Enlarge Illustration by Todd Wiseman

In the days leading up to the release of the July semiannual campaign finance reports, the three leaders of state government — Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus — reported robust fundraising activity in those few days after the close of the legislative session in which they were allowed to again ask for donations.

All spent money in 2014 on various races, and to varying degrees, all spent time after locking up election rebuilding their campaign war chests.

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The most notable example is Abbott, whose campaign account skyrocketed from an $18 million balance at the beginning of 2013 to a stunning $35.6 million in the summer of 2014 in advance of the general election. He spent a big chunk of that balance on assuring his election as governor. By the beginning of 2015, he had $12.5 million in his account. By the end of June, that had climbed to $17.8 million, or in nearly the same spot he was two and a half years ago.

Patrick followed a somewhat similar trajectory, although he burned through his cash earlier in 2014 in dethroning David Dewhurst in the party primaries. Since the midpoint of that year, his campaign account balance has surged from a little less than $1 million to nearly $5 million.

Straus, meanwhile, has built more his war chest more steadily, beginning at $5.3 million in January 2013 and closing at $8.1 million this month.

Enlarge Marjorie Kamys Cotera

Sen. Troy Fraser R-Horseshoe Bay on floor April 23

Several names have popped up this month to replace retiring state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay. Already in the race to succeed Fraser was Dawn Buckingham, an ophthalmologist, whose campaign finance report showed she loaned herself $500,000 for the race and has raised about $48,000.

But joining her in the race this month was Reed Williams, who served on the San Antonio City Council and worked in the oil industry before retiring in Burnet County to grow grapes with his wife.
 
A new name that popped up recently is CJ Grisham, the founder of Open Carry Texas, who has made a Facebook campaign page, filed a treasurer’s announcement in the race and has a temporary website asking for donations.

But Grisham noted in a Facebook post on Monday that his moves are a way of seeing how much support he’d have and helping him decide on whether he’ll formally announce.

“This is the first step towards a formal candidacy, but makes my intent clear and legally allows me to start raising money,” Grisham wrote on Facebook. “I have not made a ‘formal’ announcement that I am a candidate yet. The purpose of this page is to stir things up, get people talking and gauge support, and hopefully get attendance when I’m ready to announce sometime next month.”
 
Also in the race is Jon Cobb, whose website asking for donations says “he looks forward to meeting the people of Senate District 24 as he travels from Abilene to Kerrville and everywhere in between.” 

“As an entrepreneur and small business owner who helps build homes throughoutthe greater Austin area, Jon believes in the unflagging optimism and fiercely independent nature of our state and our people,” the website says.
 
And yet another candidate is retired radiologist Brent Mayes of Fredericksburg, whose Facebook candidate page notes he’s “a conservative running for Senate District 24.”

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And in some 2016 news, GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum released on Tuesday the names of the members of his national finance committee. On that list were more than a few Dallas-area donors.
 
Here they are:

Jeff and Donna Blackard of McKinney
Tait Cruse of Dallas
Richard Ellis of Dallas
Ed Grand Lienard of Heath
Lee Roy Mitchell of Dallas
Mehrdad Mohyedi of Carrollton
Paul and Judy Pogue of McKinney
Keresa and JR Richardson of McKinney
Steve Solomon of Dallas
Steve and Amye Wilson of Addison
 
Santorum has kept his Texas ties active since his previous presidential campaign in 2012. He is CEO of a Christian film company based in Dallas, and a political nonprofit he founded has been active in last year’s statewide elections.

Enlarge Norihiro Kataoka

The JR Central N700 Series, a Japanese Shinkansen bullet train developed by two railway companies in Japan.

The company looking to build a high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston has a new CEO — and $75 million for the effort, all from Texas investors.
 
The new CEO of Texas Central Partners, Tim Keith, is from Dallas and was previously at RREEF/Deutsche Bank Infrastructure Investments, where he spent 10 years and was global chief executive officer.
 
“This project is another step in the long history of Texas leading the way nationally,” Keith said in a statement. “I am excited to work with this group of visionary Texan investors who are putting their money and support behind the project.”
 
Among those investors — who combined for $75 million in its first development funding round — are John Kleinheinz, developer Jack Matthews and Drayton McLane Jr., the former Houston Astros owner. The money "will be used to support ongoing development activities," the company said.
 
And the company released a series of statements from people backing the effort, including the mayors of Houston, Dallas, Arlington and Fort Worth, as well as state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, and Democratic state Reps. Sylvester Turner, Yvonne Davis and Rafael Anchia.
 
Also on that list was state Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas, who said the fundraising numbers show that “Texans are willing and eager to invest in a private sector, free market solution to moving Texans across our great state.”

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Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is awarding more than $100,000 to Real County to help it deal with the lingering effects of Texas’ recent drought.
 
The funds will go toward improvements to the southwest Texas county’s water infrastructure, as a local well’s effectiveness decreased because of the drought. The money, which comes from a disaster relief fund block grant, will go toward connecting that well to another water system and ensuring it won’t run out of water in the future.

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The Senate Health and Human Services Committee has posted a hearing notice for July 29 “to examine the business practices and regulatory structure of Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas, and to investigate whether state or federal laws are being broken by Planned Parenthood and/or its affiliates in Texas in regards to the donation and/or sale of fetal tissue.”

Committee chairman Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, has also released a letter he sent this week to a couple of Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas asking for their attendance at the hearing.

Disclosure: John Kleinheinz is a major donor to The Texas Tribune. Planned Parenthood was a corporate sponsor of the Tribune in 2011. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.

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For this week’s nonscientific survey of insiders in government and politics, we asked about who would benefit from a flameout by Donald Trump, the state of relations between blacks and the police in Texas and the fate of Confederate statues around Austin.

On Thursday, Trump was on the Texas-Mexico border with his campaign apparently having survived the candidate's self-inflicted verbal wounds — from his assessment of the moral character of those crossing the border into the United States to his assessment of the war hero status of U.S. Sen. John McCain.

Our first question: Who in the GOP presidential field would benefit the most should Trump be forced to shelve his presidential ambitions? About 40 percent of the insiders believed Ted Cruz would be the big winner, with another 24 percent citing Jeb Bush as the big beneficiary.

Another 15 percent named Rick Perry, and 6 percent identified Rand Paul as the big winner.

On the next question, 47 percent of the insiders did not think that relations between blacks and the police have worsened from 10 years ago. Another third said that relations have deteriorated.

On questions about the fate of Confederate statues around town, the insiders split.

For the statues that sit on the UT-Austin campus, 73 percent thought that they would be gone sometime within the next two years. For those statues on the Capitol grounds, 74 percent didn't think they would be removed in the foreseeable future.

We collected comments along the way, and a full set of those is attached. Here’s a sampling:

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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Who would benefit the most from a Donald Trump flame-out?

• "Trump was stealing Cruz's oxygen; it will return soon."

• "Bush wins each time one of the flakier biscuits burns up. Trump won't be the last."

• "Trump hurts all Republicans but it is probably best that he remain in the GOP Primary until he completely marginalizes himself and makes the odds of his mounting a serious challenge as an independent less of a threat. At this point, as an independent candidate, he could hand the presidency to Hillary and the Democrats in the same way that Ross Perot handed it to her husband."

• "You forgot the option for 'The entire GOP.'"

• "Perry is rising well on this opportunity."

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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Are relations between blacks and the police in Texas worse than 10 years ago?

• "The relationship is the same. Because society wasn't as connected to each other 10 years ago as they are today, the general public was not aware of the hostility that existed between both groups. Today, the general public gets to witness any injustice in real time and they do not need the news to report it."

• "You are kidding, right. Of course it is better. Do you know the percentage of urban police officers in Texas who are African American. The institution has changed but there are still problems."

• "With the broadcast and print media showcasing this issue, it's hard to get a good read, but there are there issues, certainly, to the extent it is played up, probably not. The vast majority of these encounters rest on poor police training, poor screening of potential police candidates and lack of accountability among and between the rank and file police themselves."

• "They have been bad, also for others of color, predominantly Latinos in Texas, and much is now in the news due to national attention."

• "It's not just 'blacks and police,' there's a mortifying trend in police misbehavior against civilians, but unfortunately it does seem to single out Black Americans more than the rest of society."

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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How long until those Confederate statues are off the UT-Austin campus?

• "It all depends on what type of pressure is placed by the student body and media. The Confederate story was so last week and those are the times we live in."

• "Statues less provocative than a flag and many of those Confederate officers fought in other engagements on behalf of the United States."

• "They'll wait until they've talked it to death, then will move them quietly to some garage where no one will see them for a while. Then they'll sell them, and watch for the fun to begin."

• "Some statutes of Rebs who had no connection to Texas will go (looking at you, Jeff Davis!), but those who were Texans will remain. What, are they going to tear down the Littlefield House and plow under the Littlefield Fountain? Not hardly."

• "UT will do what is done at the Nation's Capitol, move the statutes inside a building and place them as museum pieces."

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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How long until those Confederate statues are off the Capitol grounds?

• "There are a lot of House members who would lose their primary if they vote on removing those statutes off the Capitol grounds."

• "Does this include the official Confederate flag, one of the Six Flags of Texas?"

• "Big stupid fight in the next legislative session. Predict they will plead budget constraints and agree to leave the statues and re-write the plaques. Will take a year to come up with the right wording. SBOE will get involved..."

• "There might be some re-branding or added context given them, but they aren't going anywhere."

• "Never is a very long time, but at least not during this decade."

Our thanks to this week's participants: Gene Acuna, Cathie Adams, Brandon Aghamalian, Brandon Alderete, Clyde Alexander, George Allen, Jay Arnold, Charles Bailey, Walt Baum, Amy Beneski, Andrew Biar, Tom Blanton, Chris Britton, Raif Calvert, Lydia Camarillo, Snapper Carr, Elna Christopher, Kevin Cooper, Randy Cubriel, Denise Davis, Nora Del Bosque, Glenn Deshields, Tom Duffy, David Dunn, Richard Dyer, Jack Erskine, Jon Fisher, Tom Forbes, Dominic Giarratani, Bruce Gibson, Eric Glenn, Daniel Gonzalez, Jim Grace, John Greytok, Jack Gullahorn, Clint Hackney, Wayne Hamilton, Bill Hammond, Steve Holzheauser, Deborah Ingersoll, Mark Jones, Lisa Kaufman, Robert Kepple, Richard Khouri, Tom Kleinworth, Nick Lampson, Pete Laney, James LeBas, Luke Legate, Myra Leo, Ruben Longoria, Homero Lucero, Vilma Luna, Matt Mackowiak, Steve Minick, Bee Moorhead, Mike Moses, Keir Murray, Nelson Nease, Keats Norfleet, Nef Partida, Gardner Pate, Jerod Patterson, Robert Peeler, Jerry Philips, Tom Phillips, Wayne Pierce, Allen Place, Gary Polland, Jay Pritchard, Ted Melina Raab, Karen Reagan, Patrick Reinhart, David Reynolds, Carl Richie, A.J. Rodriguez, Kim Ross, Grant Ruckel, Tyler Ruud, Andy Sansom, Jim Sartwelle, Barbara Schlief, Stan Schlueter, Robert Scott, Ben Sebree, Jason Skaggs, Ed Small, Martha Smiley, Larry Soward, Leonard Spearman, Dennis Speight, Bill Stevens, Colin Strother, Tom Suehs, Sherry Sylvester, Jay Thompson, Trey Trainor, Vicki Truitt, Corbin Van Arsdale, Ware Wendell, David White, Darren Whitehurst, Christopher Williston, Angelo Zottarelli.

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

Monday, July 27

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 25th Anniversary Celebration Ceremony; 4900 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin (9-11 a.m.)
  

Tuesday, July 28

• Litigating Liberty: Lessons Learned from the Front Lines, hosted by Texas Public Policy Foundation; 900 Congress Ave. #400, Austin (3-5 p.m.)
  

Thursday, July 30

• State Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, fundraising lunch; 110 E. Ninth St., Austin (11 a.m.-12 p.m.)
• Texas Legislative Study Group fundraising lunch; 110 E. Ninth St., Austin (12-1 p.m.)

More details on the arrest and death of Sandra Bland were released, among them records that showed Bland told jailers she had previously attempted suicide. Bland, who was arrested under a charge of assaulting an officer during a traffic stop, was found hanged in her Waller County jail cell on July 13.

Donald Trump visited Laredo on Thursday, a day after former Gov. Rick Perry doubled down on his criticisms of his fellow GOP presidential candidate. At a speech in Washington on Wednesday, Perry called Trump “a cancer on conservatism” and a “toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday asked a federal district judge to dismiss a lawsuit that claims a state agency violated the U.S. Constitution by denying birth certificates to U.S.-citizen children of immigrant parents. In a separate case, Paxton has quietly conceded a case against the federal government over medical leave benefits for certain same-sex couples.

The Legislative Budget Board wrote in a memo that some of Gov. Greg Abbott’s line-item vetoes in the state budget might be invalid. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who co-chairs the LBB, said he’s backing the governor in the budget fight and said his office didn’t start the veto inquiry, despite a spokesman for House Speaker Joe Straus saying both offices asked for a memo on the issue.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent running for president as a Democrat, rallied thousands of Texans on Sunday in Dallas and Houston as part of his 50-state strategy, and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican, said in Houston that Republicans won’t win in 2016 by “playing nice with the Clintons.”

State Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, announced Tuesday that he’s running for re-election. A former school superintendent, he is in his first term representing House District 1, which encompasses Bowie, Franklin, Lamar and Red River counties.

State Rep. Mike Schofield, R-Katy, announced he’s running for a second term in office. He was elected in 2014 to represent HD-132, located in western Harris County.

Businessman Bill King has won the endorsement of the Kingwood TEA Party in his bid for Houston mayor.

Cliff Walker has been named program director for candidate recruitment and campaign services for the Texas Democratic Party. Walker held positions with the Back to Basics PAC and the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee before most recently serving as the political director for Battleground Texas.

The TDP has also brought Zach Brigham on board as the party's finance director. He served previously as finance director for the Harris County Democratic Party before serving as comptroller candidate Mike Collier's campaign manager.

Tim Keith of Dallas has been named CEO of Texas Central Partners, the privately funded high-speed rail project looking to build a line between Dallas and Houston. Keith was previously global CEO at RREEF/Deutsche Bank Infrastructure Investments.

Forrest Wilder announced in a column on Wednesday that he's been named the new editor of the Texas Observer.