Vol 31, Issue 46 Print Issue

Quotes of the Week

If you are philosophically a center-right donor, I think you have an interest in clearing the field. I think that’s important because there is clearly going to be a competition of philosophies for who is going to be the presidential nominee.

Virginia GOP fundraiser Bobbie Kilberg on the push to anoint a single establishment-backed presidential candidate

You would be hard pressed to find any invisible primary going back decades that was this fluid. This is going to be chaotic and cluttered for some time.

Former Mitt Romney adviser Dan Senor on the unsettled state of the GOP 2016 presidential field

I think what needed to be done was done. I think we were perfectly justified in doing it. And I'd do it again in a minute.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, defending the CIA's brutal methods of extracting information from detainees during the Bush administration after the release of a Senate Intelligence report detailing the techniques

We don’t grapple with that here.

Gov. Rick Perry, telling a Washington Post reporter that Texas does not have a problem with income inequality

Running for the presidency's not an IQ test. It is a test of an individual's resolve. It's a test of an individual's philosophy. It's a test of an individual's life's experiences.

Perry in an interview with NBC News on what running for president is and is not

The Week in the Rearview Mirror

After minimal discussion, a panel of lawmakers on Thursday set a $7 billion minimum balance for the Rainy Day Fund. The action facilitated a $1.7 billion appropriation for roads funding and also helps establish parameters for budget writers next session. 

The Sunset Advisory Commission on Wednesday recommended that lawmakers consolidate the state's five health services agencies into a single entity.

State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, filed legislation this week that would cap college tuition and tie future growth to the rate of inflation, a clear rebuff of tuition deregulation enacted by GOP lawmakers in the early part of last decade.

State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, won a five-way race on Saturday to replace Comptroller-elect Glenn Hegar in the Texas Senate. Next up: a special election to fill the vacancy in the House caused by her departure. Austin County Judge Carolyn Bilski has already said she plans to run for the seat.

In his Meet the Press debut, Gov.-elect Greg Abbott declined to state a preference among the emerging field of Republican candidates who would compete for the 2016 presidential nomination.

Political People and their Moves

Outgoing state Comptroller Susan Combs is joining the board of directors for the CATCH Global Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health of children.

Porter Wilson has been chosen to replace Ann S. Bishop as executive director of the Employees Retirement System of Texas. Wilson is currently associate vice chancellor for governmental relations at Texas Tech University after having served 18 years as chief of staff for state Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock. A date for Bishop's departure has not yet been determined.

San Antonio Express-News business editor Greg Jefferson has stepped down to become the communications director for the mayoral campaign of state Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio.

Royce Poinsett of Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP has joined the firm's Austin-based government affairs practice. A former advisor to Gov. Rick Perry and House Speaker Tom Craddick, Poinsett came to his current employer from Baker Botts LLP.

Christine Mojezati took over as district director for state Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, last month. She most recently was in Colorado, working on Cory Gardner's U.S. Senate campaign.