The Texas Legislature is back for a politically interesting and potentially fractious session, but the folks directly involved in the 77th session began with a focus on other things.
Posted in
Health care
While You Were Out
Things do pile up when you’re away from your desk for a holiday. All that happened during our 17th annual year-end break was the swearing in of a new president and of a new governor of Texas, the election and swearing in of a new lieutenant governor*, a major shakeup (and 24 hours later, an amendment to the shakeup) of Senate committees, and the release of U.S. Census numbers that give Texas two more seats in Congress after the 2002 elections. Oh, yeah, there’s a new estimate on how much money will be available for the next two-year budget. And a mess of people changed jobs.
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Health care
Like Pouring Syrup on an Anthill
Wow! Live weather metaphors! Just when the television folk ran out of descriptions for the presidential freeze-frame, it got really cold in Austin. It looked possible that it would drizzle and that the drizzle would freeze on the streets. It was dark and stormy and gray. People came to work late. Then the sun broke through, Al Gore resigned, George W. Bush accepted, and Republicans all over the Capital City started smiling again.
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Health care
After Florida and Before Redistricting: Moola
Texas budgeteers are poking around in the seat cushions for $700 million in loose change to try to avoid a politically hazardous vote on spending during the first few weeks of the legislative session.
Posted inState Government
October in December
Not knowing who will be governor is a relatively small problem for state government. Planning can proceed and most of the governor’s power during a legislative session is loaded onto the back end anyhow, when vetoes can be delivered after the Legislature is out of time.
Posted inState Government
Too Much Sunshine Gives You Sunburn
Thanks to the Sunshine State, Texas might have to wait for the Electoral College – or a concession speech – to find out who gets which Important Office in the Pink Building next year.
Posted inState Government
Waiting Out the Florida Hostage Crisis
The occupants of the domed Pink Building on the hill in downtown Austin were supposed to be out of the business of election politics and into the business of government during the week after the election. They were supposed to know whether the big shots should switch offices or whether the Senate should shut down the mostly underground 18-month-old race for lieutenant governor.
Posted inState Government
A Truly Fantastic Week for Political Junkies
Okay, okay, so we failed to predict that the Presidency of the United States would be decided by a smaller margin than most races for the Texas House of Representatives. Whodathunkit? The initial Florida margin of 1,784 votes would make for a nail-biter in a major county commissioner’s race.
Posted inState Government
Excess Stomach Acid
Got political heartburn? It’s because the dining has been so rich around here for two years. Though it was never much of a race in Texas, the state has been ground zero for the GOP half of the presidential race for two years. Texas politicos have never been particularly bashful, or even polite, about trying to win promotion to higher offices, but George W. Bush’s run for the White House has opened a line of speculation that would make Jim Mattox blush.
Posted inState Government
Fighting Over Steering Wheels, Part II
Turns out the Republicans aren’t the only folks fighting at the dinner table in Senate District 3. The Democrats are at it, too. The general consultants and media folks for David Fisher, the Silsbee attorney trying to wrest that seat from the Republicans, bailed with just a few weeks to go, and Fisher had to come back and hire someone to take over media buys for the rest of the race.
