Voting Rights Act

In E-mails, Texas GOPers Worried Feds Would Say Redistricting Map Diluted Hispanic Voting Power

Ryan J. Reilly | August 16, 2011, 11:20AM

Civil rights groups are worried that Republicans running redistricting in Texas are breaking the federal Voting Rights Act by diluting Hispanic voting strength. So too, apparently, were the Republicans themselves.

Emails recently released by a federal judge in the course of a lawsuit over the redistricting map drawn by Texas Republicans show those involved in the redistricting process were worried that DOJ or a federal court wouldn't approve their plan. As they worked on the plan in the spring and early summer, at least one GOPer expressed concerns that the feds would say they didn't do enough to strengthen the voting power of Hispanic residents of the state even though the population of Hispanic residents ballooned over 90 percent between the 2000 and 2010 censuses.

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Topics: Civil Rights Division, Civil Rights Division Voting Section, DOJ, DOJ Civil Rights Division, Joe Barton, Lamar Smith, Texas, Voting, Voting Rights Act

Climate-Gate

'Plagiarized' GOP-Commissioned Climate Change Report Laid Groundwork For Climate-Gate

Rachel Slajda | November 29, 2010, 8:36AM

In 2005, the then-chairman of the House Energy Committee, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), a climate change skeptic, commissioned a report that would challenge the data in two major climate change papers, including the popular "hockey stick" theory. In 2006, the Barton-commissioned report was released and heralded by climate change skeptics the country over, laying the groundwork for last year's "Climate-Gate" controversies.

Last week, experts who reviewed the report for USA Today determined that the report was largely plagiarized.

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Topics: Climate Change, Climate-Gate, Edward Wegman, Joe Barton, Ken Cuccinelli

Joe Barton

Congressional Report Denying Climate Change Was Likely Plagiarized

Rachel Slajda | November 22, 2010, 6:30PM

Experts hired by USA Today to analyze a 2006 Congressional report that questioned global warming data say the report appears to have been plagiarized heavily from textbooks and Wikipedia.

The report was requested, and then often quoted, by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) when he was chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It was written by Edward Wegman, a statistician with George Mason University. The school is now conducting its own investigation into whether Wegman plagiarized the report, which calls into question numbers used by climate scientists.

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Topics: Climate Change, Climate-Gate, House Energy and Commerce Committee, Joe Barton

Global Warming

GOP Takeover In The House May Spell Doom For Obama's Environmental Policies

Ryan J. Reilly and Johanna Barr | November 8, 2010, 10:19AM

Republican Members of the House of Representatives are set to take on a larger role in setting environmental priorities and funding scientific research in the 112th Congress, in the wake of a blue-ribbon report that once again warned that the U.S. is in danger of slipping in global science and technology.

So it's a bit troubling that some of them don't believe in climate change and still others want to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of some of its power to regulate pollution. And then, of course, there's the guy who apologized to BP on behalf of the government after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

So, where do those guys stand on environmental policy? Pretty far from where the Administration wants to go, it seems.

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Topics: Climate Change, EPA, Fred Upton, Global Warming, Joe Barton, John Shimkus, Ralph M. Hall

Andy Schlafly

Rachel Maddow: 'The War On Brains Is Still Being Waged Every Day' (VIDEO)

Megan Carpentier | August 11, 2010, 9:39AM

Last night, Rachel Maddow picked up on TPMmuckraker's reporting that Conservapedia founder Andy Schlafly considers Einstein's Theory of Relativity -- which encompasses the famous equation E=mc² -- part of a liberal conspiracy. As she noted, Schlafly is in good company.

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Topics: Andy Schlafly, Conservapedia, James Inhofe, Joe Barton, Mike Pence, Rachel Maddow, Sharron Angle

Joe Barton

Barton's Top Campaign Contributor Is Implicated In Gulf Oil Disaster

Justin Elliott | June 17, 2010, 3:07PM

It's well-known that Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), the congressman who made headlines today for apologizing to BP for the "$20 billion shakedown" of the new escrow account, has been drenched in oil and gas industry money for years.

But here's a nice catch by 538:

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Topics: Anadarko Petroleum, Campaign Contributions, Gulf Coast Oil Spill, Joe Barton