By William Lutz on
2/26/2010 2:24 PM
(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.
Much larger now than Smith’s political future are the questions: Do Republicans want independent legislators who think, or will Texas government become a private fiefdom for the benefit of a handful of feudal lords? And is the tort reform movement about creating a fair balance between individuals and corporations in the legal system, or is it succumbing to special interests?
Here’s the obvious question: why isn’t TLR attacking Smith directly? After all, Smith is an attorney who has done some plaintiff work, and he has disagreed with TLR sometimes.
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By William Lutz on
2/26/2010 1:08 PM
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.
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By William Lutz on
2/23/2010 3:07 PM
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.
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By William Lutz on
2/23/2010 1:50 PM
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.”
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By William Lutz on
2/23/2010 1:43 PM
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By William Lutz on
2/23/2010 11:45 AM
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.
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By William Lutz on
2/19/2010 1:34 PM
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":
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By William Lutz on
2/19/2010 11:19 AM
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By William Lutz on
2/16/2010 12:09 PM
Gov. Rick Perry announced today that the State of Texas is filing a lawsuit and asking the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its finding that carbon dioxide is an environmental pollutant. The effect of EPA’s action is to try to use the federal Clean Air Act to enact President Barack Obama’s policies limiting gasses that he believes contribute to global warming and climate change. The lawsuit, filed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit, alleges the EPA’s endangerment finding is based on junk science and seeks an order stopping the EPA from regulating global warming under the clean air act.
“The EPA’s misguided plan paints a big target on the backs of Texas agriculture and energy producers and the hundreds of thousands of Texans they employ,” said Gov. Rick Perry. “This legal action is being taken to protect the Texas economy and the jobs that go with it, as well as defend Texas’s freedom to continue our successful environmental strategies free from federal overreach.”
Leaders of environmental organizations immediately blasted the governor, criticized his support for new coal power plans, and gave Perry a symbolic citation for damaging the environment.
“Instead of suing the EPA, Perry should be taking proactive steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build up our clean energy economy,” said Tom ‘Smitty’ Smith, director of Public Citizen’s Texas office. “Our governor likes to brag about all he’s done to promote wind and energy efficiency and the emissions Texas has avoided as a result, but at the same time he is hammering through a second Texas coal rush that will negate all that hard work and add 77 million tons of CO2 to Texas’s already overheated air.” Officials with the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club called on the state to “clean up and phase out” its existing coal power plans. Public Citizen has a lawsuit pending against the state arguing its permitting process is too quick and does not allow for sufficient review and public input for clean air permits.
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By William Lutz on
2/15/2010 3:20 PM
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.
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