"Therefore by their fruits you will know them." Matthew 7:20
Apparently, this is a buncha days old, although we only learned about it last night:
Dr. John Zerwas, executive vice chancellor for health affairs, was named by @GovAbbott to serve on the Supply Chain Strike Force to ensure health care facilities have supplies and resources to respond to #COVID19. Thank you Governor and Dr. Zerwas for your leadership and service!
The biggest problem with Zerwas is that he's a card-carrying member of the Medical cartel. He's an insider's insider. You can learn more about his misdeeds here and here (scroll down to District 28). To be fair, a lot of those misdeeds aren't directly relevant to the current situation...but it ain't reassuring.
What's really alarming about Zerwas, however, is that he's a gigantic proponent of the so-called Texas "Advance Directives Act" (aka. the Texas Death Panels act). That's the law that allows hospital bureaucrats to cut off care whenever they claim it's "medically futile." Obviously, that's a...vague standard at best.
In the (unlikely) event that, God forbid, Texas is looking at a worst case scenario, we can't think of anyone with less credibility that John Zerwas to approach this discussion.
Last night marked the completion of the first elections of 2020 as the spotlight centered on three runoff elections for Texas House seats. The marquee race was in Fort Bend County, which saw Republican Gary Gates square off against Democrat Eliz Markowitz in a runoff that received national attention and all but overshadowed even the most contentious primary races up until last night.
In what can only be described as a strong victory for the Texas GOP, Republican candidate Gary Gates won the special election runoff with 58 percent of the vote, defeating his opponent with a 16-point margin of victory.
Fort Bend County has been a hotbed of political activity since Rep. John Zerwas (R-Richmond) retired in September. Texas Democrats rallied in hopes this race would begin their steady climb to regain control of the Texas House.
State and national Democrats largely threw their support behind one candidate, Eliz Markowitz. Former congressman and one-time presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke spent countless hours campaigning for Markowitz in an attempt to galvanize his supporters to help win the seat for Texas Democrats.
O’Rourke threw rallies, block walked, fundraised, and was present with Markowitz on the ground all throughout election day.
Political heavyweights like Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, and Wendy Davis all supported Markowitz either by endorsing her candidacy or even, in Bloomberg’s case, coming to Texas to knock on doors for the candidate.
National and state special interest groups, including the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and the Texas-based progressive women’s group Annie’s List, took advantage of the unorthodox election date and spent concentrated time, money, and attention on House District 28.
Altogether, approximately $1 million was spent on this state house race by Democrats and left-leaning allies.
This is bad if you're a Democrat.
It's not just that the Democrats lost. It's not just that the Democrats lost in a blowout. It's not just that the Democrats lost in a blowout after dropping seven figures.
It's that the Democrats lost, in a blowout, after dropping seven figures...to Gary frickin' Gates.
That would be the same Gary Gates who, prior to last night, was a seven time loser.
But did the Democrats bring any of that up?!? Not really. The one time they tried to wade into any of it, they did it so poorly that it backfired.
Instead, Democrats gave us: Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren, Julian Castro, Bobby Francis O'Rourke...and redistricting.
And nobody cared.
What's even funnier is that Democrats didn't even heed the lessons of their own previous victories. Typically, when Democrats are successful in swing areas, it's because they run vague campaigns about public education and traffic. But they didn't do that this time.
Instead, they rolled out the list of national politicians listed above. And they made redistricting the single substantive issue of their campaign. And they lost.
To Gary frickin' Gates.
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Miscellaneous takeaways:
Voters don't care about redistricting -- This was the one substantive issue on which Democrats ran. The results speak for themselves. Turns out whining about how you can't rig the system to benefit yourself (which you're totally mad at the other guys for doing that) isn't a winning message. Go figure.
The Democrat presidential field sucks -- Five Democrat presidential candidates literally lost to Gary frickin' Gates.
Julian Castro and Bobby Francis O'Rourke will never be elected statewide.
Note: Only possible exception is a national environment that's 5 to 7 points worse for the GOP than 2018.
A Democrat and a Republican are advancing to a runoff in a nationally targeted special election for a previously Republican-held Texas House seat.
With all vote centers reporting Tuesday night, the sole Democratic candidate, Eliz Markowitz, finished first with 39% of the vote, according to unofficial returns. Republican Gary Gates was the runner-up at 28%.
Gates, who has run for a myriad of elected positions in previous elections, including railroad commissioner in 2016 and state senate in 2014, but failed to come out on top each time, was largely self-funded. He loaned himself a whopping $445,000 in the last reporting period alone.
Markowitz, the lone Democrat, garnered support from liberal special interest groups, and fellow Texas Democrats like former State Senator Wendy Davis, former presidential candidate and congressman Beto O’Rourke, and an array of sitting Texas House members.
She significantly outraised her Republican competition.
We didn't realize Gates was even running until this morning. There's pretty much no candidate more poorly suited to a competitive environment. Hoo boy.
His record of losses is complicated. Gates first sought a seat in the Texas House. He lost. He tried again. And he lost again. He ran for the Texas Senate. And lost. Then he tried again for the Texas Senate. And lost. Along the way, he twice ran for a local school board seat. And he lost both times.
It’s tempting to label such a record as “sad.” But “pathetic” seems more appropriate.
HOUSTON — In his run for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, Gary Gates has campaigned heavily on his business credentials, noting that he built a sprawling real estate company from scratch with his own sweat and dollars.
Gates, who has run for public office several times but never held it, suggests that his experience shaping and leading companies that now employ 350 people and own roughly 5,500 apartment units qualifies him to join the three-member commission that oversees the state's oil and gas production, natural gas utilities and mining operations.
....
Gates said that most of the apartment complexes he buys are considered “Class C,” typically older units that need rehabilitation and are rented out relatively cheaply.
He said he bought the Deerfield Apartments out of bankruptcy in 1987, just as his business was getting off the ground. The city of Houston later lent him $1.12 million to rehabilitate the property.
“It was in a real difficult area,” he said. “That’s kind of my specialty — buying very difficult properties.”
And that complex did present challenges.
In 2007, Houston sought to shut down the Deerfield Apartments for a year. In a lawsuit, the city alleged that his companies — APTDF and Gatesco — tolerated the rampant crime on the property. The lawsuit documented 55 offenses on the property over a two-year period, ranging from prostitution and drug offenses to sexual assault and capital murder.
“Defendants have made no reasonable attempt to abate the criminal activity at Deerfield Apartments, and should be enjoined from maintaining a common nuisance,” Houston argued.
Houston’s lawsuit followed complaints from fearful residents. At a city council meeting in August 2006, for instance, Councilman M.J. Khan discussed an email from a constituent who reported being jolted awake one morning by six rounds of automatic gunfire — and hearing more shots while police dispatchers told them they had no one to send out.
The resident said such violence had persisted for years in the neighborhood and wanted Gates to hire a security guard to patrol the area and to replace a fence that had been torn down, according to council meeting minutes.
Earlier that year, Gates’ companies faced a similar lawsuit after 9-year-old Jose Luis Briones was shot in the back and severely injured during a 2004 robbery at the Deerfield complex. Briones’ family levied similar neglect allegations and ultimately received a $3,500 settlement from Gates' company, according to court documents.
In the midst of his seventh run for public office – this time for the Texas Railroad Commission – new documents are coming to light showing that Houston real estate investor Gary Gates defaulted on a loan of over $1 million from Bayou City taxpayers.
On April 29, 1998, the City Council of Houston passed Ordinance No. 98-330 entering into a loan agreement with Gates’ company, APTDF, Ltd.
The loan was for $1,120,000 for rehabilitation costs in connection with Gates’ Deerfield Apartments located at 10001 Club Creek Drive. The interest rate for the taxpayer-backed loan was set seven percent annually. Gates personally guaranteed the loan.
The loan matured on November 28, 2000, but Gates defaulted.
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Full employment for (the worst) campaign consultants:
Again, from last campaign:
Campaign consultants keep taking Gary Gates to the cleaners as he desperately seeks one office after another. His reckless spending seeking Tuesday’s Texas Railroad Commission race demonstrates that even a big pile of money cannot make a bad candidate more attractive to voters.
Gates has no professional, educational or life experiences that would qualify him for a seat on the commission that has regulatory jurisdiction over the state’s oil and gas industry. As we have previously written, Gates merely wants to hold office but has been rejected in every single effort.
The Texas Tribune reports Gates spent $1.9 million in the race, which resulted in getting 28 percent of the vote.
....
Gates’ chief campaign adviser is disgraced State Rep. Jim Keffer (R-Eastland).
That's only one payment to Murphy-Nasica. Gates had dozens more. The only reason we didn't screenshot all of them is because this blog post has already gotten long.
Easily $250k(+) to Murphy-Naiscia. Just one finance report. Just one election.
Obviously, you don't want to make candidate decisions based upon identity politics. In any given election, you're looking for the best candidate. But that's not to say it's irrelevant.
Over the past decade, a lot has been written about how Ft. Bend County is now the most demographically diverse in the country.
There's nothing inherently wrong with running an old white dude. It does, however, bring an additional set of challenges. That being said, when the specific old white dude has the baggage listed above...it doesn't take a genius to see where this goes.
"There is desirable treasure, And oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man squanders it." Proverbs 21:20
We stopped by the Capitol this morning to support the following bill:
HB 236 Krause Relating to the creation of the Fiscal Risk Management Commission.
We didn't get a chance to testify. But that's ok. The more we think about, the more we realize we don't want to associate our name with this particular project at this particular time.
A fiscal risk management commission is a GREAT idea. The Federal government's finances have been unsustainable for a long time. Texas should address its exposure to events beyond our borders.
But, let's get real: The Texas Legislature has zero interest in sustainable fiscal policy. This session proves that. If the legislature won't buy down local property taxes, they won't prepare for chaos out of Washington.
Any fiscal risk management commission that can emerge from this session is a sham. It's designed to create the impression of fiscal responsibility on a campaign mailer. No thank you.
Bottom Line: It's a great idea. But the legislature has no intention of curbing its spending. We shouldn't help them pretend to care.
State Rep. John Zerwas, a Richmond Republican, has withdrawn from the race for speaker of the Texas House, he confirmed to The Texas Tribune on Sunday evening.
“I am grateful for the opportunities I have had to engage with the members of the House. The honest conversations are critical to the relationships I have, and I am honored to work with such principled leaders,” he said in a statement to the Tribune. “While I believe that I could lead the House through a successful 2019 session, it has come time for me to end my bid for Speaker and wholly focus on writing the budget for the 2020-2021 biennium.”
His departure comes amid an effort among roughly 40 GOP House members to draft state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, into the race. Bonnen did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Texas Tribune.
On Sunday night, that group of 40 members was scheduled to gather in Austin to discuss recruiting him for the job. Bonnen previously had told The Texas Tribune in May that he was not interested in running for the top slot in the lower chamber. The Tribune was told Sunday night that Bonnen was not at the meeting.
Here's the thing: Dennis Bonnen is a man of many, many, flaws. But he would still represent a tangible upgrade over Joe Straus. Amazing as it may sound, Dennis Bonnen had a higher Empower Texans score last session than any of the declared speaker candidates. At a minimum, you probably get some kind of property tax reform out of a Bonnen-led house.
Obviously, Dennis Bonnen was the public face of killing property tax reform last session. But, according to multiple Capitol sources, Bonnen wasn't happy about it. Bonnen was basically placed in an impossible situation by Joe Straus, but he did his best to muddle through. We've also heard rumors, though they are unconfirmed, that Bonnen was one of the major players in getting Joe Straus to finally step aside.
Bottom Line: We can probably do better, but we can certainly do worse.
That Patrick was willing to wade into house races is, itself, noteworthy.
But what's really interesting is who Patrick endorsed. There are some pretty prominent names that were left off that list. If the people on this list can stick together, the Republican conference will be able to elect an "ok" speaker.
That being said, from a speaker's race perspective, some of Patrick's endorsements are screwy. Why on Earth would you endorse John Zerwas but NOT Phil King or Craig Goldman?!? Also, the Jim Murphy endorsement can only be classified as very, very disappointing.
Overall, however, it's a reasonably solid list.
Bottom Line: If the names on this list can stick together, you're well on your way to meaningful change....
That was preceded last week by...Drew Darby!!! Yaaay!
And the previous four weren't anything to write home about either.
We seem to have a number of RINO's hopping in, but nobody to actually rally around.
Obviously, a Freedom caucus member would be ideal. But, given the internal dynamics of the caucus, that's not necessary. Still, you'd think someone would have hopped in by now.
In fairness, caveats apply. We don't currently know the composition of the caucus. And we won't know the composition of the caucus until after November. But there's an opportunity here, and you'd think someone would take it.
Imagine a scenario where a Conservative(ish) member declares for speaker. They then declare their top priority is to pass all five RPT legislative priorities. Then they swoop in and play hero, getting the caucus members facing tough general elections across the finish line. The script is written, we're just waiting for the hero.
[Note: Once campaign finance reports start coming out, it'll be very interesting to see where the declared speaker candidates are spending their money.]
That being said, the sheer number of candidates on the RINO side indicates that they don't have consensus. With the amount of ego on that side, it doesn't take a genius to see a situation where nobody wants to step aside. If the RINO's are divided, that's a good thing.
Bottom Line: Still very, very, early in the process. But there's an opportunity. You'd think someone wants to take it.
"Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold of hell." Proverbs 5:5
What can you say about Sarah Davis?!? We attended this morning's Trib event...and it didn't break new ground. She's who she is.
Evan Smith did a thorough job discussing the numerous policy differences between Davis and the majority of her party (including the Governor). Topics included Abortion, Property Taxes, Hurricane Harvey, and Davis' welfare expansion bill from last year's special session. This ground is well-tread, and everybody knows where everybody stands.
During Q&A, we asked Davis about the debacle on the Coaching Staff for the U of H football team. Davis replied that she was "saddened" by the decision and didn't try to defend U of H's decision in any way, shape, or form. We were satisfied by Davis' answer.
View the event for yourself below:
Highlights:
Abbott letting lots of other's who opposed him off the hook.
"For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error." 2 Peter 2:18
We caught the tail end of John Zerwas' trib interview this morning. Zerwas' answers speak for themselves. Kudos to Evan Smith for getting all this on the record (double kudos for not allowing Zerwas to talk out of both sides of his mouth over the Privacy act):
Highlights:
[Note: Like noted above, we didn't arrive until 20 minutes in.]
Maintains position against any form of parental educational choice.
Refuses to commit on bathroom bill.
"The process can kill bills better than John Zerwas."
"A lot of my political positions line up with the speaker [ie. Straus]."
Says Straus "maintained the integrity of the process."
Note: So much LOL, see here, here, here, and here for the first examples that come to mind.
"Pro-Local Control."
Evan - "I'm not aware of any deviance" from pro-life position on Zerwas' part.
Note: See here (you'll have to scroll down a ways to find Zerwas.
Evan - Freedom caucus expected to grow.
Zerwas speaks more respectfully about Freedom caucus than Straus ever did.
Doesn't mean much, but it's still interesting.
Refuses to commit to voting for GOP caucus choice for speaker.
Speaker: "Must demonstrate an ability to work across the aisle."
"No, I don't support making [caucus vote] binding."
Obamacare - Tries to throw shade at MQS and Empower Texans by lying about what TPPF was supporting at the time; here's what TPPF actually supported at the time.
Uses the phrase "expand medicaid" in trying to explain why he wasn't expanding Medicaid.
Dodged this author's question on spending.
Cliches about "efficiencies."
Claims credit for Senate's work on most recent budget.
Doesn't comment on local spending.
Note: Here's what we said about the budget at the time.
Commits to appointing Democrat committee chairs.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. The devil is ultimately in the details. That being said, for a member of Straus' leadership team to make this comment is different than if someone else had made it.
For the record: Zerwas had a more liberal record last session than either of the Democrat committee chairs Dan Patrick appointed.
Dodges Harvey/Rainy Day Fund question by hiding behind fact that over 100 colleagues voted the same way he did...even though the relevant bill(s) came out of the committee of which he was chair.
"Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking," 1 Peter 2:1
Today, the New Yorker put out a looooooooooong article about the Texas legislature. It would be easy to pander for clicks and dismiss the whole thing as "fake news," but it's more accurate to say that it uses half-truths to cast wildly a misleading impression (very similar to how the Austin Chronicle operates). This is not intended as a comprehensive take-down, but to give a more accurate accounting of several claims made in the article.
The claim: "The state is as politically divided as the rest of the nation. One can drive across it and be in two different states at the same time: FM Texas and AM Texas. FM Texas is the silky voice of city dwellers, the kingdom of NPR. It is progressive, blue, reasonable, secular, and smug—almost like California. AM Texas speaks to the suburbs and the rural areas: Trumpland."
Reality: This is stupid. On the occasions we listen to terrestrial radio, we switch back and forth between AM and FM depending on the content. Everyone we know does the same thing.
The claim: "The eleventh largest [city in the U.S., population wise] is Austin, the capital, where I live. For the past five years, it has been one of the fastest-growing large cities in America; it now has nearly a million people, dwarfing the college town I fell in love with almost forty years ago."
Reality: Austin has been one of the fastest growing cities in the country for at least a quarter century.
The claim: "The state was always culturally conservative, religious, and militaristic, but a strain of pragmatism kept it from being fully swept up in racism and right-wing ideology."
Reality: Setting aside the cheap shots embedded in the use of the words "militaristic" and "racism," the phrase "strain of pragmatism" is a euphemism for the corrupt good ol' boy network (ie. the Austin lobby) mixing business and government to protect incumbent industries from competition and put together shady real estate deals.
Reality: Everyone's campaign contributors got paid...thank you very much Karl Rove.
The claim: "In January, 2003, the Republicans finally took over the Texas legislature, and Laney lost the speakership to Tom Craddick, an ultraconservative Republican from Midland, the oil capital.
Reality: LOL, Tom Craddick "ultra-conservative." Consider the following Empower Texans scores for Tom Craddick since he left the speakers chair. 2015: 81, 2013: 61, 2011: B+. While that puts Craddick among the more conservative half of the GOP conference, that's hardly "ultra conservative" (Note: While Empower is holding the 2017 index until after the special session, it's worth pointing out that Craddick fell into the bottom half of the GOP conference in the Mark Jones index).
The claim: "When he entered the House, [Craddick] was twenty-five—the youngest member. “Back then, most of the other members were retired, and they ran for office as a civic duty,” he said. Now, at seventy-three, he is the longest-serving legislator in Texas history."
Reality: That's an accurate statement, but we find it notable that the author doesn't have a problem with the fact that Tom Craddick has been in public office for nearly five decades.
The claim: "Another Republican congressman, Lamar Smith, lives in San Antonio, but his district includes—and neutralizes—the liberal area surrounding the University of Texas at Austin. Smith, a member of the Tea Party Caucus, in Washington, denies that human activity affects global warming."
Reality: LOL, Lamar Smith "Tea Party." We said our piece about Lamar Smith's record during the 2012 campaign. Our full archive on Lamar Smith can be viewed here.
The claim: "In March, 2016, a man named Robert Morrow was elected the Republican Party chairman of Travis County, which contains Austin. Like many reporters in Texas, I received wild e-mails from Morrow for several years. He once claimed that George H. W. Bush was “a seriously addicted homosexual pedophile” who was also involved in a C.I.A. drug-smuggling ring with the Clintons. In 2011, Morrow took out a full-page ad in a local newspaper:
HAVE YOU EVER HAD SEX WITH RICK PERRY?
Are you a stripper, an escort, or just a “young hottie” impressed by an arrogant, entitled governor of Texas?
Nothing came of the ad, which, Morrow said, was designed to expose Perry as “a Christian-buzzwords-spouting, ‘family values’ hypocrite and fraud.”
Morrow, a fifty-three-year-old Princeton graduate with an M.B.A. from the University of Texas, describes himself as an independent investor. In 2015, he wrote a book with Roger Stone, the political operative and occasional adviser to Donald Trump, called “The Clintons’ War on Women.” The Austin American-Statesmannoted that it appeared “to be serving as a playbook for Trump” in his attacks on Hillary Clinton. (Upon its publication, Trump tweeted, “The latest book on Hillary—Wow, a really tough one!”) Mainstream Party officials were mortified when Morrow won the Travis County election, with fifty-six per cent of the vote. They promised to “explore every single option that exists” to remove him from office. Morrow responded, “They can go fuck themselves.” In June, he tweeted, “Top priority for Travis GOP: beautiful Big Titty women!!”
Reality: It's not a secret that Robert Morrow is a personal friend of this author, but for Robert Morrow to receive more discussion in this piece than Ted Cruz tells you everything you need to know.
(As to the claims about George Bush 41, see here).
We don't want to waste your time making you read it, but there's a seven paragraph ode to Ann Richards about 30% of the way through the piece.
The claim: "Another emergency item on the Governor’s list for the 2017 session was ethics reform, but many legislators saw the move as hypocritical. Lyle Larson, a centrist Republican state representative from San Antonio, told me, “Some of the most egregious violations are in the governor’s office. It’s well known that pay-for-play has been going on in that office for years. For you to be on the Parks and Wildlife board, for instance, or to be a regent at the university, you have to make significant contributions”—to Abbott’s campaign fund."
Reality: Empower Texans addressed the substance of Larson's claims here, but for the purposes of this piece we will simply note that the author accepted Larson's claim at face value.
The Claim: "Since [Dan] Patrick became lieutenant governor, one of his signature accomplishments has been the passage of the open-carry gun law; he also successfully pushed to legalize the carrying of concealed weapons on public-college campuses."
Reality: LOLOLOL. For as much as we appreciate Dan Patrick's political savvy in terms of knowing just how far and where he can push the political envelope given the cast of Senators he has to work with, the Second Amendment has easily been the issue where the Texas Senate's performance has fallen short(est). The only reason open carry and campus carry passed (Note: two sessions ago; the lege didn't do anything noteworthy on 2A this past regular session) was because groups like Open Carry Texas and Lone Star Gun Rights made the issue too hot to ignore.
The Claim: "Patrick’s extremism is often countered by Joe Straus, the speaker of the House, a centrist, business-oriented conservative from San Antonio. Whereas the lieutenant governor is elected by the voters of the state, the speaker is chosen by the members. That makes a crucial difference in the way that Patrick and Straus govern."
Reality: Given the extended discussion of Craddick earlier in the piece, one would think a mention of how Straus unseated Craddick might be relevant. But for some reason, it doesn't appear. Strange.
The Claim: "[T]here was no actual evidence of voter fraud."
Reality: LOL; see here, and here, and here, and here (we could go on).
The Claim: "The business community in Texas fiercely opposed S.B. 6, and produced a report suggesting that its passage could cost the state up to eight and a half billion dollars. (PolitiFact determined that this figure was hyperbolic.)"
The Claim: "On March 2nd, I returned to the capitol to have lunch with the speaker of the House, Joe Straus....[W]e sat down to plates of delicious crab cakes."
Reality: It's a minor quibble, but we find it notable that, on Texas Independence day, Joe Straus was eating crab cakes instead of brisket.
The Claim: "[Straus'] speakership has focussed [sic] on providing the workforce and the infrastructure that Texas businesses need, by protecting public education, building roads, establishing more top-tier universities, and expanding job training. Perhaps his biggest victory was in 2013: in the middle of a devastating drought, he ushered through a two-billion-dollar revolving loan fund for state water projects.
The Claim: "With each session, Straus has watched the Republican Party drift farther away from the “compassionate conservatism” of the Governor Bush era and become increasingly dominated by Christian ideologues, such as Patrick, for whom economic issues are secondary."
The Claim: "Unlike Patrick, who decides which bills come to the floor in the Senate, Straus has to exercise influence by artfully appointing committee members, who can dull the fangs of fearsome bills (or let them languish until there’s no time to consider them)."
Reality: That's completely true, they just normally don't say it out loud.
The Claim: "Meanwhile, [Straus] was pressing his own legislative agenda, which included securing additional funds for public schools"
Reality: MOAR MONEY FOR SOCIALIZED EDUCATION!!! Why didn't anyone think of that before?!?
The Claim: "Dr. John Zerwas, a Republican anesthesiologist from Richmond, Texas, is the chair of the Appropriations Committee. A business conservative in the Straus mold, he is deeply respected in the legislature, and Straus selected him to craft the House version of the budget."
The Claim: "Stickland is plump, with an imposing beard, narrow-set brown eyes, and an occasional broad smile revealing beautiful teeth."
Reality: LOL; we've never paid attention to Jonathan Stickland's teeth, so we can't comment one way or the other.
The Claim: "As usual, the Texas legislature passed anti-abortion bills. One bans the safest and most common procedure for second-trimester abortions: dilation and evacuation. Supporters of the legislation call this a “dismemberment abortion.” "
Reality: If you can stand to see it, learn more about dismemberment abortion here.
The Claim: "[A]s Texas’s liberal cities have burgeoned, the state has grown markedly less red."
Reality: Texas has grown significantly redder over the past decade; while it's an open question whether that trend will continue with a Republican president, it doesn't change the facts of recent history.
The Claim: "On May 20th, Tom Mechler, the chairman of the state Republican Party, resigned, citing personal reasons. He issued a letter pleading for party unity. “A party that is fractured by anger and backbiting is a party that will not succeed,” he said. He also warned that the Republican Party had failed to attract voters outside the white demographic, and was therefore destined for electoral oblivion. “If we do not continue to make efforts to engage in the diverse communities across Texas, our state will turn blue,” he warned. He urged the next chairman to reshape the Party in the image of modern Texas.
Soon after Mechler’s resignation, Rob Morrow—the former Travis County Republican Party chairman with the motley-fool hat—announced his candidacy for the statewide position.
Reality: Another discussion of Robert Morrow, yet the author fails to mention James Dickey; odd. [Note: We wonder if the author attempted to speak to James Dickey at all?!?]
The Claim: "Drew Springer, the representative from North Texas who killed Stickland’s anti-hog-abatement amendment, pleaded for H.B. 810, which would fund experimental stem-cell treatments. He spoke on behalf of his wife, who is in a wheelchair. Such treatments “might give somebody like my wife a chance to walk,” he said, between sobs. “I’d trade every one of my bills I’ve passed, every single one, to get the chance to hear H.B. 810.” The Freedom Caucus gave in on this one, and it passed."
Reality: We discussed Springer's stupid little speech at the time, we only bring it up because if you follow the link to the post from May we also included a list of issues Springer considered more pressing than his wife's alleged ability to walk.
The Claim: "The session concluded this year on Memorial Day, and so fallen soldiers were honored. Legislators said goodbye to colleagues with whom they had endured a hundred and forty of the most intense days of their lives.
Meanwhile, buses began arriving at the capitol. Hundreds of protesters, some from distant states, burst through the doors, filling all four levels of the rotunda and spilling into the House gallery. They unfurled banners (“see you in court!”) and chanted, “S.B. 4 has got to go!” One of the protest organizers, Stephanie Gharakhanian, explained to reporters, “We wanted to make sure we gave them the sendoff they deserve.”
A few of the Democrats in the chamber looked up at the chanting protesters and began to applaud. State troopers cleared the gallery and broke up the protest, but by that time some of the Republicans on the floor had taken offense. Matt Rinaldi, a member of the Freedom Caucus from Dallas County, who is sometimes rated the most conservative member of the House, later told Fox Business Network that he noticed several banners bearing the message “i am undocumented and here to stay.”
"So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth." Revelation 3:16
Here's the thing about this budget (that the bible verse quoted above makes clear): We've seen significantly worse villainy from the legislature, but the budget still makes us want to vomit.
Put differently, it's a case where reasonable people can disagree.
“HB 2 brings Texas to the edge of a historic accomplishment for the 2016-17 biennium, a Conservative Texas Budget when there are no significant funding restraints. Rather than appropriate all the money it had available, the 84th Texas Legislature kept appropriations increases under population growth plus inflation and returned much of the surplus money to taxpayers through a major tax cut. The 85th Texas Legislature has continued this work by proposing spending in HB 2 under the Conservative Texas Budget targets. If the House approves HB 2 as passed by the Senate, the 2016-17 biennium will conclude with fiscal restraint not witnessed in Texas in many years. Considering that government spending must ultimately be paid for by taxes, passage of a Conservative Texas Budget helps keep taxes low—an environment our research demonstrates leads to more economic opportunities for Texans.
“SB 1 makes it possible that this trend could continue. In overall appropriations, SB 1 comes within several millions of dollars of the 2018-19 Conservative Texas Budget target of $218.5 billion—after accounting for the delay of $1.8 billion in transportation appropriations. The 86th Texas Legislature will have approximately $2.7 billion to spend in its supplemental appropriations bill in 2019 in order to remain under the final CTB limit of $221.23 billion for the entire 2018-19 biennium. Though the budget increases public education spending without reforms such as school choice, Texans would benefit from the passage of what would be a second consecutive Conservative Texas Budget.”
The $217 billion Conference Committee report for the 2018–2019 biennium
budget was distributed to the legislature at 10:00 PM last night (5/25/17).
That’s a lot of money. People all over Texas worked very hard to make that
money to send to the State.
We are three days away from sine die for the 85th legislative session. House and
Senate legislators have not yet reviewed the 970-page budget report. The
people of Texas do not have the budget details. Yet, some officials are already
trying to tell us what a great budget it is.
It appears that the usual Great Budget Cram-down is about to take place, and
frankly, this flies in the face of how Republican leaders define themselves.
Taxpayers demand transparency, not budgets passed before anyone has a
chance to know the details. We believe the people paying the freight deserve a
little respect.
The people’s elected representatives should know and understand what is
contained in the budget. The people of Texas themselves should know what is in
that budget. Ramming the budget for the State of Texas through only
guarantees one thing – a bunch of surprises. The people of Texas deserve
better.
The University of Texas at Austin, whose budget seemed to be on the chopping block a few weeks ago, instead would see a 3 percent increase in legislative appropriations under the two-year state spending plan approved by a House-Senate conference committee.
Senate Bill 1, which the two chambers will consider this weekend, would provide a total of $835.6 million to the flagship campus for the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years. That’s about $25 million, or 3 percent, more than its current state funding.
The budget agreed to by House and Senate negotiators includes $12 million for UT’s Dell Medical School, which would have received essentially nothing under the plan previously approved by the Senate.
This budget does some pretty terrible things, but it's NOT a repeat of the 26% spending increase they pushed through two sessions ago.
We don't think anything good will come from moving the goalposts at the last minute. Technically, they did what we asked for a year ago. Moving forward, as we seek to "begin a new conversation" on the budget, we think holding up our end of the current bargain helps our credibility.
In terms of letter grades, we would give this budget a "D." It's a passing grade, but just barely. And we respect why others will disagree.
Bottom Line: It could be worse...but it also could be a lot better.
"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:21
This morning, we received a grassroots alert about the state budget:
The State Budget Conference Committee is still meeting to resolve the budget differences before the budget goes back to both the House and the Senate to be voted on. Agreement has not yet been reached.
Gov. Abbott has insisted the Conferees add back to the budget these items, which are opposed by a majority of the conservative grassroots groups:
$236 million for Abbott’s "high quality" prekindergarten initiative, taken out of schools' basic funding $16 million for Abbott’s university scholar recruitment program $86 million for Abbott’s Texas Enterprise Fund & $22 million for Film & Music Industry incentives (Corporate Welfare) Total: $360 million!
Our pro-life wins in the House are also in jeopardy of being removed!
Please weigh in right now by telling the Budget Conferees you want the following: 1) Eliminate state funding for abortion providers & affiliates (i.e. Planned Parenthood) 2) Fund alternatives to abortion at the full $38.3 million for two years 3) No raid on the Rainy Day Fund or Transportation funds! 4) Fully defund the Enterprise Fund (Corporate Welfare) 5) Fully defund Film & Music subsidies (Corporate Welfare) 6) Ensure 24 full payments to the Permanent School Fund – no budget gimmick here! 7) Don’t rob basic school funding for new Pre-K programs.
Even if you don’t agree with all of these points, pick those you do and contact the Budget Conference Committee members ASAP! If you wait, it may be too late & then we’ll be faced with trying to defeat the budget – which is MORE difficult!
This is correct: The budget isn't a done deal...yet.
But we do have to say, that we're even "having this conversation" in the final few days of session is incredibly irritating.
"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" Isaiah 5:20
"As you know, I want to see the rate rollback part of property taxes achieved," Abbott told The Texas Tribune after a bill-signing event here at a church.
Texas House and Senate budget negotiators agreed on a state budget for 2018-19 late Saturday — deciding to tap the state’s rainy day fund, a key sticking point — but not before Gov. Greg Abbott demanded they add $100 million to programs that are controlled by his office.
“He clearly felt that he needed more in the area of his trusteed funds in order carry out some of the economic development,” Rep. John Zerwas, the House’s top budget writer, told reporters after the committee adjourned about 1 a.m. Sunday. “If we had had a little bit more of a heads-up, we might have been able to make the accommodations. But it works out fine.”
Daniel Hodge, Abbott’s chief of staff, said that the last-minute demands were not new. “What we asked for last night was what we had been asking for since January in new money,” he said Sunday. The committee added the money.
While Zerwas, R-Richmond, was characteristically diplomatic about the demand, other lawmakers showed their frustration. When the committee was getting ready to reconvene, Rep. Sarah Davis, R-West University Place, jokingly said: “Is this about more corporate welfare? Is that why we’re still here?”
[Note: Have we seriously gotten to the point where Sarah Davis controls the moral high ground?!?]
....
Abbott’s demands were delivered by Hodge and Steve Albright, the governor’s budget director. While they didn’t directly state that Abbott would veto the budget without more money for his office, “it was a clear indication to me that the governor would have a hard time signing off on a budget without that,” Zerwas said.
The money would go primarily to the Texas Enterprise Fund — which provides subsidies for companies considering moving to or expanding in Texas — and to incentive programs meant to lure filmmakers to Texas and to support the music industry.
Hodge said the governor’s office all along had made clear that Abbott was seeking a total of $110 million for economic incentive funds administered through his office — $60 million for the Texas Enterprise Fund, $40 million for the Governor’s University Research Initiative and $10 million for film and music incentives. The budget agreed to by the conference committee, before the governor’s office intervened, included only $10 million for the university program and no new money for the other incentives.
....
After the House and the Senate ignored the pre-K program for most of the legislative session, the conference committee directed $293 million for it, although the money came out of funding already earmarked for schools, not new funding.
[Note: Emphasis added.]
Well, this one...kinda speaks for itself.
With barely a week remaining in the current legislative session, Governor Abbott is paying lip service to structural property tax reform (as it festers) while attempting to move heaven and earth to push subsidies for the following groups:
Socialized education bureaucrats.
Leftist college professors.
Hollywood.
Bottom Line: Woe unto politicians who prioritize special privileges for socialized education bureaucrats, leftist college professors, and Hollywood over tax relief for vulnerable Texas homeowners.
"Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord." Colossians 3:20
[Note: The hearing can be viewed here. SB 19 is the third bill under consideration (about 45 minutes in). Our testimony can be viewed at the 58:12 mark.]
Following our unlikely kumbaya session with Greg Fenves this morning, less than an hour later we were in more familiar territory testifying on the opposite side of Chancellor McRaven on the subject of tuition increases.
SB 19, the tuition freeze bill that the Senate heard in March and passed out in April, got a late session hearing in the House Higher Ed. committee this morning. We showed up to support the bill. But unfortunately, we doubt it moves forward.
Chancellor McRaven continued in the disingenuous vein in which he testified in the Senate hearing. He claimed the UT system has been "conservative" with tuition increases. Of course, he overlooked the fact that most of the period under consideration occurred before his tenure and that one of the first things he did was push a tuition increase.
Representative Donna Howard asked the Chancellor several leading questions about needing tuition hikes in the face of "insufficient state appropriations" and tried to claim the legislature was "forcing costs down" to the institutional level. Naturally, he agreed. Howard closed by noting she was "hopeful this legislation won't go anywhere," which is a noteworthy statement coming from the vice chair of the calendars committee.
That being said, there's one rumor we've heard that's worth considering: It might be the case that Lt. Governor Patrick has asked for SB 19 in exchange for giving the House the higher ed funding it's asked for in the budget. During an appearance before the committee on an unrelated bill, Appropriations chair John Zerwas teased that he thought a deal on higher ed funding was likely...which is interesting considering that the committee heard Patrick's priority tuition bills immediately afterwards. If that deal indeed exists, it's one we'll take.
We testified that public universities love to build expensive buildings and hire expensive bureaucrats; refusing to permit them to pass these costs onto students is the first step to forcing them to set priorities in their budgets. We also refuted Chancellor McRaven's selective reporting on the history of university tuition by pointing out that most of the time period under consideration was during a different era in Board of Regents history. Finally, we cautioned the committee that if the tuition freeze died this session, the outrage over this issue would only grow between now and 2019.
"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight." Proverbs 11:1
It's that time of week when we check on the latest from Dennis Bonnen and the Texas House Ways and Means committee:
HB 824 Turner Relating to an exemption from the sales and use tax for certain lightbulbs for a limited period.
HB 902 Nevárez Relating to the use by certain municipalities of hotel occupancy tax revenue to improve or expand certain airports.
HB 939 Keough Relating to the use of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenues in certain municipalities.
HB 1494 Morrison, Geanie W. Relating to the use of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue by certain municipalities.
HB 1548 Dutton Relating to the exemption from ad valorem taxation by a school district of certain property used to build low-income or moderate-income housing.
HB 1623 Blanco Relating to the authority of certain counties to impose a hotel occupancy tax.
HB 1806 Reynolds Relating to the use of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue by certain municipalities.
HB 1853 Simmons Relating to the authority of certain municipalities to pledge certain tax revenue for the payment of obligations related to certain projects.
HB 2354 Isaac Relating to the use and allocation of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue in certain municipalities.
HB 2445 Stucky Relating to the use of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue in certain municipalities.
HB 2526 Canales Relating to the use of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue for sporting-related facilities in certain municipalities.
HB 2538 Raymond Relating to the authority of certain municipalities to pledge certain tax revenue for the payment of obligations related to hotel projects.
HB 2714 Bohac Relating to the exemption from ad valorem taxation of leased motor vehicles that are not held primarily for the production of income by the lessee.
HB 3181 Springer Relating to authorizing certain counties to impose a hotel occupancy tax and to the purposes for which that tax revenue may be used.
HB 3366 Bohac Relating to the application of the sales and use tax to certain property and services.
HB 3484 Paddie Relating to the use of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue by certain municipalities.
HB 3485 Neave Relating to the use of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue for homeless assistance programs.
HB 3575 Bonnen, Greg Relating to the authority of certain municipalities to use certain tax revenue for certain projects and to pledge that revenue for the payment of obligations related to those projects.
HB 3626 Hunter Relating to the definition of eligible central municipality for purposes of the municipal hotel occupancy tax.
HB 3731 Davis, Yvonne Relating to the use of tax revenue by certain municipalities for the payment of certain hotel-related bonds or other obligations.
HB 3838 Zerwas | et al. Relating to the definition of eligible central municipality for purposes of the municipal hotel occupancy tax.
HB 3973 Burrows Relating to the use of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue by certain municipalities.
HB 4029 Oliveira Relating to the use of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue to construct, enhance, upgrade, and maintain coastal sports facilities in certain municipalities.
HB 4173 Hinojosa, Gina Relating to the portion of the municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue collected in certain cities that can be utilized to promote the arts.
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