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Austin City Manager: Dallas discard vs Austin retread

Council members make policy. The city manager’s job is to implement those policies. A great city manager can get that done and keep the ship of state sailing smoothly. A good city manager can get most assignments done and avoid...

Will lawsuit blow up Project Connect train tracks?

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit Dirty Martin’s et al v. Mayor Kirk Watson et al claim they’re victims of a bait-and-switch scheme because Project Connect will deliver improvements vastly inferior to what voters were promised when they approved Proposition A...

Latest articles

Cannon Misfires on Traffic Offenses

Cannon Misfires on Traffic Offenses

Council Candidate Drew Five
Arrest Warrants in Five Years

by Rebecca LaFlure
© The Austin Bulldog 2012
Posted Thursday, February 23, 2012 8:11pm

Tina CannonLess than a week after entrepreneur Tina Cannon officially launched her campaign for City Council, The Austin Bulldog found that Cannon was issued five arrest warrants over the past five years for unpaid traffic tickets and failure to show proof of vehicle insurance.

Also, a company she co-founded was sued for trademark infringement last year. The lawsuit has since been dropped, and Cannon has paid all fines related to the traffic tickets.

Cannon is running against incumbent Bill Spelman, a public affairs professor at the University of Texas, and Dominic Chavez, an Army veteran and senior director for external relations at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, for the Place 5 spot.

“I am not a perfect human being and not a perfect driver, but I try hard at both,” Cannon said. I have “no excuses on missing the initial payment and proof-of-coverage deadlines, all of which I have taken care of a good while ago.”

Warrants for unpaid traffic tickets

Background Investigation: Mike Martinez

Background Investigation: Mike Martinez

Here’s What the Public Records Say About
the Council Member Running for Re-election


by Rebecca LaFlure
© The Austin Bulldog 2012
Posted Saturday, February 25, 2012 2:36pm
Updated May 30, 2012 12:59pm

Mike MartinezWhen Mike Martinez announced he would seek a third term on the Austin City Council, The Austin Bulldog went to work researching Martinez’s personal and political background.

As with prior investigations of Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole, we used an organized plan to find, copy, and publish every public record we could find in an effort to educate citizens about their elected officials in the months leading to the May 2012 election.

We also read and compiled past news articles from The Austin Bulldog and other publications, and fact-checked statements elected officials made about their backgrounds. 

Our research into Martinez painted a picture of an outspoken politician financially backed by well-connected donors who has gained a loyal following over the past six years and a vocal group of critics.

Tina Cannon Challenges Bill Spelman

Tina Cannon Challenges Bill Spelman

Austin Entrepreneur Seeks to Bring a
Small Business Owner’s Voice to City Hall

by Rebecca LaFlure
© The Austin Bulldog 2012
Posted 5:56pm Monday, February 20, 2012

Tina Cannon kicks off her city council campaignTina Cannon emphasized her slogan, “fostering entrepreneurship in Austin,” last Friday, when she officially launched her campaign against incumbent Bill Spelman for the Place 5 Austin City Council seat.

Despite chilly winds and rainfall, about 30 supporters huddled under a covered patio outside Pour House Pub in North Austin as Cannon discussed her desire to bring a small business owner’s perspective to City Hall.

“I want us to put Austin back on the map as a leader in innovation and economic development and growth, and bring back transparency in city government that has been so absent at our City Hall,” said Cannon, noting that her friends and family have encouraged her to run for office over the years. “I’m really trying to lean on my background in business and entrepreneurship … and be a completely new voice.”

Here’s How the Mayor and Council Spent

From Washington, D.C., to Johannesburg, South Africa, the mayor and city council members traveled extensively meeting with federal lawmakers, attending conventions, and touring other cities’ facilities. One council member and his staff went on 13 city-funded trips in two years.

Hard Fought, Heartfelt Charter Decision

Posted Friday, February 3, 2012 4:05pm
Hard Fought, Heartfelt Charter Decision

Charter Revision Committee Votes 8-7
to Back 10-1 Plan for Council Elections

by Ken Martin
© The Austin Bulldog 2012

Supporters of the 10-1 council election plan won a narrow victoryFormer State Senator Gonzalo Barrientos knew things might get dicey at the final scheduled meeting of the 2012 Charter Revision Committee he chairs.

He brought in retired Travis County District Judge Bob Perkins, who sat on the 331st District Court bench for nearly three decades, to referee as parliamentarian, if need be.

It was a guaranteed evening of high drama given the scheduled final vote to decide what form of electoral system the committee would recommend to the Austin City Council. That vote culminated five months of public meetings in which the committee members listened to hundreds of citizens and heard the advice of several attorneys well versed in election law and compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act.

After voting 12-2 to recommend that a measure be put on the ballot to have an Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission draw council district lines should voters should approve some form of geographic representation—something voters nixed six times before between 1973 and 2002—the committee was at last ready to deal with what form of geographic representation to recommend.

During a sometimes heated and often passionate discussion that lasted nearly an hour, the deeply split committee was unable to reach a compromise.

The final vote was to recommend the 10-1 plan—in which 10 council members would be elected from geographic districts and only the mayor elected by all voters—passed 8-7.

The vote on a previous motion to recommend a 10-2-1 plan, where the mayor and two council members would be elected at large, failed 7-8.

There were calls for compromise that would unite the group and strengthen its recommendation for what the City Council should put on the ballot in November but in the end that was fruitless.

Committee members budged not one inch from the positions they had announced in previous public meetings.

Intense debate, no surrender

Investigative Reports

For more than a decade the Bulldog has published hard-hitting, in-depth investigative reports that have shaped civic discourse and public policy, resulted in criminal prosecutions, and enlightened voters about candidates' records. Here are a few samples of our work:

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The Austin Bulldog is the premiere investigative journalism outfit in Central Texas. Established in 2009, the Bulldog has become a trusted independent voice for government accountability, known for its incisive, in-depth coverage of local elections and local governments.

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Areas of Coverage

Austin City Manager: Dallas discard vs Austin retread

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They’re off and running for council

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District 10 Council candidates jump in early

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Trust, but verify

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Announcing the Government Accountability Project

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Central Health launches search for new CEO

Central Health, the local government agency that levies a...

First-ever opportunity to elect appraisal board members

Right now local voters are of course focused on...

Trust, but verify

We would like to think people in our nation’s...

Announcing the Government Accountability Project

Local officials manage government organizations that spend billions of...

Project Connect

Lawmakers weigh axing Project Connect’s ‘blank check’ loophole

At a hearing at the legislature, critics and supporters of Project Connect clashed over a proposal to rein in the newly created transit agency.

Project Connect scope drastically scaled back

Two factors have sparked renewed debate around the cost...

Austin Transit Partnership gears up for key decisions on light rail design

Billions of dollars to be spent on mass transit...

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