#TXLEGE: Patrick, Seliger, and Playing with Fire....

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

Yesterday, we said "time will tell" as it relates to Seliger's committee assignments.  Initial reports are in.  They're not good:

Seliger said he looks forward to championing agricultural issues and that education legislation will remain a top priority. But the senator, who’s back in his Panhandle-area district for the long weekend, said many in the area are feeling “dismayed and disrespected.”

“It’s not what I desired,” Seliger said in a phone interview Friday afternoon. “There’s a negative reaction in this district, because [the finance committee] is a good position to try and do the things that are important in an area in West Texas that seems to have to fight for everything, from a budgetary point of view.”

“I know exactly what motivated the change. It was a couple of ‘no’ votes for the lieutenant governor’s priorities in 2017,” the longtime higher education chairman said. “It was a very clear warning to the Republicans that if you get off the reservation, you better be careful.”

Hoo boy.

Patrick's staff replies:

"If Senator Seliger believes serving as Chair of the Agriculture Committee — a critical committee for West Texas and all of rural Texas — is beneath him, he should let us know and the Lt. Governor will appoint someone else," said Sherry Sylvester, the Patrick advisor.

Yowza.

This is bad; if it's not resolved quickly, it will consume the session.

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Understand something: Dan Patrick needs Kel Seliger's vote (during the regular session).

It takes 19 votes to pass a bill in the Texas Senate (during the regular session).  There are 19 Republicans.  If Patrick loses Seliger, he has to find a Democrat.

Depending on the issue, it might not be impossible to find some Democrats, but it's a lot easier to pass bills with Seliger on board.

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There's nothing wrong with removing Seliger from higher ed.  While we had no complaints about his chairmanship last session (he passed the two bills we wanted passed), there's a fairly obvious case for replacing him.  Furthermore, now that his wife is head of the Texas Exes, one could argue it's a conflict of interest.

But tossing Seliger from Finance was STUPID.

Finance is a gigantic committee.  One member's vote doesn't change anything (esp. now that property taxes have been moved to a separate committee).  Keeping the Finance appointment as a courtesy pick to a senior member Senator have been a no-brainer.

Instead, Dan Patrick just gratuitously insulted that senior Senator at a time when the Senator in question has a lot of leverage.

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The worst part is that there was an obvious path to placate Seliger; it should have at least been tried.

Kel Seliger is a legislator who, every session, has about a zillion priorities.  Obviously, many conflict with conservative priorities.  But a decent number of them don't.

It doesn't take a genius to envisage a deal where Seliger gets all of his lower profile stuff in exchange for supporting Patrick's high profile stuff.

As cooler heads prevail, here's hoping that still happens.  But the cost for Seliger's cooperation just went up.  And it will continue to rise as long as this conflict festers.

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Let's not overlook the potential nightmare of Seliger on Nominations.

Evan Smith hasn't:

#txlege smarty points out Senate Nominations could get interesting post-@kseliger dis. If Dems — @CarolforTexas @BorrisLMiles @KirkPWatson — hold together, he is swing vote #kelfreezesover

— Evan Smith (@evanasmith) January 19, 2019

Kel freezes over indeed.

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For all that, remember one other thing: Kel Seliger also needs Dan Patrick.  Not as bad as the other way.  But bad enough.

For as much leverage as Seliger possesses during the regular session, it evaporates in a special.  The Texas Senate operates under completely different rules during a special.  This is something Seliger already knows, but it's something about which he should be reminded.

If Kel Seliger is the only reason for a special session, he should get nothing.

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Bottom Line: Dan Patrick and Kel Seliger can both accomplish more by working together than by feuding.  That's still true.  Hopefully, cooler heads prevail.

Sycophantic Lickspittle pens ABSURD pro-Fenves Propaganda

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

Apparently, some hack named "Del Williams" is the current president of the Texas Exes; you'll never believe what he wrote in the Dallas Morning News yesterday:

UT-Austin President Greg Fenves is my Texan of the Year for his devotion to opportunity for all

Formatting note: We'll address the claims Williams makes in his DMN piece first, then we'll point out other Fenves actions (or lack thereof) from 2017 that Williams neglected to mention.

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• Claim: "He gracefully led the university after a pair of unthinkable murders of students"
  
  Reality: Fenves hasn't done a damn thing about the two murders.

• Claim: "fighting sexual assault"
  
  Reality: By inventing arbitrary standards to please big donors then bribing the student in question to drop the resulting lawsuit.
  
• Claim: "removed the statues of Confederate leaders from the Main Mall, which kept that issue from becoming a distracting spectacle"
  
  Reality: Anyone who claims the statue removal wasn't "a distracting spectacle" clearly wasn't paying attention in August.

• Claim: "But Fenves' experience has been most directly relevant to promoting student success. He launched his career at UT Austin in the 1980s and returned a decade ago to become dean of engineering, then provost and, in 2015, president. This coincided with UT's commitment to raising its four-year graduation rate from 51 percent — tops in Texas but lower than flagship universities in most other states — to 70 percent."
  
  Reality: NEWSFLASH -- Colleges and Universities are supposed to graduate their students; you don't get to take a victory lap for doing the bare minimum.
  
  [Note: It's also worth point out that we've heard over the years that the University is fudging these numbers, but that's not something we can prove.]

• Claim: "Fenves worked with the university's Board of Regents to secure an additional $24 million from the state's oil and gas royalties for the Austin campus. And he raised $450 million from donors in 2016-17 -- the most ever outside of a capital campaign. He's brought in game-changing gifts for the medical school and petroleum engineering, social work and liberal arts."
  
  Reality (a): Assuming they're telling the truth about their fundraising numbers which, to put it mildly, they haven't always done in the past.
  
  Reality (b): If Fenves IS telling the truth, that probably means they don't need a tuition hike.

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Now, let's consider several other incidents from 2017 that didn't make Mr. Williams list:

• Basketball team goes 11-22.
• Note: Ok, fine, technically part of that happened during 2016.

• Violent communists recruit on campus.

• Politically motivated violence against Fraternities.

• Politically motivated violence against Student Reporter.

• Politically motivated violence against widely respected student organization, on multiple occasions.

• The latest tuition hike.

• Another debacle of a Football season, despite the shiny new coach (while paying millions in buyouts to the last guy).

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Bottom Line: George Orwell would be proud.

#TXLEGE: "Save MUNY" bill refuses to die....

We apologize for the blurry picture, but that's actually a good metaphor for the revival of this bill.

"Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?!?"
Matthew 20:15

[Note: The hearing can be viewed here, our testimony is just after the one hour mark.]

It's not often we testify in a committee hearing on the same side of an issue as Greg Fenves and the Texas Exes, but such is the nature of an obscure land dispute in West Austin in which the legislature has inexplicably chosen to involve itself.  We had thought this one was dead.  But late yesterday afternoon, the House Land and Resource management committee announced a hearing on short notice.

We outlined the reasons for our opposition to SB 822 when it was heard in the Senate back in March.  The short version is that UT is sitting on an extraordinarily valuable tract of land in West Austin, which UT has occasionally considered selling to residential/mixed use developers.  In a city with a chronic housing shortage, keeping this option on the table seems prudent; unfortunately, that prudence exists alongside some dirty local Austin politics.

At this morning's hearing, UT and their representatives (led by Fenves) testified that it was in the interest of everyone involved to respect the wishes of the original donor.  Furthermore, they testified that this could lead to remittance clauses being inserted into all future gifts, but not just gifts to them.  Thus, there could be unintended consequences in any number of areas where a future legislature might invent a future jurisdictional claim.  But here's the thing [Note: we can't believe we're about to say this]: UT's argument isn't entirely crazy.  Who's to say how a future legislature in 10 or 20 years would interpret this action?!?  Does the legislature really want to create this precedent?!?  Tread carefully....

As to our personal testimony: we gave the same schpiel we give any time the "Save MUNY" issue comes up.  In a city with a chronic housing shortage, it strikes us as absurd to place artificial restrictions on prime real estate that presently hosts a golf course.  If UT wants to sell this particular tract of land to developers...that would be a good thing!

Rep. Ernest Bailes attempted to obfuscate by asking a straw-man question about whether we would apply the same logic to Central Park in New York City.  While Bailes question was a curveball we didn't expect, we replied that midtown Manhattan doesn't have the 6000-square foot lot size requirements that Central Austin has, and that his question was irrelevant as long as that distinction applies.  That being said, having had a few hours to digest Rep. Bailes question, if we were offered the deal of leaving the Muny tract alone in exchange for upzoning the surrounding neighborhood...we would take it.

Making matters worse: Lyle Larson (who's carrying the bill in the House), used his closing argument as an opportunity to throw Wallace Hall under the bus.  Rather than addressing the issues, Larson reminded the committee of his role in the Wallace Hall impeachment and reminded the room "I have been sued by a UT regent."  If there weren't already enough reasons to shoot this bill down on the merits, hearing the bill sponsor cite his role in that disgraceful fiasco makes us oppose it all the more.

Bottom Line: We hope this bill dies....

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Note: During the Senate hearing, we criticized the Texas Exes for their lack of attention to this issue; giving credit where it's due, they had a significant presence at today's hearing.

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#TXLEGE SB 822: A TERRIBLE Bill for Austin's Housing Costs....

"Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?"
Matthew 20:15

[Author's Note: The Statesman has a good write up this morning's hearing here.]

There's a bill we've been keeping an eye on for several weeks about which we have yet to comment, but considering that it got a hearing this morning, now is a good time.

SB 822 is a weird attempt to get the legislature involved in a West Austin land dispute that's been simmering for at least a decade.  To be honest, we have no idea why the legislature chose to but in this session.  While we have no specific knowledge, considering the neighborhood involved, we suspect there's a lobbyist who's also a participant in the land dispute.

At the heart of the issue is a tract of land (sidenote: What else is new in Texas?!?) on which is currently situated the Lions Golf Course.  The golf course is operated by the city of Austin while the land is owned by the University of Texas system.  That being said, given its proximity to downtown and various other popular locations, this tract is a prime candidate for residential construction in a city that needs to build 150,000 units of new housing over the next decade.

Because it's such a prime location for housing construction, from time to time UT has looked into selling (or long term ground leasing) the property to various developers...which of course doesn't sit well with the anti-growthers at the Austin Neighborhoods Council.  This has led to the disingenuous and tiresome "Save Muny" campaign in West Austin.  With UT's lease with the city set to expire in 2019, ANC is clearly trying to pre-empt a public discussion of the property.

Which brings us to Estes' bill.  SB 822 would transfer the property from the UT system (who might eventually allow hosing (in our city that needs to build 150,000 new units)) to the state of Texas' Parks and Wildlife department.  The P&W department could be expected to keep the property as a municipally run golf course for the indefinite future.

And, of course, keeping the property as a municipally run golf course will permanently remove almost a 150 acres of prime real estate from the housing stock.

Bottom Line: For this website to come down on the same side as UT on an issue before the legislature should tell you a lot about the unusual nature of this situation, but leaving the status quo in place is the best possible outcome for everyone except a few vocal anti-growthers in West Austin.

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Note I: We didn't want to dilute the arguments on the merits above with an ideological tangent, but it's also worth pointing out that no city has any business running any golf course at any time.

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Note II: Where the heck are the Texas Exes on this one?!?  For as much as they loved to play the "the legislature shouldn't micromanage universities" card  during discussions of any attempts to hold Bill Powers accountable for all his misdeeds over the years, this actual attempt to micromanage the university's real estate doesn't seem to elicit a peep.  They're the one group that could probably kill this thing if they got involved...so we hope they do.

One week before Wallace Hall at SCOTX, Texas Exes shill for Bill Powers (again)....

"As a dog returns to his own vomit,
So a fool repeats his folly."
Proverbs 26:11

Remember, about six weeks ago, when we mentioned that a former board member of the UT law school foundation (and Joe Straus crony) had brought the court stenographer from the Texas Exes into run his dying legacy publication?!?  You'll never guess whom the afore mentioned court stenographer chose to honor as a "Distinguished Alumni" on the way out of the Texas Exes.  Actually...you'll totally guess because it's such a typical move:

William Powers, Jr.
Life Member
Former President, University of Texas at Austin, Joseph D. Jamail Centennial Chair in Law, and University Distinguished Teaching Professor

“I wasn’t born in Texas. But as they say, I got here as soon as I could: in August of 1977, almost 40 years ago. It was the day Elvis died. And I still vividly remember the very first student I met on our campus. It was Pete Geren, who we’re honoring tonight. And within just a couple of weeks I realized just what a special place this is. It’s one of the world’s—yes, one of the world’s—great teaching universities. We teach the next generation of leaders on a campus that helps discover planets that are orbiting distant stars, that helps us understand dark matter and yes, even helps us understand even better what Shakespeare is about. Every single one of us needs to work every day to keep it that way and to support our great university.”

It's also pretty funny that they honored Charlie Geren's brother (along with a certain incumbent Governor) in the same piece.

Finally, we have to add that the photography in the piece is terrible; good grief, you'd think they could find a competent photographer in Austin Texas.

Read the whole thing here.

Dying Legacy Publications, Joe Straus cronies, and the UT Politburo....

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

[Author's Note: Learn about Paul Hobby's background here.]

For those who've never heard of it, "Texas Monthly" is a generally uninteresting publication that includes coverage of the Texas Legislature.  They were recently purchased by a Joe Straus crony (who Straus has appointed to the Texas "Ethics" Commission) who had previously served on the Board of Trustees for the UT law school foundation (yes, that UT Law School foundation).  Shortly after the presidential election, their dreadfully boring editor in chief quit under strange circumstances.

They announced the new editor in chief this morning, and you'll never guess who they picked.

Texas Monthly selects new editor, creative chief

Tim Taliaferro, most recently editor of Alcalde magazine and vice president for communications and digital strategy for Texas Exes, has been named the new editor in chief of Texas Monthly magazine, where he once served as an intern.

The magazine also named Scott Brown as chief creative officer, said Paul Hobby, Texas Monthly’s chairman and CEO. Brown was previously president and CEO of the Company and Others, a Houston marking and research firm.

“I am thrilled to announce the appointment of both Tim and Scott,” said Hobby, whose private equity firm, Genesis Park, purchased Texas Monthly earlier this year for $25 million. “I believe they are the perfect individuals to lead our brand forward, particularly in the areas of digital journalism and live events.”

[Author's Note: Emphasis added.]

The "Texas Exes" are the alumni association for UT-Austin.  While most people have only ever heard of them for their game-day football tailgates, the Texas Exes are actually one of the most quietly powerful political organizations in the state.  Suffice to say, they're a mouthpiece for the Politburo.

And Paul Hobby just chose to make the editor of their main publication the new editor in chief of "Texas Monthly."

For more of Tim Taliaferro's priceless history, see here and here.

Bottom Line: Move along, no good ol' boy network to see here....

Texas Exes' latest gambit to brainwash Senators....

"He who walks with integrity walks securely,
But he who perverts his ways will become known."
Proverbs 10:9

[Author's Note: Our commentary is in red.]

LOL, from yesterday's Daily Texan:

Longhorn Advocates, a mentorship program through Student Government and Texas Exes, is urging students from all over the state to apply to represent the University in legislative work. 

[So they don't even come up with a cover story, they're just 'representing the University.']

The program connects students with alumni to try and resolve University conflicts, sometimes by changing University policies and procedures. Members are also connected with Texas senators from their hometown districts and partake in projects and events like the Texas Tribune Festival. Applications for the Longhorn Advocates program close tonight. 

[Notice, post Houston expansion and tuition hike, that they're targeting Senators not House members.]

Ashley Alcantara, Plan II and government senior and one of the organizers for the program, said no background in government or public policy is necessary. 

[Because who needs someone who understands how the legislature actually works when you can fill young skulls full of mush full of UT Politburo propaganda?!?]

“The biggest thing is just bringing your experience of the University to the table and just talking about it,” Alcantara said. 

[Filibuster...ALL THE THINGS!!!]

Alcantara said she hopes students from all 31 districts in Texas join the program in order to show the government how serious students are about how their university functions. 

[We're gonna put a mole in every. single. Senate. office!!!] 

[On a more serious note, this is actually an insidious plan to brainwash individual Senators.]

“We just wanted to show [alumni and legislators] that Longhorns are all over the state and that UT issues are really important to constituents in all of these districts,” Alcantara said. 

[Because UT politburo propaganda was totally a winning issue for Governor Kay Bailout Hutchinson and Attorney General Dan Branch...oh, wait.]

Mentees get free passes to the Texas Tribune Festival, a three-day event from Sept. 23–25 where they can meet with politicians and hear speakers examine social and political issues. 

[We totally want to LOL about the Trib being in on this, but they just comped our own Tribfest admission this afternoon...soo, glass houses, stones.]

“I think it’s a really good idea to get them exposed to state politics,” Alcantara said.

Last year, mentees Carolyn Soucie and Emily Burns researched on-campus sexual assault with their alumni mentor Tom Taylor and Texas State Sen. Don Huffines’ staff. Burns, a psychology junior, said she enjoyed the program because it made her more knowledgeable about how the University works with the government. 

[So that's why Huffines voted for Abbott's UT Regents.]

“I really learned a lot about the University bureaucracy and how UT interacts with Texas legislation,” Burns said. “We had this awesome privilege to work with Texas Exes and the University administration to promote UT’s legislative goals.” Both Soucie and Burns also looked into the University’s programs to see what else could be done to improve how the University handles sexual assault. Soucie found the University provides adequate help for its victims, but fails to publicize such information to the student body in a simple way. 

[More accurate statement: We had this awesome privilege to serve as useful idiots for cost explosion and left wing bias in higher education!!!]

“It seems like UT does have a good process of handling complaints made by sexual assault victims,” said Soucie, a Plan II and biochemistry junior. “I think the issue that was brought up a lot throughout this whole process was that the information isn’t really out there as well as it could be.”

Read the whole thing here.

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A couple thoughts:

1) This is brilliant in a diabolical way; the fact that they have the audacity to try a stunt like this illustrates why UT is such an entrenched force in the legislature.

2) That being said, any Republican in the Texas Senate who accepts allows a corrupt, liberal, organization like the Texas Exes to place an intern in their office is either foolish or willfully blind.

Mark Pulliam extracts APOLOGY from TEXAS EXES

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
Galatians 6:9

Quite the CAVE:

STATEMENT ON JUSTICE SCALIA COMMENTS

STATEMENT ON OUR RESPONSE TO JUSTICE SCALIA'S COMMENTS DURING ORAL ARGUMENTS IN FISHER V. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

As an alumni organization, we represent viewpoints as rich and diverse as the University of Texas student body. In all of our communications, we strive to build bridges, create understanding, and spark thoughtful, respectful dialogue amongst our alumni. Unfortunately, this past week, while seeking to inform alumni on Fisher v. University of Texas, we fell short of that goal.

While the Texas Exes have taken no position as to the merits of that case, our intention when tweeting about Justice Scalia’s comments was to support our alumni, many of whom felt insulted by his line of inquiry during oral arguments. In our eagerness to defend our alumni, we deviated from our own standards when engaging in often heated debate and overstepped our bounds, and for that we apologize.

African American and other students of diverse backgrounds do succeed at UT-Austin, and the legions of alumni who stepped up to highlight their academic success are testament to that. We will, of course, continue to unapologetically defend the quality of all our alumni and our university 'til Gabriel blows his horn!

Antonio Garza, President

December 16, 2015

A high-ranking University source with whom we corresponded this morning called the Texas Exes statement "passive-aggressive"; we agree, but the fact that they felt compelled to address the controversy in the first place speaks volumes.

As Pulliam elaborated at National Review Online:

Tepid? Yes. Inadequate? Undoubtedly. (Taliaferro should have been fired.) But gratifying? Certainly. Even the most politically correct, Left-leaning alumni organizations can be confronted and forced to back down if only vocal members speak up.

Bottom Line: We can only imagine the backlash the Texas Exes received to lead them to eat crow.  That the apology wasn't sincere is irrelevant.  There is a pungent odor of blood in the water....