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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 Mark Lavergne on
9/29/2009 3:14 PM
Joey Longley, who has served as executive director of the Sunset Advisory Commission for 14 years, is resigning at the end of the day tomorrow, Sept. 30, and will join the office of Blackridge, a Texas-based lobby firm.
Longley has worked in Texas politics for 30 years. As executive director, he was responsible for day-to-day operations of the staff, planning the course of agency reviews, producing reports, conducting public hearings, and interacting with the Commission and the Legislature.
Ken Levine, the Deputy Director, will take over as acting director when Longley leaves. Because there is currently no Chairman of the Sunset Advisory Commission, it is not yet clear exactly who will be the interim or long-haul executive director of Sunset. Levine told LSR that he has requested an interim executive director be appointed.
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By Andy Hogue on
9/29/2009 11:32 AM
An Internet-based campaign speech by Gov. Rick Perry today was not seen by many due to technical difficulties. The campaign suspects the interuption was a cyber-attack:
"Today’s ‘Talkin' Texas’ webcast by Gov. Perry was deliberately interrupted by a denial-of-service attack, preventing countless users from logging in to view the Governor’s remarks," said Mark Miner, Perry campaign spokesman, in an e-mail. "This planned and coordinated attack was political sabotage, and we are working to identify those responsible for this illegal activity. Before the attack was initiated, more than 22,000 users were able to log in and view Gov. Perry’s complete remarks, which will be distributed shortly.”
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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 Mark Lavergne on
9/23/2009 2:16 PM
The Public Utility Commisison's summit on federal Cap and Trade legislation continued yesterday. The Cap and Trade bill, HR 2454, would put a nationwide cap on emissions, require companies to trade CO2 "credits" for the right to emit, and set goals every few years for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, including 83 percent by 2050. Here are some more highlights from the summit:
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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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