#TXLEGE: Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying -- The Core Problem

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

TPPF's Chuck Devore explains it in Forbes:

But beyond the issue of effectiveness, should one part of government have the right to petition redress of grievances to another level of government? To answer this question it is important to understand that government has no rights—only people have rights—government has powers.

When a lobbyist works for a corporation, a labor union, a special interest group, or even a wealthy individual, that lobbyist, and the person or group that hired them, are participating in free speech. But when the same lobbyist is working for government, the same cannot be said. Government itself does not have a right to free speech.

In addition to the approximately $41 million spent on outside lobbyists by local government by mid-2017, there are dozens of local government employees who are assigned to lobby in the Texas state capital in Austin. For instance, the City of Austin itself spends about $1 million annually to lobby, employing a mix of city employees and contract lobbyists totaling some 14 people.

These lobbyists, employed with taxpayer money, typically use their influence with state lawmakers to advocate for greater spending, more taxing authority, and greater regulatory power, leaving 28 million individual Texans at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to getting their representatives’ attention.

Further, many of the outside lobbyists contracted by local government also have commercial clients. This multiplies their effectiveness as it equips the lobbyists with a wider array of influence tools, such as steak dinners, tickets to sporting events, and campaign donations targeted at state legislators or staff.

Bottom Line: Free speech protections exist to defend citizens from the government; they don't operate in the other direction.

Taxpayer Funded Lobbying: Financial and Spiritual ABOMINATION

"While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage."
2 Peter 2:19

This morning, TPPF hosted a Policy Orientation Panel, "Should local governments use Taxpayer Money to hire lobbyists?!?"  Obviously, anyone who's read this website for more than 5 minutes knows where we stand.  But it was still an interesting discussion.

From a strategic perspective, the most important takeaway is that nobody was willing to show up to defend the practice.  This despite the fact that TPPF extended "over 20" invitations to groups one would expect to be supportive.   That's notable because we've learned from experience that when people are no longer willing to show up at TPPF to defend a practice, it's often a sign that those involved know they've lost the argument.

The panel featured local Austin attorney Roger Borgelt and a staffer for Representative Matt Shaheen [Note: Shaheen had been originally scheduled to speak on the panel, but came down with the flu yesterday].  Borgelt began by explaining how, during the annexation debates the past few sessions, all of the support came from average citizens while all the opposition was taxpayer funded.  This is true for any number of public policy reforms that would reduce the size of government.

Moderator Chuck DeVore asked if, in banning taxpayer funded lobbying, we would simply be transferring the problem to local governments who would hire bureaucrats dedicated to "government relations."  That's obviously one workaround political subdivisions would try, but it would still represent an improvement over the status quo.  At a minimum, if a political subdivision wants to hire a full-time bureaucrat to perform "government relations," they'll have to disclose it in their budgets.  Furthermore, it's better to have a local bureaucrat representing their political subdivision full time rather than a capitol lobbyist who could have any other number of clients with any number of other potential conflicts of interest.

During Q&A, TPPF attorney Chance Weldon pointed out that taxpayer funded lobbying is a form of compelled political speech.  As such, it's flagrantly unconstitutional.  We'd never thought about that before, but Weldon is absolutely correct and there should probably be a lawsuit.

As for this Author, we asked a question that pointed out how taxpayer funded lobbying is a gatekeeper issue that needs to be addressed before any number of other limited government reforms (eg. Property Taxes, Bond Transparency, Parental Educational Choice) can become politically feasible.  Taxpayer funded lobbying inherently tips the scales in favor of big government.  Disconcertingly, we also learned that public sector unions are growing faster in Texas than anywhere else in the country.

Bottom Line:  Local governments have no right to use taxpayer money to lobby the legislature.  For every public entity that lobbies, there's a private entity that holds the same position.  Ending this practice is a necessary step if we're ever going to get serious about restoring government in Texas to it's constitutional framework.

Once again, Texas beats California!!!

"Honor the Lord with your possessions,
And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
So your barns will be filled with plenty,
And your vats will overflow with new wine."
Proverbs 3:9-10

Hey maw, I know both of them:



Highlights:

• Liberal policies create a lot more poverty.

• Texas v. California is a good example.

• California has a 47% higher poverty rate than Texas cost of living (incl. taxes) is factored in.

• Income growth is more important than income "inequality."

• Texas up 1.4 million jobs in the past 7 years.

TPPF Poverty/Prosperity Summit: Poverty and it's Causes (Panel 2)

"Open your mouth, judge righteously,
And plead the cause of the poor and needy."
Proverbs 31:9

Stephen F. Austin Hotel -- TPPF's is Prosperity and Poverty summit continues; the second panel is on public policies than help move people from poverty to prosperity:

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

Highlights:

• Chuck Devore (TPPF):
• Poverty rate is based on cost of food, which has come down over 50 years.
• Factored for cost of living, California has the highest poverty rate in country.
• Texas lowest among big states.
•  Texas has more jobs and lowest poverty among big states
• Go figure.

•  Jeff Rowes (Institute for Justice):
• 30% of Americans need permission from the government to work.
• In the real world, special interests with time and money bend the rules to their advantage
• eg. African hair braiders and Steel Tariffs
• State of Louisiana shutting down monks making caskets.
• Public action for private profit is illegitimate, and it's not judicial activism for courts to strike it down.
• Appoint judges who understand this and change the culture of judges.
• The reason courts allow this is to avoid the government embarrassment.
• The free-market and economic liberty is the greatest anti-poverty program ever known.

• Marvin Olasky:
• The Sharing economy is template for connecting those with needs and those with means
• Breaks down professional/amateur divide.
• Charitable equivalent of Air B'N'B

• 84th #TXLEGE:
• School choice for all children
• Eliminate Margins Tax
• Economic Liberty legislation
• Give people the economic means to free up time for volunteer activity.

Partying with Austin's Future Taxpayer Friendly Leaders

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice."
Proverbs 29:2 (a)

Local Voice Solutions -- Tonight, taxpayer friendly candidates in 6 of Austin's 10 city council districts spoke at an event in East Austin.  The candidates discussed affordability and the role that Austin's massive, boondoggle prone, city government plays in exacerbating that problem.  This website bring you their remarks in full.

Michael Cargill, District 1:



Highlights:

• Proprietor of Central Texas Gun Works.

• Most conservative candidate in District 1 on the subject of firearms.

• Running to obstruct Mike Martinez's gun grabbing agenda.

• "We're going to maintain all of our constitutional rights."

• Plan for traffic: Widen 183, as a free road, to give commercial traffic a viable path around Downtown Austin.
• Austin is one of the few major cities in America where big trucks pass through downtown.

• Sell "Prime Real Estate" downtown and relocate city offices to the outskirts of the city.

• "We don't need that rail, that rail to nowhere...."

 Jay Wiley, District 6:



Highlights:

• "I'm running because we need a new voice for taxpayers at City Hall...we've never had that before."

• The (in)famous Gretchen Gardner quote.

• "Here's the big picture.  The big picture is that the affordability problem we have in Austin is the direct result of a big and expensive local government.  We've seen what big, expensive government looks like.  It looks like Higher property tax bills, and worse energy bills every month, and it looks like worse and worse traffic every day because we've got all the wrong priorities at City Hall."

• "What I want to do is I want to lower taxes, I want to lessen the bureaucratic largesse at City Hall, and ... most importantly change the culture at City Hall to one that's fiscally responsible and respects taxpayers."

• "We are weeks away from putting the first conservatives on Austin City Council in my lifetime; let's get it done."

Ellen Troxclair, District 8 (She likes puppies and Uber):



Highlights:

• Over a decade of public policy experice at the Capitol combined with real world experience in the Real Estate industry.

• Not a day goes by, either in the campaign or her business, where she doesn't hear about how the Austin CC's decision are negative effecting resident of District 8.

•  "Seems like every year in Austin our cost of living is increasing while our quality of life is not improving."

• It took conversations with thousands of voters before she met her first voter who said property taxes weren't too high...and that person was a recent California transplant.
• Author's Note: We welcome California transplants to Austin...as long as you don't vote for the same crap policies that ruined California.

• "I don't think that our goal, as Austinites, should be to be slightly better than California."
• Author's Note: Ellen makes Chuck DeVore proud!!!

Ed English, District 7:



Highlights:

• "I'm running for a lot of reasons that fall under the umbrella of fiscal responsiblility."

• "I want to be part of a council" that ends wasteful spending and gives taxpayers real relief.

• Donated "several thousand hours" over "a two year period" to pass 10-1 in the first place.

• Seize this opportunity to represent the citizens.

• Only candidate in his district that has worked in the private sector.

• Knows how to ask the right questions about contracts.
• No more water treatment plant #4 or biomass boondoggles.

• First candidate, in any district, to oppose the rail bond tax hike...aka. Leffingwell Loser!!!

Erin McGann, District 9:



Highlights:

•  Only non-incumbent in District 9 and only candidate in the District who is against the rail.

• Background in finance, auditing, and budget review.

• "I am running for city council because our budget is entirely too fat, our spending is not very judicious, and we've got a lot of unicorns and glitter sitting around city hall and not very much bricks and mortar."

• "My opponents are being strongly supported by the status quo and by all of the special interests in Austin so I am being seriously outspent."
• Author's note: Donate here.
  
•  Needs blockwalkers and phonebankers.

Bill Worsham, District 10:



Highlights:

•  "It is way past time to just talk about the traffic, the cost of living, and the red tape that we have to endure in the city of Austin.  

• Endorsed by TAG and TFL.

• Specifically committed to reducing red tape for resturant owners.

• "We are right on the issues of this campaign"

• Opponents are imitating their campaign...."we are the rocket that's ready to launch."

Texas' Economic Juggernaut Continues to Dominate California

"Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them."
Deuteronomy 32:35

Living well is the best...something....something:

The real action in Texas Tuesday wasn’t the klieg lights on Texas Governor Rick Perry being booked after vetoing funding for Travis County’s District Attorney and YouTube sensation Rosemary Lehmberg, it was that Texas businesses have continued to add more than 1,000 jobs every day over the last 12 months. Despite leading the nation again with 46,600 in July, there was no big celebration in Texas. In the Friendship State, job creation is just business as usual.

But in California, officials were high fiving that Employment Development Department data “showed state's unemployment rate remained flat at 7.4%” last month and that they actually picked up 27,700 jobs in the latest BLS report.

The U.S. economy was hit hard in the Great Recession, but since December 2007, Texas has added 1,078,600 net new jobs versus California’s 69,400 net new jobs. That works out to a ratio of more than 15 new workers added to Texas State’s payrolls for every one worker added to California payrolls.

The Texas Model is alive and well; read the whole thing here.

Texans Demand a Conservative Budget

"But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’  Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself."
Deuteronomy 17:16

Texas Public Policy Foundation -- This morning, the Texas Conservative Budget Coalition held a press conference to discuss TPPF's new paper The Conservative Texas Budget:

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

Highlights:

• Talmadge Helflin - STAR FUND is the primary tax cut.
• Real Texas Budget was the Starting Point.
• We're two weeks away from state agencies beginning to request 2016/17 budgets.
• Expect a $1.5 billion supplemental in 2015.
• Author's note: Sigh....
• Texas' current spending limit is restricted to non-dedicated General revenue.
• The legislature will have to do this "voluntarily."
• Author's Note: Paging Dan Patrick!!!
• The economy of a state fares better "if it's a low tax, low spend state."
• "In times of plenty, we recommend the legislature keep spending at a level that's sustainable in the long-term."

• Vance Ginn - 2004-15 state spending up 62.4%
• 8% faster than inflation + spending.
• Limit state spending to 6.2% population + inflation.

• JoAnn Fleming - "The state of Texas spends much more than the legislature appropriates."
• Federal funds come from our pocket, "some magic fairy land."

• Michael Quinn Sullivan - "Texas has benefited...from the bad decisions of other states."
• "The least drunk person at the bar shouldn't be held up as a model of sobriety."

• Cathie Adams - "Texas Families have hopes and dreams, and we want to be able to afford them."
• Prioritize spending to prevent budget from growing more than 6.2%

• Jenna White - Conservative budget draws a line in the sand at 6.2%

• Chuck DeVore - "Spending restraint leads to tangible gains."
• "We can do better."
• "We can do better by allowing free enterprise to flourish."
• Eliminate the margins tax -- more than enough money.
• Prioritize infrastructure over welfare or other wasteful spending.
• Restructure spending to get more bang for the buck (Talmadge Heflin)
• Within the past couple months, TxDOT has come up with $350 million for rail (MQS) 

The full paper:

The Conservative Texas Budget

Highlights:

• "Texas has had a large increase in its labor force during those years from out-of-state migration compared to a declining labor force in many areas....Clearly, as fast as people are moving to Texas, job creation is keeping pace."

• "Texas current limitations on government spending are not sufficient."

• "These limits represent maximum amounts for the Legislature to use when determining the cumulative amount appropriated for each government agency.  The Foundation believes that the Legislature could easily spend less than this and still ensure provision of basic public necessities.  Nonetheless, if the Legislature stays within these bounds in The Conservative Texas Budget, it will have taken a substantial step towards reining in the growth of Texas government.

Why do some cities tick?!?

"For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same."
Romans 13:3

Texas State Capital -- This afternoon, we attended TPPF's Texas Success Story: Understanding which U.S. Metro's are leading, lagging, and why.  The event discussed tried and true methods for economic development, and how they impact individual cities.  Texas wins again!!!

Tom Gray of the Manhattan Institute led off.  He discussed his recent study that discerned four traits of economically vibrant cities: Energy development, Agglomeration - cities growing for a reason beyond natural advantage, Business Friendly focus, and Manufacturing Renaissance.  Texas has 3 of those factors, which is why metropolitan areas in this state perform so much better.

Jerry Morales, who recently defeated a Battleground Texas stealth candidate in the Midland mayoral race, spoke next.  Midland currently has the lowest unemployment rate in the U.S.  While that's a good thing, it brings a different set of challenges.  One major problem in Midland is that the housing stock has failed to keep up with population growth.  This has created "boom town homelessness" where people come looking for jobs but don't have sufficient savings to find housing in a town where a 1 bedroom apartment starts at $1,000 per month.  Midland is proactively addressing this problem, with the United Way and Salvation Army (ie. not city government) taking the lead.

Don Baylor of the Center for Public Policy Priorities spoke next; the less said about his presentation, the better.

Chuck DeVore of TPPF closed out the speakers.  He discussed how "the larger government is as a share of the local economy, generally speaking, the worse it will do."  Specifically, there is a tremendous impact of cost of living on the ability of the average family to make ends meet.  As government grows, it means higher cost of living and fewer jobs.  DeVore's presentation was familiar to veterans of the Texas Model.

[Personal Note: While DeVore didn't discuss this in his presentation, it's worth pointing out that government growth begetting higher cost of living is the core issue of this Urban Rail boondoggle.]

Kudos, finally, to TPPF for having Pok-e-jo's cater today's event; this website STRONGLY encourages TPPF to make this a regular feature of their events!!!

Revised Numbers: Texas economy better than thought, California worse....

"Consider the work of God;
For who can make straight what He has made crooked?"
Ecclesiastes 7:13

NICE:

The BEA revised California’s real GDP growth downward from 2009 to 2011 in each of three years by a cumulative 2.6 percent, the third-largest negative revision in the nation.

In other words, California’s economy shrank an additional 2.6 percent before it grew 3.5 percent.

So, in the past five years California’s real GDP contracted 0.3 percent, one of ten states where economic activity was less in 2012 than it was in 2008.

By contrast, the BEA revised Texas’ growth upward by 0.5 percent from 2009 to 2011.

Texas’ newly revised real GDP growth from 2009 to 2012 was 13 percent.

From 2009 to 2012, California’s share of the U.S. economy shrank from 13.1 percent to 12.9 percent while Texas’ portion of the American economy increased from 8.2 percent to 9 percent.

Some critics might contend that Texas’ economic boom is wholly due to the revitalization of the Lone Star State’s oil and gas fields through fracking. However, if the entire mining sector is removed from the calculations, Texas’ economy would have still grown at a faster pace than California’s from 2009 to 2012. Further, California has about two-thirds of the nation’s proven shale oil reserves in the vast Monterey Shale formation—that the Golden State makes the political choice not to allow the extraction of this underground wealth can’t be held against Texas.

Read the whole thing here.

-----

Update (6/20): TPPF informs us that this is actually a year old piece that came out in June 2013; our bad.

TPPF Turns 25

"teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,"
Titus 2:12

TPPF turned 25 this past week; to celebrate, they put out a fantastic video:

Highlights:

• The droves of people coming from California, New York, and Illinois proves the value of the work.

• Texas is where the future of the conservative movement will take place.

• If they weren't effective, the IRS wouldn't have targeted them.

The IRS and Texas "Ethics" Commission: Texans defend Free Speech

“I will punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will halt the arrogance of the proud,
And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
Isaiah 13:11

Several conservative organizations held a press conference this morning regarding various assaults on conservative speech coming from Barack Obama and Joe Straus:

Video streaming by Ustream

Ben Barr:

• 1970's -- SCOTUS said no to spending limits.
• Several other cases over the next few decades.
• All sorts of Retaliation after Prop. 8.

Chuck DeVore:

• TPPF's amicus brief was cited in the Obamacare Medicaid expansion decision.
• They defended ALEC in a 2012 WSJ op-ed.
• Their donor list was leaked shortly thereafter.
• Their donors were subsequently bullied by state officials.

Michael Quinn Sullivan:

• The Texas Ethics commission has pursued their case with atypical vigor.
• Byron Cook, in his hearing, didn't want to hear from the groups present.

Cathie Adams:

• Commends Perry for SB 346 veto.

Jonathan Saenz:

• SB 346 and similar efforts completely unconstitutional.
• Marriage supporters have faced retribution.

JoAnn Fleming:

• Both Political Parties.
• They don't like people paying attention to what they're doing.
• Will continue to inform people about what goes on in the Capitol.
• "Whatever it takes" to defend liberty.

Tim Graham:

• Conservative groups in Texas are coming together in a way they never have before.
• Fundamentally shifting power
• People in power don't want us looking in.
• Cook yelled at Gio
• We took out 12 RINO's this cycle; we'll take out 10 to 15 next time.

Budget Realities of the 83rd Texas Legislature

TPPF policy orientation
Panel: Budget realities of the 83rd Texas legislature

Talmadge Heflin (TPPF); Brian Domitrovic (University of Houston); Chuck DeVore (TPPF); Texas Rep. Sylvester Turner (D - Houston); Texas Rep. John Otto (R - ?!?)

Brian Domitrovic:

• Growth has been under 2% since 2007; Texas is an unmatched global economic model in that time.

• Meet the challenge of prosperity by keeping govt. small
• Tax receipts always spike during prosperity; the challenge is not to spend the money
• Taxes have to be cut, considerably, to deny this 'revenue gusher' to the legislature

• Budget masters played games in 2013  

• If there are worthwhile state expenses, then current expenditures should be cut to pay for them.

Chuck DeVore:

• California has, proportionally, 45% more citizens in poverty than Texas.

• When the 83rd lege backfilled the2012/13 budget hole, they blew up the baseline for 2014/15

• Medicaid is crowding out roads in the Texas budget, which is why they play games with the gas tax.

John Otto:

• Made several excuses for 2012/13 budget gimmicks, including a cheap shot at Susan Combs.

Sylvester Turner:

• From time-to-time you need to go back to zero-based budgeting

• Most of the Texas budget is federally mandated spending that occurs before the legislature meets.

• In 2013, Texas had the lowest per-capita 'mental health' spending in the country.
• Personal note: Why is that a bad thing?!?

Fixing the Budget:

• Zero-based budgeting for every state agency every 4-8 years.
• TxDOT will undergo this in the next session
• Budget 'sunset'

• Program based budgeting - Line item visibility for every program rather than conglomerating dozens of programs under some broad heading.

• Eliminate the margins tax - It costs businesses more to comply than the state receives in receipts

• 
  

ACTION ALERT: Stop Texas' 26% Spending Increase

The disastrous 83rd Legislature comes down to this, from the Tea Party Advisory Caucus:

Fellow Patriots:

THIS IS AS URGENT AS IT GETS.

PLEASE SPREAD JOANN'S MESSAGE FAR AND WIDE AS SOON AS YOU CAN.

___

Spending Up 26%! Texas Legislature Takes Wild Left Turn & Spends like there’s No Tomorrow

Alert from: JoAnn Fleming, Chairman, TX Legislature's TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee; Executive Director, Grassroots America

The news is bad – very bad. A majority in the Texas House and Senate (yes, a majority of Republicans) have gone on a wild spending spree! We have one last chance to stop it. Please help us kill HB 1025 and SB 1 to force a special session. We believe we can get a more conservative budget when all the focus is on spending.

It is time for YOU to come to the aid of Texas! Call, e-mail, text, FaceBook, and Tweet your state representative as soon as possible! Melt the phone lines starting at 8 AM Friday and call all day! Call your representative’s district offices and Capitol office. Tell him/her you do not support the budget and you support a special session to get it right. Ask them to vote down HB 1025 & SB 1.  Be firm and employ the Golden Rule.  Yelling and cursing doesn't make them hear you, in fact, it can have the opposite effect.

To find your state representative click here.

For good measure, call your state senator & declare you don’t support the budget, click here.

Call Governor Perry’s office & ask him to veto the budget if it passes!(512) 463-2000

Special thanks to Texas Public Policy Foundation for its help in putting together the numbers that follow...

The bad news - if HB 1025 (supplemental spending bill) and SB 1 (budget) pass, this happens:

·        The $1.8 billion in tax relief called for by the Governor is slashed because a majority of the legislature went on a spending spree. The Legislature includes about half of the Governor’s request (about $900 million) and wants to count $631 million in a one-time electrical ratepayer fee rebate for about 80% of Texans as a tax cut—which it isn’t.

·        The budget will exceed the state’s constitutional spending limit. They will bust the spending cap! The big spenders seek to circumvent the spending limit through SJR 1, the constitutional amendment to be approved by voters in November. They are changing the definition of “busting the cap” so they can say they didn’t…sounds just like Washington, DC!

·        Though they had more than $13 billion in new general revenue (GR) on hand for the 2014-15 budget, House & Senate budget appropriators did not include money in the budget for “pay as you go” highway funding or provide taxpayers with a meaningful tax cut. Instead, they spent it all and want to raid the Rainy Day Fund too!

·        The Legislature has decided to raid the state’s Economic Stabilization Fund (Rainy Day Fund) for almost $4 billion. The ESF was intended to protect against the pressure for a tax increase during an economic downturn. Instead, this budget uses the Rainy Day Fund to explode spending during a time of plenty, cutting the fund balance in half—from $8 billion to $4 billion. This leaves Texas vulnerable if the national economy continues to falter or we have a natural or manmade disaster.

·        The Legislature will appropriate approximately $106 billion in General Revenue and Rainy Day funds. This is an increase of $22 billion, or 26%, over last session! (This is a session to session, not a budget to budget, comparison.)

·        The total of all funds (including federal funds) in the new budget looks to be about $214 billion, an increase of about $38 billion, or 21%, over what was appropriated in 2011. (This is a session to session, not a budget to budget, comparison.)

·        This level of spending is proof most legislators are tone deaf (94% of 2012 Republican primary voters signaled they wanted spending cut). They willingly ignore the unstable national and global economies. This is a threat to a strong Texas and should be treated as an assault on liberty.

·        This spending repeats the mistake of the 79^th TX Legislature (2005). After the 78^th Legislature (2003) held the line on spending, the 79^thLegislature went on a spending spree that led to the 2011 $15 billion budget shortfall. It could happen again. Are the big spenders setting the stage for gambling and/or and income tax next session?

·        This spending rejects principles of fiscal conservatism in exchange for a big-gov’t approach like those of the other big-five states: CA, NY, IL, FL.

·       This budget is a threat to the economic prosperity of Texas citizens, families, and communities. It is a threat to Texas – the best hope for enduring freedom in these United States. 

 The Legislature appears determined to spend the State of Texas into becoming the next California, and the Governor is sucking his thumb.  The situation is dire.  Call and Tweet your legislators AND the Governor.

-----

Contact Info:

Governor Rick Perry:
Phone: (512) 463-2000
Twitter: @GovernorPerry

Lt. Governor David Dewhurst:
Phone: (512) 463-0001
Twitter: @DavidHDewhurst

House Speaker Joe Straus
Phone: (512) 463-1000
Twitter: @SpeakerStraus

Find your own legislator here.

-----

Update: Continuing the pattern of this bizarre session, Lt. Governor Dewhurst NAILS it!!!

Update II: Empower Texans has more here; money quote: 

There is $13 billion of additional general revenue sitting in the state treasury than two years prior. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy the Legislature’s appetite for more spending. They say they need $4 billion more from a fund constitutionally created to backfill budget shortfalls.

There are many aspects of the current version of the budget that should be of serious concern to voters (like throwing $4 billion extra into public education to appease Democrats, the lack of substantial tax relief, a pension increase for legislators… etc.). Arguably the biggest though is the reckless disregard for the original purpose of the Rainy Day Fund.

Legislators should hit the reset button and pass a better budget in a special session. Getting it right is far more important than just getting it done.

 Update III: Chuck DeVore Tweets this diagram:

California's Conservative Migration to Texas

 
One common refrain we hear is that the migration of Californians to Texas is a bad thing because TexansDon'tWantCalifornia'sLibreals(TM).  We've never found that argument compelling, especially since the 2010 election results made clear that the liberals in California have stayed put.  When Glenn Beck, Chuck DeVore, and myself have all moved to the same state in the past five years, it seems to indicate a trend.

Yesterday, we spoke to Chuck DeVore who pointed us to this poll:

 With its economic troubles, California has been losing people in droves. The plurality of those migrants have moved to Texas, as many as 70,000 in 2011 and 60,000 in 2012. Given this influx of new residents, we are fortunate to have at times asked our respondents whether they have moved to Texas from California, and though the actual number of these people is but a small subsample of our surveys, we have enough respondents to make two broad conclusions. First, these newcomers, on average, tend to be conservative. Pooling data from the May 2012 and February 2013 UT/Tribune surveys, we found that 57 percent of these California transplants consider themselves to be conservative, while only 27 percent consider themselves to be liberal (a fair guess as to the margin of error is somewhere around +/- 7 percentage points). Second, these new Texans aren’t rushing to find homes in the state’s urban centers: 55 percent are heading to the suburbs, the rest evenly dividing themselves between rural and urban locations.

Bottom Line: For economic refugees to Texas from California, conservatives outnumber liberals by more than two to one.  This is a good thing.  The Trib's wrap up says it well:

So while some may want to perceive the wave of Californians coming to Texas as part of the broader demographic trends that might eventually turn Texas purple, and then blue, the data collected to date suggest that Perry’s pitch appears to be hitting a chord with Californians who wear cowboy boots instead of Birkenstocks.

You can hear Governor Perry explain this phenomenon here.

How to Kick the Left's Ass in Travis County

With the emergence of Battleground Texas, a lot of ink has been spilled about the left's efforts to flip Texas.  The threat is real, but we can beat it.  One key is to make the left play defense on territory it thinks it owns.

Cahnman's Musings has been a resident of Travis County for five and a half years.  We've always found the reports of it's liberalism, much like Mark Twain's demise, to be greatly exaggerated.  Before living in Travis County, we grew up in NYC and spend half a decade in and around Los Angeles.  Cahnman's Musings has seen places hopelessly up their ass with progressivism.  Travis county ain't it.

One thing we've always observed is that there are a lot of people in Travis County who are liberty minded in a general sense, but don't follow politics closely and don't vote.  Those folks are the key.  One example is the fraternities and sororities at U.T.  The Greek system is under assault from the permanent U.T. bureaucracy, and kids in the Greek system don't buy into progressivism in the same way other U.T. students do.  If you take 20 to 100 active members per house and multiply it by 20 houses, all of a sudden you're talking about meaningful vote totals.

And that's just one example.

In that spirit, Cahnman's Musings offers the following outline to put the left on defense in Travis County:

• Online Video -- This is an inexpensive way to push information.  Online video allows us to go around media gatekeepers.  The key is to use humor to capture attention.

• Identify, Register, and Turnout New Texans -- What do Glenn Beck, Chuck DeVore, and myself have in common?!?  We're all economic refugees from blue states, and we're all conservatives.  Economic refugees to Texas are a self-selected group.  The people moving to Texas aren't liberals.  As Governor Perry told Glenn Beck last week, "if they're takers who want government to take care of them from cradle to grave, they're going to stay in California."

• Follow the Money -- Big government inevitably begets boondoggles.  Nobody likes boondoggles.  On a related note, there could be a major scandal breaking in San Antonio.

• Make the Villains Household Names -- There are plenty of potential villains in Travis County.  In the spirit of Alinsky's thirteenth rule, Cahnman's Musings suggests raising these people's profile.  Personally, we'd start with this guy.

• Education -- We need to increase the economic literacy of average citizens.

Any effort to protect Texas from the left must include Travis County.  There are a lot of potential voters here.  In the short term, we can put the left on defense; over the longer haul, we can kick their ass.