#TXLEGE: Latest Crisis Subsides, Toxic Culture Remains

"Whoever has no rule over his own spirit
Is like a city broken down, without walls."
Proverbs 25:28

Sigh:

State Rep. Rick Miller, R-Sugar Land, is no longer running for reelection after he sparked a firestorm for saying he was facing primary challengers because they are Asian.

“During a recent interview with the Houston Chronicle I made some statements that were insensitive and inexcusable,” Miller said in a statement to The Texas Tribune. “In trying to make a point about the campaign I used a poor choice of words that are not indicative of my character or heart.

“I do not want to be a distraction for my party or my constituents, and therefore I have decided not to seek re-election,” he continued.

Obviously, this was the least bad solution.  Had Miller not withdrawn from the race, this would have become a slow drip.  So one cheer.

We guess.

But does anyone feel good about this?!?

 After Bonnen left, we wrote:

[I]s anyone confident a new scandal won't soon emerge?!?

Cuz' we ain't.

Barely six weeks later...another frickin' scandal!!!

We've seen this movie:


From October:

This specific scandal is the completely predictable result of the toxic culture in the Texas capitol that has prevailed for a long time.

The GOP, meanwhile, has been running the place for a quarter century.

This is the same Republican majority that:

• Five years ago, was running college admissions scandals before it was cool.
• With all due respect to Aunt Becky, she ain't got nothin' on Jim Pitts.

• Two years ago, put a man who had been in a sexual relationship with a lobbyist for over a decade in charge of writing its sexual harassment policy.

• Just elected as vice chair a guy who was taking $56,000 a month from an entity under the jurisdiction of the committee he chaired.

The pattern is obvious...to anyone not under the influence of afore mentioned Egyptian rivers.

It can't be defended, and it shouldn't.

Yet, here we are.  Again.  Rick Miller, Dennis Bonnen, and Jim Pitts might be gone.  But Charlie Geren and Jim Murphy are still there.

Is anyone confident about that?!?

Cuz' we (still) ain't.

Bottom Line: Over/under six weeks before the next self-inflicted scandal?!?

#TXLEGE: Acute crisis subsides, Toxic Culture Remains

"For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death."
2 Corinthians 7:10

This was always inevitable:

Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton) announced this morning he would not seek reelection to the Texas House.

“Since Friday, I have had numerous conversations with Members who care deeply about the Texas House, and I respect the manner in which they have handled the entire situation. After much prayer, consultation, and thoughtful consideration with my family, it is clear that I can no longer seek re-election as State Representative of District 25, and subsequently, as Speaker of the House,” said Bonnen in a statement.

“I care deeply about this body and the work we have accomplished over the years, namely, the outstanding success we achieved in the 86th Legislature,” he continued.

This announcement comes after Michael Quinn Sullivan, of the conservative grassroots group Empower Texans, released a recording of a closed-door meeting he had with Bonnen, in which Bonnen offered a clear quid pro quo — Texas House media credentials in exchange for Sullivan monetarily targeting 10 select “moderate” Republican House members.

Two and a half cheers.

It's certainly good that Bonnen is gone.  It always serves the public's interest to remove corrupt officials.  Furthermore, Bonnen's departure reduces the odds of a GOP electoral wipeout.

Still, it's hard to get too excited.  It took them three months to make a completely obvious decision.  It should have taken about three days.

Last Saturday we wrote that, given their inability to do that which is completely obvious re: Bonnen, the GOP deserved to lose the Texas house.  Obviously, this morning's announcement renders most of the specifics of that blog post moot.  Still...is anyone confident a new scandal won't soon emerge?!?

Cuz' we ain't.

As we wrote:

It's no longer just about Dennis Bonnen.  Or one act of political funny business.  This specific scandal is the completely predictable result of the toxic culture in the Texas capitol that has prevailed for a long time.

The GOP, meanwhile, has been running the place for a quarter century.

This is the same Republican majority that:

• Five years ago, was running college admissions scandals before it was cool.
• With all due respect to Aunt Becky, she ain't got nothin' on Jim Pitts.

• Two years ago, put a man who had been in a sexual relationship with a lobbyist for over a decade in charge of writing its sexual harassment policy.

• Just elected as vice chair a guy who was taking $56,000 a month from an entity under the jurisdiction of the committee he chaired.

The pattern is obvious...to anyone not under the influence of afore mentioned Egyptian rivers.

Dennis Bonnen (and Joe Straus and Jim Pitts) might be gone, but Charlie Geren and Jim Murphy remain.

It's hard to feel confident in a culture that continues to tolerate the likes of Charlie Geren and elevates the likes of Jim Murphy.

Even if they did (very, very, belatedly) throw Dennis Bonnen overboard.

Bottom Line: We're certainly in a better place now than we were twelve hours ago...but that's not saying much.

#TXLEGE: At this point, the GOP deserves to Lose the Texas house

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
But when a wicked man rules, the people groan."
Proverbs 29:2

Never, ever, ever underestimate the cowardice, or the stupidity, of the Republican caucus in the Texas house:

Just in — Statement from House Republican Caucus on Bonnen-Burrows-MQS: pic.twitter.com/ifxTJqxNhD

— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) October 18, 2019

That one has to go to the Twitter feed of a Texas Tribune reporter to find that statement, while the GOP caucus hasn't posted it to their own, tells you everything you need to know.

We'd call it denial, but we don't want to insult Egyptian rivers.

In other words:



Yet here we are.

It's 2006 on steroids.

We don't have anything new to say about this specific scandal.  There's nothing we can say that we didn't say three months ago.  And two months ago.  And ten days ago.

Yet here we are.

It's no longer just about Dennis Bonnen.  Or one act of political funny business.  This specific scandal is the completely predictable result of the toxic culture in the Texas capitol that has prevailed for a long time.

The GOP, meanwhile, has been running the place for a quarter century.

This is the same Republican majority that:

• Five years ago, was running college admissions scandals before it was cool.
• With all due respect to Aunt Becky, she ain't got nothin' on Jim Pitts.

• Two years ago, put a man who had been in a sexual relationship with a lobbyist for over a decade in charge of writing its sexual harassment policy.

• Just elected as vice chair a guy who was taking $56,000 a month from an entity under the jurisdiction of the committee he chaired.

The pattern is obvious...to anyone not under the influence of afore mentioned Egyptian rivers.

It can't be defended, and it shouldn't.

The New York Times, meanwhile, gets in on the act:

AUSTIN, Texas — With President Trump arriving in red-state Texas for a campaign rally in Dallas on Thursday, the Republican Party in the state faces a host of troubles.

The Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives is engulfed in scandal. Six of the state’s 23 Republican members of the United States House of Representatives say they will not run for re-election, opening new opportunities for Democrats. And one of the state’s three top Republican leaders believes that the president has become a political liability among a crucial bloc of voters.

“With all due respect to Trump — who I love, by the way — he’s killing us in urban-suburban districts,” Dennis Bonnen, the speaker of the state House and the central figure in the legislative scandal, said in a 64-minute tape recording released on Tuesday.

The recording of a sometimes salty conversation Mr. Bonnen had with a conservative activist at the State Capitol in June includes a description of what critics have called a quid-pro-quo offer that is now under investigation by the Texas Rangers.

Mr. Bonnen says the tape, which was recorded without his knowledge, proves that nothing he said in the conversation broke any laws.

Even so, the political landscape in Texas will now feature both an embattled state leader struggling to hold on to the speakership and an embattled president confronting an impeachment inquiry — a prospect that unquestionably raises the stakes for Republicans in a state their party has dominated for more than two decades.

Consequently, “corruption and abuse of power become not just a national issue but potentially a state-level issue for Republicans as well,” said Jim Henson, a pollster and political analyst based in Austin.

Obviously, a certain type of moron will reply "HashtagFAKENEWS" to the New York Times.  That's fine.  They'll get what they deserve.

To the reality based community, however, its' a warning.

You don't have to agree with every statement in that Times article to understand they've got the basic dynamic right.

The frickin' New York Times understands reality better than the majority party in the Texas legislature.

Think about that.

Yet here we are.

Bottom Line: The Democrats might not deserve to win.  It might remain the case that they suck even more.  It probably does.  But it shouldn't surprise anyone if "might" fails to defeat currently observable reality.

#TXLEGE: Nepotistic Twit (LSAT Score: 147) to seek his Daddy's Old Job

"but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors."
James 2:9

You have GOT to be effing kidding:

I am announcing my candidacy for Texas House District 10. I’m running to ensure the voices of the citizens in Ellis Co and Henderson Co are heard in Austin & that our state gov is focused on making our lives better. I look forward to earning your support! #txlege #hd10 #txgop

— Ryan Pitts (@jpitts12) July 10, 2019

That's the "Young Man" from this story:

The loudest voice in the Legislature calling for Hall's head, Waxahachie House Republican Jim Pitts, turned out to be the father of a young man whose admission to the law school was at the center of the controversy. Pitts has since announced he will not seek re-election.

....

On August 21, 2013, Kevin Williamson, a reporter writing in The National Review, a conservative semimonthly publication founded by the late William F. Buckley Jr., published a story based on a phone call to House Appropriations Committee chairman Jim Pitts. In that call Williamson bluffed Pitts into admitting that his own son Ryan Pitts was one of the low entrance exam scorers who got into the UT Law School through the back door, after Pitts himself had interceded for him.

Pitts launched a vituperative attack on Hall, accusing him of leaking legally protected information about a student, his son, to Williamson, which Pitts insisted was a crime. But the day after Williamson's story appeared, Pitts announced he was retiring from the Legislature.

A week later a story by Reeve Hamilton in The Texas Tribune provided Pitts a podium from which to make an unchallenged defense. He admitted writing a letter asking the law school to admit his son, but he told the Tribune, "Did I ever call for my son -- or the over 100 people I've recommended over the years -- and ask for special treatment? No, I did not."

The Tribune story said Pitts "added that writing such letters has long been standard practice for lawmakers at the Capitol." And there The Texas Tribune, which has received six-figure gifts from the university system, let the matter rest.

Eight months later in a triumph of virtuoso investigative reporting, Jon Cassidy, writing for Watchdog.org, an online news service sponsored by a conservative foundation, laid out the real back story of the law school admissions racket. Pitts had told the truth about one thing: It was standard practice.

It gets better:

Two of the students are known to have LSAT scores well below UT standards. James Ryan Pitts, son of House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, has now failed the bar exam three times since graduation (*) after scoring a 155 and a 147 on the LSAT, which is scored on a scale of 120 to 180. Those scores rank in the 64th percentile and 33rd percentile nationwide, and are well below the scores in the mid-160s that UT usually requires.

* -- According to a trusted Capitol source, that number was up to nine by January 2017.

Now Ryan Pitts wants Daddeh's old gig.

This is the swamp.

Bottom Line: This is some old skool good ol' boy Texas politics right here....

#TXLEGE: The Toxic Capitol Culture is not Limited to Sex

"For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there."
James 3:16

We attended this morning's Trib event about the culture of sexual abuse in the Texas Legislature.  The formal program had its ups and downs, but we had several highly productive conversations afterward.  One of those conversations got us thinking about our first session in 2013.

In our Empower Texans profile last May, we discussed being shocked by what we learned when we discovered the Capitol as it really exists.  While our earlier remarks concerned policy, there were also a couple encounters that revealed the dominant culture.  Let's (belatedly) discuss those.

In February 2013, we attended an early morning trib event with Joe Straus.  During the event, we asked Straus about a budget reform proposal under discussion that session.  Straus did what Straus does (though this was when he was polite about it), but it was what happened after the event that stood out.

Following the event, some guy we'd never met approached us and very aggressively asked us to clarify our support for the Texas Budget Compact.  We confirmed that we did and gave a standard explanation about government spending crowding out productive economic activity.  The guy flew into a rage and browbeat this author over our alleged stupidity for supporting a policy that, according to this gentleman, would mean no roads, schools, or water in a decade.  We haven't thought about this encounter in ages but, in hindsight, it was a deliberate act of gaslighting.

Approximately six months later, we attended an another event during the early stages of the Wallace Hall impeachment.  We made an offhand comment to a staffer for a (then) Republican house committee chair (who has subsequently left the legislature) about how we found the whole thing to be a fiasco with Jim Pitts playing the role of lead putz.  Once again, the guy flew into a rage and browbeat this author for our alleged mendacity in helping to "destroy the greatest university in the world."  Once again, we haven't thought about this encounter in ages but once again, in hindsight, it was a deliberate act of gaslighting.

Obviously, we're fine.  But it was scary in the moment.  And one of our conversations from this morning got us thinking about how that moment of fear might have played out if we weren't...well...male.

In an environment where it's a tactic of first resort to browbeat and gaslight male bloggers over policy...should we really be surprised when the same people browbeat and gaslight young women over sex?!?

In the Texas Legislature, the browbeating and the gaslighting are everywhere.  While the recent revelations related to sexual abuse are the most salacious (and dangerous), they didn't emerge in a vacuum.  When minor incident, after minor incident, after minor incident are tolerated, major incidents are the natural result.

Bottom Line:  No matter what the happens in response to recent revelations, until the Texas Legislature addresses its deeper culture of intimidation, the sexual stuff will eventually return.

Upon further reflection, the University of Texas has NO BUSINESS Supervising Nuclear Weapons....

"He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy."
Proverbs 28:13

On Friday, we discussed the University of Texas' latest scheme to help manage the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal.  We made the political observation that doing so would require the consent of Energy Secretary Rick Perry, which is ironic considering that Perry was the Governor who appointed Wallace Hall to the Board of Regents.  But, having had a few days to digest everything, we believe the Wallace Hall case encapsulates why the current leadership of the University of Texas should not be allowed anywhere near nuclear weapons.

Consider what the Wallace Hall case revealed about the university's character: Confronted with indisputable evidence that they had been running a pay-to-play admissions scam for the offspring of connected politicians (who scored a 155 on their LSAT) (and lying on their financial reports) (and creating slush funds for favored faculty), the university engaged in a cover-up the depth of which boggles the mind.  That being said, it wasn't a matter of life or death.  Ultimately, for as bad as some of the stuff Wallace Hall uncovered was, the only consequence to the university would have been embarrassment.

And if they were willing to go that far merely to avoid embarrassment...how much further would they go if there was a serious matter of national security at stake?!?

It doesn't take a genius to predict that all sorts of global bad guys would love to infiltrate the U.S. nuclear weapons program.  Good grief, the Chinese did just that 20 years ago.  In the event that sensitive information is compromised, the most important next step is to come clean and contain the damage.  Considering their record, does anyone believe that the University of Texas will do that?!?

Also, let's not overlook the fact that Chancellor McRaven ran point on a cover-up into the deaths of two dozen Navy SEALS in his last gig.

Furthermore, are we really supposed to trust an organization that hasn't done a thing following two on-campus murders in 13 months to supervise nuclear weapons?!?

Bottom Line: Until the university undergoes the bottom to top housecleaning it so desperately needs, this is a spectacularly terrible idea.

Straus puts pro-Obamacare liberal in charge of state budget....

"Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
Matthew 7:20

LOL:

Texas House Speaker Joe Straus announced the committee chairs Thursday. Among the new chairmen: State Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond, who led the House Higher Education Committee last session, will spearhead the House's budget planning as the new chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Zerwas succeeds John Otto, who retired following the 2015 session.

Now who, pray tell, is John Zerwas?!?

From last session:

From two sessions ago:

HB 3791 by State Rep. John Zerwas (R – Simonton), Speaker Straus’ point-man on healthcare policy, was voted out of the full Approprations Committee 15-9 this morning, sending it on to the Calendar’s Committee to be scheduled for a vote on the house floor. (We’ll update this post with the vote breakdown when the committee minutes are posted. Early reports show San Angelo Rep. Drew Darby was a “resounding and unequivocal yes.”)

HB 3791 seeks to find a “Texas Solution” to Medicaid, a sugar-coated version of the Obama Administration’s proposal to drastically expand a massive entitlement program – something that would cost the state billions of additional tax dollars in just a few short years. In other words, Zerwas’ proposal is neither a solution nor good for Texas.

....

Mr. Zerwas says his bill is not Medicaid expansion because it’s actually “the creation of a new program.” No seriously. We’re all supposed to feel better about growing government because he’s calling it a new program, instead of an expansion of an existing one. You couldn’t make this stuff up.

Bottom Line: The silver lining is that the past two House appropriations chairs (the afore mentioned John Otto and the disgraced Jim Pitts) both retired at the end of the most recent sessions; considering the...shenanigans we've already seen on the budget this session, there's probably a good chance that piece of history will repeat itself.

Scoundrels Protecting Scoundrels....

"I have hated the assembly of evildoers,
And will not sit with the wicked."
Psalm 26:5

You'll never guess who gave a last minute donation to Dan Flynn:

Bottom Line: There's a certain satisfaction watching the former state representative who abused his office to get his son Ryan got into UT Law despite an LSAT score of 155 attempt to prop up the career of the state representative who led the cover-up into that abuse of office and knowing it's going to fail.

Wallace Hall speaks IN DAN FLYNN'S DISTRICT!!!

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
Galatians 6:9

Last night, Wallace Hall spoke in Dan Flynn's district to inform Flynn's constituents of his activities on behalf of Joe Straus' impeachment committee:



Highlights:

• All of his kids have been attending U.T. this entire time.

• "Rot...manifests itself in our political class."

• "I expect to disagree with people on the opposite side of issues, I don't expect to be misled by people on my side who tell us one thing and do another."

• "Texas is a red state, how in the world are we being governed by moderates?!?"

• Straus holds power: "by the unanimous support of the Democrats in the Texas House."

• "I consider a vote for Speaker Straus to be a vote for sanctuary cities."

• "I care deeply about education."

• Nobody criticizes what he's found.

• UT- Austin is the only system institution where he's had a problem, the other 13 system institutions have been fine.

• Flynn's Chief of Staff lied about impeachment committee finding forgivable loan program.

• Spring 2013: "I asked for two sets of data."

Highlights:

• "I had asked for all open records to be put online."
• "I've been working on this since February 2011."
• Still hasn't happened.

• "I made a request for communication between the President [Powers] and politicians."
• "When this happened, some of the most powerful politicians in the state came after me."
• Dewhurst, Jim Pitts, Dan Branch, Zaffirini, Seliger.
• "They trolled Dallas looking for dirt on me and my family."
• "I received some very aggressive e-mails."

• Paul Foster ambushed him and asked for his resignation.

• Straus instigated impeachment: "To protect his members."

• Flynn's impeachment committee: "I was denied the right to council" and other cross examination.

• Flynn refused to subpeona him, which would have allowed him to testify fully.

• "I call what Dan Flynn did a gross abuse of his power and a kick in the teeth to all Texans who are the rightful owners of our government."

• Flynn's committee mostly met in secret.

Highlights:

• Straus offered Perry a corrupt bargain and Perry declined.

• Straus sent the Travis County DA after him.

• Sharphorn found "a huge disparity" in admissions notes to prospective students with letters.

• "If indicted, at least I would have a public trial."

• Investigation only moved forward because a whistleblower came forward to Cigarroa.

• Powers is now the highest paid member of UT law school faculty.

• Vote Bryan Slaton.

Highlights:

• The House didn't have the nerve to impeach.

• Impeachment committee tried to bait him into committing crimes.

• "The fact that they didn't indict me is unbelievable."

• McRaven blew off the Kroll Report.

UT. Board of Regents "Memorializes Bad Acts"

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them."
Ephesians 5:11

UT Administration Building -- By an 8-1 vote, today the University of Texas Board of Regents voted to formally allow Campus Presidents to override admissions decisions in "very rare" cases of "highest institutional importance."

Today's policy change arises from the well documented scandals surrounding former UT-Austin President Bill Powers' improper conduct over the past decade.  As Watchdog.org has documented, former President Powers intervened in hundreds of admissions cases, many of whom would not have been admitted without special access.  Today's change tightens some rules while codifying a glaring loophole.

On the positive side, today's changes requires the University make all factors in the admissions process "readily available for prospective students."  Admissions officers may only consider letters of recommendation "based on substance" rather than the position of the person sending the letter.  The new policy specifically prohibits admitting potential students who have been previously denied admissions or other "egregious" cases.

Unfortunately, the new policy also contains the exception listed above.  The only formal criteria is that the President's decisions must be "defensible" on an academic basis.  Individual campus Presidents will be required to report to the Chancellor annually all cases where they overrode the campus admissions department.  Admissions accountability for campus Presidents will be centralized in the Chancellor's office.  Due to "privacy" concerns, the public will never learn about these cases.  As Chancellor Bill McRaven explained, "to some degree, it's my discretion."  Based on his previous record, if anyone trusts Bill McRaven to operate in an open and transparent manner, we have some mineral rights in South Texas we'd love to sell them.

On a practical level, today's action will probably restrict the worst abuses.  For example, it's hard to see the Jim Pitts case moving forward under the new rules.  Former state representative Jim Pitts (who chaired the appropriations committee), retired in disgrace in 2013 after it became public that his son Ryan was admitted to UT Law school despite having scored 155 on his LSAT.

Regent Wallace Hall was the only dissent.  Hall protested the fact the 15 minutes of discussion that preceded today's vote was the only time the Board has discussed either admissions corruption or the Kroll Report.  As Wallace explained, today's vote "memorializes bad acts from a hidden admissions program."

Bottom Line: While the new rules modestly rein in the most public abuses, making the Office of the Chancellor (without a public paper trail) the only check on Presidential admissions overrides tells you everything you need to need to know about the new University of Texas admissions policy.

-----

Update: Watchdog has more here.

Wallace Hall at NE Tarrant Tea Party

"The wicked flee when no one pursues,
But the righteous are bold as a lion.?
Proverbs 28:1

Wallace Hall spoke to the NE Tarrant Tea Party last week; start with Hall's prepared remarks:



Highlights:

• "There hasn't been a lot to be optimistic about" in Texas govt. the past few years.

• "Being a Regent is a significant responsibility that should be taken very serious [sic]."

• "It is not sufficient to treat the role of regent as an honorary post."

• $15 billion annual budget, over 200k students in full UT system.

• "It is critical that the funding under our direction is not wasted."

• Insisted on following National Accounting Standards.
• UT restated their financials by over $200 million.
• Author's Note: Personally, out of all the UT scandals Wallace has uncovered, we think this one is the worst. 

• Blew the whistle on "forgivable loan" program.

• Sought "proper compliance with the Texas Public Information Act."
• "Incredibly, three years after this effort has begun, the project remains a work in progress."

• Procurement irregularities related to no-bid contracts.

• The admissions stuff.

• "The most prominent attempt to stop me was in the form of a campaign by House speaker Joe Straus to impeach me."
• Assisted by (the disgraced) Jim Pitts and Dan Branch.

• Bill Powers created "a phalanx of defenders."

• For the past 10 years, UT Austin has "languished."

• "Regents are either too intimidated or disinterested to perform their regental duties, this is made worse when board members see it as their duty to block honest inquiry because they fear exposing friends and/or politicians."

• "It is one thing for board members to sit by while others ask uncomfortable questions (or, in other words, perform their duties), it is something else for board members to encourage opposition to other board members who ask uncomfortable questions."
• "Unfortunately, that is what is taking place on our board."
• "Our board leadership consistently has pushed for more and more rule changes that restrict, if not make impossible, efforts by Regents to obtain information."

• Only gets: "Spoon-fed, redacted, information."

• "Opacity is our enemy."

• Runs through Criminalization of Politics
• Stickland
• MQS
• Perry
• Paxton
• Literally the next day, Jane Nelson was added to the list.
• ALL INITIATED BY STRAUS OR HIS ALLIES.

Q&A with Jonathan Stickland:

Highlights:

• Perry was very insistent that costs were too high.

• No idea he would find what he found heading in.

• "The big pink building" was when he couldn't function as a fiduciary.

• Stickland: "They knew the message, they just reject conservative principles."

• Gene Powell "was terrific."

• Cranberg, Pejovich also "terrific."

• "Senator Zaffirini would make some condescending comment to the press."

• Stickland: UT gave an "incredible" spread to legislators.
• "Amazing to me" how many people this was the only issue they cared about.
• They kept impeachment "completely away from Jonathan Stickland."

• Value of a discretionary seat at UT-Austin has increased tremendously over the past two decades.

• UT-Austin: 24,000 employees for 50,000 students.
• "I still don't know the answer for that."

• Straus' offer: Walked over to Gov's [Perry] office and said 7 reasons to impeach.
• Jessie Ancira called Perry's Chief of Staff and said the whole thing would go away if Wallace resigned.

• Wallace: "Governor Perry has been a stalwart."
• Stickland: "On this issue."

• "Our board never got to speak to the [Kroll] investigators."

• The Board has never discussed admissions or the Kroll report.

• Gets anonymous calls and e-mails "frequently."

• Stickland plugs Bo French.

• Stickland: UT still stonewalling the Lege.

• Stickland: Establishment tries to make examples out of ringleaders.

• "If they don't do what they said somehow there's this really complicated explanation...."

• "There's no use trying to persuade people once they've gone down that path, all you can do is replace them."

• Tenure reform something else the Board hasn't discussed.

John Otto: Another one bites the dust

"And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart now from the tents of these wicked men! Touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins.”
Numbers 16:26

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, another Straus lieutenant retires:

After a decade in the Texas House and fresh off his first session as chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, state Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, announced Tuesday that he is not planning to seek re-election.

“I want to thank the voters of House District 18 for their support and encouragement over the years," Otto said in a statement. "This was not an easy decision, but I never intended for this experience to be a lifelong endeavor. After accomplishing much of what I set out to do when first elected, the time is right for me to step aside."

Otto, 66, joined the House in 2005 after stints on the Dayton City Council and Dayton Independent School Board.

[Author's Note: Emphasis added.]

It's impossible to overstate the importance of what just happened.  While he keeps a lower profile (and isn't nearly as big of a jerk), John Otto is a Straus subordinate on par with Byron Cook and Charlie Geren.  Otto has spoken or been on a panel at nearly every lobby event we've ever attended in Austin.

Appropriations chairmen don't retire lightly.  While Otto isn't disgraced the way Jim Pitts was when he left, this is still the second session in a row where the appropriations chair isn't coming back.  If you need to know anything about how being a member of Straus' leadership team goes over in the rest of the state, that's it.

The best reaction to Otto's retirement cam from the Texas Public Employees Association:

Retiring House Appropriations Committee Chair John Otto is a past recipient of the TPEA Legislator of the Year Award. We will miss working with him.
Posted by Texas Public Employees Association on Tuesday, July 7, 2015

\

Bottom Line: If Otto's throwing in the towel, keep an eye on Drew Darby and John Zerwas as the next to retire....

-----

Update: Apparently, Darby announced a re-election bid in late June; serves us right for not reading Quorum Report.

Mr. McRaven's "Blue Ribbon Panel" Reports Back

"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight."
Proverbs 11:1

Following the Kroll report, Mr. McRaven commissioned a "blue ribbon panel" to investigate the U.T's admissions practices; they reported back at today's regents meeting:





Highlights:

• McRaven will make his full recommendations at the August meeting.

• (Former U.T. President) Larry Faulkner chaired it, which means it's a joke.

• No firewall between the University President and admissions.
• In limited cases, President should be able to overrule admissions committee
• Prez will report on these cases once a year to the Chancellor.
• Author's Note: Who, of course, will do nothing.

• Letters: Undue influence = Coercion.

• No "sharply restrictive" policies on letters.

• No open records for admissions data.
• Blah, blah, FERPA, blah, blah.

• Abandon admissions holds.
• Author's Note: Essentially, create a new system for business as usual.

• Process is inherently subjective.

• Wallace Hall: "How is it ever acceptable" for someone to gain admission via proximity to the university President or the right legislator?!?

• "President is the ultimate admissions officer."

• Act all butt-hurt that Jim Pitts' incompetent son Ryan's 155 LSAT score became public

The statesman has a detailed write up here.

Bottom Line: Any allegedly new admissions policy based upon the premise that the university "President is the ultimate admissions officer" is, by definition, a farce.

John Wray ignoring his constituients

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
But when a wicked man rules, the people groan."
Proverbs 29:2

It looks like the successor to the disgraced Jim Pitts is following in his predecessor's footsteps:

To the Editor,

Voters sent a clear message Nov. 4, that we want a conservative Republican agenda in our state government. Now is the time for you to pay attention to make sure your representatives are going to adhere to those conservative ways. Session doesn’t begin until Jan. 13 and many representatives are planning to throw away their conservative platform they campaigned on. Remember, you vote for representatives and not leaders to do whatever they please. It is up to you to hold them accountable.

The first vote State Representatives will make will determine the entire 84th legislative session. I am referring to the race for Speaker of the Texas House. Unfortunately, Representative, John Wray plans to cast his vote for a proven left leaning “Republican,” Joe Straus. In case you are not aware, the Speaker chooses the committee chairs. Straus has a record for choosing liberal chairs that kill conservative legislation. We’re not talking about a few pieces, but rather, it’s being described as a war on conservatives.

The precinct chairs that make up the executive committee for the Ellis County Republican Party passed a resolution calling for State Rep.- elect John Wray to vote in favor for Scott Turner (against Joe Straus) as speaker of the Texas House. You can find this resolution in the Ellis County Conservatives Facebook group or on my page, Ashley Sellers-Ellis Co. GOP Precinct Chair 102. This resolution passed overwhelmingly at 20 for 6 against and 1 abstention. You will also find information on who Straus is and his war on conservatives. If you are not on Facebook, email me at precinct102@yahoo.com and I will forward you this information.

So the question remains. Will our new representative listen to the constituents of District 10 and the voice of the Executive Committee of the ECRP and support a proven conservative? Surely our new representative elect John Wray won’t unite with the Democrats and vote Straus for Speaker to continue the war on conservatives.

There was a recent submission to the Elephant’s Ear about supporting our elected officials. It stated, “..The citizens of Ellis County want to have a voice in Austin. If it is absolutely clear that Joe Strauss will have all the votes necessary to win, then a vote against him will only guarantee that Ellis County will have very little power and say about what happens in Texas for the next two years. We will have made our point, but what will be the point? Instead, let us put our energy toward building a powerful ground game for the next Speaker election in two years…” I would disagree. We don’t need a bully that won’t allow us to have a voice if he didn’t get his way(Speaking about Straus). Yes, we could have a more powerful ground game for the next Speaker race (while not underestimating this one), but I would add that a Republican State Representative that aligns his agenda with Democrats will need to be replaced in the following primary.

Ashley Sellers,

Midlothian

Jim Pitts' Home County Endorses Scott Turner

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
But when a wicked man rules, the people groan."
Proverbs 29:2

It's impressive what having your local state rep retire in disgrace, after his son got into U.T. law with an LSAT score of 155, will do for a county party executive committee:

Readers may contact Representative-elect John Wray here.

Wallace Hall Blows Whistle Nationally!!!

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9

Last Weekend's WSJ:

The dispute over Mr. Hall is part of a broader fight between the nine-member board and school officials over whether the university has done enough to lower costs and keep a lid on tuition increases, a debate with parallels in other states. The University of Virginia board ousted school President Teresa Sullivan in 2012 partly because of concerns she wasn't moving quickly enough to address budget challenges. The board later reinstated Ms. Sullivan after faculty and alumni protested.

"As more questions are being asked about the costs of higher education, we need to have more engaged trustees, not less," said Anne Neal, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which has defended Mr. Hall's board tenure.

Mr. Hall, a 52-year-old University of Texas alumnus, has rejected requests that he resign to stave off the impeachment proceedings, which could make him only the third Texas official to be impeached by the legislature in the past 100 years. He said in an interview that he is fulfilling his oath to monitor a major university system that employs 90,000 people and has a $14.5 billion annual operating budget. "I disagree with the idea that board members need to be seen but not heard," he said.

....

"When he raised that issue, thermonuclear destruction was visited on him," said Mr. Hall's lawyer, Stephen Ryan, adding that his client has behaved lawfully at all times.

After Mr. Hall publicly disclosed his allegations of admissions favoritism at the university last summer, state Rep. Jim Pitts, the Republican head of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, told several media outlets that he was one lawmaker who had written a letter of recommendation, in this case for his son, who was admitted to the University of Texas Law School.

Read the whole thing here.

UT admits the unqualified but politically connected

"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight."
Proverbs 11:1

A bombshell report from Watchdog.org about UT Law School admissions:

HOUSTON — Some of the least-qualified graduates of the University of Texas School of Law in recent years have high-level connections in the Legislature, which may explain how they got into the prestigious law school in the first place.

A months-long Watchdog.org analysis of political influence on the admissions process at UT Law found there’s some truth, after all, to the old line about who you know mattering more than what you know. We found dozens of Longhorns who don’t know enough to be lawyers but know somebody important in the Legislature.

Two of those mediocre students are legislators themselves.

Some have connections to the leadership circle of House Speaker Joe Straus, others to powerful state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, who’s already been caught three times trying to pull end runs around the admissions process.

....

Watchdog.org found a pattern of overlapping political influence and underwhelming performance on the bar exam. Any single one of the cases we describe could have an alternate explanation, such as personal problems that derailed studies.

Taken as a whole, however, they offer clear evidence that political influence is the reason dozens of students who are unable to pass the bar are getting into the state’s top law school.

....

Normally, almost nobody who gets into UT Law fails the bar. Watchdog.org found 90 students who had failed it twice or more. That should be reason enough for university officials to double-check their grades and Law School Admission Test — or LSAT — scores to see which students actually earned admission, and who benefited from a political favor.

We found additional reasons to scrutinize 24 names on that list:

• At least 15 of the students are politically connected, either through office, personal relationships, or campaign donations to officeholders who have figured in the fight over UT’s leadership. 

• At least 12 of the students have roots in Laredo, home of state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, who is known to have pulled strings on behalf of other applicants. As Laredo has just 2 percent of the state’s population, it’s highly over represented in this sample. 

• A half-dozen of the students have connections to state Rep. Joe Straus, his close allies, or a lobby shop that rose to prominence with Straus’s ascendance to speaker in 2009. 

• Two of the students are known to have LSAT scores well below UT standards. James Ryan Pitts, son of House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, has now failed the bar exam three times since graduation after scoring a 155 and a 147 on the LSAT, which is scored on a scale of 120 to 180. Those scores rank in the 64th percentile and 33rd percentile nationwide, and are well below the scores in the mid-160s that UT usually requires. 

• Another 2012 graduate with three LSAT scores in the 140s failed the bar exam twice, but because we don’t yet have scores for most of these students, we’re not singling her out and naming her.

....

Two recent UT Law grads already were elected officials when they were admitted.

State Rep. Richard Peña Raymond, like Zaffirini a Democrat from Laredo, who was first elected in 1992, failed the bar exam in 2007 and 2008, and is not a member of the Texas bar.

State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, first elected in 2002, failed the bar three times between 2010 and 2012, and is not a member of the bar, either. One of Rodriguez’s senior staffers, also a UT Law grad, failed the bar three times between 2009 and 2010.

Rodriguez works for the law firm of Brown McCarroll, which dove deep into lobbying during the 2008 election cycle. When Straus led a post-election coup to unseat Republican Speaker Tom Craddick with his “Gang of 11” Republicans and the support of the Democratic caucus, Brown McCarroll was one of the biggest beneficiaries, according to Capitol Inside.

Thanks to the former Straus staffers and the Democratic officeholders it employed, Brown McCarroll was suddenly the second most influential law firm lobby shop in town. Among its employees were state Sen. Kirk Watson, a critic of Regent Hall, and former state Rep. Pete Gallego, now a congressman.

....

Of the nearly 2,700 UT Law students to take the exam since 2006, only 29 have failed it three times or more. Thirteen made our list for closer inspection, and seven of those have ties to Laredo.

Among the 13 are Carlos Manuel Zaffirini Jr., the state senator’s only son, and Jeffrey Carona, the son of Republican state Sen. John Carona. Sen. Carona has donated some $31,043 to Zaffirini’s campaign in recent years, in addition to undisclosed sums his company paid her as a “communications consultant.”

As of the February 2014 exam, Ryan Pitts, son of the outgoing Appropriations Committee chairman and one of Straus’ Gang of 11, has failed the bar three times.

Read the whole thing here.

EXCLUSIVE: Comptroller Susan Combs, Early Voting, and the Local Debt Bomb

"The rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower is servant to the lender.”
Proverbs 22:7

Early voting is underway in 79 separate municipal/school district bond elections, totaling $6.6 BILLION, across Texas.  While individual readers need to do their own due diligence on their own ISD and municipality, Cahnman's Musings spoke with Texas Comptroller Susan Combs about the big picture for local government debt. We've included the conversation in full:

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Highlights:

• Combs put the info for her agency on her Fourth day in office.

• Comptroller's Local Debt website: TelltheTruthTexas.org
• Readers can find information for individual bonds and taxing entities.

• Texas has the second highest local government debt per capita in the country.
• School Districts = 54%
• Average per student debt across Texas = $13,000

• School Construction: Extremely difficult to find the info.
• October 17th - Sent e-mail open records request to every school district in Texas
• Some took up to 90 days to respond.
• Texas law requires a response within 10 days.
• Huge variation in cost per square foot and cost per student.
• San Antonio was a particularly bad offender.

• Pflugerville had a $25 million stadium jammed into the package.

• Debt Watch: Will show you the pattern.
• Unfortunately, the comptroller has limited resources, so local citizens need to do a lot of the legwork.

• HB/SB 14 (2013): Clearly not that had to put the data out, since the Comptroller has built the capability
• Jim Pitts and Tommy Williams worked had on it during the 83rd, but it was killed by others.
• Note: This website has been very critical of both Pitts and Williams, but they deserve credit for their work on this issue.

• To fight debt: Folks "just need to talk about it more."
• Speak to your local mayor and city council and school board member.
• The Houston Chronicle didn't know the date of an upcoming bond election.

• Capital Appreciation Bonds: "They scare me."
• Sen. Hinojosa concerned.
• Ticking time bomb

• "Tell the truth, in words of one syllable...tell voters the truth."

• Governments don't like to tell people what they need to know.

Rusty Hardin: Joe Straus' (and Bill Powers') "Bloody, Poisoned, Dwarf"

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"
Isaiah 5:20

Marxists follow patterns.  Their power built on lies, they must demonize the truth.  Enemies of the state must be eliminated.  What was true for Soviet Russia in 1937 applies equally to the University of Texas in 2014.  In the 'purifying' thunderstorm of Soviet 'justice' that is the Wallace Hall impeachment, Rusty Hardin is Nikolai Yezhov.

Rusty Hardin's 'report' is an astonishing, though strangely entertaining, act of chutzpah.  Using innuendo and petulance, the $157,000 (and counting) 'report' concludes that Wallace Hall is a big meanie: "Hall acted like a roving inspector general in search of a problem rather than a solution." (2)  Specifically, the 'report' charges Hall with making people work late, 'violating' irrelevant federal privacy laws, being mean to Bill Powers, and demanding basic financial accountability as grounds for impeachment.  We haven't heard a powerful, politically-connected, Texan whine this much since we were last in a room with Jim Keffer.  But at least Rusty Hardin got his 30 pieces of silver.

Hardin echoes Jim Pitts' original resolution that Hall made "numerous unreasonably burdensome, wasteful, and intrusive requests for information" (44)  Waaah!!!  The 'report' shrieks for 30 pages about Hall's supposed misdeeds.  Examples include: making people work late (49), personally visiting campus (55), meeting with the Office of the Attorney General (59), sayin' mean stuff (61), that "have negatively impacted employee morale" (79).  Sounds to us like due diligence.

Hardin's greatest slight of hand, however, concerns Hall's alleged abuse of 'confidential' information while investigating improper relationships between the UT administration and state legislators Jim Pitts and Judith Zaffirini.  At issue is an interpretation of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974.  In the gray area of FERPA interpretation, Hardin uses a convenient standard set by the U.S. Department that contradicts directly with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the 2002 Case Owasso Independent School District vs. Falvo.  The Court ruled unanimously that only an institution, not an individual, can violate FERPA, reducing Hardin's argument to legalistic sophistry.  A conservative lawyer with whom we spoke described this section as "sloppy" to the point "I would be embarrassed to put my name on it."

Of course, Wallace Hall's greatest 'transgression' is that he was mean to poor Bill Powers.  Following revelations about corruption at the UT Law School, "Hall's focus tightened on former law school dean Powers and what Hall perceived as Powers' failings." (117)   This January, following Powers' questionable testimony to the impeachment committee, "Hall sent [former U.T. Chancellor Francisco] Cigarroa a lengthy and detailed critique of President Powers's [sic] sworn testimony." (87)  He even had the nerve to follow up two weeks later!!! (88)  Clearly, Wallace Hall is worse than parents who eat their children's Halloween candy:



UT's most serious malfeasance, however, concerns the $215 million software donation scandal.  In 2007 and 2010, UT's geology department received valuable in-kind donations from a third party, which they counted towards their capital campaign using a favorable interpretation of a legal grey area.  In 2011, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) explicitly closed the loophole.  Caught with their pants down, UT panicked (93).  Hall refused to acquiesce to the cover-up (98).  Hall was eventually proven correct (95).  Clearly, the solution is to get rid of Wallace Hall.

An old legal cliche states: "[W]hen the law is on your side, argue the law.  When the facts are on your side, argue the facts.  When neither the law nor the facts are on your side, pound the table."  Rusty Hardin's 'report' pounds...something.  It combines the precise legal analysis of Joseph Stalin with the rhetorical subtlety of Khrushchev at the United Nations.  But the University of Texas is the biggest special interest in this state, and enemies of Bill Powers and Joe Straus must be punished.  FORWARD fellow comrades!!!

History Lesson: Dan Branch's slush fund for Bill Powers

"May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks proud things,"
Psalm 12:3

In 2012, under the 'leadership' of Bill Powers, the University of Texas was embroiled in a $215 million accounting scandal.

How did the Texas House committee on Higher Education, under the 'leadership' of Dan Branch, respond?!?

Was there an investigation?!? Nope.

Was there any attempt to hold the UT administration accountable?!?  Negative.

Instead, Branch focused on helping the University issue new debt:

The Texas House appropriations committee gave tentative approval to House Bill 5 on Thursday, which authorizes and appropriates millions of dollars for construction and maintenance projects at public colleges across Texas.

Appropriations chair Jim Pitts thanked his fellow legislators for their support of the measure, a near-duplicate of which was passed by the House in the regular session. That version died when the House and Senate failed to make an eleventh-hour deal. House higher education chair Dan Branch (R-Dallas), the bill’s author, outlined the measure before it was passed and referred to the calendars committee, which schedules bills to be considered by the full House.

The mechanism for funding these projects, tuition revenue bonds (TRBs), provide debt service for the costs incurred by new construction or maintenance. The current legislation would partially fund 62 projects around the state, including funding 100 percent of projects at three brand new universities.

....

Legislators like Pitts and Branch hope to convince Perry that the bonds, not passed since 2006, will keep Texas competitive both economically and academically. He points to the EERC as an example of a project that will not only keep talented students in Texas, but attract students and faculty to Texas. Branch says he has spoken to Perry on the topic, and worked closly with the governor’s senior staff.

“My sense is that he’s heard from a lot of people around the state,” Branch says, “and so I think he’s paying attention.”

[Sidenote: Because Jim Pitts' relationship with the University of Texas is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo distinguished!!!]

And what exactly are "Tuition Revenue Bonds"?!?

Tuition Revenue Bonds (TRBs) are issued under the RFS program and are secured by the same pledge of all legally available revenues of the System; however, the expectation is that the State will reimburse TRB debt service with general revenue. Despite the name, TRB debt service is not necessarily paid from tuition and fees. In fact, an institution is not required to have tuition in order to be eligible for TRB debt proceeds. Tuition Revenue Bond debt is specifically authorized by the Legislature under Ch. 55 of the Education Code. Please see Ch. 55 of the Education Code for further detail regarding this topic.  [Emphasis Added.]

Translated into English: Taxpayer-backed slush fund.

In 2012, Bill Powers lied on the University of Texas' financial statement to the tune of $215 million.  In 2013, Dan Branch attempted to reward Powers with an additional $310 million in taxpayer backed bonding authority.  What could possibly go wrong?!?