Regardless of Outcome, convention DEBACLE illustrates EVERYTHING wrong with the Texas GOP

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."
Galatians 6:7

Lolz:

The Republican Party of Texas' in-person convention next week has been canceled, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday.

The news came after Turner directed the city's legal department to work with the Houston First Corp., which operates the George R. Brown Convention Center, to review the contract with the state party.

Turner said officials with Houston First sent a letter this afternoon to the State Republican Executive Committee, the state party's governing board, canceling the gathering, which was set to happen July 16-18 and was expected to draw roughly 6,000 attendees.

"These are some very serious times," Turner said at a news conference. "Simply, the public health concerns outweighed anything else."

We've seen speculation floating around about what's really happening. Some believe Sylvester's doing Abbott a favor so the latter doesn't get booed. Others believe Sylvester's doing dirty work for the Democrats by forcing RPT to spend money on lawyers that could otherwise go to candidates. Either hypotheses is consistent with currently known facts.

Suffice to say, it looks like Sylvester Turner is doing an awfully big political favor for...somebody.

At this point, however, does the specific identity of that "somebody" matter?!?

Because, however we got here, the net result is that the Texas GOP has just spent the past two weeks being utterly, totally, and completely humiliated.

And isn't that typical?!?

At this point last year, we were warning that the Texas GOP's chronic underperformance was about to catch up with it.  While we had our reasons, those reasons almost seem cute in hindsight.  But whatever the proximate cause, the underlying reality is that their performance in office just isn't good enough.

What's happened since then?!?

Well, we had a pandemic.  Greg Abbott put a lobbyist in charge. And Abbott otherwise caved (while running his mouth to cover his...well, you know).

So here we are. The details don't matter. The only thing that matters is that this most recent debacle is the completely predictable consequence of trends that have been allowed to run unchecked for a long, long, time.

And there's no reason to believe any of it's going to change (at least for the better) anytime soon.

Bottom Line: Actual leadership could have prevented this. Failing that, prudence could have minimized the damage. Yet neither happened. And here we are.

Abbott Greenlights Local Absolutism (while dodging responsibility)

"Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."
James 1:12

Oh good grief:

Gov. Greg Abbott took multiple measures Sunday designed to expand hospital staffing and capacity in Texas, but declined to issue a statewide shelter-in-place order — even as calls for such an action increased as the new coronavirus continued to spread across the state.

....

But he did not order all Texans to shelter in place, noting that there are still many counties in the state without confirmed cases and that he wants to see the full impact of an executive order he issued Thursday.

In the meantime, he welcomed local officials to take more restrictive action than he has statewide. Within two hours, Dallas County was the first local jurisdiction to do so by ordering all residents to stay at home if they were not doing certain essential activities.

The actual statute under which these alleged powers allegedly reside is insane: "The presiding officer of the governing body of an incorporated city or a county or the chief administrative officer of a joint board is designated as the emergency management director for the officer's political subdivision....An emergency management director may exercise the powers granted to the governor under this chapter on an appropriate local scale."  Meanwhile, Steve Adler and Sylvester Turner are going to determine "appropriate local scale."  What could possibly go wrong?!?

On a certain level you do have to stand in awe of how Abbott insulated himself politically.  Abbott gets his photo op.  When these local lockdowns predictably backfire, however, Abbott's going to shuffle off blame to the local officials.  In a cynical way, it's kinda brilliant.

Bottom Line: Woe unto all of us....

Notorious Pay to Play practitioner endorses Billionaire

"One who increases his possessions by usury and extortion
Gathers it for him who will pity the poor."
Proverbs 28:8

Lolz:

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner endorsed Michael Bloomberg for president, Bloomberg’s campaign announced Thursday morning.

The backing of the mayor of the fourth largest city in America is Bloomberg’s most high profile Texas endorsement yet. It also gives Bloomberg another nod from a prominent black elected official as the billionaire grapples with pushback over his use of “stop and frisk” policies while he was mayor of New York City.

“As mayor, Mike embraced New York’s diversity and made smart investments that brought better infrastructure and greater opportunity to all five boroughs,” Turner, a Democrat, said in a statement released by the campaign. “We need a president who knows how cities run. It’s why I’m proud to endorse Mike for president, and I look forward to sending him to Washington in November.”

This is the point, dear reader, when the value of someone familiar with the inner workings of politics in BOTH New York City and Texas shows itself.

Because, if you know how each of this figures has operated for years, none of this is surprising.

First up, Turner:

Houston's Four Seasons hotel has a pretty pricey breakfast, but the big money on February 16, 2016, had nothing to do with the $19 egg breakfast. Emails from Houston City Hall show Mayor Sylvester Turner was at the Four Seasons that morning with the then-CEO of Kelsey-Seybold, the health clinic's marketing director and their city lobbyist for a breakfast meeting at 8 in the morning.

By 9 a.m., the meeting was over and an email from the lobbyist to the mayor's secretary says it "went very well."

The day went well for the Mayor's campaign, too. City records show on that very day the mayor's campaign reported $81,350 in donations from more than 120 Kelsey-Seybold doctors and executives. The campaign could've received the checks anytime between when Turner was sworn in and when he ate with the Kelsey team. When 13 Investigates looked the donor's names up in city databases, we found 87 percent of them had never given to a city political candidate ever before.

Michael Wynne, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney described the donations as "very, very unusual." Wynne is a former federal prosecutor who handled cases dealing with campaign donations. He now works to defend people accused of breaking those laws. He's not supporting anyone in Houston's mayoral race.

After reviewing the donations, Wynne told 13 Investigates, "In this instance, the number of people who had never been involved in the political circus whatsoever, all of a sudden decide to get involved. I think it's something that demands a little more scrutiny."

Meanwhile, Bloomberg:

The foundation of Bloomberg’s imperial mayoralty is, obviously, money. He’s used his vast personal fortune—$17.5 billion at last Forbes estimate—relentlessly and creatively to reverse the standard political dynamic: Instead of the special interests’ buying off the politicians, the city’s top politician has bought off the special interests. Money has allowed him to create the Bloomberg Party, whose clubhouse is the business elite and whose field troops are enlisted issue by issue. Bloomberg employs large segments of the city’s political class, directly and indirectly, and his philanthropy, often done in secret, gives him a very large circle of friends. Opposing him can be an exceedingly lonely occupation.

....

Bloomberg has certainly deepened the financial bond—or dependency—through the strategic use of his checkbook. His charitable contributions have increased exponentially from when he first decided to run for mayor. In 1999, he gave away $47 million; last year, the figure was $235 million. Some of the money is funneled through the Carnegie Corporation, as supposedly anonymous gifts. Last year, 542 New York charities and nonprofits received $60 million of such gifts.

Money is a stealth weapon in Bloomberg’s political arsenal. And, as fund-raiser-in-chief, the mayor can leverage his own giving by tapping his well-heeled associates. “The mayor has an enormous influence in charity, and he does so much of it anonymously,” Rubenstein says. “I talk to some of the institutions who are clients and I say, ‘Why don’t you appeal to the mayor for money?’ They say, ‘What do you mean, appeal? He’s been funding us for years!’ I just had that discussion a couple of days ago with one of my museum clients.”

Bloomberg has also ramped up his purely political spending. Some of it is surreptitious: In 2008, three of Bloomberg’s closest friends and business associates suddenly wrote checks for $50,000 to the Working Families Party. The money was then steered to State Senate candidate Daniel Squadron, who’d won Bloomberg’s endorsement in a race to unseat a longtime incumbent

This is a classic case of baksheesh.

Bottom Line: This morning's announcement should surprise nobody who's followed the respective careers of Sylvester Turner and Michael Bloomberg.

-------

Note: That being said, it would be pretty funny is somebody asked Bloomberg and Turner about the Astros cheating scandal.

Abbott/Turner slapfight is why government shouldn't provide "disaster relief"

"I will set Egyptians against Egyptians;
Everyone will fight against his brother,
And everyone against his neighbor,
City against city, kingdom against kingdom."
Isaiah 19:2

Oh good grief:

Texas is likely another nine months from getting $4.3 billion in federal post-Hurricane Harvey recovery money aimed at better protecting the state from future flooding and disasters. But when it finally arrives, Gov. Greg Abbott made clear Friday the state will be handling the money directly and not turning it over to cities and counties to manage.

While some local officials expressed frustration over the decision, Abbott said he’s turning to Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush to lead the program aimed at large-scale, regional projects. Bush has already been tasked with dealing with housing recovery issues since Harvey hit Texas in August 2017.

....

Similarly Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the city will continue to work closely with Bush’s agency, but made clear who will be to blame for delays in getting work completed.

“If there will be any delay in the distribution and use of flood mitigation aid, it will come from the federal and state government,” Turner said.

Texas has been waiting for the money since February 2018, when Congress first approved the disaster mitigation program. But it took until August for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to publish rules on how the money can be used.

Now, Bush and the Texas General Land Office are required to develop a “state action plan” that must later get yet another approval from HUD. According to a joint statement put out by Abbott and Bush on Friday, that could take another “nine months or more to complete.” That would mean July 2020 — just short of three years after Hurricane Harvey made landfall.

Blah, blah, blah.

This is a scumbag on scumbag fight.  Greg Abbott and Sylvester Turner both want to supply graft and patronage.  Just different beneficiaries.  No matter who "wins," the public loses.

Don't get us started on that three year "rulemaking" process.

The Texas Observer, meanwhile, has more here.

Bottom Line: This is why you never ask the Feds for money.

OBSCENE Local Tax Burdens aren't just a Blue State Problem....

"But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so, because of the fear of God."
Nehemiah 5:15

We attended an event with Congressman Roger Williams related to federal tax reform efforts this morning; out of respect to our host, suffice to say we found the Congressman long on platitudes and short on specifics.

But this is as good of a time as any to bring up something we've been meaning to discuss: Perverse incentives in the federal tax code subsidize high property taxes, and Texas' congressional delegation appears content to continue this subsidy.

The federal tax code contains a loophole that allows individual taxpayers to deduct the cost of their state and local taxes, but only if they itemize their deductions.  Unfortunately, middle class taxpayers rarely itemize their deductions.  So the federal "state and local" tax loophole subsidizes higher local property taxes.

Unfortunately, Texas' own Kevin Brady seems inclined to preserve this tax subsidy to spendaholic local politicians:

House Republicans' top taxwriter said Saturday he would add a federal tax break for state and local property taxes back into the tax plan set to be unveiled next week, bowing to pressure from members of his conference from blue states with high taxes.

Kevin Brady, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he was restoring a deduction for property taxes "to help taxpayers with local tax burdens."

The Trump administration and congressional Republicans had proposed to entirely eliminate the ability of federal taxpayers to deduct state and local taxes in order to pay for lower tax rates.

This is absurd.  Brady's concession doesn't "help taxpayers with local tax burdens"; it just raises the tax rates paid by middle class taxpayers to subsidize spendaholic local politicians.  In one pocket and out the other.

Furthermore, this isn't just a blue state problem.  Texas currently has the sixth highest property tax burden in the nation.  Thus, federal subsidies for spendaholic local politicians hurt middle class Texans just as badly as it hurts middle class taxpayers in any blue state.

Obviously, Texans need the Texas legislature to strengthen property tax rollback protections.  The legislature should also take a long look at the appraisal system (if not outright elimination of property taxes).  But the fact that the Texas legislature has failed to act within the areas of its jurisdiction doesn't excuse the Texas' congressional delegation if they fail to eliminate subsidies for spendaholic local politicians in the federal tax code.

Bottom Line: From Democrats like Steve Adler in Austin and Sylvester Turner in Houston, to Republicans like Betsy Price in Fort Worth and Craig Doyal in Montgomery County, it's not a secret that local politicians across Texas love to spend other people's money.  Loopholes in the federal tax code subsidize that spending.  It's a shame that Texas' congressional delegation appears more interested in preserving those subsides than in making local officials be honest with their voters.

Turner attempts "Hurricane recovery" shakedown; Abbott responds with important point about Corporate Welfare

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

The other day, Houston mayor Sylvester Turner attempted to hold Hurricane Harvey recovery hostage to unrelated grow-government histrionics; Governor Abbott's response is spot on:

I will be paying every city of Houston invoice they submit to us within approximately 10 days. Now that said, I did see the mayor’s letter where he’s asking for certain payments by the state of Texas to the city which are unprecedented, this never happened before in the state of Texas, and it raises a concern that the mayor seems to be using this as hostage to raise taxes, when in reality, the city of Houston is sitting on hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars that he’s not tapping into.

"Those hundreds of millions of dollars are siloed in TIRZ programs. Either the mayor could use those hundreds of millions of dollars to pay those expenses that cost a fraction of that, or the state legislature, during the next session, can and will modify the TIRZ statutes to ensure that the reserves, by TIRZ, can be used, by cities, to respond to disasters. So he has all the money that he needs, including the money that I provided to him, including the money that taxpayers have provided to him. He just needs to tap into it.”

Abbott is absolutely correct on this.  "Tax Increment Financing" and "Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones" are an abominable public policy practice that should be abolished in their entirety.  In the meantime, those funds should absolutely be tapped before asking overstretched taxpayers to pony up more.

[Note: Learn more about "Tax Increment Financing" and "Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones" here.  Learn about our thoughts about the practice at the state level here.  Learn about a specific application of this terrible policy at the municipal level in Austin here.]

[Note II: Ironically enough, we intend to testify against this very policy at tomorrow's #atxcouncil meeting.]

Bottom Line: It's not a secret that this website has its issues with Governor Abbott, but he's spot on here.

#TXLEGE: Trib poll illustrates degree to which status quo crowd is playing with FIRE.....

"People shall be brought down,
Each man shall be humbled,
And the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled."
Isaiah 5:15

The Texas Tribune conducted a poll in early June, immediately after the regular session of the legislature ended.  Last week, they released unsurprising results related to national stories and elected officials.  But today's results related to issues should serve as a wake up call to anyone who wants to preserve the status quo:

• EVERY ASPECT OF THE SANCTUARY CITIES BILL IS POLLING NORTH OF 50%.
• Newsflash to Joe Straus, Mayor Adler, Rafael Anchia, the Democrats, and the Austin Lobby: THIS IS A POPULAR BILL.
• Requiring local police to work with Immigration authorities is approved by 58% of voters and only disapproved by 33%...do you really want to take the 33% side in a statewide campaign?!?
• Also, bear in mind that this poll was conducted at peak hysteria related to the Rinaldi/Poncho incident...which means that, even with full race card guns blazing, every aspect of this law polls at 53% or higher.

• 77% of voters support statewide limits on property taxes.

• 63% OF DEMOCRATS support statewide limits on property taxes.
• NEWSFLASH MAYOR ADLER (you too Sylvester Turner).

• While they didn't poll support/opposition to the bathroom bill (Note: That's revealing in and of itself), we find it notable that 35% OF DEMOCRATS list it as an important priority.

Furthermore, as it relates to the special session, allow us to one more observation that should be obvious: Because Greg Abbott is Greg Abbott, you know he polled every single issue on the call; that he's pushing forward with them should tell you everything you need to know about what his polling said.

Bottom Line: Woe unto politicians clinging to fantasies about where public opinion lies....

Battleground Texas attempting to ride Sylvester Turner back to relevance....

"A fool’s lips enter into contention,
And his mouth calls for blows."
Proverbs 18:6

A Source E-Mails:

From: bgtx@battlegroundtexas.com
Subject: We're 5 days away
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2015 00:38:28 +0000

Friend, There's a huge election happening in Houston in 5 days, and every single Texan who cares about progress should pay attention. Here's why: Making Texas a battleground state won't happen overnight. We need to elect Democrats up and down the ballot, in cities large and small across the state, to get there. We have a chance to do that in Houston. Sylvester Turner will be a mayor who moves Houston forward. But to help him win, we need to make sure folks cast their ballots. Volunteers across the state are organizing on the ground to get out the vote as we speak -- from knocking on doors to manning our voter protection hotline -- and you can be a part of it, without leaving your house. Donate $5 or more right now to help fuel our ground game in Houston -- and build a culture of voting across Texas: http://join.battlegroundtx.com/donate Thanks for being part of this. D.J. Ybarra Battleground Texas Regional Coordinator  POLITICAL ADVERTISING PAID FOR BY BATTLEGROUND TEXAS, WWW.BATTLEGROUNDTEXAS.COM, AND NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE'S COMMITTEE Contributions or gifts to Battleground Texas are not tax-deductible.

Bottom Line: Battleground Texas claims they want to "elect Democrats up and down the ballot."  The Houston mayoral runoff is showing they can't even hold onto the down-ballot offices they ALREADY have.  So much LOL....