Lamar Smith's election season anti-Hillary "Investigation"

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
1 John 4:1

[Fun Fact: As a 30 year incumbent, Lamar Smith has been in D.C. six years longer than Hillary Clinton.]

LOL, there's some convenient timing:

Science Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) on Wednesday launched his own investigation of Clinton’s private email server, invoking the panel’s jurisdiction over cybersecurity issues. The new investigation will focus on the private IT companies involved in maintaining the Clinton server.

Bottom Line: Lamar Smith has voted like a liberal for 30 years.  Now, six weeks before his most competitive election in a loooooooooooooooooooong time, he just "happens" to launch an "investigation" into Hillary Clinton.  Voters will see through this publicity stunt.

Dan Patrick's RECORD SHATTERING Fundraising!!!

"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

DADGUM:

PR 16 01 14 by DanPatrickTX

Jay Wiley on Property Taxes

"But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so, because of the fear of God."
Nehemiah 5:15

Given the lukewarm comments on property tax relief the incumbent made earlier today, it's worth reviewing Jay Wiley's positions on property tax relief:

Eliminating Property Taxes = Economic Growth

Texas has one of the most burdensome property tax systems in the nation. Ever-increasing tax assessments have forced many Texans from their homes, led to costly lawsuits against assessment formulations, and is a complex mess that few people actually understand. Property taxes compel homeowners to effectively lease their own homes from the government.

Our property taxes are based on an imagined, or assessed, value of our home. Instead, a better system would be to tax the actual transaction price of the property when it is sold. This would remove the prospect of taxing homeowners out of their home through radically increasing assessments. This also eliminates the need for the 254 separate appraisal districts in Texas and their thousands of employees.

Texas should lower down our current property tax and eventually replace it with a small, understandable consumption, or sales, tax. Some of the most recognized economists in the country have estimated that such a replacement, dollar for dollar, would increase Texans’ personal income between 1.8% and 4.7% and trigger a net gain of hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

Economic growth is encouraged when the burden of supporting state government is lifted from homeowners and broadened to include everyone in Texas through the goods and services we all buy. Taxes are healthier and more fair when tied to economic activity and consumers’ ability to pay, instead of imaginary assessed value of a fixed asset.

Last legislative session, Paul Workman sided with Democrats and big government Republicans against providing property tax relief for homeowners until the pressure from conservatives became unbearable. We need conservative leadership with bold new ideas and the courage to fight for them.

Bottom Line: To see meaningful property tax relief, you need to elect a critical mass of legislators who are more interested in representing their constituents than appeasing taxpayer-funded lobbyists; in HD-47 that candidate is clearly Jay Wiley.

DAN FLYNN LIES about Endorsement....

One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
Titus 1:12

What a guy:

The discontent is so widespread that my opponent is trying to make people believe he actually is the conservative by using false endorsements on his campaign material. As recently as this month, Dan has been passing out material with quotes from Cathie Adams, President of Texas Eagle Forum, without her permission, to make voters believe that he has the support of top conservative grassroots organizations..

“I never gave Dan permission to use my endorsement on his campaign material for this election.” stated Adams. “I supported him in the past because he used to vote more conservatively, until Dan chose to serve the Austin establishment, rather than his constituents."

"I’m proud to support Bryan Slaton, and I’m confident he won’t make the same mistakes Flynn has made,”

- Cathie Adams

Bottom Line: Dan Flynn is a living case for term limits.  No one denies that Dan Flynn was a reasonably decent conservative in a different era.  But that era has long since passed and there's a reason why both Cathie Adams and this website support Bryan Slaton in HD-2!!!

EXCLUSIVE: U.T. Admissions SCANDAL EXPANDS to Geren!!!

"Through God we will do valiantly,
For it is He who shall tread down our enemies."
Psalm 60:12

Well, well, well, look what we obtained from U.T. via Open Records Request:

Geren Powers Letters 2k13 by Cahnman

This begs several more questions:

• On whose behalf was Geren writing these letters?!?  How does Charlie Geren define the term "friend"?!?  How much money have this "friends" given Geren's campaigns over the years?!?

• Are these two letters the only ones Geren has sent?!?

• It's been nearly two years since the names of specific legislators started trickling out in this scandal; how many more legislators names have yet (even at this late date) to drop?!?

Bottom Line: Charlie Geren's letters to Bill Powers are dated May 31, 2013.  The Texas House launched the Wallace Hall impeachment three and a half weeks later.  Obviously, we've yet to learn all the details, but the timing is CERTAINLY interesting....

#NoRePete: SESSIONS claims Homestead Exemption IN FLORIDA!!!

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

Befuddled by the Clowns is a North Texas based conservative blog whose proprietor lives in Pete Sessions' district; apparently, she's been doing some digging:

By contrast, here's the property tax listing for Sessions' home in Dallas:

Bottom Line: Activists in Dallas County have suspected Pete Sessions was playing fast and loose with his residency for a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong time.  Now there's a smoking gun.  If Pete Sessions wants to stay in Congress, the time has come to run in Florida.

LOL: Straus touts tax relief measures HE OPPOSED during session

"He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck,
Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."
Proverbs 29:1

Where to begin?!?

AUSTIN — Speaker Joe Straus, who easily fended off the same tea party challenger to hold onto his Bexar County House district the past two cycles, is not taking any chances against two such challengers this year.

On Monday, Straus began airing a TV ad in San Antonio that touts his work in behalf of “economic growth,” especially last year’s passage by the Legislature of a $4 billion tax-relief package.

The commercial begins with a testimonial by the owner of an automotive-related small business in Straus’ district, which is on San Antonio’s northeast side and includes some small cities such as Alamo Heights. The four-term House speaker appears personally in the 30-second spot, which ends with a female narrator intoning, “Proven leadership. Conservative results.”

Which is funny, considering at the time:

The grumbling you hear coming from the Capitol? That’s the sound of the establishment acknowledging that taxpayers are winning! And members of the Texas House are mad – mad that their leadership has been caught slow-boating reform measures.

Earlier this week we let Texans know about the $4.6 billion in tax relief measures the Senate passed on March 25th. To this day, House Speaker Joe Straus has refused to refer those bills to a House committee. Instead, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee is offering a $4.9 billion package that just passed out of his committee today (April 16).

....

Both plans end up cutting the business tax, though in different ways, with the Senate plan focusing on small businesses and the House plan favoring big businesses. The bigger difference? The House is cutting sales taxes while the Senate is cutting property taxes.

....

Action toward reducing the burden of property taxes is non-existent from the House leadership.

With the Senate having already passed out a tax relief package, one is left to wonder why the Republican-controlled House didn’t take up that measure – even as a base from which to swap out property tax relief for sales tax relief. It would have sped up the process to ensure the legislative clock doesn’t run out on tax relief.

Bottom Line: Joe Straus has a long history of taking credit for the accomplishments of others during campaign season; good to see the tradition continue!