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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