Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Sen. Dan Patrick at the Rally for School Choice

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Glad I received the last minute notice of the “Rally for Tuition Affordability” held at the Robert Beren Academy in Southwest Houston this afternoon. There were several things that I learned about the issue and it helped me to understand better the forces behind the push for “vouchers” in Texas. The Beren Academy is a Jewish day school and it was pretty neat that they allowed the students to sit in and listen to several short speeches in favor of the issue.

The first speaker was Nathan Diament, Executive Director of Public Policy for the Orthodox Union’s Institute for Public Affairs in Washington, D.C.  Mr. Diament started his talk with a reminder that Israel was under attack at that very moment. He then spoke about his organization and how it was working in several states to achieve practical policies, with real benefits, regarding school choice. He used the example in Genesis of Isaac, Jacob, and Esau, saying that just as Isaac heard the voice of Jacob, so too do we need to be the “voice” of the children. I have to say that I thought it an odd choice, given that the story is one of deception. Perhaps it has more meaning in Jewish lore?

Next up was the Executive Director of the school, Rabbi Perry Tirschwell. He used terms that Debra Medina would like: We Americans, We Texans. He said that We Texans like choices – and gave a few examples of consumerism in America, then added that “democracy” is like that in that we have the freedom to make choices. He reminded us that government has decided to subsidize only one choice in public education in Texas, making it free, and that is why most parents choose to send their children to public schools.

He then shocked me with the cost of Jewish day schools, saying that the range per year, per child in Houston is $10 – 20,000. Wow, I had no idea. He then gave an example of a family with three children, noting that the cost would be roughly $50,000 per year of pre-tax income. The good news (I’m guessing parents needed good news at this point) is that the schools are able to raise a tremendous amount of money to help offset the steep tuition, enough that more than half of the children in Jewish day schools pay less than full tuition.

Rabbi Tirschwell’s last point was that government should not pay for religious teaching – he firmly believes in separation of church/state. Nor should government pay for the smaller class sizes of private schools. They should only pay for the teaching of math, science, english, etc. That presents a problem for those of us that insist that Planned Parenthood should be denied all funding because any funding simply subsidizes the overhead required to perform abortions. I’ll have to think about that one. Dang, this isn’t an easy subject!

The third speaker was Sister Kevina Keating, Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. She talked about the need for the Texas Legislature to find a better way for working families to have school choice. She then put forth an alternative of allowing tax credits for businesses when they give contributions to educational facilities. Her thought was that businesses could give money to non-profit scholarship agencies and families could then apply to these agencies for scholarships to the school of their choice. She also stated that the United States of America is unique in that it funds only one education system while other countries around the world fund all types of schools. Interesting, I didn’t know that.

Next up was Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, although he couldn’t make it in person. Seems he was busy in Austin with the Legislative Budget Board setting the new spending cap of $77.9 Billion, a 10.7{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} increase, about a percent higher than population growth plus inflation. Gov. Dewhurst did take the time to record a message for the rally – lest you think he isn’t behind this movement, watch and learn:

And then keynote speaker Sen. Dan Patrick took the stage and BAM! Well, not that but he is awesome when he is passionate about a subject. And for all you naysayers that whined when Gov. Dewhurst named him Chair of Public Education, you really need to talk to him about education before you dismiss him. Obviously, I go back and forth on Dan but that is only, as I’ve said many times before, because I like him and know what he is capable of. I doubt anyone in Texas has worked harder than he has to learn the ins and outs of the Texas public education system. And because of that he is very prepared to tackle this job and I’m proud to support him.

I think his best line was “it is immoral to force kids to go to a failing school”. Or maybe it was his discussion about our misplaced priorities, rewarding kids that can bounce a basketball or throw a football while ignoring those that could be good teachers or scientists. Or perhaps when he said that we need leaders, not politicians that are worried about the next election. But I don’t think it was when he said that if it weren’t for oil and gas, we’d be as backwoods as Alabama and Mississippi. 😉

Dan is all in and that is awesome. He talked about the aggregate dropout rate of Blacks and Latinos being 40{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}. He put the issue in perspective, noting that 1 out of every 10 kids that attend school in the US are in Texas and that the number is growing by 80,000 per year. Of the five million children in Texas’ 8,500 schools, only 235,000 of them are in private schools. The idea that school choice will destroy the public schools is ridiculous. He also talked about funding using tax credits but didn’t commit to any single plan.

He also told us that business interests would fight against vouchers and that we would have to go toe-to-toe with them but that we can win IF we get engaged in the fight. And after attending this rally today, I’m ready and willing to help. How about you? Sidelines or frontlines? We need to fix our schools now. I hope that Speaker Straus is onboard because I’m betting that with Lt. Gov. Dewhurst’s help, school choice passes the Texas Senate.

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Sen. Dan Patrick to discuss school choice today in Houston

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Sorry for the short notice, I didn’t know about this until this morning. Looks like a good opportunity to learn more about the issues behind the push for vouchers in Texas public education.

Rally for Tuition Affordability

 Thursday November 15, 2012 @ 1:00pm

Robert M. Beren Academy

11333 Cliffwood Drive Houston

Please make every effort to attend!

In attendance – Senator Dan Patrick, Senate Education Committee Chair and School Choice Advocate

 For more information please visit

 www.ou.org/convention

In conjunction with the

 Orthodox Union’s National Week of Action to Advocate Tuition Affordability

Co Sponsored by:

 Robert M Beren Academy

 Sephardic Gan Torah Emet

 Torah Day School

 Texas Girls Academy

Click here for a map.

Robert Miller at the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club

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Robert Miller, chair of Locke Lord’s Public Law section, at the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club.

I’ve wanted to meet Robert Miller, chair of Locke Lord’s Public Law section, for quite some time. Not only is he one of the top lobbyists in Texas, he writes the most informative blog (View from the Gallery) on the Texas Legislature that know of. So when I heard that he was going to be the featured speaker at the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club’s weekly meeting yesterday, I saddled up and headed into the big city. And I’m glad I did – he is chock full of knowledge about politics in Texas and was able to add clarity to the results of the recent elections.

First off, just to make sure that you know that he knows what he is talking about, he wrote this on September 4th, two months before the election:

At this point, I see the Democrats picking up +/- 7 seats giving them 55 seats to 95 for the Republicans.

And that is exactly what happened. I should’ve headed to Vegas…

The catchphrase from his speech was “you can’t swim against the tide of demographics”, used to illustrate that Republicans cannot continue to win elections if the base remains “aging white males”. He pointed out that Texas is a majority minority state and that Latinos will be a 50{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} majority in the near future.

Another focal point of his message was that bad candidates lose. He noted the Republican losses in the Missouri and Indiana Senate races, using Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock to prove his point. He even went back to 2010 and reminded us about Christine O’Donnell and Sharron Angle.

Locally, I was happy that he agreed with me that Harris County Republicans over-performed. He is not as optimistic as I am that we can keep the county from turning blue, pointing out the changing demographics. I agree to a point, that point being that Harris County Republicans have an opportunity to reach Latinos and that it is not written in stone that they will continue to vote Democratic. Obviously, the leaders of the party have to change and that is not going to be easy, as I noted here. And we also have to change our rhetoric about illegal immigration, which is going to be even harder.

Mr. Miller thinks that we cannot change our rhetoric until we solve the issue of illegal immigration, noting that we are not going to deport millions of people and that part of the solution must include some type of legalized status. He stated, correctly in my opinion, that the rhetoric surrounding the issue is killing the Republican Party.

As I listen to various conservative talk radio and television shows, it is apparent that the battle to “solve” the illegal immigration problem is going to be rough. Already, Rush Limbaugh is demagoguing the efforts to “solve” it, noting that after Reagan gave 3 million people amnesty, the share of the Latino vote in the next election for George H.W. Bush actually dropped. If that happens, it happens, but I agree with Mr. Miller that until we “solve” it, we have no chance of lowering the volume and temperature of the rhetoric.

One of the most interesting topics was the upcoming legislative session. Mr. Miller thinks that Speaker Straus will be reelected easily, estimating his base at 85, consisting of 30 Democrats and 55 Republicans. As for the Senate, he expects it to be very conservative because Lt. Gov. Dewhurst has announced that he is running for reelection and appears to be trying to get the far right primary voters to back him. That’s too bad, but I guess I’ll save that for another day. Mr. Miller also thinks that Gov. Perry wants to run for President again in 2016, and will run again for Governor to help in that cause. Again, that’s too bad, but lets do that in another post. The bottom line is that Mr. Miller thinks that the Senate will be in the driver’s seat and send a lot of conservative legislation over to the House, which is also more conservative this session (see Bob Garrett’s piece here).

The one thing that Mr. Miller does not think will be addressed is funding for public education. He thinks that the judge in the lawsuit will rule the current system unconstitutional, and his ruling will be immediately appealed, eventually ending up in the Texas Supreme Court. And Mr. Miller thinks that they too will rule it to be unconstitutional, requiring a special session in the fall of 2013 or the spring of 2014 to address the issue. So don’t expect any major tax reform to come out of the 83rd regular session – rather, they will wait for the special session to handle it. Very interesting.

I really enjoyed Mr. Miller’s election recap and his insight into the upcoming legislative session, as well as meeting him. If you aren’t attending these types of luncheons, you’re missing out! It is always a good way to meet people and find out what is happening in the community.

Texas Speaker's Race: deja vu all over again

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Speaker Joe Straus

Here we go again, another non-event of a “Speaker’s Race” in Texas. As in 2010, there will be a lot of noise, a very nasty campaign full of lies and vitriolic rhetoric, and once again, when the gavel falls, it will be wielded by Speaker Joe Straus.

This year his opponents didn’t even wait until the General Election was over. They picked a trial lawyer to oppose him earlier this year and have been attacking ever since. Now that the election is over, expect the volume of attacks to increase to a roar but behind the noise, there is no substance.

First off, let me be clear. I have never met Joe Straus. I have never met anyone on his staff. The closest I’ve come to that is someone that worked for him as a contractor doing communications work. His staff has never been responsive to my requests nor have they ever helped me when I’ve asked for information on this bill or that one. I think I did get a reply once that said they’d look into it and have someone get back to me but they never did. So before you email me saying anything like that, know upfront that it isn’t true. The only reason I supported Joe Straus in the past is because of his record and the way he comported himself during the attacks on him. This is what I wrote last year after he won the battle and I stand by it:

In my lifetime, I haven’t seen a better example of statesmanship and leadership in Texas politics than Speaker Straus has shown throughout this two month attack on him. Never once did he succumb to the temptation to lash out at his juvenile acting critics, who played loose with the facts and long with the gossip and lies. He displayed the temperament and demeanor of his former boss, President Ronald Reagan.

I hope that his critics run a more honest campaign against him this year but I doubt it. And as I said last time around, it isn’t like I think Speaker Straus is entitled to the job – put up a worthwhile candidate and I’ll take a look, as I did with Bryan Hughes. After looking at the candidate, his positions, and his supporters, I do not think that Bryan Hughes would be a better Speaker than Joe Straus and I think that his stated positions in some areas will be harmful to the future of Texas.

Let’s take a quick look at Mr. Hughes and his stated positions. First, this video:

Obviously, it it mostly just typical rhetoric but if you listen closely, you can pull out his priorities:

  • Real budget and spending reforms – Straus has done well in this regard. I wrote about it during the last fight. Prior to Straus, Craddick talked a good game but the budget exploded. The same people that supported Craddick support Hughes. I would much rather have a fiscal conservative like Straus leading the budget fight than a social conservative that uses budget items as gifts in trade for social conservative legislation.
  • Securing our borders along with immigration reform – This is primarily a federal function. Arizona style laws or Alabama style laws will hurt the economy of Texas. There are things that we can do and I think that Straus and his team tried to do them last time but lost because some interest groups didn’t think they were radical enough. Most of this issue is pure rhetoric and Hughes has no advantage that I can see.
  • Strong pro-life legislation – Last session was the most pro-life session in the history of Texas or any other state. Non-issue.
  • Local control of public schools – I don’t know what he means by this because he didn’t comment on it. But I do know that we already have local control via elected school boards. The state constitution demands that the state funds a public education system. We need to figure out a better way to balance funding between property rich districts and property poor districts. I haven’t seen anything anywhere that suggests that Hughes has any fresh ideas on this issue. I think that Straus will support some form of vouchers, as long as they do not severely impact the overall school funding formula. I’ll take Straus’ approach at this point. Besides, until the lawsuit about the current financing system concludes and then winds through the appeals process, there is nothing much for the legislature to do this session.
  • State may be last stand in fight against Obamacare – pure rhetoric, no ideas or substance. Hughes cannot match Straus’ knowledge of healthcare issues in Texas or how to address them.

So based solely on his own stated priorities, I see nothing substantive that he has to offer. But take a look at his idea of “decentralizing” the Texas House:

Hughes said he would decentralize power in the House, by increasing the number of seniority seats on committees and making all committees subject to seniority appointments.

That would be a disaster for Texas. It pretty much confirms what many of us think about the groups behind the attacks on Speaker Straus – they want Texas to be like Washington DC, where relics rule committees because their districts keep electing them, regardless of their ability. Think Charlie Rangel. Think Barney Frank. Think John Dingell, who has been re-elected 29 times. Regardless of whom the Speaker is, basing committee assignments on seniority is a terrible idea for Texas. Just terrible and it is hard to believe that “tea party” types are helping back a trial lawyer that is proposing this system. It is the antithesis of “tea party” mentality.

As I was drafting this post, Jay Root put up a short piece over at the Texas Tribune about Bryan Hughes’ work as a trial lawyer and his benefactors. Worth a read before you decide to support him.

But like I said, when the gavel falls, Speaker Straus will be wielding it. Robert Miller, one of the most knowledgeable sources of information about the legislature, spoke at the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club yesterday and estimated that Speaker Straus has a solid base of 85 votes – 55 Republican and 30 Democratic. He only needs 76 to win. A better approach by those that are seeking to topple him would be to work with him, gain critical committee appointments, and move legislation forward.

I think that all you need to know about Speaker Straus and his adversaries is summed up by a paragraph in an attack piece against him.

Straus is sending clear signals that his intention is to continue to marginalize the growing number of genuine conservatives Texans are sending to Austin. Consistently at the top of his to-do list during the upcoming session are water, education and infrastructure. By focusing on important things like this, and by framing all problems as lack-of-money problems, Straus can avoid discussing any of the ways to make our government more efficient.

Think about that for a minute. These people are so shallow that they admit that Speaker Straus is focusing on important issues so as to marginalize their rhetoric. That sums up this non-race completely.

Harris County Republican Party: Circle the wagons and fire on the count of 3!

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Too bad that they are choosing to point their guns inward instead of outward. In arguably the most bizarre political attack of a bizarre, very long election season in Harris County, Sen. Dan Patrick and former Tax Assessor Collector Paul Bettencourt are using the raw emotions of a few losing candidates and their supporters to try and hold on to their eroding power over the Harris County Republican Party.

And that’s a shame.

First, let’s try and set the stage for those of you that are unfamiliar with this “controversy” or the inner workings of the Harris County Republican Party. As you do know, the ballot was long this year and filled with Civil District Court judicial races, in addition to the usual county wide races. Because 100% of Republicans didn’t win, the losers are upset. That is a normal reaction after working so hard for so long and investing, in some cases, their life savings. So they are very emotional and open to any excuse for losing except the truth – that being that Harris County has more Democratic Party voters than Republican Party voters. We don’t usually see that or notice it because most of the Democratic Party voters stay home on election day. In this election, enough of both sides voted to basically even that score and for the most part, people that call themselves “independents” or those that are “soft” party voters  decided the races on factors other than party affiliation.

As I noted here, it should be considered a very successful election for Harris County Republicans considering that we are outnumbered, but I guess I’m in the minority on that. Oh well, it isn’t the first time people haven’t listened to me and it won’t be the last. Okay, that takes care of the election part.

Okay, so that is the situation that is ripe to be exploited by someone. But you need more than that, you need something concrete to point to. And Harris County Judge Ed Emmett provided more than this particular group could have imagined – the dude went to Academy, bought a shooting target, stapled it to his chest, and said, “Here I am, come and get me!”. It must have felt like Christmas over in the Second Baptist Fellowship Hall! It was like, wow, not only do we have something to exploit, the guy we’re after is the one that gave it to us! Yippee!

What, exactly, did Judge Emmett do to cause this reaction, you ask?

He did what he always does. He acted with integrity. And in the Harris County Republican Party, you can’t expect to do that and get away with it. Lying, cheating, gossiping, deceiving, not paying your bills: all of those are acceptable but by golly, Big Jolly, you damn well better not act with integrity.

You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you? Of course you don’t. Because only about 100 people in a county of 4 million plus saw this report on KRIV 26 news. The report is about a false and misleading mailer that was mailed out from Texas Victory 2012 headquarters in Austin but paid for by local candidate for DA Mike Anderson. Judge Emmett is the Chair of Victory 2012. When that mailer hit 90,000 homes in Harris County, Judge Emmett started receiving phone calls complaining about it. Obviously, he hadn’t seen it, so he asked the office to send him a copy, saw that it was misleading at best, flat out false at worst, and took action. His action consisted of sending a letter via email to a total of 14 people (click here to view the email/letter). In the email, he stated:

As Victory Chair, I find it to be exactly the sort of mail piece that I have detested for years. In some instances, it is misleading and in others it is simply false. Some individuals have tried to justify it by saying that it was modeled after similar attacks launched by the Democrats in 2008. Sooner or later, all of us in politics must tell the consultants “enough is enough“.

Most of us would say “Amen!” to that. Here are a few of the problems with that mailer:

Mailer: The current Democrat County Attorney has refused to act upon any alleged wrongdoing by any public official in Harris County.  In fact, he is under actual investigation for refusing to do so.

Fact: That is false, unless we have now decided as a society that when a reporter looks into something, that is classified as an “actual investigation”. Ludicrous.

Mailer: From welcoming the radical media outlet, Al-Jazeera, to tour the Sheriff’s facility

Fact: Sheriff Garcia did not “welcome” the legitimate news organization named Al-Jazeera to Harris County. They filed an application for access to the jail as any other media organization would do. But hey, let’s tie the Harris County Sheriff to the Mooslims!

Mailer: Democrat Judge “harshly questions rape victim…after her attacker was found guilty.”

Fact: Kevin Fine is a “former” Democratic Judge. The Democratic Party purged him. This is a copy of a theme that I came up with in 2010 and that the party used – but he was a judge at the time. You can argue with me on this one about semantics but again, this is misleading.

But like I said, within the Harris County Republican Party, integrity is a negative, not a positive. After all, you can’t win elections on integrity! Well, except for that whole County Judge position, but who cares?

Now to the attack. A day after the election, Sen. Patrick and Paul Bettencourt go on KSEV 700 and start blaming Judge Emmett for the loss. They claim that this mailer affected turnout on election day because were it not for the mailer, Republicans would have won Election day. Sen. Patrick went so far as to say that Judge Emmett is really a RINO and that his real intention is to run for Governor as, get this, a Democrat! That’s right, Judge Emmett has been a Republican for 50 years or so only because he wants to run for Governor of Texas as a Democrat. This attack has now been spread by the losers and their supporters, and gets more bizarre as it matures. Treason! Judge Emmett is a traitor! Seriously, just read Facebook. Normally rational people are spreading this pile of bovine processed hay.

The fact is that Judge Emmett poured a tremendous amount of time and energy into getting  Harris County candidates elected. In fact, I received a mailer at my home for Harris County Republican judicial candidates, paid for by…the Texas Victory 2012 office! I was very surprised and complained about it because I thought that we in Harris County should be able to handle our own business and Texas Victory should spend their resources in places that we needed help. Turns out that Judge Emmett knew more than I did, knew that our candidates were in trouble and decided to help. Rather than costing our judicial candidates victory, that mailer could have provided the slim margin of victory in those nineteen races I mentioned above. And he also set up the phone banks that helped Sarah Davis trounce her opponent and helped David Pineda put a good dose of scare into the Democrats in a district drawn to elect  a Democrat. The idea that a report on a low rated television station of Judge Emmett’s repudiation of a false and misleading mailer made Republicans stay at home on election day and caused some candidates to lose their race is ludicrous.

Okay, we now have the stage, the controversy, and the attack. But why?

That’s the easy part and there are two reasons. The first is of course Judge Emmett himself. He doesn’t play ball with the Second Baptist crowd (note: I use that term generically meaning the Northwest quadrant of the county; nothing at all to do with the congregation at Second Baptist). When Jerry Eversole finally left the court, this crowd put up a couple of people for him to choose from with the full expectation that he would do so but Judge Emmett didn’t listen to them. He appointed someone that he thought would be a true servant of the people – I don’t know Jack Cagle but from all indications, Judge Emmett was correct. Truth is, the SD7 crowd (again, generically) hasn’t liked Judge Emmett from the beginning because he doesn’t play ball their way and actually tries to govern based upon principle and need rather than consolidating power. Bettencourt attacked him on KSEV three days after the 2010 sweep.  I know this because I was listening and objected to it at the time because it was just plain false. As in 2012, Judge Emmett helped all candidates but in 2010, he was on the ballot and carried them over the finish line.

My guess is that Bettencourt is eyeing a primary challenge to Judge Emmett in 2014 (if he doesn’t try for the Houston mayoral position) and is testing the waters with these attacks. If so, we can look forward to another bruising primary that will cost us in November. Exactly what happened this year but that is fodder for another post.

I said there were two reasons for the attack. The second is that the Westside crowd (again, generically) sees their power slipping away. For years, they have refused to let anyone from the other areas of the county have a real voice in party politics. So we have formed other groups, held our own meetings, and worked around the limits of the party to help Republicans win in Harris County. This was blatantly apparent this year -without us, it would have been a complete sweep for the Democrats because while the party was “more supportive”, they remain inept because they neglected to build the infrastructure necessary to win, particularly in the inner city and minority areas. As I mentioned on Mark McCaig’s radio program the Sunday before the election, they can either join us or be left behind because we are not stopping and will eventually lead the party. Apparently they have decided to try for one last gasp at power by creating a controversy where none existed to show that they are the “true” Republicans and the rest of us are just plain old RINOS. Good luck with that.

So there you go. Hey, I like Dan. That is the only reason I pick on him. I’ve been listening to him since he had that chain smoking producer on during his morning sports show long before Rush Limbaugh came along to help him be a success. So I know that Dan is an emotional being and often comments on things about which he isn’t informed on. So I’m going to give him a break and think that he was ranting about Judge Emmett because Paul told him to  – you and I both know that Dan jumps on whatever he hears first, then often has to go back and try to fix it. Dan hasn’t spent much time in Harris County this election season. His opponent filed a complaint about the radio show, so Dan was prohibited from working. He used his time to promote candidates around Texas, working tirelessly to help them. The cynic would say that he was also helping himself but so what? The fact is that he worked hard to get Republicans elected, then comes back to Harris County, sees that we didn’t get a sweep, hears from his friend and ally Bettencourt that Emmett is a traitor, and bam! Heck, anyone could have predicted that one.

What we can’t predict is whether or not Dan will come to his senses and figure out that he has been played like violin. Dan might not have had an opportunity to read my recap of Judge Emmett’s speech at the Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club during which Judge Emmett was very congratulatory of Dan’s new post as Education Chair and implored us to support him as he worked through the hard choices ahead. I’m hoping that the growth that Dan has shown since becoming elected will enable him to recognize that he is wrong in this attack and that he will make peace with Judge Emmett.

As for the losing candidates and their supporters, don’t get involved in this power play. As a group, you were the finest ticket Republicans in Harris County have fielded in many years. It is no one’s “fault” that you lost – the other side simply won. After a period of rest and reflection, use your boundless energy wherever God needs you to go next – it may be in politics and it may not. Bitterness will corrode you from the inside out and I pray that you will resist the temptation to harbor it.