(Editor's note: We are posting the oped from this week's issue to this blog.)

What started as a local race between Rep. Todd Smith (R-Euless) and Jeff Cason took on a new tone when Texans for Lawsuit Reform founder Dick Weekley and fellow TLR donors Leo Linbeck III and Harlan and Trammell Crow funded the Citizen Leader PAC, which launched attacks on Smith via the web, mailers, and phone calls.

Political consultant Bryan Eppstein is known for his often-outlandish attacks on his clients' opponents. But we think Eppstein may have outdone himself this time. Throughout this cycle, Eppstein is summoning the supernatural in his political attacks used in his representation of Rep. Vicki Truitt (R-Keller). Truitt is under fire in her district for sponsoring the local option tax increase bill, which would have allowed local government to put tax increases for rail on the ballot.

In response to attacks from Texans for Fiscal Repsonsibility's Michael Quinn Sullivan, Eppstein called him "demonic" in a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article.

But his attack website on Truitt's opponent Giovanni Capriglione takes the cake. Capriglione is under fire because, according to the Star-Telegram, "is a vice president in a company whose holdings include a cemetery in which workers were accused of digging up hundreds of graves to increase profits." Capriglione denied having any ownership stake in the firm, and said the company made the investment before he joined it.

Nevertheless, the Truitt campaign (an Eppstein client) set up www.corporategraverobbers.com to draw attention to the issue. We aren't endorsing the content, but it's one of the most creative political attacks I've ever seen, even if the connection to Capriglione may be a bit tenuous. The website shows a picture of someone who looks like Capriglione digging up a grave and replacing it with another coffin. Eerie organ music plays in the background.

Click here to view the Truitt campaign's attack website.

The Washington Examiner recently published a column by LSR Managing Editor William Lutz on the governor's race. Basically, Lutz noted that if the election for governor had been held in 2008, Perry probably would have been in deep trouble, but now he has a commanding lead. The column argues that -- whatever one thinks of Perry's governing -- he is an outstanding campaigner who has benefitted from recent events. It also discusses some of the message problem with U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign and the likely fall of Debra Medina. Click here to read Lutz's column.

One of the things that has always baffled me about the Texas Legislature is how ANY Republicans believe that the University of Texas administration is conservative (or fiscally responsible, for that matter). True, some UT regents write big checks to politicians. But I know some Texas legislators who usually aren't influenced by that stuff who sincerely think the UT administration is conservative. It's as if anyone who wears a coat and tie is suddenly right-wing.

An article from yesterday's Daily Texan ought to put that notion to rest once and for all. The President of the University of Texas attends a gay rights conference and endorses one of the top priorities of the campus left -- domestic partner benefits. This in spite of the fact that 2/3rds of the Texas Legislature and the vast majority of Texans voted to ban same-sex marriage and other similar arrangements. In fact, the article basically insinuates that the UT administration supports "creative" legal strategies to get around that provision of the Texas constitution. Click here to read the Daily Texan article about the UT administration endorsing domestic partner benefits. This article is a real doozy. The article notes that University of Texas at Austin President William Powers attended a summit organized by the Pride and Equity Faculty and Staff Association and Equality Texas. (Note: Equality Texas used to be called the Lesbian and Gay Rights Lobby.) The article reports UT President Bill Powers as saying:

“This is about equity, human rights and human beings, and it affects the competitiveness of our University when we recruit people,” Powers said in a welcome speech. “There are things, if we are creative, that can be done. This is important work. It’s wide-ranging work.”

Dallas Television Station WFAA broadcast interviews with all three Republican candidates for governor. All can be viewed at WFAA's website.

Click here to hear Gov. Rick Perry's interview.

Click here to hear U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's interview.

Click here to hear Debra Medina's interview.

Have tort reformers finally succeeded in exterminating plaintiff's attorneys?

The plaintiff's bar's arch-enemy Allstate Insurance Company just got a $1.1 million check of tax dollars from Gov. Rick Perry's Texas Enterprise Fund, and we haven't heard a peep of protest from either the trial lawyers, trial lawyer-friendly consumer groups like Texas Watch, nor the trial lawyers' subsidiary -- the Texas Democratic Party.

This is way out of character for these groups, who usually never pass up an opportunity to bash an insurance company.

Gov. Rick Perry's campaign is running a radio ad accusing U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of not being a fiscal conservative. The ad features Tom Schatz, chairman of the council for Citizens Against Government Waste.

We post the ad below, and the script under "Read more":

The Texas Alliance for Life PAC released its slate of endorsements. Click here to see the slate in PDF format.

Otherwise, we post the entire list below.

The Baylor University Board of Regents has named former federal judge and special prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr as the 14th President of Baylor. The Waco Tribune-Herald has a story on the announcement. Click here for the official Baylor website announcing the change. Baylor will host an online event at 3 pm Feb. 16 (Tuesday) announcing the change.

Baylor has been in a very public battle for its identity the past few years. With Starr at the helm, it's obvious Baylor is positioning itself as one of the nation's premier conservative, Christian universities. Baylor University is the nation's largest Baptist university.

Gov. Rick Perry, FOX News contributor Andrew Napolitano, Attorney General Greg Abbott, and Supreme Court Justice Don Willett will speak at the Texas Conservative Coalition's 10th Amendment Town Hall tomorrow (Monday) morning in Plano. The event will take place at the Plano Centre and goes from 8:30 to 1:30. For registration, click here. To find out more information, interested folks can visit the Texas Conservative Coalition website.

Just when we thought Democratic Candidate for Governor Farouk Shami couldn't stick his foot in his mouth any farther, WFAA's Inside Texas Politics broadcasts the remainder of its interview. Among other things, Shami accuses his opponent -- former Houston mayor Bill White -- of being insensitive to African-American-owned businesses. The show also features a full interview with former Mayor White. Having watched several televised interviews and one debate, I think White presents himself and his ideas well to the media. He comes across as a normal, common-sense guy (especially compared with everything else that's gone on this past week.) It's a tough year for Democrats, but he is a formidible opponent for the Republican nominee. Anyway, we post a link to Inside Texas Politics below. But don't say we didn't warn you -- it's painful watching Shami self-destruct.

LSR has received the following statement from the Farouk Shami campaign on the WFAA interview:

"Farouk Shami, like most Americans, still grapples with the events that transpired on September 11, 2001.  When asked, in an interview earlier this afternoon as to whether or not he believed 9/11 was an inside job, Farouk responded with the fact that he did not know.  To say that he believes otherwise is at best mischaracterization of his comments and at worst yet another attempt to discredit Farouk Shami.  Farouk has shown his unwavering support to the victims of 9/11 by visiting New York and donating millions of dollars to help business owners who were affected by the tragedy." 

Two days, two candidates make very controversial comments on television. This time it's Farouk Shami's turn.

WFAA's website has a clip from the upcoming Inside Texas Politics, which airs Sunday at 9 am on Channel 8 in North Texas, featuring Democratic candidate for governor Farouk Shami. During the interview, Shami was asked to clarify his answer during the Democratic debate about whether he supports mandating employers use the e-Verify program. In his answer, he noted that a majority of the workers in his factory are African-American or Hispanic. Then he said: “A majority of the people are going to be Hispanic and African-American. You don't find white people who are willing to work in factories. And our history proves, you know, lots of time when they, you know, the white people come to work in a factory they either want to be supervisors or they want to be, you know, paid more than the average person. And unfortunately they exit.”

Then Shami is asked about the flap over Debra Medina's appearance on the Glenn Beck show and whether he believes the government had a role in the 9/11 bombings. According to the WFAA website, Shami said, “I'm not sure. I am not going to really judge or answer about something I'm not really sure about. But the rumors are there that there was a conspiracy. True or not? It's hard to believe, you know, what happened. It's really hard to comprehend what happened. Maybe. I'm not sure.”

We are embedding the whole clip below and our readers can see Shami's comments for themselves.

 Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston) took aim at the University of Houston for proposing a 3.95 percent tuition increase. "Increased tuition combined with higher fees, costlier books, and a sagging economy is pricing Texans out of higher education," said Whitmire. "Texas families cannot bear the increased burden, especially when many families and students are struggling to pay current tuition and fees at our universities."

(Updated at 1:36 pm to include Gov. Rick Perry's statement; updated at 3:12 p.m. to include U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's statement).

Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina made an appearance on the Glenn Beck Show this morning, and her answer has been the talk of Texas Republicans -- especially on Twitter and Facebook. Beck asked Medina, "Do you believe the government was any way involved with the bringing down of the World Trade Center on 9/11?"

Medina responded: "I don't have all of the evidence there, Glenn. So I'm not in a place; I have not been out publicly questioning that. I think some very good questions have been raised in that regard. There are some very good arguments, and I think the American people have not seen all the evidence there. So I have not taken a position on that."

Employees of the Gov. Rick Perry campaign have forwarded this clip on Twitter and Facebook. LSR received an official statement from Perry today at 1:36 p.m.: "Today's comments were an insult to the thousands of Americans who lost loved ones on 9/11 and the military men and women who are overseas protecting our country. President Bush worked tirelessly to protect our nation from additional terrorist attacks and anyone who would suggest 9/11 is a conspiracy involving the Bush administration should be ashamed."

LSR also received the following statement from Medina's other primary opponent, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I know exactly who was responsible for the horrific attacks on September 11th – Al Qaeda terrorists who declared war on America. To suggest otherwise is an affront to the men and women who are sacrificing their lives to root out the terrorists in Afghanistan and around globe. Ever since that tragic day, I have fought tirelessly to ensure that we hunted down the Islamic extremists who target our nation. No one stood closer to President Bush and Vice President Cheney in their efforts to defeat the terrorist threat to our freedom.”

Later -- after the show -- the Medina campaign issued a statement clarifying her position: "I was asked a question on the Glenn Beck show today regarding my thoughts on the so-called 9/11 truth movement. I have never been involved with the 9/11 truth movement, and there is no doubt in my mind that Muslim terrorists flew planes into those buildings on 9/11. I have not seen any evidence nor have I ever believed that our government was involved or directed those individuals in any way. No one can deny that the events on 9/11 were a tragedy for all Americans and especially those families who lost loved ones."

Given the strong feelings people, and particuarly Republican primary voters feel about 9/11, this could well be a game-changer. Beck claimed Medina's comments were "the fast way back to four percent [in the polls]." Rather than try to characterize Medina's comments ourself, we post a link below to a youtube clip of Beck's program: (We also post a full copy of Medina's post-show statement on the inside page).

A new poll by Public Policy Polling shows gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina in striking distance of a runoff. Medina polled 24 percent among likely Republican primary voters, compared with 28 for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and 39 percent for incumbent Gov. Rick Perry. Click here for full poll results.

Gov. Rick Perry released a new ad -- titled "1993" -- taking aim at U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's record in the Senate. We post the ad below, followed by the script and Hutchison response:

Today, Gov. Rick Perry released a new ad highlighting the accomplishments of his term as governor. We post the ad below (following the ad, we post a script and the Hutchison camapign's response):

The Bill White campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor has released its second campaign ad highlighting White's background and upbringing. We post below.

LSR Managing Editor William Lutz will be appearing on WFAA's Inside Texas Politics with Brad Watson at 9 am this Sunday. Lutz will be delivering a commentary calling for the E-Verify System to become mandatory for all Texas employers and slamming the candidates for governor for being soft on illegal immigration. Inside Texas Politics airs on WFAA-TV, Channel 8, in North Texas.

In this week's issue, we were pleased to publish an interview with Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes. We have featured this article on our website, making it available to the general public. Click here to read the main portion of the interview, publishing in this week's Lone Star Report.

Due to space reasons, we were unable to publish the entire interview in this week's issue. We publish the remaining portion of our discussion with Dr. Paredes below:

Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign for governor has just unveiled a new television ad slamming both Gov. Rick Perry and lobbyist Mike Toomey -- his former chief of staff. The ad notes that Toomey represented Merck, the pharmaceutical company that made the controversial vaccine against HPV (the Human Papiloma virus) that Perry tried to mandate to 6th-grade girls -- until the Texas Legislature intervened. We post the ad below. Click "Read more" for the the script as well as Perry's response:


 

TEXPAC, the political action committee affiliated with the Texas Medical Association, announced its slate of endorsements for the 2010 primaries today. “TEXPAC is proud to announce its selection of candidates in their respective party primaries who are committed to stand firm with Texas patients and for their physicians,” said Susan Strate, MD, chair of the TEXPAC Board of Directors. “We believe these candidates will listen to their patients’ and physicians’ concerns and will work on their behalf to improve the accessibility, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency of Texas’ health care system.” TEXPAC is encouraging its members to get out and vote on March 2.

We post the slate of endorsements below:

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility issued another set of endorsements in state house races yesterday, including some Democrats. "We're pleased to stand alongside these men and women, as they seek to bring commonsense solutions to the practical issues facing Texans," said Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of Empower Texans and treasurer of the PAC. "In uncertain economic times, Texans are demanding policy leaders who are committed to wisely stewarding the taxpayers' resources to the benefit of all Texans."
 

Specifically, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility endorsed the following incumbents: Rob Eissler in HD 15, Ryan Guillen (D) in HD 31, Todd Hunter in HD 32, Aaron Pena (D) in HD 40, and Rob Orr in HD 58.  The group endorsed the following additional candidates in open seats or against incumbents: Pat McGuinness in HD 50, Larry Gonzales in HD 52, Yolanda Sotelo Garza in HD 74, Jim Landtroop in HD 85, Victor Leal in HD 87, Barbara Nash in HD 93, Lyle Larson in HD 122, and Jim Murphy in HD 133 

 

Last Friday's Belo debate has been archived online on the WFAA Television website. To make it easier to view the debate, the producers have broken up the debate into four files. We post a link to each below, for those of our readers who are interested in replaying portions of the governor's debate:

Belo Debate Part One

Belo Debate Part Two

Belo Debate Part Three

Belo Debate Part Four

Democratic candidate for Governor Bill White unveiled a new television ad today. The ad focuses on education and what White would do to cut dropouts and improve test scores. The ad will run in both English and Spanish. Click below to view the full English-language version of the ad:

Gov. Rick Perry has unveiled a new television ad entitled "Border." Click here to view the governor's ad.

We post the script and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign response below:

Yesterday, Debra Medina -- Republican candidate for governor -- stopped by our office to discuss her candidacy. We sat down with Medina and conducted a 17-minute interview. In the interview, Medina discusses her views, whether she can win, her relations with the other campaigns, and the emerging nullification movement within Texas.

"The other two candidates have lost sight of what the proper role of government is, and I'm in here fighting to resurrect that, and I believe that we've headed down the wrong path, particularly as conservatives," Medina said. "... [I'm] pro-life, pro-property, pro-sovereignty, pro-Texas."

On why people are backing her campaign, Medina said: "I wish I could say they love the policy things, and I think they do love the policy things, but the comment we're hearing most often is 'you would answer the question'. And I thought what a shame that that's where we find ourself in political debate. The best we can hope for from the leader of our state is someone who will answer the question. That really is a sad testiment to where we are, but an accurate one. We all lived with a political royality that thinks that it doesn't have to be accountable to people"

Click here to listen to the full interview (8 MB download, Windows Media file).

The Young Conservatives of Texas announced its choices for the 2010 primary cycle. Like some other organizations, there are a few YCT endorsements still pending.

"These candidates were selected after extensive research, including personal interviews, research into their past legislative ratings and detailed questionnaires," said Tony McDonald, Vice Chairman of Legislative Affairs.
 

Click here to view the initial list of YCT endorsements. We comment on some noteworthy endorsements and post the full list below:

The Texas Public Policy Foundation has released a report on electric utility deregulation. The report is -- in part -- a response to federal government data comparing electric rates between the states.

You can read the Texas Public Policy Foundation's full report by clicking here.

This week, Texans for Fiscal Responsiblity (commonly known by its url www.empowertexans.com) release its first batch of primary endorsements for the upcoming cycle. The group endorsed any incumbent rating above 80 on its Fiscal Responsibility Index. Click here for a full list of TFR endorsements. TFN President Michael Quinn Sullivan noted that this is the first batch of TFN endorsements and further endorsements could be forthcoming later in the primary cycle.

We list below the endorsements where TFR endorsed against an incumbent or endorsed in an open seat race:

In this week's issue, I published a story about how University of North Texas President Gretchen M. Bataille endorsed a tax increase for transit. She did so at the request of the City of Denton and its taxpayer-funded lobbyists. Remember, the University of North Texas is a state agency, which is prohibited by law from using appropriated funds to influence the passage or defeat of legislation. Over the past few months, the Lone Star Report has filed a series of requests under the Public Information Act relating to the government-funded lobby effort to convince the Legislature to raise taxes for commuter rail (the so-called Texas Local Option Transportation Act or TLOTA). We are continuing to file those requests and will keep our readers updated on our progress.

Because of the public interest in this topic, I have decided to place the article on the public portion of our website. Click here to read more about state agencies getting involved in pushing tax increases.  Also, I am posting a copy of Gretchen Bataille's letter to this site. Click here to read the UNT President's letter of endorsement for the local option tax increase bill.

Both Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison used the occasion of the first televised debate to unveil attack ads against each other. Perry slammed Hutchison for voting for the financial system bailout in late 2008. Hutchison slammed Perry on the Trans-Texas Corridor and private comprehensive development agreements. We reprint both ads and scripts below.

Carole Strayhorn may have been out of elective office since 2006, but she still gets slamed at public events and forums. Today, Gov. Rick Perry compared U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to Strayhorn, and Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) made it a point to state that he likes the way Susan Combs runs the comptroller's office a whole lot better than what went on before.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has released Senate Interim charges. As expected, the charges focus on the looming budget shortfall as well as the health care system.  We'll talk about the charges in more detail in this week's issue. Click here for the full list of Dewhurst Interim charges.

Don't tell Gov. Rick Perry. But Democrats are using a picture of Mitch McConnell and Texas's U.S. Senator John Cornyn to portray "Washington Republicans" in their attack ads. Personally, the high-tax, high-spending culture of Washington DC is about the last thing I would associate with Cornyn. I remember his tenure as attorney general and how he cleaned up the child support enforcement division and put more emphasis on open government. I remember how accessable he was to the Austin press corps. None of those attributes are commonly associated with Washington DC.

But I'd imagine Massachusetts Democratic political consultants wouldn't know a Washington Republican if one fell from the sky and landed on them. Anyway, here's a link to the ad for your viewing pleasure.

LSR Managing Editor William Lutz was a guest Sunday on WFAA's Inside Texas Politics. Lutz gave a commentary noting that sometimes Republicans are responsible for high taxes and big government. While most Republicans believe in conservative principles, a significant number don't. Lutz said the appraisal-creep issue differentiates conservatives from liberals. To see Lutz's commentary, click here. (Lutz's commentary starts with about 9:15 remaining in the clip [-9:15]) Inside Texas Politics airs every Sunday at 9 am, Channel 8 in North Texas.

LSR Managing Editor William Lutz will appear on Inside Texas Politics with Brad Watson on WFAA Television, Channel 8 in North Texas. The program airs this Sunday at 9 am. Lutz will deliver a commentary on the upcoming primaries. Lutz notes that while most Republicans believe in conservative principles, some talk conservative back home then vote for tax hikes in Austin and discusses the upcoming GOP primaries.

Like much of the Capitol community, I was saddened to hear of the death of Bill R. Maddox from cancer. Maddox recently retired from Public Strategies. I had the pleasure of working will Bill on utility issues. He was always upfront, honest, and professional in all his dealings with me. He was a class act in every sense of the word, and I can speak for all of us at LSR in saying he will be missed. Our condolences go out to friends and family.

Maddox spent his entire career in journalism and public relations, working for the U.S. Army, several newspapers, then-U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, and Public Strategies.

Obituaries to Maddox ran in three newspapers (the links lead directly to the obituary): the San Antonio Express-News, the Port Arthur News, and the Tyler Morning-Telegraph.

We post the text of the obituary below:

I've been covering Texas politics full time since 1998. I've seen a lot. But this is a new one: a Republican primary opponent attacking the incumbent for CUTTING taxes.

That's right, Collin County Judge Keith Self is under attack for cutting taxes. In a Jan. 5 story in The Dallas Morning News, Self's opponent -- former Plano School Board President John Muns -- is quoted as follows:

<blockquote> His challenger, John Muns, calls Self an extreme right-winger whose views jeopardize county services and quality of life. "Keith has done a minimal amount of anything, except keeping taxes low," said Muns, a longtime Plano school trustee. </blockquote>

In this week's issue we ran out of space and had to cut our discussion of filings for the Texas Senate. We reprint below:

LSR has learned that Austin lawyer David Sewell has joined the race for the Republican nomination for House District 47. Sewell joins Paul Workman and Holly Turner in the GOP primary race. The winner will face incumbent Rep. Valinda Bolton (D-Austin).

The Amarillo Globe-News is reporting that Amarillo attorney Walter "Four" Price IV has filed and Amarillo school board president Anette Carlisle is looking at the race. Carlisle challenged retiring incumbent David Swinford (R-Dumas) unsuccessfully in the 2006 GOP primary. Click here to read the Globe-News story.