News broke Tuesday afternoon of plans by an activist group to release videos this summer of state lawmakers that purportedly capture “a whole variety of bad behavior” but that lawmakers said was harassment.
Charlie Geren
Posted inState Government
Two Powerful Incumbents Already Have 2016 Foes
State Reps. Charlie Geren and Jim Keffer, once among the vanguard as Republicans took control of the House, already have challengers who will try to outflank them to the right in 2016.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: April 23, 2015
The word of the day on Wednesday was tension, which infected the traditional weekly breakfast work meeting held by the state’s top three leaders and later manifested itself on the House floor as members selected their budget negotiators.
Posted inState Government
Committee Waters Down Ethics Reform Legislation
Proposed ethics reform legislation underwent a significant overhaul Thursday in a Senate committee. Gone is the plan to take state pensions from lawbreaking lawmakers. Also out: a proposal to stop legislators from cashing in on a piece of the public debt business.
Posted in
Politics
Sid Miller’s Style Sparks Blowback at the Capitol
Recent episodes highlight a rapidly deteriorating relationship between the cowboy hat-wearing agriculture commissioner and the Legislature that once counted Sid Miller as one of its own.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: March 13, 2015
Steelworkers and Shell Oil have struck a tentative agreement on a labor deal that would end a strike at 15 refineries and chemical plants, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday night.
Posted inState Government
Geren on “Former Fetus” Signs: House “Not a College Dormitory”
State Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, on Thursday explained why he removed signs at the Capitol identifying some legislators as former fetuses.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: March 12, 2015
One lawmaker’s protest against Planned Parenthood supporters at the Capitol on Wednesday had turned into something else later in the day: a threat that the gloves were about to come off in his fight against the House leadership.
Posted in
Politics
“Former Fetus” Signs Cause Stir at Capitol
Signs identifying some state lawmakers as former fetuses are generating controversy at the Capitol.
Posted inState Government
High Hopes for Ethics Reform, but It’s Early
Gov. Greg Abbott’s full-throated embrace of ethics reform, a rarity under the Capitol dome, is breathing new life into the issue of years of failed efforts. But changing the status quo remains very much a work in progress.
