By William Lutz on
11/23/2009 4:10 PM
We don't normally write about the myriad endorsements that go back and forth between the two candidates in the race for governor. But the State Republican Executive Committee consists of the elected representatives of Texas Republicans. The SREC is elected every two years at the State Republican Convention. It consists of the state chairman, state vice-chairmen, and two delegates [one man and one woman] elected by convention delegates from each of Texas's 31 Senate districts.
We reprint the list of SREC members that have endorsed Perry below:
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By William Lutz on
11/13/2009 5:08 PM
Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas) addressed the Texas Taxpayers and Research Institute’s Annual Meeting Nov. 13. Carona called on legislators to have what he characterized as the “courage” to take “hard votes” and find a new funding solution to transportation. Carona said that he supports both a statewide gas tax increase – indexed to inflation -- and a local option solution.
He also called on the House to take a public, up or down vote on the local option plan. He said he had 88 House members’ signatures on a piece of paper supporting local option.
The local option tax plan was attached to the Texas Department of Transportation’s Sunset Bill in the Senate. The House then took a vote on the motion to instruct conferees not to include the local option in the final bill. Carona told reporters afterward that was not an up-or-down vote on the plan.
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By William Lutz on
11/13/2009 4:27 PM
Here’s a quick summary of comments from the statewide officials at this afternoon’s installment of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association’s Annual Meeting:
Comptroller Susan Combs discussed the current state of the Texas economy. She noted that Texas has one of the best credit rating and lowest foreclosure rate of any state. She told reporters afterward that she wants to see what happens with Christmas shopping before making too many definitive statements about whether there is a need to revise her estimates of the state’s fiscal condition heading into the 2011 regular legislative session.
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By William Lutz on
11/11/2009 12:06 PM
In yesterday's edition of The Daily Texan, the paper's editorial board takes both the UT administration and the UT Student Government to task for the secretive way it is approaching the next round of tuition increases. This must-read editorial notes that the Texan sent a reporter to a meeting of the UT-Austin Tuition Policy Advisory Committee, only to be denied admittance.
Here's my question: what happened to all these promises about how tuition deregulation will add openness and transparency to the university budgeting process?
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By William Lutz on
11/10/2009 11:13 AM
Gov. Rick Perry granted an 18-minute interview to WFAA's Inside Texas Politics. The Dallas Morning News's Gromer Jeffers Jr. and WFAA's Brad Watson asked Perry questions on a variety of political topics. You can watch the interview by clicking here. Inside Texas Politics airs every Sunday morning at 9 am on Channel 8 in North Texas.
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By William Lutz on
11/9/2009 3:42 PM
For a long-time observer of state politics, watching Gov. Rick Perry stand up last week and accept the Texas Medical Association's PAC (TEXPAC) endorsement was ironic to say the least. Perry has sometimes enjoyed cool relations with the Medical Association, that turned down-right frosty in 2001 after Perry vetoed "the prompt pay bill" -- a bill that would have toughened standards and penalties for insurance companies that pay doctors late, not at all, or inaccurately. But Perry has earned this endorsement, because in the ensuing eight years has signed dozens of bills favorable to the Medical profession.
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By William Lutz on
11/6/2009 12:17 PM
Like all Texans, we at LSR are shocked by the shootings at Fort Hood yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by this awful tragedy. As a policy journal, there's not much we have to add to what happened. Newspapers and television have provided comprehensive coverage of the situation. That said, when something like this happens, we felt it appropriate to pause on this blog and pay our respects. We've found the Austin American-Statesman provided some of the best real-time coverage yesterday. The paper set up a twitter feed @fthoodshootings to provide real-time updates on the controversy. We commend those pages to people seeking more detailed information on the topic.
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By William Lutz on
11/4/2009 2:14 PM
If there's one theme from yesterday's elections that Texas canaidates may wish to consider emulating, it's an emphasis on a positive message and real ideas. Both Virginia Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell and New Jersey Gov.-elect Chris Christie have real, specific ideas on what they want to accomplish as governor of their respective states.
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By William Lutz on
11/4/2009 1:24 PM
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By William Lutz on
11/3/2009 9:50 PM
With 77 percent of precincts reporting, it appears all of the 11 constitutional amendments submitted to voters passed. This follows the pattern of past cycles, where Texas voters rarely reject proposed amendments to the Texas constitution. Part of the reason for a high success rate is the two-thirds-of-membership threshhold required to submit an amendment to the voters. The only ballot items that appear to be receiving less than 60 percent of the vote are propositions 1 and 4 (military facilities and research universities).
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By William Lutz on
11/2/2009 5:54 PM
While today’s press conference may have been about Proposition 4. House Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) told reporters he’s very happy Rep. Dan Branch (R-Dallas) decided to seek re-election. While Straus’s comments were directed toward Branch’s leadership on higher education issues, there’s another reason Straus is a happy camper – Branch running for re-election makes it more likely Republicans keep the House.
Here’s how -- because he takes every campaign seriously and because of his connections in the Dallas business community, Branch always polls better than other Republicans in his district. The district includes Highland Park – solidly Republican, but a majority of the district’s voters actually reside in the Dallas Independent School District. The area around downtown Dallas that is in Branch’s house district actually is trending more Democratic. When asked about this, Branch estimated his district is about 53 percent Republican, though Democrats would probably put it lower than that. Branch received 60.6 percent of the vote in the district in 2008.
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By William Lutz on
11/2/2009 5:21 PM
House Higher Education Committee Chairman Dan Branch (R-Dallas) held a news conference with Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) to support proposition 4 – the proposition uses money from the higher education fund to assist universities who meet goals showing progress toward Tier One research status. Also speaking at the news conference were Reps. Brian McCall (R-Plano) and Diane Patrick (R-Arlington) and Texas Association of Business President Bill Hammond.
The speakers were asked why they called a news conference this close to the election. They noted that the election is low turnout, and while they think the propositions will pass, they are not taking anything for granted. The speakers emphasized the economic development benefits they see from university research. They also noted that many Texas students to out-of-state to get doctorates.
LSR asked Branch how proposition 4 would impact average university undergraduates and their families. Branch noted that the enabling legislation – House Bill 51 – has pools of money to assist universities with for more graduation and at-risk students. Branch also said he hopes to fund a new concept called “Centers of Excellence” within universities. “We get the idea that it’s important to have good liberal arts public universities,” Branch said, “And not every university can be a Tier One University or an emerging Tier One University … But we also recognize … that we need to get competitive again in this national research field. As Chairman McCall said, at a time when everyone else is pushing back and reducing FTEs (Full Time Equivalent employees) and reducing [university] budgets, it’s a great time for us to get really serious talent in this area at a discount.”
Election day is tomorrow.
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By William Lutz on
10/28/2009 1:52 PM
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By William Lutz on
10/26/2009 5:07 PM
LSR has received tributes to the late former Sen. Teel Bivins from current Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo), Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and Sen. Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio). We will add additional tributes to this space as we receive them. We print below:
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By William Lutz on
10/26/2009 5:02 PM
Former Sen. and Ambassador Teel Bivins (R-Amarillo) died today of pneumonia. He was 62.
Teel Bivins was one of those elected officials who reflected positively on the region and district that elected him. He was honest, straightforward, hard-working, and never forgot the folks back home. It was Bivins’ practice to have regular luncheons with the House members whose districts contained counties in Senate District 31.
He was universally respected at the Capitol. But equally important, he was well liked. One Bivins staffer once told me that the Senator came in from a busy day of considering legislation and took his staff to the movies.
When I first started at the Capitol, one role this publication held (and still holds) the role of being a watchdog over the education bureaucracy. As chairman of the Senate Education Committee, part of Bivins’s responsibility was getting the education agenda of Gov. George W. Bush through the Texas Senate and promoting the education accomplishments of Gov. Bush.
Therefore, some of the stories I wrote about what I saw as the shortcomings of either the school system under Bush or some of the legislation Bush signed probably didn’t meet with his approval. But Bivins never held it against me. He was always exceedingly polite and went out of his way to be accessible. His statesmanship was always appreciated by this reporter.
According to the Amarillo Globe-News, services for Bivins will be held Thursday at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Amarillo.
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By William Lutz on
10/24/2009 4:59 PM
Now that Cathie Adams is chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, what’s next?
Adams said recruiting good candidates and raising the money to fund them is her next top priority.
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By William Lutz on
10/24/2009 2:21 PM
Both Gov. Rick Perry and his re-election opponent, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison have issued statements congratulating Cathie Adams on her election as chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. We reprint below.
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By William Lutz on
10/24/2009 2:15 PM
In last week's issue, we printed that Texans for Lawsuit Reform's Sherry Sylvester sent a handwritten note to incoming-Republican Party Chairman Cathie Adams wishing her well in the chairman's race. At today's meeting of the State Republican Executive Committee, Adams told LSR the note was actually from TLR Chairman Richard Weekley and was a handwritten comment at the bottom of a typed thank-you letter for a donation that Adams had sent TLR. LSR regrets the error.
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By William Lutz on
10/24/2009 10:48 AM
The State Republican Executive Committee has elected Cathie Adams as the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. Adams received 36 votes, Melinda Fredricks received 25 votes, and Mary-Yoly Moore of El Paso was nominated but did not receive any votes.
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By William Lutz on
10/23/2009 7:50 PM
In our story this week on the race for chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, Texans for Lawsuit Reform's Sherry Sylvester is incorrectly identified as the organization's executive director. She is the organization's spokesperson. LSR regrets the error.
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By William Lutz on
10/23/2009 4:37 PM
LSR Managing Editor William Lutz will be appearing on WFAA's Inside Texas Politics with Brad Watson this Sunday at 9 am on Channel 8 in North Texas. Lutz will blast the recent decision by Dallas Democratic judge Tena Callahan to grant a same-sex divorce.
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By William Lutz on
10/16/2009 4:41 PM
There's a lot of misinformation circulating on the Internet about Propositions 2, 3, and 5. They do NOT, we repeat DO NOT, create a state property tax.
The Texas constitution's prohibition on a state property tax remains intact, even if all three pass. The propositions simply make the existing property tax system more efficient. Because of the public interest in this issue, we are putting on the public part of our site (the "featured articles" section) our article from this week's issue. You can access it here too.
Our article this week explains, in detail, exactly what each of these ballot items actually do and addresses some inaccurate information on the Internet.
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By William Lutz on
10/16/2009 4:16 PM
Gov. Rick Perry named three new members to the board of trustees of the Teacher Retirement System. Perry named Houston Real Estate Investor Todd Barth, Beaumont investor Seth Crone, and Whitesboro school counselor Nanette Sissney to six year terms. Of the three slots vacant, one was a direct appointment by the governor, one was selected from a list prepared by the elected State Board of Education, and one was selected from a list prepared by active members of the retirement system. As noted in a recent previous post to this blog, the Teacher Retirement System has come under careful scrutiny at the Capitol for its recent investment decisions and move toward more non-traditional investments.
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By William Lutz on
10/14/2009 3:23 PM
Over the weekend, the Austin American Statesman published a must-read article by Kate Alexander on the latest political controversy at the Teacher Retirement System. Unfortunately, it appears this important story may get lost because much of the Capitol press corps is on a rampage about two non-scandals – one with the forensics board and another with the State Board of Education – and ignoring a real policy issue that might actually impact the upcoming GOP primary.
Few – if any – Republican primary voters will care about the forensics board (GOP primary voters are a law-and-order bunch who like prosecutors) nor the fact that a couple of Democrats didn’t cross a t on a disclosure form (this is nothing more than an attempt by social liberals and legislators who want to raid the Permanent School Fund to do a hatchet-job on the elected board). But the controversy at the Teacher Retirement System is different.
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By William Lutz on
10/12/2009 3:57 PM
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By William Lutz on
10/12/2009 2:36 PM
Mary-Yoly Moore of El Paso has announced for chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. Moore is running on a platform of making party operations more transparent and encouraging more outreach for Asian, Black, Hispanic, youth and women voters. The State Republican Executive Committee will meet Oct. 24 to pick a new chairman.
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By William Lutz on
10/6/2009 11:20 AM
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst today announced his appointments to the Sunset Advisory Commission. Dewhurst named Sens. John Whitmire (D-Houston), Joan Huffman (R-Houston), and Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville) to the commission for terms ending in 2013. He also designated Sen. Glenn Hegar (R-Katy) as chairman. Both Hegar and Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa (D-McAllen) are serving the second-half of terms that end in 2011. Dewhurst also reappointed Charles McMahen as the public member of the commission. The Sunset Advisory Commission examines the structure of state agencies and decides how to improve that structure and whether agencies should be continued.
"I want to thank all of these individuals for accepting appointment s to this important commission," Dewhurst said. "Some of our most critical state agencies are scheduled for review by the Sunset Advisory Commission and I know these appointees will provide the leadership and knowledge necessary to ensure all aspects of agencies under review are thoroughly evaluated."
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By William Lutz on
10/5/2009 11:38 AM
A federal petit jury has returned mostly guilty verdicts in the Dallas City Hall Corruption trial today.
Former mayor pro-tem Don Hill, his wife Shiela Farrington Hill, former Dallas Plan Commissioner D'Angelo Lee, consultant Darren Reagan and housing developer and car dealer Rickey Robertson were convicted in federal court. The charges included bribery, conspriacy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit extortion, and depravation of honest services.
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By William Lutz on
10/3/2009 1:10 PM
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Larry Kudlow of the Kudlow Report spoke like a true business reporter, with a dry, monotone voice but with every sentence full of substance. Kudlow, at the Americans for Prosperity national conference today, exhorted the audience to make supply side economics front-and-center in appeals to take America back. He suggested conservatives put a “It’s the economy, stupid” sign in their campaign offices.
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By William Lutz on
10/3/2009 10:33 AM
ARLINGTON, Va. -- The general sessions of the Americans for Prosperity Defending the American Dream tour had an upbeat feel to them. Most of the activists here believe that – despite the country’s difficult economic and political condition – that an American resurgence is just around the corner. Most of the speakers compared the current political situation with that of 1977 and 1993, years when Democrats ran and expanded government but led to massive conservative resurgence.
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By William Lutz on
10/3/2009 9:35 AM
So TAC does everything it can to try to demean and marginalize AFP, because the group’s members come to the Texas Capitol to fight for taxpayer protections. A few years ago, TAC published an article in its county magazine trying to portray AFP as some sort of Washington front group. The article tries to portray AFP-Texas director Peggy Venable as some sort of puppet for some Washington DC interests.
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By William Lutz on
9/30/2009 2:45 PM
When sports events don’t turn out as predicted, ESPN analyst Chris Berman frequently says, “That’s why they play the games.”
The same could be said of yesterday for the Perry campaign. First, the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas gives a public speech endorsing him and lambasting his opponent, and that speech (which occurred on a Saturday morning) got very little press coverage (except from LSR, of course).
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By William Lutz on
9/30/2009 2:25 PM
Not much in the way of controversy or profound policy discussion occurred at today’s meeting of the House Redistricting Committee. No new population or redistricting figures emerged from the committee discussion. The committee heard a technical discussion of how the Census is conducted from the head of the redistricting data section of the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
The census date is April 1, 2010.
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By William Lutz on
9/29/2009 4:46 PM
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.
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By William Lutz on
9/28/2009 10:52 AM
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.
In her speech, Benkiser both praises Gov. Rick Perry and blasts – though not by name – U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s campaign. But more importantly, she tells her story, the story of why she decided to resign as chairman of the Republican Party and join the Rick Perry campaign. The story that Benkiser recounts in her remarks to the SREC is about a speech that she gave to a Republican organization in Edna, Texas a few weeks ago.
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By William Lutz on
9/28/2009 10:04 AM
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.
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By William Lutz on
9/26/2009 7:21 PM
Republican Party of Texas Chairman Tina Benkiser announced that she is endorsing Gov. Rick Perry and resigning her post as party chairman at today’s meeting of the State Republican Executive Committee. She is joining his re-election campaign as a senior adviser. In her speech, she praised the leadership of the state’s elected Republicans, called for the party to continue its conservative principles and not water them down, and called for unity in the Texas GOP.
She also blasted – though not by name – the campaign of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and implied that the Hutchison campaign tactics helped convince her to join the Perry campaign. In her speech to the SREC, Benkiser cited a speech she gave in Edna, Texas, where she praised the state, its conservative leadership, and the Texas economy. She said that another campaign called the Republican Party and objected to the speech and that was one of the things that made her realize she can best promote the conservative agenda by joining the Perry campaign.
In her speech, and in a subsequent interview with LSR, Benkiser went into more detail about her decision and why she made it. Here are a few answers to questions that haved been frequently asked about today’s events.
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By William Lutz on
9/26/2009 4:15 PM
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.
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By William Lutz on
9/26/2009 11:00 AM
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.
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By William Lutz on
9/23/2009 10:09 AM
A few days ago, I posted an item on the Fifth-Grade history textbook History Alive! America’s Past, currently in Texas classrooms – including (of all places) Ector County ISD. This is the textbook that tried to rewrite the Declaration of Independence on its cover artwork to “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all people are created equal …” (men was changed to people.)
The text’s treatment of the Second Amendment is almost as suspect. In the back of the book, the text of the Bill of Rights appears with a summary in the left-hand column. The summary reads “Citizens have the right to own and carry weapons for use in state militias.” A photo of the page in question can be viewed here.
Yes, that’s one interpretation of the Second Amendment. But clearly, this summary favors the pro-gun-control view of the Second Amendment, and a lot of pro-Second Amendment organizations would definitely take issue with using that as a textbook summary of the Second Amendment.
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By William Lutz on
9/22/2009 10:25 AM
Remember, during the 2006 general election, Democrats dug up some racial slurs that appeared in previous Kinky Friedman comedy skits and used them to encourage voters why they should vote for Democratic nominee Chris Bell, rather than Friedman. West – in particular – took offense at Friedman’s past remarks and taped this TV ad thrashing Friedman.
“Absolutely, unequivocally no,” West said in response to Jeffers’s question. “He’s a joke, to be honest with you."
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By William Lutz on
9/22/2009 9:57 AM
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.
LSR: Based on your involvement in some of the “big picture” energy issues, it appears the governor has asked the commission to do more than merely dispose of technical dockets at the PUC. Walk us through some of your involvement and how you see your role in broader energy policy issues.
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By William Lutz on
9/22/2009 9:52 AM
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.
There is another note I’d like to add. Capital Metro’s “solution” to these problems appears to be higher taxes and an expansion of the rail system. The Legislature directed the Sunset Advisory Commission to do a special purpose review of Capital Metro. In its self-evaluation report (p. 165-168), Capital Metro calls for removing the referendum requirement before rail is expanded and allowing cities that want to join Capital Metro to bust the two-cent sales tax cap. 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?
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By William Lutz on
9/18/2009 9:33 PM
The Hutchison campaign has purchased a banner ad on the Drudge Report accusing Perry of suppo  rting ACORN. The ad, which can be viewed here, shows Perry surrounded by ACORN activists signing a 2005 lending consumer protection bill.
The ad then states, "In 2005, ACORN's 'proudest moment' came when Rick Perry signed one of their top legislative priorities in Texas into law" -- Houston Chronicle 7/4/05" and invites readers to "Click here to help elect a governor who won't stand with ACORN"
The new ad is the latest in a skirmish over the Sept. 14 Senate vote to de-fund ACORN. Hutchison missed the vote. The Perry campaign responded by nicknaming Hutchison "KAYCORN" and placing a video on its WashingtonKay website titled "Where in the World is Kay Bailey Hutchison." The ad is set to the tune from the game show "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" and the video asks where Hutchison was during the vote.
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By William Lutz on
9/18/2009 9:48 AM
This week, LSR received a phone call from Jason Moore, a parent with kids in the Ector County ISD. Moore told LSR his fifth-grader had to memorize the Declaration of Independence. One catch -- the words were altered: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ..." Of course the actual text of the document said "all men are created equal."
State Board of Education member Terri Leo (R-Spring) blasted the altered Declaration of Independence at the Sept. 17 meeting of the Committee of the Full Board. "Instead of saying 'all men are created equal,' it says 'all people are created equal,'" Leo noted. "Are we going to tell kids what the actual document says or are we going to change words in those documents to be politically correct ... How can you change a historical document and not present it to students as written? ... I think that's a factual error. That's not what the Declaration of Independence says, and I think [the publisher] should be fined." Texas law prohibits factual errors in books and creates a system of fines for publishers that have them.
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.
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By William Lutz on
9/17/2009 1:50 PM
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.
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By William Lutz on
9/16/2009 12:47 PM
"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:
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By William Lutz on
9/15/2009 3:10 PM
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.
But they’ve gone way overboard with the drafts of the proposed new social studies curriculum (the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or TEKS), and in so doing, have pitched a softball to the conservatives on the State Board of Education. Let’s see if they can hit this one out of the park both at this week's meeting and throughout the review of the social studies TEKS.
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By William Lutz on
9/15/2009 1:49 PM
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.
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By William Lutz on
9/15/2009 1:37 PM
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.
“I feel good about where the organization is now and can leave knowing that ERCOT is on solid ground and looking good for the future and for the launch of the nodal market in 2010,” Kahn said. “I’ve been very focused the last few months on the budget process for 2010, and I’m pleased that the board approved that budget today. I appreciate the support of this board and the support of the market participants. We couldn’t have done the things we have accomplished without their help,” he said. “And finally, I want to thank the ERCOT employees and staff. They are the best bunch of people – it has been an honor to work with them.”
The ERCOT release also quotes Public Utility Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman thanking Kahn for his service.
ERCOT is currently being examined by the Sunset Advisory Commission. (The Public Utility Commission is also up for Sunset Review this cycle.)
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