Wednesday, August 15, 2018

#TXLEGE: Disgraced, soon to be former, state representative desperately grasps for relvance....


"A ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor,
But he who hates covetousness will prolong his days."
Proverbs 28:16

LOL:
More than a month after Gov. Greg Abbott directed state agencies to submit proposed new rules to his office before publishing them, a retiring Republican lawmaker has called out the policy as a potentially unconstitutional power grab.

“It is important to underscore that nothing in our state’s constitution or statutes gives the Office of the Governor the power to veto or delay the proposal of a rule, whether by act or omission,” wrote state Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, this week.

....

Abbott’s office defended the move as falling within the governor’s “constitutional authority.”

“As the chief executive of the state, Governor Abbott has a constitutional duty to faithfully execute the law and ensure that all state agencies under his direction approach the regulatory process in adherence with these laws as written and passed by the legislature,” spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said.
For the sake of discussion, let's pretend Cook is making a good faith argument (*): Even if that's the case, all Abbott is doing is taking power out of the bureaucracy and putting it into the hands of an elected official.  At least in theory, those elected officials are accountable to voters.  In other words, Abbott's move is in the direction of more government accountability, not less(**).

Bottom Line: Abbott's move probably won't have much practical impact, but to watch someone with as long of a record of lawlessness as Byron Cook (of all people) shrieking about alleged "power grabs" is cute...

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* - Which he, obviously, isn't.

** - Which is, probably, why Cook hates this proposal as much as he does.

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