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WASHINGTON — A San Antonio congressman apologized Tuesday for his outburst at a woman attending a San Antonio town hall meeting last week that was videotaped and later broadcast on conservative websites. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, blamed the incident on the campaign tactics of his Republican challenger, Francisco “Quico” Canseco, but apologized for “losing my temper.” In a written statement, Rodriguez said the Canseco campaign attempted to “hijack a ‘Congress on Your Corner' event merely to engage in uncivil, cynical videotape baiting tactics.” “The people of Southwest Texas deserve better than that,” Rodriguez said. Canseco, in a statement, said...

This press release was received from Cansecoforcongress.com on July 12, 2010. At a townhall event on Monday July 5th, while answering a routine question about ObamaCare, Rep. Ciro Rodriguez responded with hostility and anger at a constituent. The video can be seen below. “Ciro Rodriguez has a history of cursing and yelling at people who disagree with him. It shows how much contempt he has for the people of this district and their concerns about the economy, exploding federal deficits, and reckless government growth.” Canseco said. This is not the first time Rep. Ciro Rodriguez has lost his temper while...

Earlier today, a video hit the internet of Texas Democrat Rep. Ciro Rodriguez losing his temper with a constituent. Here’s another home video of Rodriguez at a town hall meeting conducted at a restaurant. In this video, he’s caught swearing at a constituent while rationalizing robocalls.

I’ve often noted that I expect this to be a long, hot summer. The mid-term elections are inching closer and Democrats are having to finally admit that they are in real political trouble. For those keeping score at home, let’s recap; the economy sucks, there are no new jobs, the stimulus failed, the government is bleeding money, ObamaCare is unpopular, the Feds have screwed up the gulf oil spill and we are facing potentially the biggest tax hike in history at the end of the year.

Democrat representatives really are getting quite testy anymore… Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, a Democrat from Texas, has been caught on video getting visibly angry with a constituent questioning him– the questioner simply made a point about the Congressional Budget Office’s numbers on ObamaCare. However, Rodriguez was not going to take that without giving his two cents– along with slamming his papers on the table.

Bonilla, Rodriguez Ready For Runoff SAN ANTONIO -- Another U.S. House seat could turn Democratic, now that Republican U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla is headed for a runoff against a former House colleague. Bonilla received 49 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting on Wednesday. That put him in a runoff with the second top vote-getter, former U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, who came in with just under 20 percent in an eight-candidate field. Six of the eight were Democrats. Bonilla told reporters Wednesday that he was proud of his campaign team and that he needed to "score one more touchdown."...

SAN ANTONIO--More than one political venture has met an unseemly end in the hardscrabble landscape of South Texas. It was here, in 1948, that Box 13 gave Lyndon Johnson a dubious 87-vote primary victory, crushing former Gov. Coke Stevenson's Senate aspirations. It was here, two years ago, that a bitter primary fight for a House seat shattered a friendship between two Hispanic Democrats. And it was here, this month, in a rematch of that contest, that a blogger-led quest to defeat a mainstream Democrat and drive the party further to the left smashed head-on into the realities of local politics....

Raymond eyes tough race By TRICIA CORTEZ LAREDO MORNING TIMES The March Democratic primary is eight months away, an eternity in politics, but the race for one of Laredo's two congressional seats promises to be as furious as an Alabama tick in summer. This week, state Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, made clear his intentions to challenge incumbent Congressman Henry Cuellar of Laredo. However, Raymond said Friday he would make no formal announcement until the special session on school finance in Austin is over. Over the years, both legislators have done little to hide their dislike and lack of support for...

CYNTHIA McKINNEYPOSITION: Democrat Congresswoman from GeorgiaDONOR: Abdurahman Alamoudi AMMOUNT: $2000 on September 11, 2001 DETAILS: Alamoudi, President of the American Muslim Foundation, is a well known radical mohammedan activist known for publicly praising terrorist organizations. He worked closely as an informal advisor and affiliate of several Clinton administration officials (source). At an October 2000 rally in Washington, D.C. Alamoudi spoke to a radical islamic crowd announcing ""I have been labeled by the media in New York as being a supporter of Hamas. Any supporters of Hamas here? (cheers) Hear that, Bill Clinton? We are all supporters of Hamas ... I...

Ciro gives up the fight to keep seat BY T.A. BADGER Associated Press Writer SAN ANTONIO - After several ballot recounts and legal appeals, U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez has conceded defeat in his fight alleging vote fraud in March's District 28 Democratic primary. Laredo lawyer Henry Cuellar ends up beating Rodriguez by 58 votes out of nearly 50,000 cast in a contest marked by barrages of bitter accusations flying in both directions. Rodriguez threw in the towel late Wednesday after the Texas Supreme Court again rejected his request that it hear his appeal from a lower court. Just as it...

Ciro wins one Rodriguez's re-election hopes alive; Cuellar to fight ruling BY TRICIA CORTEZ Times staff writer Wednesday afternoon, attorneys in the drawn-out electoral battle between Henry Cuellar and Ciro Rodriguez received the long-awaited phone call from the 4th Court of Appeals. In a 2-1 vote, the three-judge panel reversed the ruling of the lower court, stating the visiting trial judge erred when he did not allow Rodriguez to introduce evidence of alleged voting irregularities. The case has been remanded back to Laredo for trial although no date has been set. Just last week, Cuellar expressed confidence the court would...

Ballot recount begins in District 28 race BY LAUREL ALMADA Times staff writer The results of the U.S. Congressional District 28 recount are expected to be in later today, after the court appointed committee counting the ballots completes the process. The second recount began Thursday morning at the Webb County Justice Center's central jury room. "It's been going well," Henry Cuellar spokesman T.J. Connolly said Thursday evening. "The people in charge did a commendable job of organizing." U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez spokesperson John Puder shared a different opinion. "It's gone very slow," he said, adding that he believes the process...

Recount lawsuit ruling to be made in Laredo BY MATT JOYCE Associated Press Writer AUSTIN - Attorneys for Henry Cuellar Thursday accused U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez of improperly "trolling" for ineligible voters in his effort to overturn election results after a recount of the District 28 Democratic primary. Cuellar's team made the arguments at a hearing as they began studying a list of about 260 Webb County voters that Rodriguez's camp identified as possibly illegal. Steve Bickerstaff, a Cuellar attorney, urged District Judge Joseph Hart of Austin to dismiss Rodriguez's lawsuit partly because Rodriguez failed to specify his complaints when...

Retired judge gets recount lawsuit BY T.A. BADGER Associated Press Writer SAN ANTONIO - A retired state judge was chosen Thursday to preside over U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez's lawsuit alleging vote fraud in two South Texas counties after a recount showed he lost the Democratic primary election to Henry Cuellar. Joseph H. Hart, a senior litigator in the high-powered Austin firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, was assigned the case by state Judge David Peeples of San Antonio, presiding judge in the Fourth Judicial Administrative Region. "I picked the person that I thought was the best person for the...

Fraud allegations disputed BY TRICIA CORTEZ Times staff writer Webb County Commissioner Judith Gutierrez blasted the Ciro Rodriguez camp and the San Antonio Express-News Wednesday for their "continued allegations and inferences" that electoral fraud occurred in Webb and Zapata counties. She was referring to the recount of ballots in the hotly contested race for Congressional District 28 involving Laredoan Henry Cuellar and incumbent Rodriguez of San Antonio. "Enough is enough. If you have any evidence of fraud, prove it," Gutierrez said, referring to "one-sided news reports" and a particularly biting Thursday piece by Express-News columnist Ken Rodriguez. "It is an...

The Texas Democratic Party rejected a request today from Webb County party officials to count for a third time disputed ballots from the 28th Congressional District primary race, saying that the result of the clouded election is best decided in a court of law. "There is little doubt that something sketchy is going on in Zapata and Webb counties," said Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting. "I feel strongly that there ought to be a recount. That recount should occur under the watchful eye of a judge, and any comments about how extra ballots appeared should be made under oath....

Recount ongoing in congressional race Times staff reports Congressman Ciro Rodriguez (D-San Antonio) gained three more votes Friday in the recount of ballots ordered by opponent Henry Cuellar of Laredo. After a recount of votes cast in two of the 11 counties that comprise Congressional District 28, Rodriguez picked up one vote in Wilson County and two in Atascosa Friday, increasing his margin of victory to 148 votes, according to the Austin-based Quorum Report. “Most eyes are focused on the recount in Bexar County. Both candidates and the local Democratic Party have agreed not to recount votes recorded on the...

Ciro claims narrow win BY TRICIA CORTEZ Times staff writer By an amazing 126-vote margin out of 48,542 total votes cast, Laredoan Henry Cuellar lost his second bid for U.S. Congress to incumbent Ciro Rodriguez (D-San Antonio) in the March 9 primary. Cuellar was running in the Democratic primary against Rodriguez for the 11-county Congressional District 28 seat. "We expected it to be a tight race, but not this tight," Cuellar said early Wednesday afternoon. "This should be a wake-up call to voters who say their vote doesn't count. Yes it does." Cuellar received 24,208 votes, or 49.87 percent of...

Laredoan Canseco in Congressional run-off BY TRICIA CORTEZ Times staff writer "Laredo has a second bite at the apple," Francisco "Quico" Canseco said Wednesday, referring to the possibility of electing a Laredoan to U.S. Congress. To win the Republican primary run-off election for Congressional District 28, scheduled for April 13, Canseco said he needs the help of all Democrat and Republican voters who did not cast a ballot during the March 9 primary. According to state law, any person who did not vote in the Democratic primary - either because they voted in the Republican primary or they didn't vote...

Cuellar files for office Times staff reports Former state representative Henry Cuellar announced his filing for candidacy for the new 28th Congressional District, Monday. In a press release issued by his campaign headquarters, Cuellar announced his decision to run for the Democratic nomination in the March 9 primaries. He filed with state Democratic Party headquarters in Austin Sunday afternoon. The newly created congressional district is made up of Atascosa, Frio, Guadalupe, La Salle, McMullen, Wilson, Zapata and part of Bexar, Comal and Webb counties. "As a state representative for 14 years, I fought to bring improved funding for education, healthcare...