#TXLEGE: Things *might* not mean what Lt. Dan apparently thinks they mean

"Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before a fall."
Proverbs 16:18

This is...quite the arrogant press release:

PR 19 12 11 by DanPatrickTX on Scribd

To be fair, everything on which this author was working this past session passed the Senate.  We're not particularly angry with the Senators listed in this press release.  At least, not anymore than we're angry with the rest of the institution.

But come on: Does anybody seriously think that successfully primarying Dawn Buckingham or Charles Perry (two of the bigger drop offs this session) will change anything?!?

Cuz' it won't.

And it won't change anything...because of people like Dan Patrick.

Speaking of primary challenges.

Bottom Line: This was an astonishingly stupid press release to send out.

#TXLEGE: Hot Mess continues to get Hotter

"Can a man take fire to his bosom,
And his clothes not be burned?"
Proverbs 6:27

Apparently, Dan Patrick thought it would be a good idea to go run his mouth to the Dallas Morning News.  Patrick's interview consisted of rationalization filled verbal diarrhea mixed with Olympic level mental gymnastics.  Aka. Not good.

• Patrick: "Senator Seliger, on this particular radio show, has called out Senator Buckingham and Senator Kolkhorst and Senator Perry by name, criticizing them. He, I’m told, and you’ll have to check the facts, but I’m told by them he called them, called Lois and Dawn, ‘gutless,’ you know, selling out to the conservative movement."
  
  Except, apparently, that never happened.

• Patrick: "He, I’m told, and you’ll have to check the facts, but I’m told by them he called them, called Lois and Dawn, ‘gutless,’ you know, selling out to the conservative movement. That does not go down well with members. He’s had a very sharp showdown on the floor with a female senator, dropping the f-word, because he was unhappy with the senator’s vote. These were things, Lauren, I just kind of heard about but I discovered in the last couple of days."
  
  Dan Patrick being oblivious to the Texas Senate not being the best working environment for women...you don't say!

• Patrick: "So it wasn’t his votes. It’s the, it’s the, what’s the word I’m looking for? It was just the way he went about it on the floor and putting amendments on the bills that put members in a very difficult situation."
  
  That's called politics.

• Patrick: "So I didn’t take him off Finance or off Higher Ed because of his votes. I need people – we have a lot of serious business to do and I need people who are on the team, pulling together."
  
  He literally just said one thing then contradicted himself in the next sentence.

• Patrick: "I didn’t see moving him from Higher Ed to Agriculture as a demotion, by the way."
  
  That's preposterous.  It's also insulting to the intelligence of anyone who hears it.  If Patrick genuinely believes this, he's deeper in denial than we thought.

• Patrick: "Finance — I told senators when I became lieutenant governor, ‘I think every senator should have the chance to serve a session or two on Finance’ because until you serve on Finance, you don’t have a complete view of how the process works."
  
  That's not a bad idea in terms of running the chamber, but doesn't change the fact that leaving Seliger on Finance was a face-saving solution to keep him out of the way.

• Patrick: "Uresti had been in the Legislature for 20 years and never been on Appropriations or Finance...."
  
  Polka dot thong.

• Patrick: "You know, this particular senator told me, this female senator, she’s never had a man talk to her in her entire life anywhere like he talked to her on the floor."
  
  This coming from a guy who missed the first day of session to hang out with Donald Trump.

• Patrick: "You know, Lauren look, if somebody said that about you, I would take the same position. It’s just inappropriate. It doesn’t matter. We just went through an hour, an hour and a half training on sexual harassment. Lois Kolkhorst worked all the interim to look at this issue and to be that, you know — Sherry Sylvester is a 30-year plus professional. She’s not ‘some lady.’ She’s not a ‘messenger,’ which I also thought demeaning. I mean, you’re a professional writer. I wouldn’t talk to you in that way."
  
  Guy who 5 paragraphs earlier was bragging about putting Carlos Uresti on the Finance committee now wants female reporter to give him kudos taking for an hour and a half long class.
  
  It's a shame the phrase 'mansplaining' has been so badly abused over the years, because if it were ever appropriate....

• McGaughy: I have to bring up the Sen. Schwertner issue because it’s been an issue that’s been raised in light of all of this. We haven’t seen a similar statement from you that perhaps he should he removed from his vice chairmanship, or, he says he didn’t send this text to this young lady –
  
  Patrick: No, I think you saw me act very clearly. He asked for a lighter schedule.
  
  McGaughy: I’m sorry?
  
  Patrick: He asked for a lighter schedule.
  
  To use the phrase "He asked for a lighter schedule" in describing this situation is, at best, an extremely poor choice of words.

• Patrick: "They are two totally different issues. The one issue he was accused of something where there was no finding and no one has come forward. There is no place for us to go with that. This is a separate issue. This is something said in public on a radio station about a professional woman that every senator – I haven’t talked to every senator – but Democrats and Republicans alike, men and women, were appalled."
  
  You're not seriously trying to rationalize this Seliger situation as being worse than the one with Schwertner in terms of treatment of women...are you?!?

• McGaughy: "Sen. Seliger also said you’ve sent a message to other senators. You’ve talked about being a team player. He’s a free agent now. He can do whatever he wants. Do you have a concern about him going rogue?
  
  Patrick: No.
  
  WELL.  YOU.  SHOULD.  (See what we said above about Patrick being deeper in denial than we thought).

• Patrick also compared himself to Tom Brady.

Bottom Line: Dan Patrick didn't do himself any favors in this interview.

#TXLEGE: Initial Thoughts on Senate Committee Assignments

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

Senate Committee assignments are out:

86th #TXLEGE Senate Committees by Cahnman on Scribd

Thoughts:

• Kolkhorst OUT at admin -- Given her disgraceful neglect (at best) of the Texas Senate's very real problem with sexual misbehavior, this is a welcome development.

• Schwertner out, Kolkhorst in, at HHS -- Given what we just said, to see Lois Kolkhorst take over for Charles Schwertner is...to put it mildly...ironic.
  
  Beyond that aspect, however, this is a strange assignment.  Kolkhorst's background is in Oil and Gas, not health care.  Why her?!?  Why here?!?
  
  It's not like there's a shortage of Doctors in the Texas Senate.

• That being said, good precedent on Schwertner -- We've been arguing for over a year that loss of committee chairs was the most important sanction we could impose on legislators who engage in funny business.  However bizarre that route it took to get to this place might have been, that precedent is now established.
   
• Seliger to chair new Ag. committee -- Tough to know what to make of this one.  On the one hand, it's easy to view it as a demotion.  On the other hand, it's also easy to see how this is a good fit with Seliger's district.
  
  Only time will tell.
  
  If it is a demotion, however, beware the wrath of Seliger down the line.

• Solid Conservatives on Education

• Creighton in at Higher Ed. -- Ummmmmm?!?
  
  We've never known Brandon Creighton to have any particular interest in Higher ed. issues.  So this is...odd.  On the one hand, Creighton has historically tended to vote solidly.  On the other hand, he's not somebody who likes to upset the apple cart.
  
  Tough to know how that breaks on Higher Ed. issues.
  
  Longhorn.

• Buckingham in at Nominations -- This could be interesting.
  
  Last session, Dawn Buckingham was the only Senator who even showed a pulse during the UT regent confirmation process.  We have no idea if they will be, but Regent confirmations should be an even bigger issue this session.  None of them are great, but Buckingham's record on this subject is less bad that most of the others.
  
  That being said, if Buckingham puts down her foot on regent confirmations, Watson, Seliger, and Alvarado will go BALLISTIC.  We have no idea how that plays out.  But it would be really entertaining to watch.  If nothing else, it would be a healthy debate to have in public.
  
  We've also signed onto the coalition letter related to the Sec'y of State confirmation.

• Plum assignments for Flores

• Business as usual for Borris Miles -- Obviously, he doesn't have a chairmanship to lose but Economic Development and HHS are...not bad.

Bottom Line: No obvious roadblocks on any major issues.  Couple interesting personnel moves.  We shall see.

#TXLEGE: Senate has opportunity to restore teeth to Sunset Process this interim

"A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,
But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous."
Proverbs 13:22

We were on the Sunset Commission's website this morning when we noticed something interesting about its current membership (on the Senate side):

Our first reaction: "Dadgum, Bob Hall's on the Sunset Commission?!? When did that happen?!?" Apparently, it happened last November.

Then we realized that Brian Birdwell and Dawn Buckingham are also on Sunset.  Thus, you have a core group of 3 solid conservatives; that's never happened before. Historically, the Sunset commission has been made up of members who range from "ok" to awful (eg. Byron Cook was appointed twice).  You might have one, or at most two, solid conservatives.  3 is unprecedented.

There are 32 governmental entities going through Sunset this interim.  Of those 32, using very generous standards, 20 might be justifiable.  In other words, the Texas Sunset Commission has an easy opportunity to abolish at least 12 pointless governmental agencies this interim.  Even if Birdwell, Buckingham, and Hall can't get the full commission to agree to their abolition, as a dissident faction they can create headaches for all involved.

For example: Did you know that Texas has a "Funeral Service Commission" (aka. you can't escape the government, even in death)?!?  Neither did we.  But that entity does exist, and it's up in Sunset this interim.

Bottom Line: Imagine a world where, as conservatives steadily gain ground in the legislature, the Texas Sunset commission uses the authority it already has.  Then consider that, with his appointments this interim, Lt. Governor Patrick has given us a down payment on that world.  This is an opportunity we should exploit.

#TXLEGE: Statements about several of today's bills....

"Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!
For You shall judge the people righteously,
And govern the nations on earth. Selah"
Psalm 67:4

[Note: The business and commerce committee hearing can be viewed here; our testimony on the health insurance bill can be viewed around the 1 hour 15 minute mark, our testimony on the not changing permitting rules in the middle of the game bill can be found around three hours.]

We signed up to testify on six separate bills today at the Capitol.  We were only able to deliver that testimony on two.  On the final four bills, our remarks are the testimony we would have given if we'd been able to stick around."

• SB 8 (Creighton): "Relating to health plan and health benefit plan coverage for elective abortion."
  
  We testified that, similar to the local defunding bill from yesterday,  so long as our society is going to permit the slaughter of innocent children, they ought to at least not ask the rest of us to pay for it.
  
  That being said, we also realized later that eliminating abortion coverage from basic health insurance can only lower premiums.
  
• SB 12 (Buckingham): "Relating to limiting the applicability of municipal and county regulations affecting real property." [Note: This is the bill that would prohibit cities from changing the rules for construction projects in the middle of the game.]
  
  One of the taxpayer-funded municipal propagandists used the phrase "using zoning to protect property values" and we found that an astonishing euphemism for using the coercive power of the state to artificially restrict housing supply.
  
  Furthermore, we pointed out that housing costs are the biggest expense for the overwhelming majority of families nationally, in Texas, and here in Austin.  When abusive municipal governments, starting with but not limited to the city of Austin, change the rules in the middle of the game it drives up those housing costs.  This is terrible for upward economic mobility.
  
• SB 13 (Burton): "Relating to the issuance of a permit by a political subdivision."  [Note: This bill would establish firm deadlines for cities and counties to deny building permits.  Unless the political subdivision actively denies the permit, it is considered automatically granted after a certain period of time.  Also prohibits county and municipal governments from mandating wage rates.]
  
  Everything aspect of this bill is awesome.
  
• SB 14 (Hall): "Relating to a property owner's right to remove a tree or vegetation." [Note: This is the tree bill.]
  
  This bill has received a surprising amount of national attention, so there's not a lot that we have to add.  The property rights aspect of this discussion is obvious.  The only thing we would add is that the local politically entrenched disingenuous NIMBY crowd loves to use the tree ordinance as an excuse to delay construction and that anything that reigns in those people can only be a good thing.
  
• SB 1 (Bettencourt): "Relating to ad valorem taxation."
  
  There's been a lot of ink spilled over property taxes, to which we will simply add that the current property tax system is an obvious macroeconomic storm brewing on the medium-term horizon and that it's one of the few things that could truly take down the Texas economy (local government debt is the other).
  
  Furthermore, lowering the property tax cap would benefit renters alongside homeowners.  Renters (even if they don't realize it) pay property taxes through their rent.  Unfortunately, renters don't receive homestead exemptions.
  
• SB 18 (Estes): "Relating to a limit on local government expenditures."
  
  The flip side to clamping down on taxes is that you need to clamp down on spending as well and this bill does that.
  
  Furthermore, if you're serious about eliminating property taxes, making cities and counties live under spending caps  starts to make that a realistically viable option in four or six years down the line.

#TXLEGE: Wrapping up our testimonies from the 85th Regular Session....

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
John 8:32

[Note: A very big, public, THANK YOU to Buddy Kipp of Empower Texans for pulling the video from the legislature's website.]

We've finally gotten our legislative testimonies from the regular session online; presented in chronological order.

• 1/26/2017 -- UT Regent confirmation hearing (Original post 1, 2)
  
  

• 3/14/2017 -- SB 113: "Relating to the provision of and local regulation of certain for-hire passenger transportation." [Note: This was Don Huffines version of the Uber bill that would have completely deregulated ALL ground transportation.] (Original Post)
  
  

• 3/14/2017 -- SB 451: "Relating to regulation of short-term rentals and short-term rental marketplaces by municipalities and counties."
  
  

• 3/23/2017 -- SB 19: "Relating to performance-based tuition limitations for and a temporary limitation on the amount of tuition and fees charged by certain public institutions of higher education. (Original Post)
  
  

• 3/27/2017 -- SB 445: "Relating to the authorization and reporting of expenditures for lobbying activities by certain political subdivisions and other public entities." (Original Post)
  
  

• 4/4/2017 -- SB 650: "Relating to tax increment financing." (Original Post)
  
  

• 4/11/2017 -- HB 3418: "Relating to municipal zoning affecting places or areas of historical, cultural, or architectural importance and significance." (Original Post)
  
  

• 4/18/2017 -- HB 2551: "Relating to regulation of short-term rentals by municipalities and counties." (Original Post)
  
  

• 4/26/2017 -- SB 1151: "Relating to the protection of expressive activities at public institutions of higher education." (Original Post)
  
  

• 5/11/2017 -- HB 100: "Relating to the regulation of transportation network companies; requiring an occupational permit; authorizing a fee." (Original Post)
  
  

• 5/11/2017 -- CSHB 21: "Relating to the funding of primary and secondary education." (Original Post)
  
  

• 5/15/2017 -- HB 17: "Relating to the establishment of the Texas Higher Education Innovation Accelerator for public institutions of higher education." (Original Post)
  
  

• 5/17/2017 -- SB 822: "Relating to the transfer of certain property from The University of Texas System to the Parks and Wildlife Department." (Original Post)
  
  

• 5/17/2017 -- SB 19: "Relating to performance-based tuition limitations for and a temporary limitation on the amount of tuition and fees charged by certain public institutions of higher education." (Original Post)
  
  

#TXLEGE: Senate passes Campus Free Speech bill!!!

"He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still."
Revelation 22:11

Amidst all the craziness last Thursday, the Senate quietly moved forward something pretty awesome: Dawn Buckingham's campus free speech bill has now passed the full Senate.

We testified in favor of this bill in late April.  But, to be honest, we thought it was dead in committee.  Thus, we didn't even realize that it had been voted out.

But, apparently, Chairman Seliger defied our expectations last week.

And now the bill is out of the full Senate!

Making matters even better, during floor debate Bryan Hughes added a floor amendment that would ban so-called "free speech zones" on campus.  So the bill is even stronger than what was originally considered in committee.  Booyah!!!

Finally, we would like to publicly thank Chairman Seliger.  He did not have to move this bill, but he did.  While we've certainly had our disagreements over the years, his leadership of the Higher Ed committee this session has been a pleasant surprise.

Bottom Line: It's still moving....

#TXLEGE: Senate hears bill protecting free speech on College Campuses....

"When they heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill them."
Acts 5:33

[Note: The hearing can be viewed here.  The consideration of the free speech bill begins at the 1:35 mark.  Our testimony can be found about ten minutes later.]

As national headlines can attest, the assault on free speech on college campuses has gotten significantly worse in recent years.  In response, several states have passed bills to protect speech on campus.  This morning, we attended a hearing for, and testified in favor of, Texas' equivalent attempt to do so.

SB 1511 (Buckingham) would prohibit "free speech zones" on campuses.  It would prohibit universities from punishing students based on political ideas.  It would also prohibit public universities from disinviting speakers based on the political content of their ideas.

TPPF's Tom Lindsay testified in favor of the bill and recited a litany of abuses against students holding views contrary to the bureaucracies that run these institution.  We largely echoed Dr. Lindsay's views, while also highlighting the mess that occurred with YCT's affirmative action bake sale at UT last year.  To be honest, we think the national headlines speak for themselves.

But there's one point we made in testimony about which we want to elaborate here: The biggest problem is that the Boards of Regents aren't doing their jobs to protect students.  If the legislature wants free speech on campus protected, they've got to stop rubber stamping Regent appointments, otherwise they're going to gut this law the same way they gutted campus carry.  It's not a coincidence that we made this exact point during our testimony for the last round of UT regents.

During dais discussion, Chairman Seliger tried to claim that the first amendment renders this bill superfluous.  Kirk Watson came up with a serious of cute lawyer distinctions designed to show that the bill was unnecessary. Seliger and Watson both chimed in to claim that the bill is toothless and thus unnecessary.

Unfortunately, according to a Senate source, Senator Buckingham had to remove most of the teeth from the bill to get it a hearing in the first place; thus Seliger is talking out of both sides of his mouth on this issue.

Bottom Line: This bill won't get to the Governor's desk this session, but we commend the Senate for starting the conversation because we have a feeling political correctness in public universities is going to get a lot worse.

-----

UT Regent confirmation hearing tests the Texas Senate's capacity for willful self-delusion....

"And this is the inscription that was written:
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN."
Daniel 5:25

The good news is that they haven't voted yet.  The bad news is that the fix remains as in as it's been and that vote will be a formality when the committee meets next week.  Yesterday, we called this fiasco dirty politics worthy of House of Cards and nothing that occurred in today's confirmation hearing changes that.

Everything you need to know about this process can be summed up in the fact that Kirk Watson said that he was "very pleased" and "looking forward to swift confirmation."  That being said, Watson did ask each of the nominees to define how they see their role as individual regents.  Ironically, it was in response to a question from Kirk Watson that all three nominees admitted they see the the role of an individual regent to be a yes man for the chancellor.

We will confess to being pleasantly surprised by Kevin Eltife's testimony.  He spoke of the need to end "smoke and mirrors" budgeting while committing to ending the practice of building new buildings without sufficient funds raised for ongoing maintenance and operations.  That's a pretty meaningful cost driver and if a potential Regent Eltife can make progress in that area so much the better.

Janiece Longoria was a talking points repository.  She was the president-elect of Texas Exes prior to being nominated by Governor FoxNews Abbott and was previously on the Board of UTIMCO.  Honestly, that's all you need to know, although she also gave winking approval to the admissions scandal.

Rad Weaver is, straight up, not qualified for this position.  We're doing our best to be polite, but it's impossible to be truthful without saying that the word bimbo comes to mind.  His response to every single question from Senators was some variation of the phrase "I don't know."  Well, if you don't know the answer to basic questions about how the system is governed, you shouldn't be serving on the Board of Regents!  If these Senators had any self respect, they would have been offended at how many times they were told "I don't know."

Senator Birdwell sounded like a cuck asked a milquetoast question about whether the new Board will respect the chain of command as it relates to the relationship between the UT system and the legislature, which Birdwell deemed "unsatisfactory" currently.  All three nominees mouthed the platitudes you would expect them to mouth in response to such a question.  But actions speak louder than words and everything you need to know about how these new Regents will view the legislature can be summed up by the fact that Rad Weaver failed to do basic preparation for his confirmation hearing.

In response to various questions from Senators Kel Seliger and Borris Miles, Eltife and Longoria spoke unfavorably about the UT system's Houston land grab.  Meanwhile, Chancellor McRaven was chided for the Houston project in a separate hearing.  But that doesn't change the reality that, even if you take Eltife and Longoria at their word, McRaven has a 7-2 majority on the Board to push Houston forward and the legislature isn't going to do a damn thing to stop him.

To his credit, Senator Van Taylor told a fantastic Aggie joke.

The only Senator who demonstrated a basic grasp of reality during this hearing was Dawn Buckingham.  She asked pointed questions about admissions and tuition and disdainfully left it at "we will see" when she received buzzwords and truisms in return.  But Senator Buckingham did everything we asked her to do when we discussed this issue on the campaign trail.

We are working on technical issues related to the video of our personal testimony and will share it in a separate post; the indefatigable Jon Cassidy has more here, the Statesman has more here.

Auto Dealers bet BIG on Susan King....

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Matthew 6:21

Given our recent interest in the death of the TESLA bill, we took a look into where the auto dealers were spending money this campaign season.  We did a search for all of their 2016 donations, expecting to see donations to Wayne Smith and possibly Doug Miller.  We were NOT prepared for what we found:



So the ONLY campaign donation the auto dealers have made this entire year was to Susan King.

King's runoff finance report for the runoff confirms the donation:

Susan King is a thoroughly mediocre state representative from Abilene who is running for an open Texas Senate seat against Austin-based ophthalmologist Dawn Buckingham; we've endorsed Buckingham.

Not only is Susan King an unexpected recipient for auto dealer cash, but the donation is MASSIVE.  Typically, when a lobbyist or a trade group wants to keep an open door with a legislator, they'll donate $500 or $1000.  You don't donate $10k to someone unless you're looking to make a statement.

And, apparently, the auto dealers are looking to make a statement with their support for Susan King.

Bottom Line: We have no idea why the auto dealers are so interested in Susan King, but we're glad to be supporting Dawn Buckingham!!!

2016 Texas Republican Runoff Election: YOUR Conservative/Libertarian Voter Guide!!!

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

With early voting underway in the 2016 Republican Runoff, Cahnman's Musings makes the following endorsements:

STATEWIDE -- Texas Railroad Commission

Wayne Christian:

Read our previous endorsement here; read our endorsement from the 2014 cycle here.

With this race, we have an opportunity to fix the greatest injustice of the 2014 cycle.

Let's take it.


STATEWIDE -- Judicial

Ray Wheless (Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 2):

Read our previous endorsement for Ray Wheless here.

In addition, Judge Wheless won't be a rubber stamp for prosecutors.  That's often a problem in criminal cases.  Judge Wheless' record also suggests he will take a sane and rational approach to low level drug offenses.

While the worst candidate for this seat was eliminated in the first round, we remain unenthusiastic about Judge Wheless' opponent.

Brent Webster (Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 5):

If we can only communicate one message to voters, it's this: The Governor of Wisconsin is NOT running for a judicial position in Texas.

Richard Scott Walker is an unqualified Dallas-based attorney who put his name on the ballot in such a way that it allows him to coast off of the Wisconsin governor's name recognition.  That's the only reason he made the runoff.  It's also worth pointing out that, at least to our knowledge, Walker hasn't spoken to a single grassroots group during this entire campaign.

Brent Webster, by contrast, is an actual attorney with meaningful criminal law experience.  While his background in the Williamson county DA's office makes us nervous, we've gotten to know him over the past few months and are comfortable he will treat defendants with fairness and respect.  FWIW, he's also been endorsed by every conservative group in Texas.

TEXAS SENATE

Bryan Hughes (District 1):

Let's make it official: We're switching sides.

Obviously, we endorsed David Simpson in the first round.  Heck, we gave David money back in December.  But we cannot support David's actions during the runoff.

Since this campaign moved into the runoff, David Simpson has gotten into bed with the Ratliff family.  He's been endorsed by ParentPAC.  His attacks on Ken Paxton were the final straw.

Fortunately, Bryan Hughes also got into this race.  Bryan is a conventional conservative who will vote in a predictable manner.  In the Texas Senate, at this point, a consistent 20th vote is more important than anything else.

This race was always a close call.  Both candidates are good Christian men, but neither is perfect.  Either one will be mostly good on most issues most of the time, and they have both made bewildering decisions over the years.

Nevertheless, at this point, we're just more comfortable with Bryan.

Sometimes you need to swallow your pride and hop in a life boat.  Stubbornly clinging to a sinking ship doesn't help anyone.  Especially when the ship is sinking due to it's own design failures.

Dawn Buckingham (District 24):

Read our previous endorsement of Dawn Buckingham here.








TEXAS HOUSE

The Stickland Six:

Jonathan Stickland is currently supporting the following six House candidates in runoffs:

• Keith Strahan (Liberty, San Jacinto, Walker counties); previously donated.
• John Keating (Collin, Rockwall counties)
• Briscoe Cain (Eastern Harris County)
• Read King (Denton County); previously endorsed.
• Kyle Biedermann (Comal, Gillespie, Kendall counties).

• Cole Hefner (Camp, Morris, Rains, Smith, Titus, Wood counties). 

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

Mary Lou Bruner (District 9):

We don't agree with Donna Garner on everything, but we do agree with her on issues related to the State Board of Education:

"Texas public school students, parents, and teachers badly need Mary Lou Bruner on the SBOE. Mary Lou is now retired; but she worked for 36 years in the Texas public schools as a teacher, counselor, and educational diagnostician. She knows how children think. She also knows the best ways to help them learn the foundational knowledge and skills that parents want their children to know. Mary Lou will not be fooled by those who want to indoctrinate our Texas children into anti-American thinking nor by those people who see no need for children to learn the basic skills needed for success (e.g., phonics, grammar, usage, spelling, cursive, math facts, etc.)."

The fact that Mary Lou Bruner's election will give both Thomas Ratliff and the so-called Texas "Freedom" Network conniption fits doesn't hurt either.

STICKLAND ENDORSES BUCKINGHAM!!

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

This is just all sorts of fantastic:

RUNOFF ENDORSEMENT: Dawn Buckingham for SD-24!!!

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

In SD-24, we supported Brent Mayes in the first round.  Obviously, that didn't pan out.  Backing Dawn Buckingham in the runoff is an easy choice.

On Primary election day we worked the same polling location as Dawn.  Over the course of a ten hour day, we had an extended opportunity to get to know her.  We discussed the ups and downs of the campaign, and the state of both Texas and the world.  It was a very reassuring conversation.  While we don't have permission to reveal the details, suffice to say Dawn Buckingham's views on the Federal Reserve system warm our heart.

But let's address the 800 pound gorilla in the room: TMA.  There's no denying that Dawn Buckingham has a long history with the Texas Medical Association.  That history was our dealbreaker issue in the first round.  As part of that history, she's also made campaign donations to several bad elected officials.  We've asked her about it several times, and that history was a major topic during the primary day conversation we mentioned above.  Dawn has always stated that, as a conservative, she thought she could be more effective working to change TMA from the inside than throwing rocks from the outside.  We don't particularly agree with that logic, but we understand it and accept it in this one case.

That being said, no discussion of the Texas Medical Association and the SD-24 race would be complete without discussing Dawn's opponent: Susan King.  While Dawn has certainly worked with TMA over the years, Susan King's husband ran TMA during the last legislative session.  In addition, Susan King is a well documented liberal who currently serves as a Joe Straus committee chair in the Texas House.  In other words, both candidates in this race have ties to TMA, but one is a Joe Straus lieutenant while the other has a pretty big liberty streak.

Speaking of Dawn Buckingham's liberty streak, earlier today she appeared at a Texas Tribune event.  At that event, she gave strong answers on religious liberty and the second amendment.  On religious liberty, she spoke in support of protections similar to those recently passed in North Carolina.  She also told us after the event that she doesn't buy this silly notion that protecting religious liberty is bad for business.  On the second amendment, she turned a gotcha question into an unprompted opportunity to voice her support for constitutional carry!!!

On education, Dawn voiced support for school choice while Susan King has been endorsed by Jimmie Don Aycock; we will also point out that we have Dawn on record as being willing to vote against the next round of bad UT regents.

Considering the candidates, this one's an easy choice: Dawn Buckingham for SD 24!!!

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Watch Dawn's TribTalk below:

SD-24 headed towards a Mayes/Buckingham runoff

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."
Romans 8:28

A couple months ago, Erick Erickson made waves when he predicted the Presidential race would come down to Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.  Thursday's Central Texas Republican Assembly meeting made it clear a similar dynamic has emerged in the SD-24 race.  Unless one of them commits a game changing mistake, we anticipate a runoff between Brent Mayes and Dawn Buckingham.

The similarities between Marco Rubio and Dawn Buckingham are uncanny.  Both are young, attractive, articulate candidates who are reasonably conservative most of the time.  Both are light years better than the genuine RINO's they've already boxed out of their respective races.  But both raise red flags.  In Rubio's case, it's amnesty; with Buckingham, it's the Texas Medical Association.

One of the first rules we learned following Texas politics is never to trust the Texas Medical Association.  They support Obamacare.  They're pro-Abortion.  They've spread lies about conservative Texas Senators.  Less than a year ago, while she was working with TMA, Buckingham gave a $500 donation to Joe Straus.  When we asked her about it on Thursday, she she she was doing her job for her trade association.  That's hardly a response that inspires confidence.

We could do worse, but we can also do better.

Brent Mayes speaks his mind.  He is, easily, the strongest candidate on Tenth Amendment issues.  Brent Mayes understands Texas can't look to D.C. for help; Texas has to help itself.  If necessary, Bernt Mayes would resist a Republican President.  With C.J. Grisham out of the race, Brent Mayes is the clear conservative choice.

This race reflects the success of Texas' conservative grassroots over the past three cycles.  The genuine RINO's haven't gained traction.  While we have reservations about one of the viable candidates, that candidate is still someone we could support in a general election.  But an 'A+' candidate beats a 'B' candidate every single time.  And remember, Ted Cruz is going to be at the top of this ticket.

Bottom Line: There are only two viable candidates in this race; check back with us on March 2nd if you believe otherwise.

Four SD-24 Candidates willing to vote AGAINST Abbott's UT Nominees

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

Texas Land and Cattle -- At last night's Central Texas Republican Assembly meeting, three SD-24 candidates committed to vote against Governor Abbott's next round of U.T. Regent nominees if they resemble his last round; a fourth candidate expressed similar sentiments when asked over Facebook.

Jon Cobb was the first to speak.  He spoke at length about how Gubernatorial appointments are too powerful.  He compared the recent round of subpar U.T. Regent appointments to similarly subpar appointments to the Lower Colorado River Authority.

Brent Mayes said "absolutely, there's no question" he would vote against Abbott's next round of nominees if the resemble the last round, he added "I would go against Dan Patrick if I had to."

Dawn Buckingham said "I have a bright orange 'Save Wallace Hall' T-Shirt at home".  She offered to text this author a picture of the T-Shirt.  After the meeting, she told us about a conversation she had with former Governor Perry in 2013 where he was conspicuously irritated by the jihad against Wallace Hall.

Upon returning home, we reached out to C.J. Grisham over Facebook: "This is a no brainer. The regents have still not answered for the admissions scandal. It would seem that Governor Abbott is rewarding bad behavior. I would be a no vote....I'm fed up with the establishment acceptance of sweeping scandal under the carpet. At some point we need to stop allowing this lack of transparency in virtually every department of government to go unchecked."

Konni Burton, Bob Hall, and Charles Schwertner were the only Senators to vote against Abbott's last round of U.T. nominees.

Bottom Line: The outgoing Senator in SD-24 was a rubber stamp for the U.T. politburo; any of the four candidates with whom we discussed this issue last night would be a GIGANTIC improvement.