Longtime political rivals facing off again

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Two longtime political rivals are going head-to-head in a familiar fight, battling it out for the state District 146 seat.

If the names Borris Miles and Al Edwards seem familiar to you, imagine how they seem to each other. This is the fourth time the two men have faced each other in a Democratic primary for the state house.

State Rep. Miles says he's just getting started in helping the part of Houston he's always called home.

"I'm a son of Sunnyside. I've never turned my back on Sunnyside. I've been true and faithful to the district," Miles said.

It's a district though that for 28 years was faithful to his opponent, Edwards. In 2006, Miles ran against the 14-term incumbent and beat him. But then, he lost to Edwards in 2008 amidst heavy turnout.

"The onslaught of Obama voters brought voters that were not in-tune to what was really going on in the state house and local levels," Miles said.

Two years later, Miles won the seat back by a mere eight votes.

"We've got a stronger record than we did in our first term or our second term. We've done a lot of things in the legislature. We've been identified as a leader on the house floor," Miles said.

Miles points to his growing record in the capitol. Edwards reminds us of his nearly three decade head start.

"My reason for going back is, I go back with 30 years of seniority. It puts District 146 from the bottom back up to the top," Edwards said.

Edwards says he's most concerned about Social Security -- a federal issue not touched by the legislature -- health care and the price of college tuition.

"I would place in the hopper, legislation to put a moratorium on increasing college tuition until our economy changes," Edwards said.

Miles also talks about better funding for education and health care and temporarily increasing taxes on certain industries.

"Texas doesn't have enough money. We've got to find ways, in my opinion, find ways to subsidize our sales tax," Miles said.

Both men say they want what's best for District 146. But who will the voter's think is best this time, in a race of familiar political foes?

"Ding ding. Round four," Miles said.

Both men, by the way, have more in common than the seat they seek. Both are members of the same college fraternity and even live on the same Houston street.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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It may look like the news, but it's a political ad

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- It's political campaign season and TV ads are everywhere, including ones featuring ABC13's news coverage. It was a surprise to us on when we saw it for the first time. And may have been confusing to some of you, too. Turns out candidates don't need permission.

This is all legal. It's evolving, but courts have said TV coverage is fair game for fair use, which is why politicians looking for a leg up sometimes use the news to make their point.

It sounds like the news. Even looks the news. But it's a political ad in the Harris County District Attorney's race. Pat Lykos' Republican primary opponent, Mike Anderson, took news clips -- most from ABC13 -- and made the ad to make the point that he's the right guy for the job.

"I think it's getting more difficult to tell what's the news and what's an ad," said Harris County voter Scott Margraves. "I think it's the way it is."

"I think it would be almost illegal," said Don Munton, Harris County voter.

But it's not. Neither ABC13 nor Dave Ward nor Gina Gaston gave Anderson permission or any sort of an endorsement to do it. But Anderson doesn't need it.

"I think it's on the edge," said copyright attorney Tim Headley.

It's called fair use and it's long been part of federal copyright law. The idea is that to keep creativity alive you have to allow some limited "borrowing" of copywritten work.

"The whole idea is we want society to keep progressing forward in its creativity within certain boundaries," Headley said.

But lately courts have said it's OK to use short news clips in political ads.

NBC didn't like it, but didn't sue when Mitt Romney took a 30 second clip from a Newt Gingrich story and replayed it as an ad in January's Florida primary.

And Headley says the courts probably aren't the place to solve this issue.

"I think TV news stations have a far more powerful weapon in their arsenal than a lawsuit," Headley said. "You have control over the local news."

It is important to note again that neither Dave Ward nor Gina Gaston nor ABC13 has ever given a political endorsement and they aren't starting now.

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