#TXLEGE: Phelan's Senior Staff hires tell you what you need to know

Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
1 Corinthains 15:33

Soo, this happened:

Could not be more proud to announce these individuals to positions on my senior staff. They bring the talent and experience demanded by such a pivotal moment in our history. I am grateful for the service and leadership they will provide. #txlege pic.twitter.com/b4jBJenMh2

— Dade Phelan (@DadePhelan) December 3, 2020

The list is long on so-called “capitol experience” and revolving door relationships with the lobby. Far less clear is whether any of them has ever worked a real job. It’s swampier than Cajun country.

As PushJunction points out, about half of the names on this list are direct holdovers from former speaker Dennis Bonnen.

Beyond those obvious conclusions, however, a few other stand out:

• As someone who started with Governor Abbott, went to UT-Austin, and is now back in the legislature, Jay Dyer encapsulates Texas’ failure to address either steadily rising tuition or the various leftists uprisings we see on college campuses.

• As Dennis Bonnen’s communications director, Kate Misenheimer carried water for her boss throughout last year’s quid-pro-quo controversy and viscously attacked anyone who questioned Bonnen’s carefully constructed narrative.

• Andrew Blifford was Joe Straus’ former Chief of Staff.

These are just the surface level concerns, there’s no telling what a deeper dive would uncover.

Phelan’s staffing announcements will likely reinforce the sense of pessimism with which grassroots conservatives were already viewing the legislative session.

Bottom Line: None of this is surprising, but at least it's now official.

#TXLEGE: Patrick should make school choice the precondition for any marijuana bill

Note: We had originally planned to crop this photo to only
show Patrick and Phelan, but Abbott being irrelevant in the
 background is likewise apt.

"Show us Your mercy, Lord,
And grant us Your salvation."
Psalm 85:7

The biannual boomlet of "will Texas or won't Texas legalize marijuana this session?!?" has started. This time, it's accompanied by a subplot related to the budget. Allow us to cut to the chase.

Dan Patrick is still the Lieuentant Governor.

So, no. Marijuana legalization isn't happening. LOL.

That being said, if he's smart enough to take it, there's an opportuity for Patrick.

It's not a secret that Patrick has recently taken a tactical retreat on school choice. That house hasn't left him any option. But, if the house wants to try and force Dan Patrick to do something he doesn't want...well...two can play at that game.

Besides, in the extraordinarily unlikely chance the house were to agree to it, that would be a good trade.

Bottom Line: There's nothing Patrick can lose. There's potentially something he can gain. No brainer.

#TXLEGE: Legacy media start buttering up Phelan (to kill GOP legislative priorities)

Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
1 Corinthians 15:33

Houston Chronicle this morning:

Dade Phelan's rep as a hard-working, straight-shooting coalition builder made him a shoo-in as Texas' next House speaker

Tommy Williams was preparing to run for the Texas Senate in 2001 after two terms in the House when a young Dade Phelan strode into his office.

Phelan handed Williams a list of almost two dozen people in his hometown of Beaumont who he thought Williams needed to win over to cinch the election. Phelan told him he could help him do it. Williams, a Republican from The Woodlands, hired him on the spot.

“Beaumont was the largest city in my Senate district,” Williams recalled. “But I wasn’t from Beaumont. I didn’t ever live there. So I told him real quickly, ‘You know what? You’re my Jefferson County campaign manager.’”

It paid off: Williams won, and Phelan became the legislative aide the senator depended on for the next five years.

Now, almost two decades later, the 45-year-old Phelan is the presumptive House Speaker, and he has hired the former state senator to lead his transition team.

A similarly bold, self-starting move, exhibiting the same networking skills, propelled Phelan to the speakership earlier this month.

DMN:

As results started rolling in on Election Day and dashing the Texas Democrats' hopes of flipping the Texas House, Rep. Dade Phelan, a three-term Republican from Beaumont, started working the phones to lock in his bid to become the next leader of the chamber.

The next morning, Phelan announced at a Capitol press conference that he had enough votes to become the next speaker of the House. He put out a list of 83 lawmakers from both parties that included most of his rivals for the speaker’s gavel, as well as a coalition of a majority of the Republican Caucus and prominent Black and Latino Democrats.

By Thursday, his final GOP rival, Rep. Geanie Morrison of Victoria, folded her campaign and left Phelan a clear path to becoming speaker.

Within three days, the 45-year-old Phelan had maneuvered his way into one of the most powerful jobs in Texas.

To be fair to the DMN, their piece isn't as revoltingly sycophantic as the Houston Chronicle piece. It's more of a straight news piece about the session. But it's still very "friendly."

The play here is obvious. The legacy media knows Phelan's going to kill the RPT legislative priorities. So they're going to give him glowing coverage.

(Obviously, this is a re-run of the playbook they used with Joe Straus.)

None of this is surprising.

But, seriously, get a room Houston Chronicle.

Bottom Line:  The specific identity of the speaker may be "new," but the playbook never changes.

#TXLEGE: Bonnen proving West's point

"The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and trust in Him.
And all the upright in heart shall glory."
Psalm 64:10

We said our piece about Allan West going after house leadership the other day. Pretty self explanatory. Didn't have much to add.

At least, we didn't until Dennis Bonnen got in on the act:

Allen West is irrelevant. He is a failed politician from Florida who is a petulant child trying to get his parents’ attention, and Speaker Phelan, Gov. Abbott and others are true Republican conservative leaders who are smarter than to listen to the noise of a child.

Seriously...Dennis Bonnen?!?

Cuz, whatever you want to say about Allan West, he wasn't forced from office in a corruption scandal.

Indeed, the fact that Dennis Bonnen remains in good stadning, while West is personan non grata, tells you everything you need to know about the culutre of the legislature.

Bottom Line: Is there a worse judge of character than Dennis Bonnen?!?

#TXLEGE: West's comment about Phelan is AWESOME

"The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and trust in Him.
And all the upright in heart shall glory."
Psalm 64:10

UPDATE:

This list suggests, rather strongly, that @AllenWest is doing something right.#TXLEGE https://t.co/FkzadsUGzn

— cahnman (@cahnman) November 10, 2020

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Original post:

Soo, this happened:

Texas will not allow the undermining of our “Texas Republic.” This is why the Republican Party of Texas is perplexed, and will not support, a potential Texas Speaker of the House who would seek affirmation from progressive socialist Democrats to attain that position. It is utterly absurd and demonstrably idiotic that any Republican would join with Democrats to lead our Republican majority (83-67) Texas State House. Does anyone believe that Texas Democrats will support the Republican Party of Texas legislative priority of election integrity?

Therefore, let me clearly state this: the Republican Party of Texas will not support, nor accept, State Rep. Dade Phelan as Speaker of the Texas House. Texas does not need a Republican political traitor, not at a time when the two diverging philosophies of governance are this lucid.

The Republican Party of Texas will not sit back idly and watch leftist Democrats be placed as Committee Chairmen who will undermine, kill, our legislative priorities, as happened in the 86th Texas legislative session.

Texas will be led by Constitutional Conservatives, not middle of the road “road kill” individuals seeking alliance with Marxist, socialist, leftists. We fought hard in the 2020 election cycle — against massive odds and leftist resources — to retain a strong legislative majority.

Duh.

This is a completely obvious statement that shouldn't be controversial in any way, shape, or form.

Nevertheless, we've seen commentary from assorted bedwetters, chumps, and GOP simps tisk tisking at West. Most of it's concern-trolling over "not wanting to alienate the speaker" or some such nonsense. Who cares?!?

The Phelan play is the Bonnen play's retarded step-cousin. The budget, COVID, and redistricting are this session's school finance/property tax reform. "We've just gotta get those done"..."so we can grow our majority." Try again in 2023.

Understand Something: Whatever your issue, whatever your cause, YOUR BILLS. ARE ALREADY. DEAD. There's nothing you can do about it. Except refuse to play that game again.

West's comments suggest he's not playing that game.

Good on him for that.

Bottom Line:  We've been trying the same thing over and over and over again.  It keeps not working.  Heaven forbid we try something different.

#TXLEGE: White Light Phelan

"Because of the transgression of a land, many are its princes;
But by a man of understanding and knowledge
Right will be prolonged."
Proverbs 28:2

So it's Phelan:

The race for the next Texas House Speaker is all but over after Rep. Geanie Morrison (R-Victoria) withdrew on Thursday afternoon.

In a statement to the Texas Tribune, Morrison said, “My team and I are uniting the Republican Caucus with our support of Dade Phelan.”

Rep. Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) announced on Wednesday that he had the votes secured to become the next speaker. Morrison, however, had a last-minute push after Rep. Trent Ashby (R-Lufkin) announced his withdrawal from the race to endorse her.

But after a meeting between Republican members, Morrison decided to drop out and get behind Phelan.

So, that's that. We stand by our sentiment that the process felt weird. File that one away in case it becomes relevant later. But, for now, Phelan can't be stopped.

It's gross, but there was never any reason to expect anything different.

Given that a Phelan speakership is now overwhelmingly likely, it's worth revisiting Bryan Slaton's recent comment:

Here is the truth: If the speaker vote is nothing more than picking which group gets to be in control, while the status quo of the Texas House remains the same, then I’m not interested in joining either team, and abstaining—or voting with a “white light”—would be my only option.

Now we know.

(Not that we didn't suspect it before.)

Bottom Line: A Phelan speakership means the status quo, and there's no reason to participate in that farce.

#TXLEGE: This Phelan thing just feels weird

"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

Apparently, Dade Phelan has majorities in both parties' caucuses to become speaker:

UPDATE: as of 12:33 - 57Rs and 49Ds in support of my candidacy for Speaker of the House! #txlege

— Dade Phelan (@DadePhelan) November 5, 2020

He's so confident that he's even announced his "transition team":

Excited to announce my dear friend and former boss, Tommy Williams, has agreed to chair my House Speaker transition team! Ready to organize the House! #txlege pic.twitter.com/CTxodF3Q6F

— Dade Phelan (@DadePhelan) November 5, 2020

Good for Phelan. We guess. But something about this just seems...off.

Usually, people who are confident they have the votes to become speaker act that way. Beating your chest about how "confident" you are suggest the opposite. But that's admittedly speculative.

PushJunction speculates further:

DADE PHELAN held a talk-at-the-press event yesterday where he announced the Speaker’s race is over. Shortly after the event, a couple of his colleagues issued public statements contradicting Phelan’s remarks.

The Phelan play is the Bonnen play, just less convincing.

At the press conference, Phelan was all by himself, didn’t take questions, and his announcement wasn’t accompanied by an outpouring of public support on social media like events to boost Bonnen.

Bottom Line: It's impossible to know what any of this means from the outside, but it's certainly odd.

The GENIUS Party Continues Doing Genius Stuff

"Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."
Matthew 7:5

Wait...what?!?



The comment thread linked above contains the full blow-by-blow.  You can also watch the video archive here.  BTL,DR version is that the Texas GOP just denied "affiliate" status to the Log Cabin R's.

On one hand, we don't particularly care.  This is the insidest of inside baseball.  It means nothing in the real world.

But come on:

Republicans’ legislative efforts to ban cities from mandating benefits for employers’ workers took another twist late Wednesday night after a Texas House committee added protections for LGBTQ workers that the state Senate had removed from previous legislation.

Senate Bill 2486, which the House State Affairs Committee advanced Wednesday in a 10-2 vote, is part of a larger package of legislation state Sen. Brandon Creighton filed to limit the ability of cities to regulate private companies’ employment policies.

After hearing roughly eight hours of testimony Wednesday, state Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, advanced a reworked version of the bill — adding the language explicitly protecting local nondiscrimination ordinances to the measure, which would bar cities from enacting rules on how businesses schedule their employees’ shifts.

The move comes after several legal experts and LGBTQ advocates raised alarm bells that without the language in place, the potential new state law could undermine the enforceability of local anti-discrimination ordinances. They fear it would allow businesses to selectively pick and choose which of its employees are eligible to receive benefits that go beyond monetary compensation.

Phelan later told The Texas Tribune he chose to reintroduce the nondiscrimination protection language into the bill to help ensure local ordinances — already in place in six major Texas cities — aren’t gutted should the measure become law. And he told Tribune CEO Evan Smith in a podcast interview that he’s “done talking about bashing on the gay community” and didn't want to push legislation that could be used as a vehicle for discrimination.

“It's completely unacceptable... This is 2019,” he said.

Followed by:

For conservative Texas lawmakers and their allies in the business community, the fight over paid sick leave seemed like a slam dunk at the start of this year.

Left-leaning cities Austin and San Antonio were in Republicans’ crosshairs after adopting ordinances that required private businesses to offer their employees a certain number of paid sick days. While the city council members spearheading those proposals touted them as beneficial to workers, lawmakers on the other side of the ideological spectrum took issue with cities taking a new role in private companies’ employment policies — and creating patchwork regulations that only applied in certain parts of the state and might differ within a matter of miles.

Legislation blocking those ordinances was hailed as a priority in the Texas Senate, blessed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and lobbied for by wealthy business groups.

But as the session winds down, the bills that would achieve those goals missed the deadline to be considered on the House floor — meaning they’re effectively dead.

Barely six months ago, on the most important employment law bill of the past generation, the Texas GOP cowered and caved to a bunch of bullshit-ass, disingenuous, "objections" from the LGBT crowd.

Yet today we're supposed to believe they're taking some sort of principled stand?!?

Please.

Bottom Line: Hypocrite!  First Pass the sick leave preemption bill.  Then you will see clearly to make "party affiliate" decisions.

#TXLEGE: (Because of Dade Phelan) San Antonio employers forced to sue city

"For a righteous man may fall seven times
And rise again,
But the wicked shall fall by calamity."
Proverbs 24:16

Given where we're at, this was unavoidable:

The City of San Antonio may face a lawsuit over its upcoming Paid Sick Leave ordinance.

The ordinance takes effect on August 1. It was a citizen driven petition allowed under the city charter and was required to be approved by the San Antonio City Council, which it did last year.

It requires San Antonio businesses to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked by an employee. The requirements of how much time can be accrued vary based on business size.

It’s been met with push back from businesses owners and now a lawsuit may be on the table.

[Note: This author has no specific knowledge, but logic suggests a similar lawsuit will soon be filed in Dallas.]

This is INFURIATING.

There's a strong legal case to make against so-called municipal "sick leave" ordinances.  So-called municipal "sick leave" ordinances clearly conflict with the Texas minimum wage act.  Nevertheless, lawsuits cost money and take time.  They're inherently uncertain.

Of course, had the legislature passed the preemption bills, this wouldn't matter.

As we recently wrote:

On April 11, the Texas Senate passed SB’s 2485-88 to pre-empt sick leave ordinances along with other local wage and benefit mandates. Yet these bills died in the Texas House.

In an effort to appease frivolous objections from left-wing interest groups, House State Affairs Committee chairman Dade Phelan, a Republican, slow-walked them past the point of relevance.

THANKS DADE PHELAN!!!

Meanwhile, employers in San Antonio are at the mercy of the courts.

INFURIATING.

And completely preventable.

Bottom Line: Unless something changes, these so-called municipal "sick leave" ordinances are going to haunt Texas for a long time.

#TXLEGE: Rinaldi's tree bill interrogation of Phelan....

"This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John."
Acts 18:25

Still don't know why they didn't amend the real tree bill onto this one, but this is brutal nevertheless:



Highlights:

• "Is this the same version of this bill that we passed out of the House during the regular session?!?"
• Phelan: "Identical, yes sir."

• "And this bill was ultimately vetoed by the Governor, correct?!?"
• Phelan: "Correct."

• "Is this the bill that, in conversation, the Governor has referred to as the wrong tree bill?!?"

• "Did the Governor say that this bill 'gives the imprimatur of state law to the municipal micromanagement of private property which should be abolished altogether'?!?
• Phelan: "He might have said that, yes sir."

#TXLEGE: Straus mendacious as ever and NEVER going to change (without Gubernatorial intervention).....

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,"
Hebrews 12:1

[UPDATE: According to Empower Texans, Workman withdrew the amendment voluntarily so Straus didn't have to rule it non-germane.  That's a separate hot mess (as is the fact that NO Freedom Caucus member advanced their own amendment to force the issue), but it's not lawlessness in the way we'd originally reported.  We've updated the post accordingly.]

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While we've had our suspicions about what would happen, to this point in the special session we've been content to let the process play out.  We knew the time would come when events would paint a clear picture.  That happened today.

HB 7 (Phelan) is a pathetic impersonation of the tree bill that Governor Abbott has requested from the legislature.  It was heard alongside the real tree bill in the urban affairs committee on Tuesday [Note: We signed in against but did not testify].  The difference between Phelan's bill and the real tree bill is that Phelan's was voted out while the real tree bill languishes in committee.

But here's the real kicker: This was a reprise of a bill that was vetoed by the Governor in June; as the Governor explained:

Senate Bill 744 appears to be a compromise bill that imposes a very minor restriction on some municipal tree ordinances. But in doing so, it gives the imprimatur of state law to the municipal micromanagement of private property, which should be abolished altogether. This bill was well-intentioned, but by the end of the legislative process it actually ended up doing more to protect cities than it did to protect the rights of property owners.

Obviously, the disrespect was deliberate.

But hope had yet to be lost; Paul Workman was planning to use a floor amendment to attach the real tree bill to Phelan's shell bill.

Then Workman inexplicably withdrew his amendment.  And the House members did nothing.  And NO Freedom Caucus member offered their own amendment to force the issue.  Ultimately, 132 members (including five from the Freedom caucus) voted to pass Phelan's bill without any amendments.

• Note: Making matters that much more interesting, on the modestly pro-life bill the House considered next, Straus had no problem allowing Democrats to put forward three amendments to weaken the bill

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So, where do we go from here?!?

Honestly...it's up to Abbott.  It's his agenda that's on the line.  And he's the one who was explicitly dissed today.

If Abbott gets actively involved, plenty of time remains to go 20 for 20.

If Abbott doesn't get actively involved, according to Capitol sources, Straus only intends to move: the less important pro-life items (note: looks good on a campaign mailer), annexation (note: being from San Antonio, Straus personally needs this), something related to school finance (note: he'll push for the Huberty bill then settle for an interim study) and maternal mortality.

Absent Abbott's involvement, everything else is dead in the House.

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Governor Greg Abbott: (512) 463-2000

#TXLEGE: Senate further restricts rogue local governments while House creates new occupational license....

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

While the "Senate good/House bad" narrative can be a bit of an oversimplification, the product of yesterday's respective floor sessions speak for themselves.

On the Senate side, the passed SB 715 (Campbell):

Relating to municipal annexation.

Campbell's bill would abolish involuntary annexation at the municipal level.  Involuntary annexation is a bad idea that has grown increasingly abusive in recent years.   This continues the Senate's trend this session of cracking down on municipal nonsense.

TPPF released this statement on Campbell's bill:

“Forced annexation is undemocratic and un-Texan,” said James Quintero, director of the Center for Local Governance. “Letting cities annex people without their consent robs those Texans of the right to decide what kind of government they want. Today’s passage of SB 715 by the Senate helps to right this terrible wrong.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the building, the House passed HB 1260 (Phelan):

Relating to the regulation of commercial shrimp unloading; requiring an occupational license; authorizing a fee.

[Author's Note: Emphasis added.]

Jonathan Stickland explains why this is an awful bill in a recent "Bad Bill of the week" segment:



Highlights:

• Bill creates new authority for unaccountable taxation from unelected bureaucrats.
• Occupational licensing is a barrier to entry.
• Violates RPT platform; we should be repealing occupational licensing not creating new ones.

Stickland offered three amendments that would have solved the problem Phelan's claimed his bill was attempting to address in a free market manner.  Unfortunately, all three were overwhelmingly voted down.  Thus did the House put itself on record supporting fewer jobs and higher cost of living.

Bottom Line: Honestly, the difference between these two bills speaks for itself.