By Mark Lavergne on
11/25/2009 2:47 PM
On behalf of the staff here at LSR, we would like to wish our readers a Happy Thanksgiving. (Please note that we will not be publishing an issue this week, Nov. 27. Our next issue will be Dec. 4.)
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By Mark Lavergne on
11/25/2009 2:31 PM
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts "Welcomes the Competition" from Democrats in the race for re-election, and an El Paso House member has chosen not to run for the Senate.
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By Mark Lavergne on
11/24/2009 5:23 PM
Today one candidate for Texas Governor unveiled an education plan, another unveiled an education funding plan, and the actual Governor told the Commissioner of Education not to change Texas' education standards in hopes of attaining the federal government's stimulus carrot on an stick.
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By Mark Lavergne on
11/23/2009 10:32 AM
Looks like Thomas Schieffer, Democratic candidate for Texas Governor, will announce this afternoon at 3 p.m. at the Speaker's Committee Room at the Capitol that he is bowing out of the governor's race.
Now the Houston Chronicle reports that former Houston Mayor Bill White is, according to a reliable source, jumping into the Governor's race.
If true, whoever wins the Republican primary will have a serious general election fight on his or her hands. White could win big margins in Harris County, especially after the role he played in Hurrican Ike recovery.
If not, then the Democratic field of candidates would boast Hank Gilbert as arguably its least eccentric, most mainstream candidate.
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By Mark Lavergne on
11/19/2009 5:16 PM
Moments ago House Speaker Joe Straus released interim charges. The full set can be accessed here.
We will have more comments on the charges in tomorrow's weekly issue of the Lone Star Report.
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By Mark Lavergne on
11/17/2009 2:13 PM
The Sunset Advisory Commission met for the first time today. Members approved without objection the review schedule and the proposed meeting schedule. They also made some changes to rules and across the board recommendations.
Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa (D-McAllen) raised the question of whether going forward the Sunset Commission would limit its review of agencies to the structure and process under which they operate. Chairman Glenn Hegar (R-Katy) said that sunset members need to talk to their colleagues in both chambers to try to keep sunset bills focused on the sunset recommendations, rather than allowing the bills to become, as happened in several cases last session, "Christmas Trees."
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By Mark Lavergne on
11/16/2009 4:15 PM
Rep. Brian McCall (R-Plano) confirmed to LSR moments ago that he will not run for re-election to HD 66 in 2010. He has represented the district since 1991.
"I've always wanted to leave on kind of a high note, and it's been a while since I've had a high note. Gotta take 'em when you can," he said.
He said he doesn't know where he is going from here, but is "excited about new opportunities." He observed that he ran a business for 20 years and, by the time he closes out his term, he will have represented his district for 20 years, indicating that the next chapter for him may last another even two decades.
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By Mark Lavergne on
11/16/2009 1:09 PM
The old saying goes that sometimes politics makes strange bedfellows. The flipside, that politics can sometimes make strange enemies, is also true.
Consider the Austin American Statesman's editorial page, which has published an oped from Fred Hartman, vice chairman at Hartman Newspapers and chairman of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association's Legislative Advisory Committee. Hartman slams the Texas Municipal League, a taxpayer-funded lobby group with a long track record of pushing legislation at the Texas Capitol to increase taxes, most recently the Texas Local Option Transportation Act, which would have allowed municipalities to place local gas tax increases on local ballots to fund local transportation projects including rail and other mass transit.
Hartman's beef with TML? The group recently passed a resolution from the City of Sugar Land to push for a change in law next session that would take the teeth out of (i.e. create "less restrictive penalties" for violating) the Texas Open Meetings Act, which requires that government agencies meet in a forum viewable by the general public, to avoid backroom deals -- the kinds of deals that can result in things like tax increases.
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By Mark Lavergne on
11/10/2009 3:13 PM
The Texas Forensic Science Commission Chairman John Bradley, whose day job is District Attorney of Williamson County, came before Chairman John Whitmire's Senate Criminal Justice Committee this morning to talk about where the commission, created by 2005 legislation authored by Whitmire(D-Houston) goes from here generally and in regards to the case involving Cameron Todd Willingham.
A few quick highlights:
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By Mark Lavergne on
11/10/2009 9:56 AM
Here's a hint: He's wearing all black and a cowboy hat, and holding a cigar.
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