State Government

Rick Perry won his first attempt at statewide office in 1990, in part because Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower didn’t answer commercials being run by the Republican upstart. 

If you’ve been watching closely as the Legislature ran aground, you’ve been spun enough. We’ll make our autopsy report brief. The highlights:

House Speaker Tom Craddick is running radio ads in “selected markets across the state” — Houston, Dallas and San Antonio are on the list — defending the House’s actions on school finance, attacking the Senate, and suggesting the Texas Supreme Court will have the final say on what lawmakers should do.  

The 1962 New York Mets ended their season —  their first — with 40 wins and 120 losses. They were at the bottom of the National League, 60.5 games out of first place. They were historically inept, inspiring Jimmy Breslin to write a book titled with a quote from the manager, Casey Stengel: “Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?” 

Having a governor directly involved has made some difference in school finance, but the two halves of the Legislature are still locked up over some of the issues that doomed earlier compromises. They are closer than they were, particularly after the Senate fell on its sword on business taxes, but there’s plenty left to fight over. 

A handy July 4 tip: You shouldn’t leave chocolate cream pies or potato salad or tax bills sitting out. They have notoriously short shelf lives and what’s good at first sours quickly in open air.

Skip the bit where your plane crashes into the ocean in the middle of a rainy night and strands you on the desert island. Ignore the time you’re out there living on sushi and coconuts. Think, instead, about coming home.

Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who bills herself as “One tough grandma,” is expected to announce her candidacy for governor in Austin this Saturday (June 18).

Looking for a newspaper clip on the Internet the other day, we stumbled on what appeared to be the story we sought. It was about Gov. Rick Perry telling a Tyler audience about the prospects for a special session of the Legislature. But instead of what we expected — an account of Perry’s efforts to negotiate a deal the House and Senate could swallow — it said Perry had given up trying to solve school finance until legislative leaders had a viable plan.

On the biggest issue of the legislative session, lawmakers and their leaders went home empty-handed.