The Week in the Rearview Mirror

Blogs were buzzing Monday with postings concerning Speaker Tom Craddick’s call for all members to be present for a vote to suspend the rules against consideration of any legislation not declared an emergency in the first sixty days of the legislative session. By Tuesday afternoon, they were going through the results to figure out what happened. Off the Kuff posts that the normally pro forma vote will go against the speaker and will be a bipartisan vote to boot. Waco Rep. Jim Dunnam says there that there's no reason to give Craddick a blank check to ram through bad legislation. It takes a four-fifths vote to suspend the rules and it has been done every legislative session but one. It would take 31 members voting against suspending the rules to block Craddick.

Former state Rep. Glen Maxey entered the blog foray on the suspension vote question on the Burnt Orange Report. Maxey lays out the strategy behind this play against the leadership by beginning the process of clogging the Calendar now.

[Editor's note: The resolution failed on a 108-34 vote, short of the 120 votes it needed to pass. The Ayes came from folks in both parties; only one Republican — Robert Talton of Pasadena — voted against it. Craddick didn't vote.]

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Tollway Throw-down

Dallasblog posted an interview with Sen. John Corona, R-Dallas, in what might be a preview of a major confrontation between Corona and Governor Rick Perry over the Trans-Texas Corridor and other transportation issues. Corona, who has already filed over 20 bills dealing with transportation, has called for the replacement of Perry pal and crony Ric Williamson at the Texas Department of Transportation. Corona is planning to hold hearings on a wide range of transportation issues including the Trans-Texas corridor because he feels citizens never really got their say on the multi-billion dollar project and pulls no punches in the interview with William Lutz.

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Committee Conspiracies

House Committee assignments were predictably food for fodder in the blogosphere much of last week and over the weekend. Speculating who would be punished and who would be rewarded dominated the blogs until Speaker Craddick announced his appointments late Friday. Then it was time to tally up the winners and losers.

Perhaps the most scathing analysis comes from Capitol Annex where the Craddick appointments to the Elections Committee are labeled a complete and total unmitigated disaster. Vince Leibowitz highlighted the Elections Committee as the most egregious example, starting with Chairman Leo Berman, R-Tyler, who he calls a radical-right-wing lightning rod who has no place chairing this committee. Ahem.

Billy Clyde’s Political Hot Tub considers fellow blogger and Chairman of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee Aaron Peña, among the appointment winners.

Burnt Orange Report posted the rewards given to the Craddick Fifteen, the fifteen House Democrats who were loyal to Speaker Craddick all the way through the attempted coup in the Texas House.

Paul Burka of Texas Monthly deconstructed the committee assignments, separating the fairness with which members were treated in their committee assignments from the bigger picture of the House as a whole. He concludes Craddick has effectively shut out the Ds from shaping major legislation because he packed what Burka considers the more important committees with fellow Republicans while throwing minor committee crumbs to Democrats. According to Burka, things get worse when you consider the Democrats who did manage to get on major committees are not exactly players or heavyweights.

In The Pink Texas takes a shot at incoming House Appropriations Committee Chairman Warren Chisum. ITPT claims Chisum will redirect funding of education and health care to faith-based reprogramming of homosexuals initiative.

Sore loser of the week award has to go to Rep. Robert Talton of Houston. He did not get his preferred committee assignments and was appointed to the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. According to the Houston Chronicle Blog, Talton didn’t want it, and isn’t going, saying he won’t attend a committee meeting. Talton will read a statement from the back microphone this week.

Before the assignments were official, Billy Clyde's Hot Tub had the unofficial posting. Someone out there is thinking way too hard about this stuff. But he came back with a pretty good analysis of the real deal.

This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Kevin Kennedy of Austin. We cherry-pick the state's political blogs each week, looking for news, info, gossip, and new jokes. The opinions here belong (mostly) to the bloggers, and we're including their links so you can hunt them down if you wish. Our blogroll — the list of Texas blogs we watch — is on our links page, and if you know of a Texas political blog that ought to be on it, just shoot us a note. Please send comments, suggestions, gripes or retorts to Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey.

Bloggers have been feasting on Gov. Rick Perry since the Guv issued his executive order on the HPV vaccine, announced he is exploring the sale of the state lottery with the funds going to health care and such, and made his budget recommendations for the next biennium. It culminated with his State of the State speech before a joint session of the Legislature. Perry got equal time from the wing nuts on both sides and a good dose right down the middle.

Off the Kuff comments that no matter how the HPV vaccine issue plays out, it will be fun watching Republicans taking each other on. Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, posted his response to Perry's HPV order on the right of center blog Lone Star Times. Patrick questions both the research and effectiveness of the vaccine while also taking the Governor to task for circumventing the legislative process. Meanwhile, freshman Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, has introduced legislation to counteract Perry's executive order.

The Burka Blog points out that long-time Perry friend and ally Mike Toomey, who now lobbies for Merck, the pharmaceutical giant that produces the HPV vaccine, is just too close to the action to not have a hand in the Governor's decision.

In the Pink Texas checked in with the Perry Alliance Blog to check their pulse on the Governor's vaccine order. One posting there compared the thing to something Hitler might do.

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Too Early to Tell?

Texas Monthly Columnist and blogger Paul Burka may be going out on a limb but he thinks this might already be the weirdest legislative session ever. Burka cites the appearance of Ted Nugent at the inaugural ball, floor fights over what are usually routine matters and the usual number of bad ideas and legislation floating around under the dome to support his position. He may be right but old-timers and veteran wags can probably come up with even stranger events that take place for 140 days every other year. Hopefully, they will be posting their accounts on Burka's blog.

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Lotto Luck

Burnt Orange Report has a posting by John McClelland about Perry testing the waters to sell the state lottery. Perry claims he wants to be ready in case there is a stampede of other states trying to unload their numbers games. McClelland says there may be some merit to what Perry is trying to do. The price tag for the Texas State Lottery is estimated by some to be $14 billion dollars and the Texas State Lottery, he says, has operated under a cloud of corruption and incompetence almost from its inception.

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Budget Bombs

Grits for Breakfast takes Perry to task for his proposed criminal justice budget funding. GFB is critical of an 11% decrease in funding for the Texas Commission on Jail Standards among other budgetary items.

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Bloggers Inside The Rail

Add Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, to the list of lawmaker bloggers. Deshotel joins his desk mate — Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg — and Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, blogging from the Capitol. Transportation issues are among the District 22 lawmaker's first postings on his Capitol Weekly blog.

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SOTS: A Lot of Beef

Most veteran Capitol observers and players can't remember a State of the State address that had as much substance as Perry's Tuesday address to the Legislature. Usually consisting of affirmations about the strong economy and a wish list, Perry's SOTS had a lot of bidness for lawmakers to mull over. Bloggers had a great time posting their critiques.

Capitol Annex did a quick autopsy on Perry's speech in a point-by-point posting.

OTK posted the Democratic response to the Governor's SOTS from Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston (along with live-blogging of his own).

Pink Dome minced no words in its posting about the Governor's speech. Their take: He is a horrible public speaker and they think he may be watching too much Joel Osteen, who heads a mega-church in Houston.

Billy Clyde's Political Hot Tub Party left the hard work of analyzing the substance of the State of the State to other bloggers. Billy Clyde concentrated on style, asking the question: "Is Rick Perry cooler than Billy Clyde?" You will have to judge for yourself.

Opponents of a plan to fast track eighteen coal-fired power plants met Sunday on the south lawn of the Capitol to demand a stop to the madness as they see it. As a plane towing a banner with a coal-dust smeared face of the opposition poster child droned lazily above, over a thousand protestors were on the ground. Their momentum carried on into Monday as representatives of the anti group were highly visible in the halls of the Capitol. Burnt Orange Report posts the protestors will be in support of legislation filed by Rep. Doc Anderson, R-Waco, that would put a 180-dayhold on the plants.

Also from the BOR, joining all the assorted greenies and the natural gas industry against Gov. Rick Perry's fast track coal fired energy plan are the Baptists. Capitol Annex follows the lobby trail and reports TXU has almost every suit in Austin signed up for the Battle Royale.

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Judge Blasts Lege

Outspoken Judge Ron Chapman of Dallas says the Lege is at fault when it comes to jail overcrowding and the mass release of many non-violent offenders. Grits for Breakfast has a post from the Judge, who contends legislators are responsible for creating swelling jail populations because they put large surcharges on DWIs and traffic violations many offenders simply cannot afford to pay.

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Edwards Blog Plop

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards is probably just the first candidate, not the last, to step into blog plop this cycle. Edwards isn't cool with the language the two paid staff bloggers used about organized religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular. One of the two young women staffers is from Austin. Edwards made the chastisement public, but defended his staff at the same time. As for the blogging staff, Amanda Marcotte says she was being satirical and not trying to offend anyone.

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HPV Culture

This just gets better with more analysis. William Lutz posts in Dallas Blog that the Republicans were caught off-guard by Perry's Executive Order requiring Texas girls to get vaccinated against HPV before going into the sixth grade.

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Pop the Cap

The Burka Blog contemplates on why the Texas Senate wants you the people to bust the constitutional spending cap instead of rolling up their sleeves and doing the dirty work themselves.

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You Just Thought He Was Gone

Both the Burka Blog and Dallas Blog have posts about former Sen. Phil Gramm lurking behind the scenes while Guv Perry is shopping the state numbers game around. Seems Gramm is one of the heavyweights of UBS Investment Bank which has been advising Perry on privatizing the lotto. Dallas Blog recalls some other schemes of the former lawmaker and wonders if Gramm would be so hot to unload the troubled state lottery if he was still serving in public office. All that came before The Dallas Morning Newsreported that the governor's son, Griffin Perry, is now a UBS employee.

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Guess Who's Paying for Dinner

No one is really going to be shocked — shocked! — to discover that members of the Legislature don't pick up their own tabs at Austin fine dining establishments during their 140-day stay. Still, it is fun to see who is going where with who as the Burnt Orange Report posts.

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Survey Says

Veteran reporter Gary Sharrer has a Houston Chronicle post about a Texas State Teachers Association poll that says Texans really don't think the Legislature did all that good a job with school finance. It's just a good first step, says TSTA.

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Good Bills, Bad Bills

Vince Leibowitz sends up his list of the week's good and bad bills. On top of his good list, Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, who also makes the bad list. Harper-Brown's HB 1109 is an arts funding measure, allowing large metropolitan areas to use part of the bed tax for the arts. Her HB 1108 makes his bad list. It is an anti-immigrant, pro English speaking only bill according to his post on BOR.

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Anna Nicole Smith: RIP (Sorta Of)

Two takes on the passing of the blonde bombshell. Billy Clyde's Political Hot Tub remembers the waitress from Mexia with a sentimental fondness. However, the recently departed Anna Nicole doesn't fare as well in In The Pink Texas where they are apparently not ready to make nice.

The House passed HB 2 that would extend the property tax cuts to the elderly and disabled. Burkablog posts some of the front and back mike patter while everyone awaited the gavel to start the House Public Health Committee testimony on the HPV vaccine. Capitol Annex posted on the aftermath of the long floor debate and the passage of HB 2.

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Lots More Lotto

Another of Gov. Rick Perry's pet projects, the proposed sale of the State Lottery, might be tied to expanded gambling in Texas, according to a post on Eyes on Williamson County.

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The Yesterday Fund

A warning and a recommendation from Comptroller Susan Combs that the Texas Tomorrow Fund be closed permanently (it's been "temporarily" closed since 2003) got a lot of blog space over the past few days. Houtopia posted a good history of the pre-paid tuition program, and says the Lege is to blame for the Tomorrow Fund demise because it deregulated college tuition. Likewise, Burnt Orange Report has a post from Glenn Smith that also takes the Legislature to task for its short sightedness. Smith, a veteran reporter and political operative, says it is in effect, a tax on the middle-class.

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The Chisum Trail and the Talton Gang

Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, provided comic relief after his distribution of a memo against the teaching of evolution that also contains anti-Semitic overtones. Off the Kuff's post on the incident claims they know Chisum isn't anti-semitic. So, they wonder, is he just a Panhandle wacko? In the Pink Texas also found Chisum an easy mark, posting that the Pampa lawmaker would have found the memo linked to a website that promotes Jewish conspiracies. Burkablog's Paul Burka also found Chisum's machinations on the House floor a little strange as Chisum wanted to hold a committee hearing in the Agriculture Museum room of the Dome. Closer to home, the Panhandle Truth Squad posts Chisum is gaining some national blog attention. Meanwhile, back at the pass, Rep. Robert Talton, R-Pasadena, is rumored to be eyeing a run at the congressional seat U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson won back in November. Talton is in a political mating dance with controversial Harris County Tax Assessor Collector Paul Bentencourt to see who is going to get in the fray first, according to Half Empty.

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Small Town Papers on the Block

Dallasblog takes a look at another media takeover... this time several rural newspapers that have been highly critical of Gov. Perry's pet project, the Trans-Texas Corridor, are being gobbled up. Former Dallas Morning News editor Carolyn Barta points out that the company doing the buying, Macquarie Media Group Ltd, is partnering with Cintra on a multi-billion dollar toll project in Indiana and could well partner with the group in Texas. A protest rally against the Trans-Texas Corridor is planned for March 2 at the Capitol.

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Way Out West: El Paso the Next Big Easy Flood Victim?

Burnt Orange Report has a post on the Rio Grande levee system in El Paso. Local newspaper reports say the system is in terrible condition and residents may have to purchase federal flood insurance.

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Safety First

Rep. Jim Dunham, D-Waco, was defended from a blast from the Republican Party of Texas by a right-wing blog, the Texas Safety Forum. Seems the Texas GOP claims Dunham is not a very effective voice for his constituents because he has not filed enough bills thus far into the 80th Legislative Session.

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The Good and the Bad Ol' Bills of the Week

Vince Leibowitz weighs in with his version of good and bad bills of the week posted on the Burnt Orange Report. Starting with the bad is HB 1367 by Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Dallas, which would allow state institutions of higher education to use the state's criminal records database in determining admission. On the good side, HB 1141 by Rep. Buddy West, R-Odessa, strikes Leibowitcz as one for the good side of the ledger. The proposed legislation would give some protection to chained-up dogs.

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Early St. Patrick's Day

Seems like Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, is going to be at least one of the session's media hooks if other outlets are as impressed with the rookie lawmaker as the Burkablog seems to be.

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Demise of a Campaign Blogger

Last week we reported about the perils of a presidential campaign hiring bloggers, in this case, John Edwards. Amanda Marcotte of Austin was the blogger whose past postings on the Catholic Church and religion in general gave much cause for concern to the North Carolina Democrat’s camp. Marcotte resigned last Monday and her resignation was seemingly, gladly accepted. She tells her own story in a posting on Salon.

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The Guv's Guru

Billy Clyde's Political Hot Tub, always out to help Gov. Perry find his way though the swamp, posts some advice for the Guv from Haskell.

Things with three initials are dominating things in the Pink Building and in Kevin Kennedy's scan of the state's political blogs this week — thinks like TXU, TYC, TTC, and etc...

TXU Gets Another Jolt

More bad news for the energy giant in the form of a Public Utility Commission memo picked up by Capitol Annex among other bloggers. The PUC says the utility engaged in some questionable marketing practices during the peak cycles of last summer. All of this while the friendly folks at TXU are spending millions on television commercials that remind us of warm and fuzzy a company they're running.

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Trans-Texas Trauma for Perry

Is the Trans-Texas Corridor a done deal, as many pols and pundits claim, or is it in deep trouble? Eye on Williamson County thinks things might be headed in that direction as at least 25 lawmakers have signed on for a two-year moratorium on new toll roads and other related transportation favorites of Perry... Burka Blog speculates that former Texas Department of Transportation official and now Sen. Robert Nichols carries a lot of weight with his colleagues in the Texas Senate who are getting on the band wagon to shut down the corridor.

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Cronies on TYC Board

The Guv's appointments to the Texas Youth Commission are now coming under scrutiny as posts on Grits for Breakfast and Capitol Annex look at Perry cronies who have been put on the TYC Board in past few years. Some are heavy financial hitters in the GOP. Burnt Orange Report has an op-ed by Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, who says the failure and lack of accountability at TYC, is a far-reaching indictment of the failure state government, particularly the Legislature.

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A Speaker Scorned

Is House Speaker Tom Craddick carrying such a grudge against Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie that he would snub the good folks who traveled to the Capitol from Pitt's District for Ellis County Day? Maybe. Even though he already stripped Pitts from his chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee, Craddick declined to meet with the Ellis County delegation, according to a post on the Burka Blog from one of those who made the trip to Austin for the event.

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60 Days Down, Eleven Weeks to Go

Day 60 of the 80th Legislature marked the last day to file bills under the dome and Burka Blog takes the time to make another case for this being the Strangest Session Ever while Billy Clyde's Political Hot Tub managed to find the lighter side in his reflections on the milestone day at the Capitol.

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Rove Rearing?

Did White House confidant and GOP takeover architect Karl Rove have a dirty hand in the firing of the U.S. Attorney in New Mexico? Of course, according to a report in the McClatchy Newspapers posted in Off the Kuff. OTK says it all goes back to redistricting.

Daily Kaos picks up on the same theme and says Rove saw the firings of eight U.S. Attorneys as pay back to party and ideological loyalists.

U. S. Attorney General and former Presidential Counselor Alberto Gonzalez is not escaping the glare of the spotlight in the federal attorney firings. The Truth Serum is just one blog site calling for the AG's resignation.

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Blog Bragging Rights

Bloggers don't waste time taking credit when they scoop traditional media outlets or lead the charge with a story that has legs. Liberal Oasis is doing just that with Scooter Libby'sconviction for lying to a grand jury. LO is crowing bloggers kept the story alive, resulting in the indictment and conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff.

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Where's the Love?

Even with his movie star looks and deep pockets, Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, D-North Carolina, doesn't do much for In the Pink Texas. ITPT was in the audience when Edwards taped the public affairs show Texas Monthly Talks with magazine editor Evan Smith. In fact, ITPT gives higher marks to another pol with good hair, Gov. Rick Perry, for his performance on the same venue.

Few issues have become as emotionally or politically charged over the past few years as toll roads. As a Texas Transportation Commissioner for eight years and current state senator, I have a well-documented history of supporting toll roads to ensure our transportation infrastructure meets the demands of our growing population. However, supporting toll roads does not equate to supporting a plan that prohibits competition or agreeing to policies that enrich a few shareholders at the expense of the taxpayer.

The Good

Gov. Perry, the Texas Transportation Commission and the Legislature exhibited bold leadership and vision by embracing the toll road concept. Utilizing toll roads enables the state to build more roads faster without raising fuel or other taxes. Few Texans realize that current state fuel taxes do not cover the cost of maintaining current roads, much less to build new roads.

The Bad

As is usually the case, the devil is in the details. As the Transportation Commission began negotiating contracts with private companies to build and operate new toll roads, they hit several bumps. Most companies require at least a 50-year contract to operate and collect tolls. So the decisions we make today affect taxpayers for the next half-century. In the event the state needs to "buy back" the road during the 50-year period, it is imperative for us to have a clear buy-back provision to protect taxpayers.

The private companies prefer to put off addressing the buy-back issue until another day. This means the private companies would be free to hire experts to determine what they think the road is worth. It does not take a genius to figure out the companies will calculate the price in a way that enriches shareholders and leaves taxpayers holding the bag. Therefore, before any contract is signed, the state should negotiate an agreed-upon formula.

The Ugly

Imagine if you could make a deal with the state to build a store in your hometown, use the state's power of eminent domain to take the land needed for your store and then get the state to agree to refrain from building another store in your hometown for 50 years. Now imagine your hometown was projected to have double-digit population growth. While it may be hard to fault any business for pursuing such a deal, the taxpayers would hold elected officials accountable.

When the Transportation Commission announced the proposed Corridor along I-35 in 2004, both Cintra-Zachary, the company chosen to build the system, and the Transportation Commission publicly stated there would be no "non-compete" clause in the contract.

Fast-forward a few years later and reality is like a cold glass of water in the face. With few exceptions, the Cintra contract contains a non-compete clause stating no alternative roads can be built within miles of either side of the toll road for 50 years without paying penalties. It has been indicated that many similar contracts are currently being negotiated giving private companies exclusive rights to many-mile wide areas of land in Texas' highest growth areas.

Put simply, the state is enacting a policy that forces Texans to drive on a toll road with very few alternatives. In high-growth areas, the private toll operator will be free to increase tolls as demand for the road increases. New road construction by the state would be penalized, thereby setting up a classic monopoly, agreed to by the state, forcing Texans to pay ever-increasing tolls. There should be incentives to relieve congestion, not penalties.

The Solution

Texas' transportation policy is too important to determine without open debate. Moving fast to meet today's demand does not merit shortsighted decisions.

I filed Senate Bill 1267 to place a two-year moratorium on private equity toll projects. Toll roads can be built in the interim by the local authority or TXDOT; however, the government may not contract with a private company to operate toll roads until the Legislature ensures adequate protections are in place. Surely we can agree that signing away our ability to expand our transportation system for 50 years in the name of expediency is not a wise decision.

Sen. Robert Nichols represents Texas Senate District 3. He is a retired engineer and former Texas Transportation Commissioner.

Texas Weekly's Soapbox is a venue for opinions, spins, alternate takes, and other interesting stuff sent in by readers and others. We moderate submissions to keep crazy people out, and anonymous commentary is ineligible. Readers can respond (through the moderator) to things posted here. Got something to submit? We're interested in everything from full-blown opinion pieces to short bits to observations or tidbits that have escaped us and the mass media. One rule: Your name goes on your words. Call or send an email: Ross Ramsey, Editor, Texas Weekly, 512/288-6598, ramsey@texasweekly.com.

Kevin Kennedy peers at the state's political blogs and finds mounting woes at TYC, temporarily chopped CHIPs, tolls tolling and for whom (Sorry, Mr. Hemingway), and some raving for an unsung hero...

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Surprise! First Lawsuit Filed Over TYC Fiasco

A civil lawsuit — probably be the first of many — has been filed over alleged sexual abuse at a Texas Youth Commission facility. One has to wonder why it took this long. Capitol Annex has a post on the latest developments in the story that just isn’t going away.

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Craddick’s Way

Brock’s boss did not fare as well in another blog. Burnt Orange Report asks if Turner — who supported Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, in the race for the big gavel — got what deserves when he carried his Children’s Health Insurance Program bill to the floor only to be shot down by a point of order sustained by Craddick. That point of order was raised by Rep. Robert Talton, R-Houston, who voted against Craddick in the speaker’s race.

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The Wonderful World of Warren

When you think of a Warren in the same context with sex, Warren Beatty probably comes to mind before Warren Chisum, R-Pampa. But the Panhandle Republican has to have sex on his mind just as much as Hollywood Warren. Take a look at Chisum’s “Healthy Marriage Imitative” as Off the Kuff did in a Monday post.

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Krusee Krash

That zombie you see in the halls under the dome is Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Austin, who has to work overtime keeping the tolls rolling. According to Eye on Williamson County, Krusee is feeling the tilt away from tolls after over 90 of his colleagues have apparently signed on for a two-year hiatus from any more tolls.

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Shape of Things to Come

Burka Blog looks into the future of the 80th Legislature and muses that the emerging theme for the circus is checks and balances (as did we, a couple of weeks earlier). No doubt, many members of the Lege think the Governor has over-stepped his authority... question remains, what are they going to do about it? The conservative bloggers at Lone Star Times seemed to be pleased with the Perry’s dilemma as reported in this post.

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Should He Stay or Should He Go?

The dismissal of a gaggle of U.S. Attorneys and the fallout on Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez continues to be a fertile mine for bloggers on both sides of the issue. Brains and Eggs chimes in with a condemnation of the former Texas Secretary of State and consigliere to George W. Bush. On the other side of water cooler, Beldar Blog posts it is all much ado about not much.

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Primary Moves

Now that California has moved up its Primary Election date to February, can Texas be far behind? Several bills have been filed to move up the Texas primary so the Lone Star state can be a player in presidential politics. But is an early primary just more protection for incumbents. Check in with Billy Clyde’s Political Hot Tub for a little history on the subject and his take on the calendar controversy.

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Cornyn Cornered?

The political vultures are circling over the still very warm body of U.S. Senator John Cornyn, whom some now consider vulnerable and ripe for picking off. Capitol Annex takes a look at possible successors to the San Antonio Republican.

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Gay Roadblock at Baylor

The Soulforce Equality Ride, an organization whose agenda is freedom from religious persecution of gays, lesbians and transgender persons, asked Baylor University for permission to roll their bus on campus and engage in some dialogue. Baylor officials said no and even put out a campus wide e-mail to explain their position. From the right, Right of Texas picked up on the Waco story.

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Kudos For a Super Staffer

Couldn’t agree more with In the Pink Texas and the Austin American-Statesman’s Gardner Selby about longtime Capitol staffer Allison Brock. Brock has been the right hand of Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, for many a session. Brock is hardworking, smart, absolutely honest and even more important for a staffer, doesn’t think she is the other state representative from District whatever. The AAS, followed by an echo at ITPT, heaps praise on Brock for her part in uncovering the abuses at the Texas Youth Commission.

Comptroller Susan Combs lowered her estimate of what the state's new business tax will bring in during the next two years by as much as 15 percent.

The newly pessimistic outlook won't affect the amount of money available to budget-writers right now, however, because of skyrocketing sales tax revenues and better-than-expected revenue from cigarette and other taxes.

But they raise concerns about the second half of the two-year budget being written now, and about what'll happen to the next two year budget lawmakers will write after the new business tax replaces the current franchise tax.

Combs had said — publicly and more than once — that she intended to leave that estimate alone. The new tax — a levy on adjusted gross margins — was cooked up a year ago when lawmakers were digging their way out of the latest school finance judgment against the state. It's intended to raise enough money to cover a 50-cent cut in local school property taxes, shifting some of the costs of public schools from local districts back to the state.

The new business tax will replace the existing corporate franchise tax. When it was created, then-Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn said it would raise about $6.8 billion in 2008-09. She also said it would bring in far less than what will be needed to cover the Legislature's school finance promises.

When Combs took office at the first of the year, she decided to stick with Strayhorn's estimate on the new margins tax. She boosted the estimated revenue from the franchise tax, though, and nobody but budgeteers paid attention: She was shrinking the benefit of the new tax over the old one. Now she's shrinking the difference again. Knocking $500 to $900 million per year off the business tax is a serious change — in the 8 percent to 15 percent range.

Lawmakers built a test into the new tax, asking up to 4,000 businesses that pay the old tax to file a dummy return on the new one, saying what they think they'd remit. The idea was to give the comptroller a benchmark to compare real numbers from the old tax to numbers from the new one. Before the results were in, Combs was throwing ice water on that. She said not all of the taxpayers would play — that's apparently turned out to be true — and she said there was no penalty for filing bogus numbers. In short, she said, the information in the dummy returns wouldn't be reliable enough to justify a change in the estimate.

She's apparently changed her mind.

In a letter to lawmakers, Combs said the agency got responses from 2,500 of the 3,404 business entities they contacted. Those businesses will pay $1.3 billion in franchise tax for 2006, and said they'd have paid $1.9 billion if the new tax had been in place. And Combs notes that she doesn't have reports from a lot of taxpayers who'll be paying a business tax for the first time. In spite of the increases, Combs is pessimistic, leading to speculation that there was something scary in the dummy returns, and something that made them more credible than Combs had anticipated.

But nobody will know for a year. The new tax isn't due for the first time until May 2008, and many of the businesses that will be paying it haven't really tuned in yet to see what they'll owe.

Some quick analysis:

• Lowering the business tax estimate makes it easier to hide blossoming sales tax revenues. House budgeteers are already leaving $4.2 billion of what's available to them out of the budget; the Senate's budget is bigger by about $1 billion, and it's unspent pile is smaller by the same amount. The sales numbers, added to that, could be even more irresistible.

• Lots of the state's businesses want to make "technical adjustments" to the new business tax — they're trying to get out of some or all of what it would make them pay. With Combs portraying the new tax as a sickly baby, it's harder for lawmakers to tamper, especially if it would cut revenue. There are some pending changes that might get a boost, though: A mistake in the tax bill hit some businesses on their net margins instead of their gross margins, and fixing that could bring in, we're told, another $200 million.

• The new tax, levied against activity in the 2007 business year, isn't due until May 2008. Combs has one more official pronouncement on state revenue due between now and then — the one she'll turn in at the end of the legislative session. But a surprise, up or down, next spring could put lawmakers in a box. That's one reason they're leaving so much money unspent (or trying to — it's still early). They're also worried about numbers from Strayhorn and from the Legislative Budget Board last year: both said the tax would produce $23 billion to $25 billion less over five years than legislators agreed to spend on school finance.

Her letter to lawmakers:

Kevin Kennedy mines the blogs and finds, among other things, that Gov. Rick Perry is back from his fact-finding trip to the Middle East.

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Fact is, he found out he is in a deep sand dune back at the Pink Ranch as the Legislature enters the second half of the session. Capitol Annex looks at Perry's woes and what to watch for in the weeks ahead.

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E-MAIL Enemas

The shelf life of e-mails is going to get a lot more attention both nationally and on the state level. Capitol Annex and Off the Kuff take a look (here and here) at the e-mail retention practices at the Governor's Office while on the national level, Karl Rove's latest scam on using a different e-mail account gets some attention from Talking Points.

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Perry's Rapid Response Team

It would be great if the Governor's Office could respond to reporters' questions and state business as fast as they responded to a post on the Burka Blog by veteran reporter Patti Kilday Hart. Hart posted a story about Jay Kimbrough and his nebulous title as the overseer of the Texas Youth Commission. The acerbic Kimbrough was at his most defensive self as he deflected questions from Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso. First the post and then the response from the Guv's spokesperson.

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Some Kudos For Kimbrough

Off the Kuff has not exactly been in Kimbrough's corner since he took over the TYC. But even OTK gives the devil his due in this post.

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The Man Who Would Be King

In what it is touting as an exclusive, Capitol Annex reports that top Perry Aide Alfonso Royal was going to be the head of TYC later this year. The policy consultant reportedly had knowledge of the abuses that had been going on at the agency.

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Anti-Toll Champion Craps Out

The anti-toll roads bunch is wondering what's up with their guy, Sen. John Corona, R-Dallas. Corona has been the most strident and vocal opposition leader of toll roads and a bunch of other transportation issues. After holding a Transportation Committee hearing that he chairs, Corona did an apparent about-face by refusing to let a bill out of committee that has a lot of support to impose a two-year moratorium on toll roads. The Texas Observer wonders who got to him?

The Observer post got a less-than positive response from Eye on Williamson County. In fact, EOWC says parts of it are just plain "silly."

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Let Them Eat Grass

State Comptroller and former Ag Commissioner Susan Combs says fat people are thinning the state coffers. As the Dallasblog reports, Combs says seriously fat people are a serious drain on the economy. It's not clear what exactly Combs proposes to do about it, but she is a part-time rancher and probably has some pasture land to lease for grazing.

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Patrick's Baby Boom

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, knows how to hit all the buttons. His proposal to pay pregnant women $500 not to have an abortion has got the radio talk-show host all the ink and air time he had hoped for. Same goes for the blogosphere. From the right, Lone Star Times comes to Patrick's rescue with an analysis of how main-stream media newspapers covered the story. As should b expected, the other side was not as kind to the freshman senator. Capitol Annex joined several others in dubbing the bill a "baby-selling bill." Pink Dome reminds us why it is a good thing that the Legislature only meets every other year... because of this kind of legislation.

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Cameras Roll On Patrick

Dan Patrick hasn't found a comfortable spot in the club that is the Texas Senate. The maverick Republican has already angered his colleagues for his floor antics and having a film crew following him around doesn't endear him to the other 30 Senators as Off the Kuff reports.

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It's Not for Everybody

THE FOLKS AT THE Abilene Chamber of Commerce won't like this post on Half Empty's recent trip through that lovely West Texas city. Can it be long before the Abilene delegation takes turns on the House and Senate floors to extol the virtues of Abilene?

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Another A-Town... The Place to Meet Men?

While we're on A-towns, can't resist this post on In the Pink Texas about Arlington. According to one national publication, Arlington is the place to meet eligible men. ITPT gives the girls some advice on how to hook up.

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Where Are They Now?

Bill Ratliff may be gone from the Lege but he is still a savvy politico with plenty of insight into Texas politics. Reporter Gary Scharrer posts on Ratliff's recent musing about political power in the Lone Star State.

The Texas Youth Commission, a state agency with the distinction of employing at least 100 felons while overseeing a prison system for the state's youngest criminals, is getting a conservator.

Gov. Rick Perry, who'd been avoiding legislative pressure to put TYC into conservatorship, changed tack and agreed to declare "gross fiscal mismanagement" and appoint a conservator. It'll be Jay Kimbrough, a former Perry aide who's been running the investigation of the scandalized agency. Kimbrough won't be permanent, and Perry hopes to name as his successor someone who'll take over the agency when it's out of conservatorship.

But Kimbrough will likely be in charge while the Legislature is in session.

Perry got something in trade; he had proposed naming a single commissioner to run the agency, instead of the part-time appointed board like the one that was in charge when complaints of sexual abuse of inmates by TYC officials were ignored. Lawmakers initially resisted that, as Perry resisted naming a conservator. An advisory board will still be in the mix, but won't have authority over the commissioner. That's part of SB 103, a remake of the agency authored by Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen.

Omnibus water legislation, including the designation of 19 reservoir sites in Texas, is headed to the House. SB 3 by Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, cleared the Senate on a unanimous vote, though some senators still have some reservations about it. The House already passed Rep. Robert Puente's HB 3, which mirrors certain portions of SB 3 but doesn't include anything about reservoirs.

SB3 provides for mandatory guidelines to be imposed on cities that currently do not have such guidelines. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, added a change to grandfather cities with pre-existing, voluntary water conservation guidelines. The new guidelines won't apply to them.

And Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, reinserted into the bill the Marvin Nichols reservoir in Eltife's district in northeast Texas. Eltife strongly opposed the designation of reservoir sites, especially Marvin Nichols, and especially if there would be no local input in the creation of the reservoirs.

But he added an amendment that brought him on board. Most of the water from Marvin Nichols would go to the neighboring Dallas-Fort Worth area, not to the more rural region that surrounds the reservoir. Eltife's change gives at least 20 percent of the water to the local area and requires the DFW users to pay for the reservoir's construction, operation and maintenance, so long as they use most of the water. Also, each water district will appoint three people to a special study commission to study possible alternatives to the Marvin Nichols site, including raising the level of the existing Lake Wright Patman.

That commission will consider "water royalties" for landowners whose property is flooded when the reservoir is created. The commission's report to the Legislature would be due in December 2010 — in time for the session after next.

Eltife and Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, are still worried about the rights of property owners being impinged upon by the legislation; Averitt has promised more legislation to address those concerns.

At least one more senator — Bob Deuell, R-Greenville — and the Sierra Club are on the same page on the bill: They're for everything but the 19 designated reservoir sites.

—by Patrick Brendel

Here's something: A joint committee hearing featuring nearly 40 experts talking over 11 hours about more than three dozen bills — most of which won't ever come to a vote in the Texas House.

Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, has made it clear that his committee won't hear most of the bills, following counsel from Attorney General Greg Abbott, whose staff told Swinford that immigration falls into federal jurisdiction and is not the responsibility of the state. A plethora of the bills are contrary to the U.S. Constitution or federal law, and Swinford doesn't want a federal case being made out of any bills passed by his committee.

But that's precisely what Wayne Christian, R-Center, wants to do with HB 28, which would deny state services to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants in Texas. That appears to fly in the face of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees birthright citizenship. Christian wants the bill passed, then argued up to the Supreme Court, allowing the justices to rule on how that part of the constitution is interpreted.

"It's intended to be carried and challenged in court," Christian said. "It's not intended for law. I know it's unconstitutional."

But it doesn't look like Chairman Swinford wants to play. He told reporters that he doesn't want his committee putting bills on the floor "that divide the House for no purpose."

Instead, he proposed that committee members draft a House Concurrent Resolution with a list of grievances to be sent to Washington. Swinford compared it to the Declaration of Independence, though an HCR has about the same weight as an angry letter to an opinion page editor.

Swinford did say, however, that he might consider voting for a potentially unconstitutional bill if it was attached as a rider to a larger bill not to be considered by his committee, say, something related to appropriations.

"That's not my committee. I don't care what they do," he said.

On the other hand, bills that probably will pass Swinford's "five-point test" (U.S. Constitution, state Constitution, federal law, state law and court precedents) and will be heard by his committee include legislation designed to deny in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants who graduate from Texas high schools, to require law enforcement to inquire about the citizenship status of people they stop, and to align Texas identification cards with the standards set by the 2005 federal REAL ID act.

The invited witnesses talked to the Border and International Affairs and State Affairs panels. An aide said Swinford's State Affairs panel plans to hear immigration-related bills sometime after the Easter break.

The committee also might consider Gov. Rick Perry's proposed $100 million in funds to beef up border security. Right now that's part of Swinford's HB 13 (and in the budget approved by House Appropriations). However, even that amount of dough might not do much to help out immigration control, if you listen to Rep. Juan Escobar, D-Kingsville. The former border patrol official said, "$102 million is not going to help the matter."

(Editor's note: In a quick measure of House sentiment on immigration issues, Swinford's take was clearly in the majority. A budget amendment by Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving would have denied CHIP benefits to children of legal immigrants who haven't yet been in the U.S. for five years. It fell hard, 136-5.)

—by Patrick Brendel

Ask them in another context and a lot of politicians and their support groups will tell you the election cycle is too long, that shortening it would lessen dependence on money and might even increase voter turnout.

But that's policy. Here's politics: If Texas wants to be a factor in the choosing of presidential candidates, it'll have to move up its primary.

And the House has made the first move, with a committee there approving HB 2017 by Rep. Helen Giddings, D-Dallas, that would move the party primaries from the first Tuesday in March to the first Tuesday in February. Primary runoffs would move up a month, too. Some alternatives would have moved the presidential primaries and left the general primaries in place; this one, endorsed by the state Democratic and Republican parties, moves both.

• While the House Elections Committee was having that bipartisan dance, they also approved two voter ID bills loved by Republicans and loathed by Democrats. The two bills, by Reps. Betty Brown, R-Terrell, and Phil King, R-Weatherford, require voters to present photo identification along with voter registration cards to vote. King's bill adds a requirement for proof of citizenship.

• The "Keep Your Powder Dry" caucus only lasted a week. Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Railroad Commissioner Victor Carrillo started that entirely non-serious enterprise as a shield against pleas to support this candidate or that one for president. Now, though, they're coming out. Patterson says the two are joining folks who are trying to draft former actor and U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tennessee, to run for president. "We lasted a week. There was too much internal tension," Patterson joked. They're not ready to name others who are with them, but Patterson expects more Texas Republicans to surface if the Thompson effort gains steam.

I'm a small businessman who serves in the Texas Legislature. I believe we should run our state in much the same way that I run my business: There should be little waste, lots of accountability, and a focus on maximizing benefit to stakeholders.

Texans today are wasting a lot of money on homeowner's insurance premiums. In spite of major insurance reform passed in 2003, we continue to pay the highest rates in America. In fact, rates in Texas are more than double the national average.

Between January of 2003 and September of 2005, the average Texas homeowner's premium dropped by 4.8% (to $1,228 from $1,290). During that same period, industry loss per policy fell by 68.6% (to $369 from $1,177 per policy). That's unconscionable.

The most current data shows that in 2006, insurance companies in Texas posted average net profits of around 46%. That's an almost unbelievable number. To put it in perspective, Exxon Mobil, after the most profitable year a corporation has ever had in U.S. history, posted a 10.6% net profit margin in 2006.

As a businessman, I believe strongly in a company's right to earn an honest profit. But as a representative of the public, I have a hard time stomaching the 46% that the insurance industry walked away with last year. Tony Soprano would be happy with that kind of deal.

And in true Soprano style, Texans are being made an offer they can't refuse when it comes to purchasing homeowner's insurance. If you want to have a mortgage, you have to have an insurance policy. If I told you that you had to buy a hamburger that you knew I was marking up 46%, you'd tell me to get lost. But when the bank tells you that you have to buy insurance that's marked up 46%, you can only grimace and reach for your checkbook.

The outrageous cost of homeowners insurance in our state can affect our families' pocketbooks as much as the costs of sales tax, property tax, or income tax. It's effectively just another tax. So why isn't more being done about it? Because there's not any public accountability.

Part of the reason why the Texas Legislature passed property tax relief is because it was the right thing to do. That's not the whole story, though. We also found money for tax cuts because we knew that we're accountable to the voters. Sometimes a little extra motivation helps. Accountability is critical.

There's one person that can crack down on the insurance industry's exploitation of Texas consumers — the Texas Insurance Commissioner. But he needs a little extra motivation and some independent authority.

It's time to make the Insurance Commissioner accountable at the ballot box.

Under current law, unfortunately, the Insurance Commissioner is appointed by the Governor and protected by layers of big government bureaucracy. The office is walled off from the 25-million Texans it is actually supposed to serve.

Today, Texas taxpayers are just footing the bill for someone to sit in a government office and look on as they have their pockets picked. That's wasted money.

We can fix this. Elected officials are accountable to the voters who elect them. When Texans can decide for themselves, in an election, who they want overseeing the insurance industry, they'll get the rates they deserve.

Rep. Mark Homer, D-Paris, represents HD-3 in the Texas House. He can be emailed at mark.homer@house.state.tx.us.

The company that manages investments for the Texas Tomorrow Fund says a recent "advisory group" report prepared for Comptroller Susan Combs had some flawed assumptions. And they complain that one of the advisors on that panel works for one of their biggest competitors in the college tuition investment business.

A rep for Boston-based New England Pension Consultants told the TTF board that their return on investments last year was 12 percent and that it was 10.5 percent over the last three years. They assume they'll be able to bring in 8.25 percent per year in investments.

Combs brought in a group of advisors who, for free, did a short and gloomy report on the prepaid tuition program's prospects. The short version: Where the TTF folks estimate a shortfall of $683 million by 2029, the advisory board said that hole could be between $1.7 and $3.3 billion 22 years from now. That shortfall, whatever the amount, is the difference between what the program will pay colleges on behalf of contract holders and the amount it'll generate in investments from those contract proceeds.

Those advisors said, among other things, that the return on investment would probably fall in the 6 percent to 7 percent range over time, partly because the need to pay off maturing tuition contracts will change the investment mix over time. Those advisors "strong recommend" against reopening TTF to new participants, saying the program is structured for financial failure.

In his presentation to the board — related to us by folks who were there — Dick Charlton of NEPC said one of the advisors who put that report together works for Milliman, a company that competes with NEPC for college tuition investment business.

The board hasn't decided whether to reopen the fund. And the Legislature is looking at several bills that would do that, some by redesigning the way TTF would work for future enrollees.

Eight-liners, fines, legal fees, online and on the air...

If a Texas sheriff — or any other law enforcement official — confiscates an illegal gambling machine, what can they do with it? They can sell it, according to Attorney General Greg Abbott, so long as they sell it in a place where gambling is allowed. Cameron County officials wanted to know if they could sell confiscated eight-liners to private investors instead of at public auction. Their theory: They'd get more money and they'd have a better chance of selling to someone who wouldn't turn around and use the machines for illegal gambling. They have to sell through competitive bids or auctions, but they can require the buyers to take the machines elsewhere.

• In a good case of bad timing, Dallas-based TXU now faces proposed fines and forced refunds totaling $210 million from state regulators who say the utility manipulated electric markets to jack up rates. The company disputes that and will go before the Public Utility Commission to make its case. The fines were recommended by the staff at that agency, which said it should refund $70 million to customers and to pay twice that amount in fines.

• The federal judges who decided the Texas congressional redistricting cases say the state should pay part of the attorney fees and costs of three of four groups who sued the state. They'll get a total of $762,768.93 — 25 percent of what they sought — for their partial victories in the case. One group of lawyers seeking fees didn't get anything; the three-judge panel said they dropped their appeals and aren't entitled to fees.

• Add Texas Railroad Commission meetings to the list of things you can watch online. The agency will put its twice-monthly conferences on its website — www.rrc.state.tx.us— live and later, in archived form. There's a private company in there: Texas Admin, which is selling sponsorships to pay for the service, which will be free to the public.

• A group formed to put a leash on immigration reform will run commercials statewide talking about the need for workers in construction, restaurants, hotels, agriculture and other businesses. "Texas Employers for Immigration Reform" wants to stop immigration reform from eating up the labor pool in Texas. They're for border security and a guest worker program, among other things. You can see their commercial and a list of their members online, at www.txeir.org.

• Department of Corrections: We made El Paso Republican Pat Haggerty a Democrat in last week's edition. He's an El Paso Republican, which is different from the regular kind. For that goof, we are sorry, sorry, sorry... and for this one, in which we flubbed an explanation of an impenetrable rule for race track ownership. Try this: You can less than five percent of a bunch of race tracks in Texas, but if you own more than five percent in two tracks, you can't own more than five percent of another one. Whew! We had the gist right, however: The folks who own large chunks of the Sam Houston Park and the Valley Race Park will have to sell their interest in one of those before they can get a Webb County license. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

The House kicked out its budget early Friday morning; the Senate Finance Committee planned to send its version to the printers a few hours later. Put the Senate plan in play the week after the Easter break, and the conference committee that really writes the budget will get started.

Appropriations Chairman Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, revived an old technique, letting members add stuff on the floor that the conferees will prune later on. But some additions will be hard to shake, including a pay raise for teachers and a ban on spending for private school vouchers.

The frame they started with was a $150.1 billion two-year budget with more money for doctors, dentists and other health and welfare providers, for the Children's Health Insurance Program, for homeland security, the Teacher Retirement System, and so on.

The budget replaces some of the health and human service workers who lost their jobs after job cuts in 2003. In fiscal 2002, the state had 9,142 employees in its integrated eligibility programs. That fell steadily, to 5,975 in fiscal 2006. The House's budget would increase the numbers back to 7,500.

Most of the new money in education goes to enrollment growth and to catching up with an old accounting trick, when lawmakers delayed a $1.1 billion payment by one day to make a tight budget balance. Higher education gets 9.2 percent more, or did before the floor debate (new totals aren't available yet). It leaves $4.2 billion available and unspent, and the rules of engagement for the budget kept that money out of reach. The Senate plan, about two weeks behind the House version, spends a little more and saves a little less, but still leaves substantial amounts unspent. Some of the budget wizards think the money will be needed in a couple of years when the property tax cuts the state promised come fully due.

During the budget debate, the House voted overwhelmingly (129-8) for an amendment by Rep. Joe Heflin, D-Crosbyton, that would prevent any of the state's money from being spent on private school vouchers for grades K-12. That could short-circuit legislation by Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, that would allow vouchers for kids in autism programs, and another general voucher bill authored by Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston. Her bill's on the way to the full Senate; his awaits a committee vote.

Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, managed to move $583 million from an incentive pay program for teachers into a straight across-the-board teacher pay raise. That survived two votes: one to kill it and the next to adopt it. If it survives the House-Senate conference committee next month, it would add $800 to $1,000 to the annual pay for educators and some staffers: librarians and nurses and counselors.

House Democrats had more than a dozen amendments designed to raid the governor's economic development cache for CHIP, teacher pay, and a mess of other things. But that money isn't in the general revenue pot, and couldn't be moved, according to House Speaker Tom Craddick. Since the House preceded the budget fight by adopting a special rule limiting changes to the money inside the budget, the ruling killed all of those pre-filed amendments.

After hours and hours of debate that were remarkably well-mannered, legislators did their version of Kumbaya (It goes: You're great. No, YOU're great. And so on.) and voted 113-16 for the spending plan. The Senate's version should be printed in a week-and-a-half, and once it's through committee and the full Senate, the real negotiations can begin.

In This Issue

Record Spending, Record Restraint

The Week in the Rearview Mirror

Political People and their Moves

Quotes of the Week