We just received a news release from Austin businessman Glenn Bass who announced he is running for the House District 48 seat in the Republican primary. We post his release here. The seat is currently held by Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) who is seeking re-election.

As LSR readers know, Republican Party of Texas Chairman Tina Benkiser resigned at Saturday’s State Republican Executive Committee meeting. LSR’s William Lutz was the only reporter present at the meeting. Lutz recorded Benkiser’s speech and we post the digital audio file here.

Yesterday, a commentary from me aired on WFAA television’s “Inside Texas Politics”. In my commentary, I called on Tarrant, Dallas, and Denton counties to put their check registers online. A commenter to our blog pointed out that Tarrant County includes its check register (called a "claims register")in the .PDF of the commissioners court agenda, which is online.

LSR Managing Editor William Lutz will be a guest on Inside Texas Politics with Brad Watson tomorrow morning (Sunday). The program airs at 9 am on WFAA -- Channel 8 in North Texas. Lutz calls for more transparency in county government.

Republican Party of Texas Chairman Tina Benkiser announced to the State Republican Executive Committee that she is resigning as chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, effective Oct. 5. She is expected to join Gov. Rick Perry's campaign as a senior advisor and will travel the state telling Republicans why she believes Perry's conservative principles have served Texas well and why the State of Texas is doing better than the rest of the nation. "There is only one true conservative in the race for governor," Benkiser told LSR. She characterized the primary as a battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party.

Perry welcomed Benkiser's support. "Tina has been a strong and successful advocate for conservative causes throughout her career . I'm pleased she is joining our campaign." He said.

There are a lot more details here to fill in. LSR interviewed Benkiser immediately after the announcement. We will fill in the details on this blog as soon as we can today.

During the last two weeks, LSR published -- in our weekly issue-- an interview with Public Utility Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman.  For space reasons, we were unable to publish two of the more general questions from the interview. We reprint below.

The Austin American-Statesman’s Ben Wear published an excellent article Sunday on the problems Capital Metro is having getting its light rail system started. The story goes into all the various problems Capital Metro is having getting the rail system started, including parts that don’t work together, problems with signals, and challenges putting up crossing gates. It’s well worth reading.

So Capital Metro can’t handle the starter rail line. That means we need a longer rail line and higher taxes. What’s wrong with this picture?

Representatives of the publisher defended the book. Natasha Martin, Implementation Manager for TCI, told LSR that the original, primary source version -- as written (i.e. "all men are created equal") appears in the Appendix and the text of the book and only the cover art work contains the altered version.

I've always thought highly of the El Paso Times. It's generally a good newspaper, given the size of the market. It's also noteworthy that the editorial board of the paper is more moderate and pro-business than is usually the case in a solidly-Democratic town like El Paso. The El Paso Times has noticed the debate going on here in Austin about removing Christmas from the curriculum and editorialized against it. The paper properly notes the role Christianity plays in World culture and in this country in particular. You can read the opinion piece here.

"On July 4, 2002, columnist George Will lamented, “We are supposed to prefer explaining the past, not with reference to event-making individuals, but in terms of the holy trinity of today’s obsessions:  race, gender, class”.

My personal experiences, both years ago and during the past few months, confirm Mr. Will’s analysis. In addition to excessive multiculturalism, the overly negative view of American history – driven by emphasis on social issues that divide, rather than on achievements and patriotic passion that unite – led to negative descriptions of America’s finest achievements."

Today, we are reprinting -- with permission the third and final installment of a three-part series that first ran on texasinsider.org on attempts from the left to rewrite our state's American history curriculum. Bill Ames, one of the few non-educators on a panel charged with making recommendations to the elected State Board of Education on the rewrite of the social studies curriculum (also known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or TEKS) -- has issued a call-to-arms to conservatives. You can read part three of his piece here.

Among some of his key thoughts:

Could somebody please tell me what planet the education bureaucracy lives on?

Yes, educators (and particularly education professors) are liberal, but they’re usually pretty good at covering it up – or at least making their multicultural agenda look as if it’s not a threat to normal American values.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst announced that he's naming Blaine Brunson as his chief of staff and Julia Rathgeber as his deputy chief of staff. Both are long-time Capitol staffers who have worked for Dewhurst for several years. Most recently, Brunson served as Dewhurst's budget director and Rathgeber as his policy director. 

The President and CEO of ERCOT (the Electric Reliability Council of Texas) -- the state's electric grid operator -- is leaving the organization in Nov. 2009. CEO Bob Kahn joined ERCOT in 2007.

Rep. Ismael "Kino" Flores (D-Palmview) announced he will not seek re-election to the House in 2010. Flores has served in the Texas House of Representatives since 1997.

Flores is currently facing prosecution in Travis County for the accuracy (or alleged lack thereof) of state ethics disclosures.

Flores was known for his support of gambling, as chairman of the Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee. He also was one of the "Craddick Ds," Democratic members who joined former Speaker Tom Craddick's leadership team. He survived a spirited primary challenge in 2008.

"In the section covering significant military leaders of WWII, Generals Omar Bradley and George Patton were removed, replaced by Oveta Culp Hobby and black Colonel Benjamin O. Davis.  It was a glaring example of significant history being compromised in favor of multicultural diversity.  The only justification given was that Hobby and Davis were “firsts”. 

But in later discussions, “firsts” Orville and Wilbur Wright (powered flight), and Neil Armstrong (moonwalk) were rejected by my writing team.  “Firsts”, in their context, means “multicultural firsts” only."

Today, we are reprinting -- with permission the second of a three-part series that first ran on texasinsider.org on attempts from the left to rewrite our state's American history curriculum. Bill Ames, one of the few non-educators on a panel charged with making recommendations to the elected State Board of Education on the rewrite of the social studies curriculum (also known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or TEKS) -- has issued a call-to-arms to conservatives. You can read part two of his piece here.

Among some of his key thoughts:

Today, we are reprinting -- with permission the first of a three-part series that first ran on texasinsider.org on attempts from the left to rewrite our state's American history curriculum. Bill Ames, one of the few non-educators on a panel charged with making recommendations to the elected State Board of Education on the rewrite of the social studies curriculum (also known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or TEKS) -- has issued a call-to-arms to conservatives. You can read part one of his piece here.

Among some of his key thoughts:

"A group of educators, some of whom are liberal activists, have   descended on Austin.  This year they have been busily rewriting U. S. history, revising the story of the most successful experiment in history – with its roots firmly anchored in Western Civilization – and replacing it with their own negative view of America told thru an overly multicultural lens of victimization and oppression of minorities and women.  "

Long-time Republican businessman Ben Bius announced he's forming an exploratory committee to look at running for the Texas Senate in District 5 (the seat opened by Rep. Steve Ogden's [R-College Station] retirement).

The district stretches from Huntsville (Bius's home) to College Station to Round Rock. While I am disappointed that Senator Ogden will not be returning to Austin to represent me and my fellow residents of District 5, I certainly understand and respect his decision. Steve has been a principled leader in the Texas Legislature who has led the fight for fiscal discipline in state government,” said Bius. “While he leaves some mighty large shoes to fill, it is extremely important that his senate seat be filled by someone who will carry on his vision of less government and personal responsibility,” Bius added.

James Bernsen, a former staffer at the Capitol and former staff writer for the Lone Star Report, announced today that he is running for the Republican nomination for State Representative in District 52. This is the House seat currently held by Rep. Diana Maldonado (D-Round Rock).

[Dewhurst quote added 5:05 pm 9/10/09]

Both the Austin American-Statesman and the Bryan College-Station Eagle are reporting that Sen. Steve Ogden (R-College Station) is not seeking re-election to the Texas Senate. Ogden is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He has served in the Texas Senate since 1997. Prior to that, he served in the Texas House.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst praised Ogden for his Senate Service.

"Chairman Ogden has represented Senate District 5 with the utmost honor, dignity and integrity and he has been one of the Texas Senate's strongest leaders," Dewhurst said. "I ask all Texans to join me in thanking Steve for his years of service and dedication to our state, especially his leadership as my Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, in helping successfully guide our state budget through a turbulent economy. Steve will remain a close friend and I wish him well in the future."

Texas Conservative Coalition President and Rep. Wayne Christian (R-Center) has released a video stating that all members of the Texas Conservative Coalition oppose President Barack Obama's health care proposal. The video can be viewed here. Thanks to Michael Quinn Sullivan of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility for pointing this out to us.

LSR Managing Editor William Lutz appeared on WFAA Channel 8's Inside Texas Politics with Brad Watson. Lutz took aim at the liberal Democrats and RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) who are attacking the conservatives on the elected State Board of Education. He argues that the SBOE should be thanked, not attacked, for insisting that public schools portray America positively and teach students about our country's Founding Fathers. You can view Lutz's commentary here. (Lutz starts talking at about 8:30 into the program).  Preceeding Lutz's commentary was a very interesting interview with Congressman Michael Burgess, MD talking about health care reform. Inside Texas Politics airs every Sunday morning at 9 on WFAA Channel 8 in North Texas.

Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, notes that despite all the new money the Texas Legislature has spent  (113 percent increase), college entrance exam scores have remained flat. Sullivan asks a simple question: what are the people of Texas getting for their money? Sullivan wrote an opinion piece on this topic that is currently posted to the Empower Texans blog, the official website of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. We reprint below, with permission:

by Michael Quinn Sullivan

"Texas' public education spending continues to inspire little confidence, with reports today that the SAT scores remain flat to declining even though fewer kids took the test in 2009. The Fort Worth Star Telegram reports Texas' kids scored just one point better on the math portion of the test, while the reading and writing sections dropped by as much as five points. For this we have increased the amount of money flowing to the bureaucracy by 113 percent since 1998?

According to financial data available from the Texas Education Agency, expenditures on public education in 1998 were $27.8 billion -- $5,597 per pupil. In 2008, public education spending was at $9,998 per kid, or $46.5 billion in total.

We try to stay away from the private, personal lives of the members of the Legislature. That having been said, high-profile divorce cases can and often do have an impact on contested primaries. The Brownsville Herald wrote a story over the weekend about Rep. Tara Rios Ybarra's (D-South Padre Island) pending divorce case and her relationship with Clayton Brashear, whom the paper describes as a land-developer and a Republican. Rios Ybarra's ex-husband told the paper he will actively support her opponent in the Spring Democratic primary. It's way, way too early to predict how something like this could affect a contested election, but we do note that the story ran just a few weeks after it became clear she would face an opponent in the primary. The story can be read here, and we post without further comment.

The Lone Star Report's William Lutz will appear on WFAA's Inside Texas Politics with Brad Watson Sunday (that's tomorrow). The program airs at 9 a.m. on Channel 8 in North Texas. Lutz will be blasting the liberal Democrats and RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) who are attacking the good conservatives on the elected State Board of Education. The program is also archived at wfaa.com.

In this week's Lone Star Report, Managing Editor William Murchison wrote the opinion piece discussing how his alma matter, the University of Texas, has abandoned teaching in Western Civilization. We post it below for your reading pleasure:

Last week, Kay Bailey Hutchison was roundly criticized in the Texas press for lacking a coherent, unified message in her announcement for governor. She was accused of merely attacking Gov. Rick Perry without offering alternatives of her own. Excuse the shameless self-promotion here, but Kay -- we warned you.

LSR Managing Editor William Lutz gave a commentary on WFAA television Aug. 2 warning that -- so far -- Hutchison has mainly attacked Rick Perry and not offered solutions of her own. Lutz called on Hutchison to lay out the kind of governor she would be. If only Kay had listened ...

You can listen to Lutz's commentary here.

This week, Lutz is getting ready to tape another commentary for WFAA's Inside Texas Politics, which airs every Sunday at 9 am on Channel 8 in North Texas.

The San Antonio Express-News published a very interesting article this morning quoting House Speaker Joe Straus worried about the effect the Texas Governor's primary could have on next year's elections for the Texas House of Representatives. “I think that the governor and the senator need to be mindful that the party needs to grow,” he said after delivering a lunchtime speech to the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. “That race needs to be inviting, to get more people to vote Republican. I am concerned that the governor's race not get off track” and result in turning off GOP voters in down-ballot races. This article is well worth reading.

According to today's Denton Record-Chronicle, the Denton City Council is going to renew its push for the local option tax increase bill. And here's the kicker -- the city council looks like its going to help pay to create some sort of fake grass-roots group to make it appear like there are real people who support this. Here's my question: if this initiative really had support from the masses, than why do they have to spend tax dollars hiring lobbyists to push it?

Yesterday, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced her candidacy for Governor of Texas, running against incumbent Gov. Rick Perry in a GOP primary. As expected, Hutchison unleashed a broadside of attacks on Perry (including calling the Texas Department of Transportation "the most arrogant, unaccountable state agency in the history of Texas") and outlined the policy themes of her campaign. We post the speech below, taken from her website:

“It is with pride and humility for history that I announce today that I am a candidate for Governor of Texas. 

“Texas is like no other place on earth.  It started on March 2, 1836 when our forefathers declared an end to tyranny with the Texas Declaration of Independence.  Among the signers was my great, great grandfather, Charles S. Taylor.  The great men who signed that document put their lives on the line, and their fate in the hands of God.  Why did they do it?  Because they yearned for freedom and they believed in Texas.  Today, 173 years later, I’m running for Governor because I believe in Texas.  And I know we can do better.

Mark Miner, spokesman for Texans for Rick Perry, has unveiled www.washingtonkay.com, a website devoted to attacking U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, and issued the following response to Kay Bailey Hutchison's announcement of her candidacy for governor:

“Sen. Hutchison appeared in La Marque in 1993 to launch her first Senate campaign, pledging to control spending and reduce government influence. In the 16 years since, she has violated, ignored and flip-flopped on virtually every promise she made to voters, giving Texans little reason to believe her rhetoric today will result in anything different.

LSR Managing Editor William Lutz was a guest on WFAA's Inside Texas Politics with Brad Watson July 15. Lutz discussed the recently concluded special session, and questioned its limited agenda. Lutz noted that the agenda did not allow the Legislature to complete the unfinished business of the recently-concluded special session.

LSR Managing Editor William Lutz will appear this sunday on Inside Texas Politics with Brad Watson. For our North Texas readers this airs Sunday at 9 am on Channel 8 -- WFAA. Lutz will be giving a commentary questioning the narrow agenda and missed opportunities of the recently concluded special session.

Gov. Rick Perry has named Gail Lowe (R-Lampasas) as the new chairman of the State Board of Education. Lowe is a newspaper publisher who has served on the board since 2003.

It looks like the upper administration of the University of Texas at Austin is even more hostile to Western civilization and American values than it was when I was a student there. Thanks to Elizabeth Young with the Texas Public Policy Foundation for passing along this gem of an article from Minding the Campus. The article details how Rob Koons, professor of philosophy at the University, helped build a program to study Western civilization and then got knifed by the administration at every turn.

Congratulations, Rick Perry for signing the centerpiece of the Tony Sanchez’s education platform into law. Too bad Perry didn’t invite Sanchez to a signing ceremony.

The Texas House of Representatives has finally passed SB 2 -- the sunset scheduling bill -- with little debate and no amenmdents. The bill continues five agencies, including the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Department of Insurnace, whose sunset bills did not pass. It also moves most of the energy and environmental agencies for sunset review in 2011 and the health and human services agencies in 2013. Once the printing and signing formalities are complete, the bill heads to the governor's desk.

The Texas House of Representatives passed on second and third readings HB 1. The bill provides legislative authorization to issue $2 billion in bonds authorized by the Texas Constitution to build roads. The House made major changes to the bill that left committee.