyon
4:15 PM - Deaf Smith County Courthouse, Hereford
WHISTLESTOP INFO CENTRAL >>
posted by snarko! at 11:10 AM
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Grayson County Whistlestop (Sherman Herald-Democrat)
Calling on Texans to help him bring Texas out of an age of greed, Democrat David Van Os brought his "whistlestop" campaign for Texas attorney general to Sherman Wednesday.
Standing near the steps of the Grayson County Courthouse, dressed in a button-down blue shirt, a black vest, a white hat and light colored pants, Van Os said his victory in the race will spell doom for the "robber barons" in the oil and insurance industries. He said he plans to try to break up the mega monopolies that are practicing in Texas in what he called a violation of the Texas constitution. Van Os said the actions of those companies and the politicians they support has led to "an age of greed" that is unlike any seen in recent memory. He said the state has laws against such centralization of economic, and therefore political power, but no one seems to want to use them.
Van Os vowed he will use those laws to go after those industries if he is elected. ...
Van Os also said he plans to fight against the Trans Texas Corridor. He said many Texas politicians would like the residents of Texas to believe that the TTC is "done deal."
Not so, said Van Os. He said the state doesn't have "a law that can't be repealed or an elected official that can't be voted out of office." Van Os urged people to keep fighting the issue "till hell freezes over and then continue to fight it on the ice." He said the TTC plans to tear up thousands of acres "of the best farm land" in the state and put the land once used to feed millions "in the hands of foreign company that will take the toll money and send it back" to its country of origin.
The 56-year-old Texan said if voters listen to the pundits at the "big papers" they might think he doesn't stand a chance because Abbott is raising more money. However, Van Os said, he doesn't think the ability to raise big money from large corporations is an indication of the ability to represent the people of the "grand state of Texas."
posted by PDiddie at 8:02 AM
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Thursday, September 07, 2006
Van Os Files Sworn Affidavit at Courthouses to Stop TTC
Beginning with his WhistleStops in Smith, Upshur, Wood, Van Zandt and Kaufman counties, and henceforth during the tour, David Van Os is legally declaring his promise to the People to uphold what he says he will do, including using every legal means possible to stop the TTC in its tracks.
Press Release follows:
September 5, 2006
DAVID VAN OS FILES SWORN AFFIDAVIT OF HIS INTENTIONS TO BLOCK THE TRANS-TEXAS CORRIDOR IF ELECTED ATTORNEY GENERAL
If elected to serve as Attorney General of Texas, I solemnly promise that I will use every legal means available to me by that office to bring to a halt and/or invalidate the unconstitutional and illegal project known as the "Trans-Texas Corridor." ~Affidavit for Public Records, sworn to and filed by David Van Os
At his courthouse appearances today, Attorney General Candidate David Van Os unveiled a notarized Affidavit for Public Record, through which he is placing in public records sworn promises to his fellow Texans that he intends to fulfill if he is elected Attorney General in the November general elections.
Van Os' affidavit includes his promise to use all legal means available to him to block the Trans-Texas Corridor. Other pledges contained in the Affidavit include promises to uphold all the enumerated rights in the Bill of Rights and to enforce the Texas Constitutional ban on monopolies.
Van Os is conducting a whistlestop tour of all 254 county courthouses in Texas. He speaks to the public at each courthouse about his vision for the Attorney General's office, takes questions, and meets & greets local townspeople and courthouse officials. Today he is stopping at the courthouses in Smith, Upshur, Wood, Van Zandt and Kaufman Counties.
As of the drafting of this Press Release, Van Os had filed his Affidavit with the County Clerks in Smith and Wood Counties. He will be presenting it for filing at every courthouse. Van Os said, "I'm placing these promises in affidavit form, under oath, and filing them in public records so my fellow Texans will know that when I say I'm going to fight the Trans-Texas Corridor, when I say I'm going to fight the corporate monopoly robber barons, and when I say I'm going to defend the Constitutional rights and liberties of the people, I'm not just flapping my gums. I mean exactly what I say."
ACTUAL VAN OS AFFIDAVIT >>
posted by snarko! at 11:43 AM
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