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.

Our FINAL Round of 2016 Primary Endorsements

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

[Author's Note: You can see our first round of endorsements here and our second round here.]

With election day 11 days away, we make the following endorsements:

STATEWIDE (Judicial)

Ray Wheless, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 2:

We've previously discussed this race. In Texas, there is a separate judicial track for civil and criminal cases.  The Court of Criminal Appeals is the highest criminal court in Texas and is the equivalent of the Texas Supreme Court.

We first became interested in this race when we realized that the corrupt judge whose unethical activities led to his recusal in the Ken Paxton case was one of the three candidates.  That candidate is a disgrace to the legal profession against whom we've filed a complaint with the state commission on judicial conduct.  We've heard conflicting reports about the second candidate, but at best nothing excites us.

Ray Wheless spoke at the Central Texas Republican Assembly's November meeting.  We were impressed by his knowledge and legal acumen.  Judge Wheless is from Collin County, where he has held a variety of judicial positions.

UNITED STATES HOUSE

Anyone but Pete, CD-32:

We've documented our differences with Pete Sessions over the years.  As a member of House leadership, Pete Sessions has been a key player in every Republican betrayal we've seen out of D.C. in the Obama era.  As recently as December, Pete Sessions voted for a grotesque spending bill.

In addition to his awful actions on policy related matters, Pete Sessions is also a RAGING jerk; in many ways, Pete Session is the Byron Cook of the United States House of Representatives.

We've heard good things about all of the challengers.  We haven't had an opportunity to differentiate them in an detail, but against Pete Session it doesn't matter.  #NoRePete.

TEXAS HOUSE

Jess Fields, HD-14:

We've known Jess Fields for several years due to his work with the Texas Public Policy Foundation.  We've been impressed with his sharp wit and incisive sense of humor.  We expect Jess Fields to give Jonathan Stickland a run for his money on the back mic.

Jess Fields is a prominent supporter of the liberty cities movement.  Liberty cities are a creative solution that undermines big city governments.  We like creative solutions that undermine big government.

Unfortunately, he's a dirty stinking Aggie, but that's probably an advantage in a district that includes College Station.

WILLIAMSON COUNTY

Shawn Dick, District Attorney:

Shawn Dick is challenging a DISGRACEFUL incumbent with whom we've had issues for many years.  This is the DA that tried to lock up some kid for life over a couple pot brownies and suppressed evidence in a capital murder case.  We've also heard from folks in the WillCo legal community that lower profile abuses happen every day in that office.

In addition to his time as a prosecutor, Shawn Dick has also worked as a defense attorney.  When someone is making decisions that could take away someone else's freedom, we think it's a good thing for that person to have been on the other side of the courtroom.  Speaking of the disgraceful incumbent, she actually had the nerve to attack him over this.

A vote for Shawn Dick is a vote for basic ethics and integrity in a critically important office.

Bill Kelberlau, Sheriff:

Bill Kelberlau is running to be a constitutional sheriff.  For those unaware, local sheriffs have a TREMENDOUS amount of authority to stop the Federal government from enforcing unconstitutional laws.  Milwaukee County (Wisconsin) Sheriff David Clarke is probably the highest profile constitutional sheriff today.

Bill grew up in South Texas and spent 30 years in the Navy in a variety of sensitive position.  That background leaves him well-prepared for the challenges he will face in law enforcement.  Bill Kelberlau also testified at Don Zimmerman's Austin City Council hearing on Syrian 'refugees' and, considering that a sliver of Austin extends into Willco, having Bill Kelberlau around to drive the Austin City Council NUTS is worth the price of admission all by itself.

When Donald Trump comes for our guns, Williamson County is going to want Bill Kelberlau as Sheriff.

TRAVIS COUNTY

Jason Nassour, Commissioner's Court (Precinct 3):

We started noticing problems with the incumbent last year when he was a loud and prominent supporter of the Courthouse bond on the Commissioner's Court.  That right there should tell you something.  Why was the lone REPUBLICAN on the commissioner's court loudly supporting a $300 million boondoggle that would only benefit rich downtown lawyers?!?  But it gets worse.  He's recently taken a number of other screwy votes.  We've also discovered recently that he's given money to Kirk Watson.  The incumbent is a good guy, but he's clearly been working in government for too long.

Jason Nassour, by contrast, is an entrepreneur who owns several well known local radio stations.  A newcomer to politics, Nassour was motivated to run for office by the incumbent's support for the Courthouse bond.  Jason Nassour wants to sell all county property within the city limits and use the proceeds to build a new multi-use county facility FOR CASH in an unincorporated area.  Have we mentioned we like creative solutions?!?

The debate last month between Jason Nassour and the incumbent speaks for itself, you can view it for yourself here.

James Dickey, Travis County Republican Party Chairman:

Since James Dickey became county chairman two years ago, the Travis County Republican party helped put the first two conservatives EVER on the Austin City Council.  The Travis County Republican party has a DA candidate on the ballot for the first time since we've lived here.  Finally, we learned last week that the Travis County Republican Party actually has more precinct chairs at the moment than the D's.

With a property tax revolt and an affordability crisis at hand, the issue environment favors conservative solutions in an obvious way.  We've had discussions with James Dickey about specific ways to address these issues, and we intend to ramp up those discussions after March 1st.  Why mess with a good thing?!?

One note about James' challenger: Robert Morrow is a friend and patriot.  He does valuable work in the areas to which his talents are suited.  The job of county chairman, however, is a poor match for Robert's strong suits.

The ASTONISHING race for Court of Criminal Appeal, Place 2....

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

Over the past few years, few trends in Texas politics have been more disturbing than the criminalization of conservative speech; even more disturbing is the fact that two corrupt judges who have presided over sham grand jury investigations against conservatives are now attempting to obtain the same statewide judicial position.

The Court of Criminal Appeals is the highest criminal court in Texas.  The Court of Criminal Appeals is to criminal law what the Texas Supreme Court is to civil law.  The court is comprised of nine judges each of whom is elected statewide.

In the current race for Place 2, there are three candidates in the Republican Primary: Mary Lou Keel, Chris Oldner, and Ray Wheless.

We've previously discussed Judge Chris Oldner on this website; heck, we've filed a complaint against Oldner with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.  Oldner is the corrupt Collin County judge who helped railroad Ken Paxton's indictment.  There's your first example of criminalizing conservatism.

Older is bad enough, but this race becomes truly astonishing when Keel enters the picture.  Unfortunately, this past Monday, a grand jury in Harris County returned a legally problematic indictment against David Daleidan who produced last summer's investigation into Planned Parenthood's sale of baby body parts.  Now take a wild guess which Judge presided over that grand jury.  THAT'S RIGHT: Mary Lou Keel!!!  That's your second example of criminalizing conservatism.

We've met Ray Wheless.  He seems like a solid guy who understands the proper role of a Judge.  At a minimum, he's (quite literally) the ONLY candidate in this race who hasn't overseen a bogus political indictment against a prominent conservative in the last six months.

Bottom Line: It boggles the mind that these two bottom feeders are both trying to run statewide considering their recent records.