#TXLEGE/#atxcouncil: Hyberbole notwithstanding, Patick's substantive point about public safety was correct

"The wicked flee when no one pursues,
But the righteous are bold as a lion."
Proverbs 28:1

We meant to bring this up before the election, but a few weeks back controversy erupted when the Lite Guv remarked about Austin's crime rate: “The City of Austin is a disaster if you haven't been there a great city now one of the most dangerous cities in America and definitely in Texas.”

The Lt. Governor’s comment was met with disingenuous pearl clutching from Mayor Adler and Capitol sycophants. At issue were the precise details of Austin’s police budget cut and national rankings among Democrat-controlled cities with rising crime rates. Giving credit where due, the Lt. Governor’s critics caught him exaggerating.

To the degree that he made it easy for his political opponents to split statistical hairs, the Lt. Governor’s precise word choice was probably unhelpful.

Nevertheless, Austin’s rising crime rates and homelessness explosion aren’t hard to miss. Dan Patrick didn’t make the Austin City Council legalize tent cities while slashing the police budget. While it’s perhaps the case that other places have more violent crime, the 67% increase in Austin’s murder rate didn’t occur in a vacuum.

So, perhaps, it might have been more technically accurate for Patrick to say: “Under Democrat governance, Austin has become an open air homeless encampment that’s becoming one of the most dangerous cities in America and definitely in Texas.”

Also of note: The statistics used to fact check Patrick are from 2019. 2020 data won’t be out until next year. While it’s impossible to know in advance, there’s every reason to suspect last year’s trends have accelerated.

Bottom Line: That they attacked Patrick over verb tense rather than substance tells you what you need to know.

#TXLEGE: Democrat State Rep. Candidate's Law Partner Says Quiet Part Out Loud

And Balaam said to Balak, “Look, I have come to you! Now, have I any power at all to say anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I must speak.”
Numbers 22:38

Yowza:

In the race to succeed Chair Nevarez in the Texas House, a shareholder in the law firm where Eddie Morales is a partner says electing him "could be a very profitable venture."
Y'all ever seen a lawyer put in writing that a political race is business development? #txlege pic.twitter.com/GDfYFZEHRv

— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) February 6, 2020

Like most of today's stories, self-explanatory.

Bottom Line: To be fair, this is how 80%(+) of Texas Legislators operate. Most of them, however, aren't this flagrant. Good grief.

#TXLEGE: Will Bonnen's scandals FORESTALL GUN CONTROL?!?

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts."
Isaiah 55:9

For as much as we LOATHE Scott Braddock, this isn't a bad point:

If there was a special session on gun violence, the first thing Texas House members might be tempted to do is entertain a motion to vacate the chair. When the presiding officer doesn't protect the institution, it can't do anything else effectively #TxLege #OdessaShooting https://t.co/v1gQaZh3cx

— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) September 1, 2019

Good.

The last thing we need right now is for the legislature to attempt to "be effective."

For as much as we should have a special session on things like so-called "sick leave" ordinances, election integrity, ending public subsidies for labor unions, and the new Austin homelessness debacle...none of those seem to be in the cards.  Thus, special sessions are dangerous right now.  Stay home lege.

If Bonnen's scandals are a catalyst for keeping the lege at home, so much the better.

Bottom Line: Unintended consequences can do strange, strange, things sometimes....

#TXLEGE: How Your Property Taxes are Subsidizing the Most WRETCHED Capitol Publications

"And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!"
Revelation 18:2

Quorum report is a corrupt, low-circulation, publication that serves as a propaganda outlet for the good ol' boy, pro-status quo, crowd at the Capitol.  It specializes in gaslighting.  It's the number 1 purveyor of the toxic Capitol culture.

Which makes this line from a story they published last Friday interesting:

We don't pay much attention to Quorum Report's advertisers, because we don't pay much attention to Quorum Report, but scrolling up the page does reveal:

There you have it: The Texas Association of Counties Advertising in plain sight.  That means, if you pay taxes to a county government in Texas, you are subsidizing Quorum Report.  Talk about compelled speech!!!

Bottom Line: The primary reason to abolish taxpayer funded lobbying is because it raises your cost of living in a million subtle ways.  But taxpayer funded lobbying is also an affront to free speech.  This is a textbook example of why.

#TXLEGE: Lobbyists are retiring?!?

"Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,
But counselors of peace have joy."
Proverbs 12:20

"Quorum Report" is a corrupt, low-circulation, Capitol gossip website that acts as glorified stenographers for the Straus team.  We don't read them often, but occasionally they say something unintentionally revealing.  An otherwise unremarkable hatchet job on Dan Patrick they published this morning was a case in point.

Obviously, we don't run in those circles, so we can neither confirm nor deny these events are occurring.  But, for as awful at Quorum report might be, they do run in those circles.  Thus we suspect this report is correct.

Bottom Line: Given the wretched nature of the entrenched Capitol culture, shedding "hundreds of years of institutional knowledge" can only be considered a good thing.

An unintentionally revealing tidbit about how Texas politics really operates....

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

Quorum report is a corrupt, low circulation, publication that details gossip around the Texas capitol.  We don't read them often, but occasionally they say more than they intend.  Yesterday was one of those occasions:

Wow; so the realtors have just hired:

• THREE former committee chairs (from both chambers).

• A former Joe Straus chief of staff.
• Author's Note: Jesse Ancira is a real pr...winner; learn more about that guy here.

• The daughter of the current dean of the Texas Senate (Whitmire).

Bottom Line: Never, ever, ever forget that Texas politics is primarily about a bunch of good ol' boys (at every level) putting together shady real estate deals.

Texas Assoc. of Businesses chooses POLITICAL SPITE over Economic Freedom....

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

Via Quorum Report:

THIS.  IS.  JUST.  SO.  TYPICAL.

Paycheck protection is supposed to be an issue that unites the "business" and "grassroots" wings of the GOP, but apparently it's too much for TAB to be part of a broad coalition that includes people who've called them out on other issues.

On the one hand, it's pathetic; on the other hand, it's a typical move from the business as usual crowd at the Capitol.

Sheesh.

See a correct, if unconventional, interpretation here.

Quorum Report projects their mendacity onto Paxton

"The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian."
Genesis 39:2

Quorum Report is a corrupt, low-circulation, publication that acts as glorified stenographers for Team Straus and their lobbyist cronies.  We don't read them often, but occasionally they provide unintentionally revealing glimpses into how the business as usual crowd thinks.  Yesterday was one such occasion.

First, some background: Last week, Byron Cook requested an Attorney General opinion related to eminent domain in his district.  We didn't read anything into it because incumbent legislators ask the TXAG's office for opinions related to any number of subjects all the time (and, silly us, we actually thought Byron Cook might have renewed interest in representing his district after only winning his last election by 225 votes).  Nevertheless, yesterday Quorum Report used Cook's request to conjure up palace intrigue where none exists:

June 20, 2016      4:45 PM SB: Cook request for AG opinion on eminent domain puts Paxton in a difficult situation Some Capitol observers wonder if the AG will help Chairman Cook block eminent domain powers in similar fashion to how he helped Gov. Abbott wrest more power from appropriators – especially given that Cook was a complainant in the criminal case against Paxton Texas House State Affairs Committee Chairman Byron Cook last week looked to the Attorney General’s Office for help in shoring up the rights of property owners as a company prepares to build a bullet train from Houston to Dallas – with the proposed corridor cutting through Cook’s rural district. “It would be problematic if a company that does not have the power of eminent domain was entering or directing others to enter upon property it did not have the right to condemn,” Cook wrote to Ken Paxton’s office. “Thus, this issue is of great importance to Texans, especially rural Texans, whose property is already being entered upon in preparation for the initiation of eminent domain proceedings.” Putting aside for the moment the question of whether the rail line would be good for the state and its thousands of “super commuters,” Cook’s request raises another topic of discussion at the Texas Capitol: Will Paxton issue an opinion helpful to the very member of The Legislature who was a complainant in the felony case against Paxton on securities fraud? The rest of the story, subscribers only By Scott Braddock

Copyright June 20, 2016, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved

We will detail the multiple levels on which this is asinine below, but first one obvious point: The Attorney General's office, under Ken Paxton just like it would have done under Greg Abbott, will issue an opinion related to Cook's request that is consistent with whatever the law says as the law is currently written.

Returning to Paxton: Ken Paxton is going to continue to do the job for which the voters hired him for as long as it remains his responsibility to do so.  That's just who he is and that's what he's been doing since these charges emerged.  The fact that Byron Cook is the guy requesting the opinion isn't relevant.

Furthermore, it's not a secret that Ken Paxton is a Christian, and there's a Bible verse that's relevant:

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

In other words, from Ken Paxton's perspective, vengeance belongs to God; vengeance doesn't belong to Ken Paxton.

Finally, if you really want to look at this from a political perspective, is the completely obvious fact that being magnanimous to Cook only helps Paxton.  There's a thing in life called being the bigger man and Byron Cook just handed Ken Paxton a golden opportunity to do that.  This isn't even politics, it's human psychology.

We didn't think about it until we started working on this post, but one final bible verse:

On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
Romans 12:20

Bottom Line: That Ken Paxton's antagonists could misread Ken Paxton's professional, spiritual, and political interests this spectacularly tells us far more about them than it does about Ken Paxton.

Did "Dallas Business Leaders" lie to Bloomberg?!?

"A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it,
And a flattering mouth works ruin."
Proverbs 26:28

Yesterday, we wrote a post about Jeb Hensarling, GE, and the Export-Import bank.  It was based upon this report from Bloomberg news.  The Bloomberg piece claimed that GE chose not to relocate to Dallas because Jeb Hensarling's opposition to the Ex-Im bank created an "unfavorable political climate."

Our former colleague Tim Carney is a national expert on the Export-Import bank and its relationship with GE.  When we posted yesterday's piece to Facebook, we tagged Tim.  Strangely, he didn't buy it:

• 

  Tim Carney This cannot be true.

  Like · 21 hrs
• 

  Adam Cahnman What?!?

  Like · 21 hrs
• 

  Tim Carney I don't believe GE would do that. I actually don't.

  Like · 21 hrs
• 

  Tim Carney It's only anonymous sources

  Like · 21 hrs
• 

  Adam Cahnman I've got to imagine Bloomberg would have solid sourcing on a story like this otherwise they wouldn't run it in the first place.

  Like · 19 hrs

This bothered us.  On the one hand, we trust Tim.  On the other hand, Bloomberg news doesn't have a reputation for publishing false stories.

That motivated us to take a closer look at the original Bloomberg report, consider this paragraph:

GE told Dallas business leaders in recent days it would look elsewhere for alternatives to its Connecticut home, said the people, who asked not to be identified because details aren’t public. They said GE cited some Texas lawmakers’ opposition to the U.S. Export-Import Bank, an important source of financing for some overseas sales.

The phrase "[T]hey said GE cited" in the second sentence strongly suggests that the sourcing for this article came from the "Dallas Business leaders" side of the talks.

And THAT'S interesting; Tim might be the expert on GE's method of operation, but this website is the expert on the "business community's" M.O. in Texas.

And it's VERY easy to believe that someone from the Dallas Chamber lied to Bloomberg.

Since the beginning of the year, the Texas Association of Business and their subsidiaries have been DESPERATELY attempting to paint supporters of free enterprise as "anti-business" because we oppose corporate rent seeking.  Last month, in a separate controversy over "business incentives" for Facebook, the Texas "business community's" favorite hack wrote:

It is difficult for some observers to imagine that a senator often described as one of the “the most conservative lawmakers in Austin” would actively argue against her community taking steps to be as competitive as possible in attracting high-quality jobs to her district. After all, bragging about the state’s economic prosperity is one of the Texas Tea Party’s favorite talking points. What they either deny or simply do not understand is that the so-called “Texas Miracle” is the result of a mixture of policies that has for years included economic incentives.

So the attack on Jeb Hensarling fits the narrative.

Bottom Line: We can't prove it, but it makes far more sense for someone from the Dallas "business community" to lie to attack the Tea Party than it does for a major multi-national corporation to go after a sitting Congressional chairman.

About running for Congress: An open letter to Don Huffines

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass."
Psalm 37:7

Dear Senator Huffines,

Earlier this week, Quorum Report reported:

Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas, told Quorum Report on Tuesday that he is “looking at all options” when asked if he plans to run against Rep. Pete Sessions, a senior Republican congressman from Big D.

“I can’t rule it out,” Huffines said when asked whether he is taking a serious look at the seat held by Sessions. “That would be my comment.”

Under no circumstances should you run against Pete Sessions; we need you to stay in your current position until at least the end of your term.

Here's why: If you were to be elected to Congress, that would trigger a special election for your Texas Senate seat.  For obvious reasons, that's a prospect the lobby would relish.  You remember better than anyone how close your last election was.

A special election where we're playing defense is a headache the grass-roots doesn't need.  It's tailor made for John Carona to sneak back.  We need to stay on offense.

Make no mistake: Pete Sessions is a jerk.  Ironically enough, the last time you and I spoke at length was the day after his buffoonish April townhall.  But that doesn't mean you're the right person to run against him.  Even if Katrina doesn't run, Sessions is going to have one or more opponents.  Why risk a perfectly good Texas Senate seat for a race that could already see 3-5 candidates?!?

As March's debate over the margins tax proved, we need you in the Texas Senate. Please stay put.  Besides, Austin is a MUCH nicer place to spend time than Washington D.C.

Sincerely,
Adam Cahn
Austin, TX

P.S. That being said, if you wanted to to piggyback off of the name recognition you already have in Dallas County, do feel free to pitch this race to your brother.

Villalba Protects Straus

"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ."
2 Corinthians 11:13

Earlier tonight, this website published a piece about Jason Villalba's refusal to debate the Speaker's race at home; it begat the following response:

@VoteBeebe @MattRinaldiTX @cahnman LOL. Austin Club. Live audience. 60 minutes. @scottbraddock moderates. Week before vote. #TxLege #BringIt
— Jason Villalba (@JasonVillalba) December 28, 2014

This is a cop-out.

Villalba and Rinaldi were originally scheduled to debate tomorrow; Villalba's tweet is an attempt to stall while he shops for a friendly audience.

Villalba wants to run out the clock.  If he faces in district questioning, that will make it harder.  Thus, he prefers Austin in two weeks to Dallas tomorrow.

Make no mistake: An Austin event is easier for this author to attend.  But Villalba lives in Dallas.  It's telling that he would rather appear in our hometown than his own.

As Matt Beebe Says:

.@JasonVillalba will dance for the Austin lobbyists, but skips out on the hometown audience? #TXLege @MattRinaldiTX @cahnman @scottbraddock
— Matt Beebe for Texas (@VoteBeebe) December 28, 2014

Rinaldi follows up:

Point is to have constituents hear the debate. @JasonVillalba wants to debate in front of lobbyists. Tomorrow @6:30 660am. You in? #TxLege
— Matt Rinaldi (@MattRinaldiTX) December 28, 2014

This author proposed a compromise:

@JasonVillalba Nice Try; debate @MattRinaldiTX tomorrow, then @evanasmith 2 hr forum with @SpeakerStraus and @ScottTurnerTX on 1/12
— cahnman (@cahnman) December 28, 2014

Which, upon being ignored, we proposed again:

@scottbraddock Nice try; how 'bout @JasonVillalba/@MattRinaldiTX tomorrow and @SpeakerStraus and @ScottTurnerTX on 1/12?!? @rumpfshaker
— cahnman (@cahnman) December 28, 2014

But nobody wants to make things interesting:

@JasonVillalba Why not @MattRinaldiTX tomorrow and @SpeakerStraus/@ScottTurnerTX 1/12?!? @rumpfshaker @evanasmith @scottbraddock
— cahnman (@cahnman) December 28, 2014

Which, once again, begs the real question: Why not have Matt Rinaldi and Jason Villalba debate tomorrow night in Dallas then have Scott Turner and Joe Straus debate on January 12th in Austin (we don't care if Evan Smith or Scott Braddock moderates)?!?

Quorum Report, Erica Greider flush their credibility

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

Last week, TPPF released a report "The Real Texas Budget," that detailed current fiscal realities in Texas.  The report used two distinct metrics to measure the profligacy of the 83rd Texas Legislature.  On cue, Quorum Report deliberately confused the two metrics:

The conservative think tank in Austin where Midland oilman Tim Dunn is Vice Chairman of the board on Tuesday released a report saying that Texas state government spending saw a 9 percent increase over the previous biennium.

In their new report, which you can see here, the Texas Public Policy Foundation said their analysts looked at the finished budget and did comparisons going back to 2004.

The 9 percent figure is, of course, far less than their previous estimate of as much as a 26 percent increase in state spending that was splashed on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal under the headline “Texas Goes Sacramento” and was repeated ad nauseam by Tea Party candidates running against establishment Republicans in the recent primaries and runoffs.

Erica Grieder (*) of Texas Monthly went further:

Lurking on the fringes, however, were a group of conservatives clamoring that the budget actually represented a 26 percent increase in spending for 2014-15 compared to 2012-13. That figure was a blatant misrepresentation, but one that gained a fair amount of traction, especially after the Wall Street Journal published an editorial, in June, harrumphing that the 26 percent surge in state spending amounted to a California-style spending spree that would put Texas on the road to serfdom. Opposition to the budget became a litmus test among conservatives, a factor that would be heavily weighed in the report cards some of them are elected to represent.

Where did the 26 percent figure come from? Well, it came from the Texas Public Policy Foundation. The same Texas Public Policy Foundation that just released a report estimating that state spending will increase 9 percent in the next biennium.

In other words, TPPF is now disavowing its own earlier analysis.

 Of course, TPPF did no such thing, as they explain:

Due to variations in the way money is spent and data availability, multiple metrics might be used. We might, for instance, compare appropriations to appropriations or spending to spending.

There’s an important point here, in that appropriations and spending are not the same thing.The former is what a Legislature approves to be spent, and the latter is how much taxpayer money is actually spent. A credible comparison of an adopted budget alone — that is, appropriations — against actual spending from the previous cycle is not made, because the state almost always spends more during a two-year budget cycle than the appropriated amount.

Advocates of more spending like to compare different numbers over differing time spans to make their growth rates look artificially smaller.

....

The first is session vs. session: measuring the appropriations from one legislative session to the next. TPPF employed this method in May and June 2013 to expose the 83rd Legislature’s heavy bias toward spending. That Legislature’s problems actually started with its predecessor, 2011’s 82nd Legislature, which by delaying education payments and underfunding Medicaid, gave the impression that legislators spent conservatively. In fact, they merely pushed spending into the 2013 session. We sounded the alarm on this back in 2011, writing in the Austin American-Statesman that the 82nd Legislature’s “budget writers had to rely heavily on gimmicks and one-time fixes.” We also noted then that legislators passed up key opportunities to make state budgeting more transparent and understandable to the ordinary Texan.

In 2013’s 83rd Legislature, legislators passed supplemental bills to backfill spending into the previous budget period, and undo the accounting gimmicks of 2011.

As we published last June and republished this week, the appropriations approved by the 83rd Legislature in 2013, including the backfill money, were significantly higher than the appropriations approved back in 2011; 24 percent higher in state general revenue and almost 26 percent higher in all funds, using the Legislative Budget Board’s (LBB) latest numbers.

That's a tremendous increase by any standard.

The second metric taxpayers may find useful is comparing spending on a biennium vs. biennium basis. This is the method legislators generally use to evaluate the growth of state budgets — not least because it often yields smaller numbers that may be less shocking to taxpayers. TPPF’s “Real Texas Budget” report includes this metric.

[Emphasis added]

In other words, the reason the session over session (rather than biennium over biennium) number is more accurate is because a big chunk of the 26% spending increase was buried in those supplementals.  That budget gimmick allowed lawmakers to claim they "only" increased spending 9%.  But, of course, if the people have accurate information about the budget, it could upset the crony party in Austin....

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* -- In the original post, we misspelled Erica Grieder's last name, we apologize and have fixed the post:

@cahnman @quorumreport @TPPF @morgslw @Michellebbz That's not how my name is spelled.
— EricaGrieder (@EricaGrieder) June 10, 2014

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Update: If you have ten minutes, TPPF's Bill Peacock does a great overview: