State Government

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.

Until this is over, it’ll be impossible to say whether legislative leaders sent their tax and education bills to conference committees or to bomb squads.

The Texas Senate dropped its state property tax, overhauled its overhaul of business taxes, and approved a school finance bill more in line with what the Texas House approved earlier this year. Big differences remain to be worked out in that package, and also in companion legislation that includes some school finance and some new education law. But the Legislature is closer to a deal on school finance now than it was a day, a week, or a year ago. Upgrade the condition of the patient from impossible to merely improbable. That’s an improvement, and previous legislatures have overcome bigger differences.

Officeholders who weren’t in the Pink Building in 1997 are finding out now what George W. Bush found out then: Even when everything appears to be lined up just right, it’s almost impossible to pass a tax bill.