Jul
5
Written by:
William Lutz
7/5/2011 4:44 PM
Sometimes what sets the press off amazes me.
I was watching television last week and one of the talking heads was asked about Comptroller Susan Combs’s hire (
announced Mon. June 27) of David White as a senior policy advisor. Apparently, this addition to the comptroller’s staff has come under fire in some circles, but why this is controversial is a mystery to me.
In the interest of full disclosure, I frequently speak to the Young Conservatives of Texas (of which White is a former chairman) on higher education and other legislative policy matters and am an alumnus of the organization. I know White and think highly of him.
That said, some in the press are turning the ordinary course of business into something controversial.
Every non-judicial statewide elected official – Republican or Democratic – has people on staff who handle external relations. It’s a part of public service. The office holder needs to know what key constituencies think on policy matters facing the agency and has an obligation to keep the public (including the folks that elected her) up to date on what she’s doing in office.
Within reason, this is not taxpayer-funded lobbying and is, in fact, an appropriate function of government. Most people who hold these positions have some political connections, because it gave them the ability to get to know the people with whom the office holder communicates.
Combs’s predecessor, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, certainly had people on staff with political backgrounds. For example, John Colyandro (current executive director of the Texas Conservative Coalition) worked for Strayhorn for years. Democratic office holders also had political folks on their state staff. (How many stories were written in the 1990s about hires from Democrats like Garry Mauro and Dan Morales who had political backgrounds? In Morales’s case, it took federal indictments – years after he left office -- before the much of Capitol press corps discovered how political that shop was.)
White isn’t running the agency and isn’t doing a civil service job. So why are some in the press so upset?
I think it’s because White worked for two social conservatives many in the press have never cared much for, Gov. Rick Perry (as political director for the 2010 campaign) and the local state representative for Nacogdoches, where he went to college, Wayne Christian (R-Center).
But that background will help him do his job. Republican primaries in Texas are decided by conservatives. It’s entirely appropriate that the comptroller reach out to that constituency to explain her accomplishments. (And Combs – particularly in the area of government transparency – has a record that conservatives can embrace.) Also, Christian served on the Regulated Industries Committee when White worked as Christian’s chief of staff, which helped introduce White to key industry leaders and lobbyists.
Perhaps the press also sees an agency under fire, and there’s a natural press tendency to throw gasoline on the coals. Right now, the Comptroller’s office has been put through the press ringer due to leaks of personnel data from state servers. The agency’s policy people have already taken action to address this, and if the problems get resolved and do not recur, it will be old news a year from now.
For the record, White didn’t ask me to write this, and did not know about this post prior to publication. I haven’t spoken to him in several weeks and found out about the hire from the press release. I debated whether to write this post at all, because this hiring decision shouldn’t be controversial. In the end, this matter is yet another example of some in the press making the ordinary course of business controversial -- but only when that ordinary business involves conservative Republicans.
1 comment(s) so far...
Will, you always write excellent blog posts, but you don't have to defend yourself about whether or not Mr. White asked you to write this blog post or not, or to the reasons why you decided to fire back at whoever had the proverbial cow over the hiring. Truth is the truth, and your level of professionality speaks for itself. Such disclaimers are unnecessary for someone of your caliber and reputation.
However, my suspicion is that Mr. Paul Burka started the whole ruckus over Mr. White. His outrage seems rather arbitrary, if you ask me.
By Alec McCord on
7/6/2011 1:39 PM
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