Controversy sparked on the dais this morning when Mike Martinez raised objection to a clean-up item buried in today's agenda: Item 57 ratifies a $57,000 payment to the World Congress on Information Technology for booth rental. City Manager Toby Futrell shelled out the money for the convention last year, yet her administrative spending limit at the time was only $47,0000 – meaning she spent $10K more than she was allowed to. Martinez then put the question to City Attorney David Smith (with whom there's no love lost), asking "whether or not that act violated the city charter."

"The short answer is, in my opinion, no, it did not," Smith said. He noted council vested Futrell with the authority to spend over $1.5 million on the WCIT; with that, "it is my opinion the manager did not have to come back to council with each invoice."

"Then why do we need an agenda item to cure something doesn't need curing?" Martinez asked. Smith replied that external audit firm KPMG had "expressed concern" with the episode." Martinez then asked he be shown voting no on Item 57.

Couple that with the fact that Sheryl Cole, Betty Dunkerley, Will Wynn and Brewster McCracken all just voted to deny voters the chance to make needed changes to the office of the City Attorney, and you've got a sorry City Council more interested in deference to authority and the maintaining the status quo than democratizing a suffocatingly-insular autocracy.

But hey, we've got a website!

There's still no resolution on who'll be replacing retired state Rep. Anna Mowery, representing Fort Worth in district 97 for the rest of the interim. In last night's special election, Dan Barrett, the sole Democrat on the ballot, came in with 31.54%, still well shy of the "50 plus one" he needed to avoid a run-off. This means he'll be facing up against Republican Mark Shelton, the eventual runner-up with 22.89%. He emerged from a field of six GOPers, shoving seeming party favorite (and early-vote winner) Bob Leonard back into the pack with 18.63%.

"We made history tonight," said Barrett on his semi-victory. "We are half of the way there and have a long way to go to," he added, a concession to the fact that, on paper, it's still the Republican's seat to lose, since Mowery held the seat for ten sessions. On his website, Shelton gushed that Mowery "served District 97 with steadfast conservatism for 19 years" (even though, in the Heritage Foundation's last 2007 Texas Conservative Report on voting habits, she scraped a 51% conservative rating, below many Dems.) So it could be interesting to see whether it's really that safe a GOP seat, or it was all about loyalty to the incumbent.

Following up our City Council Notebook post below, it should be noted Item 65 ("Mike Martinez and Lee Leffingwell's motion calling for an election on how the City Attorney is installed") is facing a tough road. It would allow the council – who the City Attorney ostensibly represents – to make the appointment instead of the City Manager; the argument goes that the City Manager's appointment powers makes for a weird dynamic where the City Attorney's loyalties are divided.

The item was originally proposed as part of a comprehensive package of reforms designed to shift power from the City Manager back into the hands of City Council. But while two other measures sailed through (increased financial scrutiny, and an election to change the way the City Auditor's installed), the sponsors pulled the City Attorney item, presumably for some explanation and arm-twisting.

Now it's back, but Leffingwell tells In Fact Daily he doesn't know if he has the votes. IFD also has Brewster McCracken and Sheryl Cole down as opposed, with Cole saying "I think it would create an unhealthy environment for the relationship between the City Council and the City Attorney."

Granted, the council members are entitled to their opinion; hell, for all we know, they may be right. But let's not forget that Item 65 doesn't make these changes – it simply puts it them to the people for a vote, like the City Auditor resolution, which passed unopposed. Our question for Cole and McCracken is: why preclude even the possibility of debate?

Agenda highlights (?) for the Thurs., Nov. 8 City Council meeting.

Item 10: Authorizing the long-term water supply between Austin and the LCRA for an extra 250,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water, through the year 2100. Ca-ching!

Items 14-17: Reinstating Public Improvement Districts (PID – similar to TIFs, where revenue is captured for improvements or such) for Sixth Street and Downtown. Now if only we could do something about those outrageous decibel levels down there …

Item 23: Appropriating (anticipated?) red light camera fines to cover the system requirements. See kids, the police state pays for itself!

Item 24: More agreement talk between the city, the Urban Renewal Agency, and the Austin Revitalization Authority. Will the sparks finally fly?

Item 65: Mike Martinez and Lee Leffingwell's motion calling for an election on how the City Attorney is installed.

Item 66: Gearing up EMS for meet and confer talks by designating the paramedics' bargainer.

Item 67: Sending the Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force's recommendations on incentives for development to boards and commissions for review and recommendation. Leave a trail of breadcrumbs behind you as you enter the B&C black forest!

Item 82: 2pm presentation by the Design Commission regarding their density bonus report.

Item 121: Public hearing and possible action on Leffingwell's Barton Springs Zone amendments allowing for redevelopment of pre-SOS Ordinance buildings. Relax, it's only the soul of the city …

With 100% of precincts state-wide reporting, the Secretary of State's office unofficially reported that all 16 constitutional amendments on yesterday's ballot passed, with large margins.

The most popular measure of the night, Prop. 9, was the proposal by Sens. John Carona, R-Dallas, and Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, to end ad valorem property taxes for totally disabled veterans (something seen during the lege session as correcting an earlier legislative error), which passed with 86.19% of votes cast. The closest run result was Prop. 4, the billion dollar maintenance and repair bond issue, which passed by a comparative squeaker margin of 16%.

But before everyone gets too excited about this major victory for participatory democracy, there's another figure: 8.64%. That was the highest recorded turn-out for any issue (Prop. 15, the Cancer Fund financing, which passed 61.43% to 38.57%.)

See this week's upcoming issue for more in-depth coverage.

Voters in Denver have passed Question 100, making adult possession of less than one ounce of marijuana the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority. By early this morning, with a majority of ballots counted, Q100 had earned at least 56% of the vote.

In addition to making adult pot possession last in line for enforcement, the measure also directs the mayor to appoint a panel that will monitor how police and prosecutors actually handle pot cases. In 2005, Denver voters passed the city’s first pot policy, voting to remove all penalties for simple possession by adults. Despite that victory, pot arrests there have hit an all-time high, reports Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, the group behind both ballot initiatives.

Just over 70% of the state's precincts have reported, and all of the constitutional amendments appear headed for passage. The strongest winner is Prop. 9, which would exempt totally disabled veterans from ad valorem taxation — it's getting 86% percent approval. The least popular is Prop. 4, the scattershot amendment that would approve up to $1 billion in bonds for a variety of construction projects (some good, some bad), but it's still winning at 58%.

Up in Fort Worth, with 41 of 45 precincts counted, Democrat Dan Barrett is headed for a runoff in the special election to replace retiring Anna Mowery in state House District 97. Barrett is leading at 32%. As for the six Republicans, it's been back and forth, but Mark M. Shelton has passed Bob Leonard; Shelton now has 23% to Leonard's 19%.

Shockingly, here in Travis County, the Lance Armstrong-supported Prop. 15 is barely getting majority support at 50.47% with 96% of precincts reporting.

The polls are closed, early voting numbers are in, and you can already stick a fork in this election: Everything is passing handily. The least popular so far is Proposition 16, and that's passing with 71.87% voting "In Favor." Those results aren't likely to change.

But WOW, this is interesting: While all the props are also passing in Travis County, the "in favor" numbers are lower, significantly in some cases. Most notable: Prop. 15, for the creation of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas – which was pushed heavily by local sports idol and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong – only has 51.27% of the early Travis vote! Hmm, is Austin's hero-worship of Armstrong not as great as we thought?

There is an actual candidate election to watch tonight: a special election for House District 97, which covers the southwestern corner of Tarrant County. The seat came open when Republican Anna Mowery decided to retire early. The Democrats would certainly love for this seat to edge them ever closer to the majority in the Texas House – they are currently six seats away – and tonight's election pits Dem Dan Barrett against six Republicans. After the early vote numbers, Barrett appears headed for a runoff – he currently has 32%; the leading Republican thus far is Bob Leonard at 22%.

Meaning, 7pm. If you haven't voted yet, get on down to your local precinct.

Then come back here for the results.

P.S. My wife just called to tell me that there was actually a line, if you can believe it, to vote at our neighborhood polling place (possibly because some polling places were consolidated, presumably due to a lack of poll workers). Given the apparent low interest in this constitutional amendment election, that's good news. Get on down there. Hurry!