Conventions: What Are They Good For?
Former RPT Chairman Tom Pauken says changes to the nominating process might make convention duty more desirable.
Full StoryFormer RPT Chairman Tom Pauken says changes to the nominating process might make convention duty more desirable.
Full StoryAlso, maneuverings begin for a West Texas Senate seat, and a lesson in how to lose gracefully.
Full StoryThis week in Newsreel: Sunset Commission has suggestions for the Department of State Health Services, the state GOP convention kicks off in Fort Worth and firearms are not allowed inside.
Full StoryFor this week’s nonscientific survey of insiders in politics and government, we asked about the Republican Party of Texas convention.
Full StoryKey meetings and events for the coming week.
Full StoryThe idea that we could have three Hispanic county judges in these counties is almost unthinkable. It's almost like having a black president. This has been a little gringo bastion for all these years.
Former Jeff Davis County judge Bob Dillard on potentially historic November elections in the West Texas counties of Brewster, Presidio and Jeff Davis, which all have a history of discrimination toward Hispanics
I believe in my heart that Ted Cruz is a Ronald Reagan reincarnation that we need to right the course of the nation.
George Peterson, an attendee at last weekend's Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. Cruz won the event's presidential straw poll, besting, among others, Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
All delegates, I urge you to open-carry the whole time. I will be a delegate with my AK 47. Thomas Jefferson would be proud.
Open Carry Tarrant County coordinator Kory Watkins, urging on Facebook that people take their guns to this week's Texas GOP convention in Fort Worth
Using guns merely to draw attention to yourself in public not only defies common sense, it shows a lack of consideration and manners. That's not the Texas way. And that's certainly not the NRA way.
From a post on the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action website. The ILA's chief later clarified that the statement was the personal opinion of a staffer.
Republicans began gathering in Fort Worth for their state convention. Aside from the open-carry activists outside, the initial focus fell on the work of the platform committee, which was reworking language from two years ago on immigration reform. In addition, a plank on homosexuality was being reworked after a gay GOP group, the Log Cabin Republicans, was denied a booth at the convention.
Attorney General Greg Abbott asked the presiding judge in the challenge to the state's school finance system to recuse himself. At question, according to Abbott, are emails sent by District Judge John Dietz to attorneys working for the school districts challenging the state. Dietz declined the request and now the matter will go to San Antonio Judge David Peeples.
President Barack Obama issued an order to dramatically slash carbon dioxide emissions from the country's power plants. The action is expected to have a large impact in Texas because the state is the nation's largest emitter of the greenhouse gas.
A recommendation from the state's Sunset Advisory Commission to shutter six of Texas' 13 state-supported living centers has reopened a giant divide in the disability community that had seemed to narrow in recent years. Singled out for closure was the Austin center, which could shutter by August 2017.
Harvey Aikman of Mission was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to the Texas Board of Physical Therapy Examiners for a term to expire Jan. 1, 2015.
Henry Porretto of Galveston was reappointed by Perry to the Board of Pilot Commissioners for Galveston County Ports for a term to expire Feb. 1, 2018.
Perry appointed four members — Jesse Barba of McAllen, Luis De La Garza of Laredo, Laurie Fontana of Houston and Brian Padden of Austin — to the Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board for terms to expire Jan. 31, 2016.
Ann Bishop will step down as executive director of the Employees Retirement System of Texas after the 2015 legislative session, finishing what will be a more than decade-long tenure at the helm of the agency. A national search will be conducted to find a replacement who will serve alongside Bishop during next session to ease the transition in leadership.
Deaths: Grace Garcia, executive director of Annie's List, in a car crash in Waxahachie. She previously served as a senior advisor in the U.S. State Department under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She also worked as a scheduler in the Clinton White House.