Appraisal caps are the reason Sen. Dan Patrick is in office today. I won’t rehash the history but for those of you that followed KSEV Radio and LoneStarTimes, it is a familiar subject. To make it simple, we were very much in favor of capping appraisals at 3{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} instead of the current 10{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} a year. Most of us remain that way, even after all these years. Some, like Sen. Patrick, have upped the cap to 5{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} but remain committed to the principle.
Our foil during those early years was Rep. Fred Hill, of “The time to kill a snake is when you’ve got the hoe in your hand,” quote. Since LST’s archives are not online, I think this post at Chasing the Wind sums up our feelings about Rep. Hill:
So just tell me who’s running against Fred Hill. Even if it’s a dead person, I’m voting for him. Heck, I’ll even vote for a domesticated farm animal or even roadkill. Fred Hill has to go.
And go he did. Like most other ex-lawmakers, he walked straight into a pile of money lobbying his ex-peers. And one of his customers is the Texas Association of Counties, another one of our foils. From Texas Watchdog’s Jennifer Peebles (you probably should click on this one and read the whole thing – disgusting):
Flower Mound is listed on Hill’s lobbyist registration paperwork as paying Hill a prospective $10,000-$25,000 this year. Allen, Coppell, Dallas and Farmers Branch are down for $25,000-$49,000 each. The town of Addison is listed as paying $50,000-$99,999, as are DART and the state Conference of Urban Counties. TheTexas Association of Counties is paying $150,000-$199,000.
Back to the speaker’s race. The Straus opponents found this email from lobbyist Fred Hill:
Pretty damning if you ask me. And I’ll admit it is very, very hard to take the Fred Hill emotions out of this one, especially since I’m the one that coined Fred “The Hoe” Hill. And played much with Photoshop – I’m sure someone has those pictures.
That said, I also have to admit that there are two sides to the appraisal cap issue and conservatives fall on both sides. Probably the best short take on the issue I’ve read is this analysis from Standard and Poor’s in 2006:
Obviously, the issue of appraisal caps isn’t cut and dried, even for those of us that support lowering them. We understand the credit risks and the downside of that long term. We believe that the benefits of capping spending via lowering appraisal caps outweigh the risks. But the other side does, in fact, have a legitimate argument to make.
I am firmly against Speaker Straus on this issue. But I remain firmly in his corner as to the speakership because of something else that lobbyist Hill said in that same email:
But, I don’t want you to think that it ends our fight against caps. The policy of this speaker is to let the will of the House prevail.
That is the reason I came to support him in the first place. After watching the debacle that then-Speaker Tom Craddick made of the 80th Session, the way Speaker Straus ran the 81st Session was like a breath of fresh air. And with a now super-majority of Republicans in the Texas House, I’m actually excited for Speaker Straus to be at the helm. It is going to be a fantastic session for conservatives.
In the end, you have to decide for yourself. All I can do is tell you what I think and let the chips fall where they may.