Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett files for re-election!

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Harris County Judge Ed Emmett made it official today and signed the paperwork to run for re-election.

This morning, I filed for re-election for Harris County Judge. While we’ve had many rewarding successes, we’ve still got work to do. But the people of Harris County have never been afraid of work, and I look forward to standing with them for the next four years through whatever challenges come our way. For more information about our campaign, please visit www.edemmett.com

Remember when I said this?

The biggest decision for Harris County Republicans is this: will Harris County Judge Ed Emmettrun again? Tough call. On the one hand, he is the most popular Republican in Harris County in any General Election. And that is a simple fact based upon the number of votes he gets when he runs. On the other hand, he has a beautiful family, more grandchildren than I have fingers (and thumbs) and maybe it is time to enjoy life.

I’ve talked to Ed several times over the last few weeks about his decision. At one point, he told me he had already written the annual letter that he gives to his staff about the state of the county with one exception – the last paragraph with his intentions. And this afternoon, he told me that he still hasn’t decided and that he and his wife Gwen are going to make that decision tonight and announce it to his staff tomorrow morning.

Well, between you, me and the fencepost, I hope he chooses to run one more time. As a conservative, that is a natural position for me to take. As in, the devil you know is always better than the one you don’t. Or something like that. Plus, he has done more for Harris County Republicans and governance than anyone that I can think of. And my goodness, I can’t even imagine what Gwen is going to do with all of that energy he has. The guy is a perpetual motion machine. Sitting on a rocking chair is probably okay for a few minutes but then what? I mean, seriously, then what? C’mon Ed, give Gwen a break. Sort of like this guy’s wife says.

And then the very next day this happened? At that point I thought we were home free.

Little did I know that this would happen:

On Aug. 15, during a work trip to Victoria, the longtime Harris County judge suffered a minor microvascular ischemia, a clot in a blood vessel in his brain. It blew out his fourth cranial nerve, causing a stroke.

“I felt fine. I just couldn’t see. I was seeing double images at all kind of angles,” Emmett describes. “I was helicoptered back to Memorial Hermann and I was in their stroke unit all day. Of course, I was told to take it easy for a while.”

Good grief! When I saw the headline, I about had a stroke myself! I don’t call it a bro-mance, I call it a pol-mance, as in Ed is my favorite politician, as I’ve said many times.

It probably won’t be as easy for him to win this year given the current political climate. This will be the last big election in Harris County with the straight party option on the ballot unless something changes. Normally he is able to get a good chunk of Democrats to cross over and vote for him but these are crazy times. Hopefully that will happen again in 2018 but he is going to need all the support he can get.

In the off chance that you don’t know much about Judge Emmett, you can visit his website.

Possible bid rigging in Houston’s trash contract?

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From the InBox:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 10, 2017

WHAT DO YOU SAY NOW MAYOR?

The world’s largest international construction company has a message for Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.  It is a message that could mean millions of dollars coming back to Houston taxpayers.

Grupo ACS has reaffirmed its support for the ECOHUB project.  The support came in a letter delivered to the Mayor and all members of Houston City Council just days before curbside recycling service are set to resume. The letter should make it harder for City Hall to keep trying to cut ECOHUB out of any city business.

GRUPO ACS has annual revenues of $39 billion dollars.

ECOHUB and the City were in final contract talks to take all garbage to an $850 million dollar privately financed facility to create new products.  The program could literally end the need for landfills, but Mayor Turner killed the deal.

There’s growing evidence the Mayor help structure a new recycling proposal that would cut ECOHUB out of the competition.  ECOHUB founder George Gitschel has loudly cried foul, filing a bid rigging complaint the Mayor simply ignored for months. ECOHUB and Dolcefino Consulting are now suing City Hall for keeping public records a secret.  E-mails sent or received by the Mayor’s close confidante Maya Ford have now been subpoenaed in the case.  In the few e-mails that have been made public, Ford detailed allegations of possible ethical misconduct against Houston Garbage Boss Harry Hayes.

Houstonians have been asking questions too.

ECOHUB has promised to share up to $16 million dollars in profits with the City every year, in exchange for the city garbage. Taxpayers wouldn’t have to invest a penny in the plant. ECOHUB says they could cut garbage routes dramatically, saving Houstonians up to $40 million dollars a year; money which could be used for firefighters and Hurricane relief the first year the plant is open.

The obvious question, why would that offer be ignored by the Mayor?

“It is time City Council grasps the chance to make millions of dollars for taxpayers,” says Wayne Dolcefino, President of Dolcefino Consulting. “It is time to do the smart thing. Who turns away millions of dollars?”

Mayor Turner recently selected a foreign company to handle recycling, but there were allegations of favoritism. City Council wanted the contract talks reopened. Hurricane Harvey pushed the recycling scandal out of the headlines, but with recycling starting up again, the contract will be back in the news.

“With evidence of possible bid rigging, it is time for the Mayor to reopen negotiations with ECOHUB, or to simply start all over so that every company has an equal chance to compete with the best technology.”

The letter from ACS suggests Hurricane Debris should make the City rethink the future of recycling.

“Millions of tons of waste from Hurricane Harvey… present new important facts for our City to consider in its decision,” says Carlos Ramiro Visser, Chief Executive Officer from ACS Industrial Services Inc.

Jessica Strahinic
Researcher
Dolcefino Consulting
[email protected]
3701 Kirby Suite 560
Houston, Texas 77098
O:713-360-6911

Click to view the Grupo ACS letter to the Houston City Council.

Rep. Jim Murphy Sets Date for Third West Houston Teen Leadership Summit

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From the InBox:

jim murphy logo

Rep. Jim Murphy
State Rep. Jim Murphy

FOR RELEASE: 2018 Date Set For Third West Houston Teen Leadership Summit, Hosted by State Representative Jim Murphy

West Houston, TX – November 2, 2017 — West Houston’s high school sophomores and juniors will connect with local executives, politicians, and community leaders at the third biennial West Houston Teen Leadership Summit.  The event is hosted by State Representative Jim Murphy and will continue his tradition of developing teen leadership skills.  The 2018 summit will be held on Saturday, February 10 at the Norris Conference Center – City Centre, in the heart of House District 133.

“While we don’t know exactly what the future looks like, we can get an encouraging glimpse from today’s young people. They will shape the future and we want them to know that it begins today.  It is important that we train them to engage in leadership roles, network with current leaders, and get to know their community,” said Murphy.

Each West Houston high school has been invited to send their nominees to the biennial event.  In addition to the school nominations, places have also been allocated to At-large “Community Delegates” to complete 200 delegate spots. Over 20 area high schools participated in the 2016 summit.   The summit is held free of charge for all attendees, due to the generous support of the event sponsors.

The Teen Summit draws top Houston-area leaders to participate on panel discussions and smaller break-out groups. Confirmed speakers include Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar Chase Untermeyer, Lorelle Media President Linda Lorelle, Councilman Jerry Davis, Harris County Flood Control District Meteorologist Jeff Lindner, and over 20 additional community leaders.

“When I was a teenager, I very much wanted to be involved in public life in Texas and the nation. But I had no clue how to do it. If there’d been a Teen Leadership Summit in those days, it would have introduced me to men and women who had achieved public office and who could have given advice on what to do and what not to do. Representative Murphy should be commended for creating this exciting and valuable forum, and I eagerly look forward to talking with the future leaders of our community,” said Chase Untermeyer, former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar and 2018 summit panelist.

State Representative Jim Murphy represents District 133, West Houston. First elected in 2006, Murphy serves as Chairman of the House Committee on Special Purpose Districts and is a member of the Ways & Means Committee.  Working as an economic development consultant through his firm, District Management Services, he has helped bring in over $2 billion in new investment and tens of thousands of jobs to West Houston.  Murphy grew up in District 133 and graduated from Strake Jesuit and UT Austin. He and his wife, Dr. Kathleen Murphy are members of St. John Vianney Catholic Church and have two adult sons, Robert and Pace.

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For a Houston Chronicle report on one of Rep. Murphy’s previous Teen Leadership Summits, click here.

I endorse Paul Simpson and Governor Abbott for Re-Election—it is time for all of us to do the same.

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ed-hubbard
Ed Hubbard

I have refrained from regularly posting on BJP for the last 3 years out of concern that anything I might write could be attributed to the local Republican Party, because I held an office with the HCRP.  Now that I have stepped-down from that position, however, I plan to resume my regular posting here.  Although my friend, David Jennings, pleaded with me to write something about the remarkable World Series and the Astros’ championship, I will postpone sharing my thoughts about this season, and my beloved Baseball, for another post (or two) before Spring Training starts.  Instead, I want to jump back into BJP with some thoughts about the future of our State and our party.

But, before I do so, I want to publicly thank Paul Simpson for giving me the opportunity to serve our local party since the summer of 2014.  When Paul and I first ran against the incumbent Chair of the HCRP in the 2010 primary, the party infrastructure was in abysmal shape.  I presented a 10-point plan for rebuilding the party finances, management and organization, and for growing the party base—and Paul and I agreed on most of those points.  I am proud to say that, through Paul’s leadership and the combined efforts of so many local activists, so much of what he and I fought for in 2010 were successfully implemented under Paul’s leadership.  Today, the party has a strong organizational and fiscal foundation upon which it can continue to grow by identifying and mobilizing voters to elect our Republican state and local candidates.  Thankfully, those reforms came just in time, because, as we saw in the last election, Harris County is now so politically competitive that we need the effective organization he has built to continue to elect our candidates.  As a result, I whole-heartedly endorse Paul for another term as Chair of the HCRP—he’s earned it.

As we saw during this last election, though, we cannot rest on the foundation Paul established, for even though our down-ballot local candidates did better than the top of the ticket in both 2014 and 2016, such performance will not be enough if the top of our ticket is not supported by our local voters.  And the strength of that ticket next year will depend on the ability of our incumbents for the U.S. Senate, Governor and Lt. Governor to address the long-term needs of Texas, and on the unified effort of our party activists to support this ticket.

It is because these challenges are so immediate and obvious that I was distressed to see that some of the early endorsement emails recently circulating have left out the most obvious incumbent at the top of our ticket: Governor Greg Abbott.  I am not sure whether this was an oversight, an intentional delay to focus a later email just on him, or (what I fear) a desire by some in our party to recruit a challenger, but I am concerned that more than one endorsing entity has done the same thing before the filing deadline.

So, let me be clear where I stand:  I happily, fully, and unconditionally endorse Greg Abbott for re-election as Governor.  I believe he is still the right man for this job at this time, and that his best days as Governor lie ahead.

I don’t say this out of blind loyalty to either the Governor, or my party.  Like any other independently thinking conservative, there have been issues on which I have disagreed with him, or feel he has not yet done enough.  But, he is still the best man to lead this State at this time as it addresses the long-term challenges we face in Texas.

What are those challenges?

Regardless of whatever pet issue drives your political interest, there are at least six over-riding and obvious priorities that our state government must address over the next four years—some by itself, and some with through collective efforts with our business community, local leaders, and our Congressional delegation:

  1. Structural and financial reform of our K-12 public school system and our state-university undergraduate system;
  2. Modernization and expansion of our roads, bridges, ports, and flood control and coastal-storm surge protection systems;
  3. Reform of our public-employee compensation/pension, and municipal finance, systems;
  4. Re-imagination of our local and state public health delivery systems, including how we address mental-health care;
  5. Implementation of a more effective sunset-process for unnecessary or duplicative agencies; and
  6. Adoption of zero-based budgeting at each level of government.

You will note that I did not include property-tax reform on this list.  As important as that issue is, we cannot begin to reform our tax system until we truly know how much money our state and local governments need to properly meet these challenges.  Only after we address these reforms can we effectively change our property-tax system.

These are not easy issues to address and to solve; but solve them we must if we are to continue to grow as the most free and conservative state in the Union.  For instance, we have a K-12 educational system, and a flood-control system, that are both over 70 years old, and they are wholly incapable of meeting the needs of Texas today, let alone for the next generation.  As for our public university system, we have imbalanced the use of public resources by diverting too many resources to building world-class research institutions and away from the support of undergraduate education.  Our cities and school districts have become too debt burdened and are approaching insolvency.  And our state and local governments are too ossified in the status quo to reform themselves to meet present and future needs.

I love our citizen legislature that meets regularly for 140 days every two years, but this is not enough time for our legislators to address these long-term needs.  So, as Governor Abbott recommended to the last special session to address educational reform, we need a Governor who is willing to appoint and work with special commissions while the legislature is not in session to investigate and develop long-term plans to present to the legislature, similar to the Perot Commission in the 1980s, and modeled after the successful bi-partisan effort of civic and political leaders to address Houston’s pension problem during the last legislative session.

Governor Abbott is the one statewide official with the breadth of experience at the state and county levels to lead this effort, and I believe he sees these challenges and is ready to lead Texas to find solutions.

But he needs our unified support to do so.  So, our party—at every level—needs to not only support his re-election, but also support him, and the rest of our elected officials, to meet these challenges consistent with our principles of liberty, free-markets, and limited government.  As part of this effort, we need to reach-out to every neighborhood, build relationships and trust with voters, and persuade them that our agenda and principles will produce effective government throughout Texas for years to come.

Again, the best leader we have at this time to address these issues is Governor Abbott, and I endorse his re-election.  I challenge the rest of you to unify and do the same.

The choice is clear on the Houston Pension bonds, Prop A

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It really is because it distills into a simple, reasonable question: Is the proposition good for the city?

If you recall, I asked, no, that’s not right, I begged the Houston Chronicle’s newest hire, Ericia Grieder, to take a look at the issue and render a verdict. I did that because I knew from past experience that she is (a) an expert on economic issues, (b) she is new to the city and the issue and (c) she really doesn’t care if you are a liberal or a conservative, she’ll call the balls and strikes as she sees them (heh, I had to get a baseball reference in there, right?). I even committed to purchasing a subscription to the Chron if she would write about it. She did and I did. Here is part of what she had to say:

Everyone agrees that Houston needs pension reform. The city has three public pension funds, for police, firefighters, and municipal employees. They are, as it stands, only 55 percent funded. The unfunded liabilities work out to $15.7 billion. The city’s share of that would be up to $8.2 billion, depending on how shrewd the fund’s managers might be.

Sylvester Turner campaigned on the issue while running for mayor in 2015, and the pension obligation bonds are part of the plan he proposed this year and pursued in the 85th Legislature. The result, after extensive negotiations, was Senate Bill 2190, authored by state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston. Its terms call for city employees to contribute more to their pension funds and accept $1.8  billion in benefit cuts in exchange for an infusion of cash via the pension obligation bonds. It also limits the risk of future cost increases, through a financial corridor provision that caps the city’s contribution rates.

…

The deal itself is not perfect, for a variety of reasons, and conservatives may see it as a Band-Aid, because city employees would still be enrolled in defined-benefits plans. Fiscal conservatives are wary of that approach, in general, because if the benefits are defined, the costs of the plan itself are necessarily indeterminate. They can easily be higher than expected, and often are.

…

All of this raises some reasonable questions about the city leaders urging voters to approve the pension obligation bonds, as it might if someone asked you for a loan so they can pay off their credit card. Another loan, that is; Houston already has about $600 million in outstanding pension obligation debt.

“Issuing the bonds eternalizes a failed pension system,” argues Bill Frazer, who ran for city controller in 2015.

I can see where he’s coming from.

Still, I disagree with his conclusion. A billion dollars is a lot of money, but Houston voters are already on the hook for more than that. And passage of Proposition A would help lessen the burden, in addition to its sting. Interest rates are low. Houston’s municipal debt has a decent credit rating. The deal, as mentioned, includes significant benefit cuts – which can be rescinded, if the city doesn’t come through with the pension obligation bonds.

…

In my view, the passage of Proposition A would be a good thing for Houston. The measure is reasonable in itself, and it’s only one part of the pension reform deal – a deal which may not be perfect, but is already done.

(click to read Pension reform deal may not be perfect, but it’s good for the city on HoustonChronicle.com)

A couple of things that she writes stand out to me. First, as I told you, she will listen to all sides (if you click on the link to the full article, you’ll see more of that). Second, she doesn’t hyperventilate over it, she simply states her opinion after reviewing it. And lastly, she distills it down to the essence of the issue: is it good for the city?

Clearly the issuance of these bonds (substituting high cost debt for low cost debt and future concessions from employee unions) is a net positive for the city.  No serious observer can make a case against that basic premise.

Most of the opposition is based upon the fact that the City of Houston has been controlled by liberal Democrats for many years. Something along the lines of ‘you get what you ask for’. And that is completely true. But finally, after years of neglect, conservative Republicans have stepped in and come up with a plan that, while certainly not perfect and certainly not all encompassing, is good for the city’s future. Which means that it is good for the taxpayers in the city.

Hopefully the voters will agree with conservative Republican State Rep. Jim Murphy and vote for Prop A.

I heard that ad today on the Charlie Pallilo sports talk show on 94.1 FM in Houston. Talk about a micro targeted ad! Whomever is running that campaign is seriously good at recognizing who votes and who doesn’t. If you even know that Pallilo is back on the air and you tune in to a small FM station to listen to his highly analytical sports commentary, there is a high probability that you are a voter. In fact, as a political nerd, I’d guess it was close to 100%.

I was thrilled because some of us have been advocating for years that Harris County Republicans should spread their wings beyond conservative political talk radio. As best as I can remember, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett is the only Republican to recognize this, appearing multiple times on sports talk radio. Listening to Rep. Murphy’s ad and knowing that Republicans can indeed adapt to the politics of a purple county is very heartening.

Hopefully, Republicans will cast aside their inclination to oppose anything that Democrats propose, look at the facts at hand and vote FOR Prop A.

It really is good for the city.

Rep. Jim Murphy: fixing Houston’s pension mess begins with you

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pension

Rep. Jim Murphyby State Rep. Jim Murphy

Earlier this year I took to these pages to clear up confusion about the HISD recapture vote. Working together, we passed the HISD proposition and kept $8 billion of commercial property on the HISD tax rolls, preventing skyrocketing property taxes for homeowners.

This November, Houston voters must once again decide between a fiscally prudent path or one that guarantees financial calamity and higher taxes for everyone. While good people may disagree on a final pension solution, we can all agree that we must begin now to reduce the current $8 billion in unfunded pension liabilities and limit future taxpayer exposure.

Houston voters can begin to reduce the city’s high-cost debt and shore up the pension funds by voting for Prop. A, the Pension Obligation Bond. Currently, taxpayers are charged 8{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} interest on the $1 billion which the City of Houston borrowed from the police and municipal workers retirement funds (by not making its contributions). This debt leaves the funds dangerously underfunded and costs us taxpayers millions in unnecessary interest charges.

Passing Prop. A, is good for taxpayers. Here’s why:

  • Unlike the other bonds, Prop A does not saddle the City with additional debt.
  • Passing Prop. A will refinance existing debt at a much lower interest rate, potentially saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 30 years.
  • In return for passing Prop. A, taxpayers receive an additional $2.5 billion in agreed upon benefit reductions.

If voters reject Prop. A, we taxpayers will lose the $2.5 Billion in savings from the agreed upon concessions. What’s more, we taxpayers will also continue to pay higher interest rates and the city pension crisis will worsen to the point where we will be forced to pay more and higher taxes, leaving us and our city poorer each year.

To put it plainly, would you continue to pay 8{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} interest on your house or car if you had the ability to refinance at a much lower interest rate? I wouldn’t.

As someone who has consistently advocated and fought for returning control of the pensions to local governments, I can assure you that it is much easier to design the perfect fix than it is to garner the necessary support to make the perfect piece of legislation the law.

Lt. Governor Dan Patrick showed tremendous leadership by getting the multitude of parties to come to a baseline agreement that put taxpayers and retirees first. My friend, Senator Joan Huffman worked extremely hard to craft a bill that ALL sides could agree upon. Joan’s bill goes further than any previous pension bill. It ensures that our City employees and first responders will indeed get the pensions they have earned. It also gives taxpayers a seat at the table. That seat is our ability to vote for Prop. A which was championed by Senator Paul Bettencourt along with an overwhelming majority of our colleagues in the legislature.

The process of fixing Houston’s pension mess begins with you and all of us voting for Prop. A.