About Us
The Board of Directors for the TexBlog PAC consists of just some of the phenomenal political minds in the Texas blog-o-sphere.
Matt Glazer has worked for over 40 campaigns for candidates and non-profits in his first five years in politics. Focusing most of his attention on environmental issues and internet strategies. After graduating from Trinity University in San Antonio, Glazer was given a unique opportunity to work across the country on issue oriented campaigns ranging from a youth voter mobilization to guarantee equal access to water in India.
As the 79th legislature began, Glazer moved back to his home state of Texas to continue his work on water issues for the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance. Expanding his knowledge on environmental issues and his involvement in campaigns gave him the opportunity to work with Rep. Pete Gallego (D-Alpine) during the 80th Session directing all natural resources legislation, as well as, directing both traditional and online communications for the Rep. Gallego.
Currently Glazer works at the Texas Progress Council doing research and media strategy, managing John Lipscombe for County Court at Law No. 8, and advising on internet strategies for state and local races.
Glazer is the Editor-in-Chief of BurntOrangeReport.com as well as a speaker for the National Association of Broadcasters. Glazer is a Houston native, he currently resides in Austin.
Martha Griffin combines political activism, along with a recognized expertise in science education, to effect change in Fort Bend and Harris Counties. Her most recent political success has been in managing Melissa Noriega’s two winning campaigns for Houston City Council. She managed Sherrie Matula’s hard fought contest in 2008 for HD129, which was known for it’s extensive, targeted field program. Griffin has built relationships with the online community, local activists, Democratic clubs, donors, and community leaders to build winning coalitions.
She is a board member of the Texas Progressive Alliance and the writer of Musings, a Fort Bend County based blog. Through her online activism, she has been particularly instrumental in bringing ethics violations to the attention of media, voters and the online community.
As a science education consultant to low performing schools, Griffin works to build capacity for teachers to use best practices to improve student learning. She also works directly with students to increase their knowledge and understanding of science processes and content.
Griffin has worked in executive leadership in non-profit education, and is particularly interested in education policy and the effect of legislative decisions on school districts, communities, and student populations.
Mathematics and communications serve as the unlikely dual obsessions of our newest board member, software engineer and political activist Brian Hamon. In professional life, Brian develops software for embedded security appliances at a Silicon Valley technology company, where he has worked for nine years. There’s a significant possibility that the web page you’re looking at passed through a system running Brian’s code on its journey across the Internet. During the 90s, Brian worked in the family business, a radio broadcasting company in South Texas; and in the 80s he attended the University of Texas in Austin, where he majored in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
In 2003, the deployment of his brother to Iraq inspired Brian to become active in his local Democratic party. At the time, monthly meetings were held in a small back room at a local restaurant. Few Democratic candidates’ names would appear on the ballot, and even fewer would venture into the county in search of support.
Brian began analyzing election results, developing collaborative software and detailed voter files. He began blogging at Eye On Williamson. Gradually, Democratic candidates began to see the possibility of victory. In June 2008, delegates to the state Democratic convention selected Brian to represent them on the SDEC, where he currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Grassroots Committee. By 2008, Williamson county elected its first Democratic official in 14 years, State Rep. Diana Maldonado.
Brian continues to work with the local and state party to improve their grassroots political organization, and use of technology to win elections and improve government.
Born and raised in New York, Charles Kuffner got to Texas as fast as he could by enrolling at Trinity University in 1984. After graduating with a degree in math, he came to Houston where he was briefly a graduate student at Rice. Since then, he was worked in the IT industry, where he is currently a BlackBerry administrator with a large company. He has been a resident of the Heights for more than ten years, where he lives with his wife and two daughters.
Charles has blogged at Off the Kuff since 2002, and online at the Houston Chronicle since 2006. His is the longest continuously published progressive political blog in Texas, and one of the first anywhere to focus primarily on state and local politics. He has won the Houston Press “Best Political Blog” award three times, and was named by Texas Monthly as one of 35 Texans who will shape the future.
Texas bloggers consistently refer to Kuffner as the blogfather because of his strong political connections and insights.
Vince Leibowitz is a longtime political activist and award-winning former editor and journalist who began blogging in 2003. A lifelong East Texas resident, Vince graduated from Mineola High School and holds a BS in history from Texas A&M University-Commerce. As editor of the state’s eighth largest weekly newspaper, Vince was named the winner of the inaugural Nancy Monson Award from the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and the Texas Press Association in 2002 for excellence in open government reporting.Vince founded his first blog, the Free State Standard in 2003.
He is the editor and publisher of CapitolAnnex.com, one of Texas’ most popular progressive political blogs. A five-time 2006 Koufax Award nominee, Vince is also a regular contributor to Burnt Orange Report, where he has blogged since 2004, and Texas Kaos. He has covered Texas politics for the Political State Report and has previously blogged at WatchBlog, Joe Hill Dispatch, and a number of other blogs. He is also a regular print contributor to the San Antonio Current.
Vince is presently an administrator and public relations specialist in the private sector.
Phillip Martin began his political career when he was eighteen, interning for Message, Audience, Presentation (MAP), under President and Creative Director James Aldrete. He worked there for two years before going to work at the Texas State Capitol as a Legislative Aide in 2005. From 2005 through the summer of 2007, Phillip worked at the Capitol as a Legislative Aide and, then, Chief of Staff. During this time he began writing for the popular progressive Texas blog, Burnt Orange Report.
In January 2007, Phillip took a six-month sabbatical from Burnt Orange Report to work as Chief of Staff and Legislative Director for State Representative Garnet F. Coleman (D-Houston) during the 80th Regular Session. A graduate of the Plan II Program at the University of Texas at Austin, Phillip left Rep. Coleman’s office – and his hometown of Austin, Texas – in August 2007 to attend the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He graduated in June 2009 with a Master’s in Public Policy, with a concentration in Press, Politics, and Public Policy. Today he works as a Communications Specialist for the Texas Democratic Trust.
Phillip’s father, Ed Martin, is a political consultant in Texas and former Executive Director of the Texas Democratic Party. His mother has taught math and other subjects at a charter school in South Austin for 12 years, and his sister recently completed her undergraduate work at the University of Chicago.
Karl-Thomas’s Democratic activism is guided by his upbringing in the Texas Hill Country. A second generation German Catholic immigrant and native of Fredericksburg, his politics are guided by the values of service and community, reflected in his status as an Eagle Scount (Troop 135), Texan of the Year (Texas Optimists), and one of the youngest Paul Harris Fellows (Rotary International).
Karl-Thomas was the youngest delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, MA. In that presidential election, he helped re-organize the University Democrats at UT-Austin which resulted in one of the most successful student voter registration and GOTV drives in the history of the organization. One campus precinct reported 99.58% turnout in the 2004 general election, the highest in recent Travis County history.
In 2005, Karl-Thomas spearheaded the UT-Austin efforts against the Texas Marriage Amendment resulting in a 1,000% increase in student turnout for a constitutional election with an opposition vote average 85% against the amendment. In 2006, Karl-Thomas served as the Tech Director for the Travis County Coordinated Campaign and wrote for the Secretary of State Project which elected 5 new Democratic Secretaries of State in key offices across the country. After graduating in 2006, Karl-Thomas worked for the national Democratic online fundraising group, ActBlue, before returning to Texas to serve as the Online Coordinator for Rick Noriega’s US Senate campaign and manage Rep. Mark Strama’s re-election campaign.
Karl-Thomas is currently the Publisher of the most widely read Texas Politics Blog, Burnt Orange Report.
