The Head of the Lower Colorado River Authority is making...HOW MUCH?!?

"There is desirable treasure,
And oil in the dwelling of the wise,
But a foolish man squanders it."
Proverbs 21:20

Apparently, this story is almost a week old, although we just saw it:

The acting head of Texas’ massive health and human services bureaucracy, who is leading a 36,600 employee agency during a global pandemic, is also working a second job as the well-paid general manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority, a quasi-state agency — funded without state tax dollars — that provides water and electricity to more than a million Texans.

And despite temporarily heading one of Texas’ largest and most high-profile agencies, acting Executive Commissioner Phil Wilson is not on state payroll. Instead, he continues to earn $636,694 from the river authority, more than double what the previous health commissioner made.

The Trib article goes on to discuss the appropriateness of Phil Wilson working both positions.  That's certainly a valid question.  It probably isn't appropriate.  But we admit it's a complicated discussion.

Can we take a second, however, to ask why the head of a friggin' river authority is making over $600k in the first place?!?

As a matter of comparison, that's more than any school district superintendent makes. And, to be fair, most of the larger school districts have over 10,000 employees. LCRA, by contrast, has under 2000.

  

Then there's this gem:

Wilson has had a long career in and around state government, at least once making news for out-earning predecessors in the same positions. As executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation, his starting salary was $100,000 more, 50% higher, than the previous head. Wilson was also deputy chief of staff to Gov. Rick Perry, who appointed him secretary of state, and worked as a lobbyist and corporate officer for Irving-based Luminant, an electricity generator.

Because of course he's a former high level Rick Perry staffer.

Cue Sinatra:

Bottom Line: Even by the standards of legal political corruption in the state of Texas, this is still real money.

#atxcouncil: Alter, Pool, and "Defunding the Police"

"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Joshua 24:15

ICYMI:

The Austin Justice Coalition is taking more drastic steps, calling for the Austin City Council to defund the Austin Police Department in favor of resources designed to protect the community.

"In the wake of the senseless murders of Mike Ramos, George Floyd, Brionna Taylor, Tony McDade, and countless others, and the Austin Police Department's escalated violence against the city's grieving community, Austin is in desperate need of courageous leadership," officials wrote in an emailed advisory. "Communities around the world are rising up to call to an end the killing of black people and demand change that lives up the creed:

To that end, Austin Justice Coalition members plan to address council members during their regular meeting scheduled on Thursday: "We are calling on the Austin City Council to become these courageous leaders by pledging to defund the Austin Police Department and invest in the resources that really keep us safe and healthy, especially in black communities, Indigenous communities and communities of color."

There's a lot we could say, but we'll start here: This is an all-around fascinating conundrum for Allison Alter and Leslie Pool.

Both of them are up for re-election this fall.  If they vote yes, they can't win.  Voting no, however, is likely to produce a challenge from the left.  That is likewise a very challenging position to maintain.

It's the political equivalent of Kobayashi Maru.

You're damned if you do.  If you don't, you might not be damned, but you're damn sure going to find yourself in a painful position.  Neither option is good.

FWIW, if we were advising Allison Alter or Leslie Pool, we would advise them to vote no.  You might not win, but you'd live to fight another day.  Voting yes is a guaranteed loss.  Then again, Allison Alter and Leslie Pool don't ask this website for advice very often.

Bottom Line:  Whatever choice they make, it's going to be extremely painful.

They Can't Help Themselves

"For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money,"
Titus 1:7

A couple days ago, the chair of the Bexar county GOP made some Looney Tunes statements about the George Floyd murder.  This was followed shortly thereafter by the discovery that other county chairs had made similar comments.  This was a genuine problem that needs to be addressed.

Indeed, we intended to address that problem today.

Then we saw this:

New: We've found seven more Texas GOP county chairs who have shared anti-Semitic conspiracy theories or racist posts on Facebook. #txlege https://t.co/uIYFn2WIZB

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) June 6, 2020

Looks bad, doesn't it?!?

It does...until you read the article.

 

As it turns out, most of these new allegedly "racist" social media posts are speculating about George Soros' involvement in recent events.  A couple reference 1992's Reginald Denny tragedy.  These posts may or may not be accurate, but they're pretty specious grounds to lobby an accusation of "racism."

Which is a shame, because the original impetus for this story is problematic (highly so).

But nobody's gonna listen anymore.

Bottom Line:  Diluting the point undermines what was originally a valid inquiry.

Backlash to Abbott's so-called "Contact Tracing" Boondoggle is still Growing

Add caption

"David said furthermore, 'As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish.'"
1 Samuel 26:10

Ouch:

HHS Office of the Inspector General
P.O. Box 85200
Austin, Texas 78708

Dear Inspector General Kauffman:

I request of you, in the strongest possible way—and for a multitude of sound reasons—to begin an investigation into the handling of the contact tracing contract process and procedures before the Health and Human Services Commission moves forward with the proposed contact tracing program.

I am requesting the following questions be investigated:

• The efficacy of the selected contractor, MTX Group. 

• The newly discovered, possibly misleading, and undisclosed information of some board members that may have had undue influence on final contract award. 

• There are reports citing its failure to fulfill the terms of previous agreements. How could a company with a questionable performance record have been rigorously vetted in such a short acquisition period? 

• How do we expect a company that has only had a few small, $1 to 2 million contracts to manage a nearly $300 million contract that requires rapid mobilization? 

• What proof is there that a company with only a couple hundred employees, located mostly in India, can recruit, train, and manage over 4,000 tracers to do something that has never been attempted on this scale?

As time is of the essence, I do ask for a speedy resolution and ask that the contract is halted until a deep investigation may be conducted.

Thank you,

Senator Bob Hall

Hoo boy.

If Abbott's smart, he'll cancel the contract as a Friday afternoon document dump later today.

Bottom Line:  This contract has become a political albatross.  It WILL get cancelled.  At this point, the only real question is how much pain Abbott wants to put himself through before he surrenders to the obvious.

Roy makes so-called "Paycheck Protection Program" meaningfully less useless

"He who despises the word will be destroyed,
But he who fears the commandment will be rewarded."
Proverbs 13:13

We just noticed this today, although apparently it happened a week ago:

The U.S. House overwhelmingly passed legislation Thursday to ease rules on small-business owners who are participating in a loan program meant to mitigate the economic complications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new legislation was a bipartisan effort, spearheaded by two freshmen — including U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin. The goal is to give business owners and operates more flexibility in the rules small businesses must follow in order to have their loans forgiven. The bill now moves to the Senate, where Roy has said he expects it will pass. (Update: The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the bill on June 3, and it will head to the President Trump's desk for signature.)

"We want to make sure that money is being targeted and focused in ways that's best for those businesses in order to stay alive," Roy said in an interview last week as he was shepherding the bill through the chamber. "That's the concern, that businesses are unable to get through this and stay alive."

The legislation made significant changes to the Paycheck Protection Program, a fund aimed at keeping afloat small businesses devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. In this program, small-business owners secured loans that will ultimately be forgiven if they play by the law's rules. Roy's bill loosened those rules for small business owners by:

• Allowing recipients to defer payroll taxes. 

• Extending the time in which business owners can use the loans from June 30 until Dec. 31. 

• Reducing the ratio of loan funding that must be allocated to payroll from 75% to 60%. 

• Extending the period in which small-business owners who are not eligible for forgiveness can pay back the loans to five years.

 This is interesting for a few reasons:

1. The so-called "PPP" program was basically useless as originally passed.  Roy's modifications make it less so.  This is welcome news to anyone using it to navigate the government-mandated shutdowns.
   
   
2. The knock people love to make on Chip Roy is that he's more interested in "hollow posturing" than substance.  This development kicks that argument to the curb.  That Roy build overwhelming bipartisan consensus at a time when his party is in the minority is icing on the cake.
   

Bottom Line:  This will probably be the most meaningful accomplishment of this session of Congress; kudos to Chip Roy for making it happen.

#TXLEGE: Paxton sets up lege to do something Amazing (they probably won't)

"Understand, you senseless among the people;
And you fools, when will you be wise?"
Psalm 94:8

Wall St. Journal yesterday:

The Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, plans to release an advisory opinion soon that could help free public employees who are fed up with their union. In 2018 in Janus v. Afscme, the Supreme Court said that union fees couldn’t be deducted from the paycheck of a government worker who didn’t “affirmatively consent.”

The question is what flows from this logic. Last fall Alaska Governor Michael Dunleavy, citing Janus, signed an order to let state workers quit the union anytime, instead of only during 10 enchanted days once each year. Union members also would have to refresh their consent forms periodically. Those changes are on hold pending a legal challenge.

Mr. Paxton’s advisory opinion takes a similar tack. In Texas, it explains, public unions “serve as a middleman” by circulating and then submitting the dues authorizations for state workers: “State agencies appear to have no independent method of confirming that an employee knowingly and voluntarily consented to the payroll deduction without any coercion or improper inducement.”

One solution, the opinion says, would be for the state to take fee authorizations directly from each employee. Mr. Paxton evaluates some suggested waiver verbiage, under which a public worker would certify: “I recognize that I have a First Amendment right to associate, including the right not to associate. . . . I am not compelled to pay a labor organization any money as a condition of employment, and I do not have to sign this consent form.”

Even then, Mr. Paxton says, a waiver can’t be presumed to last forever: “A one-time, perpetual authorization is inconsistent with the Court’s conclusion in Janus that consent must be knowingly and freely given.” The expiration date for such consent is an open question, the opinion says. But if the waivers were made valid for “one year from the time given,” a court would probably agree that’s “sufficiently contemporaneous to be constitutional.”

This sounds AWESOME...unfortunately:

Mr. Paxton’s advisory opinion isn’t binding....The Legislature, which ultimately controls the deduction framework for state and local workers, should heed Mr. Paxton’s call, too, once lawmakers convene in January.

Yeah, that won't happen.

But it's a nice thought.

Bottom Line: Paxtoni's certainly correct on the legal argument, but if the lege had any intention of addressing union dues, they would have done so EONS ago.

#TXLEGE: Abbott facing first Sustained Revolt Re: "Contact Tracing" Boondoggle

"David said furthermore, 'As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish.' "
1 Samuel 26:10

Tony Tinderholt:

I would like to make one final point which concerns contract tracing. The MTX contract must end promptly. It is a gross invasion of personal liberty and privacy. I also have serious concerns it violates HIPPA and other medical privacy laws. Why is Texas spending nearly $300 million of taxpayer money on tracking Texans for two years over this? Though it may be federally funded, every dollar spent by local, state, or the federal government either comes from current taxpayers or the children or grandchildren of taxpayers through debt service. Therefore, we could have forgone the federal funds, saved taxpayer dollars, and not conducted privacy-infringing tracing.

[Note: While the scope of this blog post is limited to the so-called "contact tracing" boondoggle, Tinderholt's full letter is brutal.]

Bob Hall:

“Contact tracing is technically wrong, as it may be an effective tool to trace slow moving deadly viruses such as Ebola or Tuberculosis, but not for a fast-moving virus with a low death rate that is primarily spread by asymptomatic people.

“Contact tracing, for COVID-19, is a colossal waste of money which could be better spent on resources to protect the elderly and immune-compromised populations that are the most affected. Contact tracing will shred our constitutional rights to privacy.

“Texas must stop contact tracing and change course by adopting new policies consistent with the facts as we now know them...."

Matt Krause: 

James White:

State Reps @RepMattKrause and @James_E_White have called for termination of @MTX_Inc’s $295m contract for contact tracing. Anyone else out there doing same? My DMs are open https://t.co/K1mzSZto2r

— Jay Root (@byjayroot) June 1, 2020

It's not a full statement, but this retweet from Donna Howard's certainly suggests discomfort with the contract.

All of which is really, really, interesting.

Obviously, we've been around the block several times.  We know that the legislature often talks a big game during the interim, then fails to follow through once they get the chance.  Still, this is not a good place for a Governor to be heading into the most difficult session in awhile.

If Abbott's smart, he'll cancel the contract (and fire Mike Toomey).  Whether or not he is smart remains to be seen.  That being said, it wouldn't surprise us to see that announcement as a Friday afternoon document dump this week or next.

Bottom Line: The long term fallout remains to be seen, but the bloom is certainly off the rose in a way it hasn't been previously.