Here's to you, Mr. Jefferson!

Possibly one of the best songs coming out of the current liberty movement. Y'all will love it.

And, if you agree with the sentiments here, please come to the April 15 "Don't Mess With Texas" Tea Party at Austin City Hall at 11:30am!!!

Transparency in Texas higher ed!

HB 2504 by Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-College Station) would require public universities to provide transparency to students and the public transparency online regarding: syllabi, curriculum vitae of each regular instructor, a course budget report from the most recent semester, and providing penalty if the university doesn't provide this transparency.

Awesome legislation, and it's up for a hearing in House Higher Ed tomorrow.  2:00pm or upon adjournment of the floor session in E2.014.

There's a bunch of fee authorization legislation up tomorrow as well; can we seriously be talking about raising fees for the student union at the University of Houston right now?  Or an intercollegiate athletic fee at Midwestern State?

Anyway.  Transparency, awesome.   If you have a chance, give the committee members a call today and encourage them to support HB 2504.

Tuesday Legislative Calendar - House

Just in case you're curious.  Everything up for tomorrow is on third reading, meaning it's all come through the wringer.  

Rumor has it, and I believe it, that there will be bills on the state calendar every day this week and going forward.  We're hitting crunch time - Sine Die is June 2.

(Rumor also has it that the House will begin debating the budget on April 13, the Monday following Easter)

House Elections Cmte to hear public testimony April 7 on voter ID

SAFE Texas encourages Texans to wear red and attend both the Voter ID hearing and Rally that will be held TUESDAY, APRIL 7 at 11:30 A.M. to show lawmakers our support for secure and fair elections.

The Voter ID Rally will take place on south steps of the Capitol where we will hear from guest speakers and elected officials. We will then proceed to the hearing where you can sign up to give testimony or show your support for Voter ID by simply filling out a witness registration card.

If you would like to attend the hearing, give testimony or arrive after the Rally, please join us for the hearing in the John H. Reagan Building (JHR), Room 120, located on Capitol grounds at the southwest corner of 15th St. and Congress.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO WEAR RED!

Liveblogging: HB 1893 by Driver in House Public Safety Cmte

HB 1893 will be heard last in Public Safety today

There is so much interest in this bill that the committee room is packed.  Rumor has it that the cop who shot Charles Whitman (the UT Tower assassin) is there to testify.  Chairman Merritt says that they'll take up HB 1893 by Rep. Driver last, which means it probably won't be heard until after 5pm today.

I'll have a ScribbleLive blog up once the bill is brought forward and testimony begins.  Keep an eye out!  Also, if you're interested in joining the liveblog, let me know (leave a comment to this post with your Twitter screenname or your email - comments will remain in moderation for privacy).

Campus concealed carry is up in Public Safety

You can follow along by watching online here.

I'll have a liveblog up shortly.

Brown amendment withdrawn

Well, so much for that.  We could have gotten a quantifiable vote on photo identification for voting, but it's not gonna happen today.  Rep.  Brown withdrew her amendment to HB 71.

Remember, the House Elections Committee will consider voter ID next Monday and Tuesday.  I'll have more information about that hearing later today.

Brown amendment to HB 71 forces House to take first voter ID vote

The House Elections Committee hearing isn't set until Monday of next week, but it looks like the first House test on voter ID will happen today.

Rep. Betty Brown (R-Athens) has filed an amendment to Rep. Corte's HB 71, a bill dealing with electronic ballots for military service members.  The language is that of Brown's bill requiring photo identification to vote, HB 125.

(HB 125 has 5 joint authors and 51 co-authors.  That's fairly huge support.  But it hasn't gotten a hearing in Elections, and we should expect a fight over it today for sure)

The language of the amendment can be found over at Quorum Report.

HB 71 is on today's General State Calendar in the House, and there will be votes on these things today.  I will update as developments take place.

EDIT:  House stands recessed for lunch until 1pm.  HB 71 will come up this afternoon.  Brown's amendment will come up at that time. 

And then they came for the dishwashers....

You know, I don't mind using reusable shopping bags, I don't mind not using my air conditioner until June, and I don't mind cutting up the plastic rings from soda can six packs.  

But I severely dislike, and will actively rebel against, governments that presume to tell me I must do these things.

So kudos to the Spokane residents who have been smuggling in Cascade for their dishwashers, in spite of a government ban on certain detergents.

Government overreach is always offensive.  But now it's getting downright tyrannical.  

Airport security dips to new lows

You won't believe it, and you'll likely be as appalled as I am.

Disabled man encounters airport security official who denies the disabled is a person.

I honestly don't have words for this.

ACTION ALERT: Concealed carry bill to be heard in House cmte Monday

Please contact the members of the House Public Safety committee!!!!  Austinites - if you're able, please plan on showing up at this committee to drop a card in favor of HB 1893!  The committee meets at 2pm or upon adjournment of the House floor session, in room E2.014.

On Monday, March 30, the House Public Safety Committee will consider House Bill 1893, legislation sponsored by State Representative Joe Driver (R-113) that would allow valid Concealed Handgun Licensees to protect themselves on Texas college and university campuses.

Please call and email committee members and urge them to support HB 1893 with no gutting amendments. Law-abiding citizens with a Concealed Handgun License (CHL) should not be denied their right to self-defense just because they work or study on the campus of a postsecondary educational institution!

Please contact the members of the House Public Safety Committee listed below and respectfully urge them support HB 1893 with no gutting amendments. 

Tommy Merritt (R-7) - (512) 463-07 50

Stephen Frost (D-1) - (512) 463-0692

Joe Driver (R-113) - (512) 463-0574

Lon Burnam (D-90) - (512) 463-0740

Phil King (R-61) - (512) 463-0738

Hubert Vo (D-149) - (512) 463-0568

Tryon D. Lewis (R-81) - (512) 463-0546

Mallory Caraway (D-110) - (512) 463-0664

Eddie Rodriguez - (512) 463-0674
_____

http://www.NRAILA.org

Video: TFR promoting April 15 Tea Party

Conf. call with Gov. Perry on April 8

 

 

Don’t Mess with Texas

Tea Party

Join us for a Tele-Town Hall conference call with Gov. Perry!

 

 

Join us at 7 p.m. on April 8 for a Tele-Townhall with Gov. Rick Perry.

 

We will be discussing the stimulus funds and how they would affect our state if we took stimulus dollars with federal strings attached.

 

You will have the opportunity to personally ask him questions during this Tele-townhall conference call.

 

We hope that you will take this opportunity to have a real discussion about this very important issue, on:

 

Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Time: 7 p.m.

Who: Gov. Rick Perry and AFP Director Peggy Venable

 

 

Please visit www.afptx.org over the next few days to get updates, including the conference call number and access code.

 

---

Pitts vs Perry - who has room to talk here?

The big political story in Austin-area news at present has to do with a $50 million grant that appears to have bypassed the usual process and gone straight to the Texas A&M system.  House  Appropriations chairman Jim Pitts is all over the news questioning the governor's staff about the grant.  There are apparently many questions concerning grants to Perry's alma mater.  

It's nice to see Chairman Pitts concerned about fiscal responsibility.  Let's hope he does the same with the budget.

What gets me here is not the questioning about the grant (by all means!), rather the way Chairman Pitts is coming off like this sainted hero in the Texas House, keeping our governor accountable.  If you've been paying attention, you know that Pitts is coming under fire himself for foisting a budget on the Texas House and expecting a vote toot-sweet - former Appropriations committee member and leading Democrat Rep. Sylvester Turner has been saying, on the floor and to Chairman Pitts, that he wants more time to read the budget and will not vote for it without that opportunity.  He's gone so far as to say we need a special session.

Turner's not the only representative concerned about the budget.  And the Governor himself has been, as we know, quite concerned with how the stimulus money is going to play into the budget.  This may be a tad paranoid, but I wonder if Pitts' public attack on the Governor over the grant money is really about deflecting questions about the budget.  I wonder if Pitts is attempting to come off like this taxpayer hero, saving Texas' fiscal future one life sciences grant at a time, when in reality he is about to attempt to saddle Texas with one of the worst budgets in recent history

(Like everyone else, I have no idea what the budget looks like - I'm speculating.  Blogger prerogative)

Hard to say.  Pitts is one of the media darlings in the "moderate" wing of the Republican Party, immune to serious scrutiny because he's a long-serving incumbent who makes an effort to be "bipartisan."  And Perry is ripe for attack from all sides, being a fairly unpopular incumbent facing a brutal primary.  

Words of advice to disaffected Republicans

Chris Faulkner over at The Next Right has some really sound advice for the already rarin' to go liberty (read: Ron Paul)  grassroots, and I think it's worth reading.  

Truth be told, the advice in that piece could apply just as easily to the conservatives in the Republican Party who stood their ground in the '08 primary only to get bulldozed by the Inevitable Mr. McCain.  Plenty of us are still licking the wounds of 2008 - and we should be organizing already.  I know, I know.  There are all these "efforts" and online "movements" coalescing around some of our more strident members.  That's peachy (I'm a member of several....and you see the problem, right?).  But sooner or later, the "efforts" and "movements" need to get together and stand up for a single message.  A single movement, a single focus.  

I put this out there not to those looking for how to replace Obama in 2012.  If you read this blog at all, you already know where I'm going.  2010 is crucial.  For Congress, for the Texas statewides, for the TX Legislature, and on down the ballot.  Our party is split into at least three factions (and that's just at the elected level!).  We are long past the point of needing to get our act together.  

I even have something in mind for everyone to work on.  Redistricting.

In any event, if you're upset with the "establishment," be it the Republican hierarchy or your local entrenched incumbent, now is the time to recruit candidates and begin the long, hard road of campaigning.  Filing doesn't begin until December - but you can't really wait until then to make up your mind or ask around for possible recruits.

TXSkirt: What Hutchison's Run is Doing to the Party

Check it out here.  Poses the question:  what is compelling Kay Bailey Hutchison to run for governor, against an incumbent from her own party?

Good question.  

Like TxSkirt, I have not decided who I'm supporting for governor.  But it is certainly true that you can already feel the rips in our party over this.  A very smart person told me earlier that this sort of thing blows over in the end - that it's the local races that matter more in a primary.  I think he's right, but there's no doubt that the gubernatorial race is going to test a lot of us and by extension the party.

We have a long way until the primary.  We still have to get through local elections in May, the Legislature's sine die adjournment in June, hopefully NO special sessions, and the usual rigamarole in filing and whatnot.  Next March looks far away.  But TxSkirt's post, and several recent events, highlight that it's not really all that far away at all.

TEA PARTY INFORMATION!

Don’t Mess with Texas Tea Party

 

Join us as we rally in protest of the Stimulus!

 

We have a lot to be proud of in Texas! Texas is #1 in job creation, most Fortune 500 companies, top state for business, fastest growing state in the country, top exporting state, and our tort reforms rank top in the nation!

 

We don’t need the federal government burdening our citizens with more taxes and debt!

 

Help us in telling them they should leave us alone! We don’t want or need their stinkin’ stimulus!

 

 

Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 (Tax Day)

 

Time: 11:30am – 1:30pm

 

Location: Austin City Hall, 301 W. 2^nd Street, Austin TX 78701

 

Click here  to RSVP online or to RSVP on facebook click here: http://tiny.cc/Dro5v

 

 

Confirmed Speakers include: Governor Rick Perry, Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, Texas House Representative Wayne Christian, Michael Quinn Sullivan (Texans for Fiscal Responsibility), Peggy Venable (Americans for Prosperity-TX) and many more!

 

 

Partnering Organizations thus far: Americans for Prosperity, Austin Young Republicans, College Republicans at St. Edward’s University, College Republicans at Texas State, Libertarian Party of Texas, Texas College Republicans, Texas Republican Assembly, Travis County Republican Party, Williamson County Republican Party, Williamson County Republican Women, Williamson County Young Republicans, Young Conservatives of Texas

 

 

For information on how to become a Partnering Organization, please email Michele Samuelson at Michele.Samuelson@gmail.com or Eliza Vielma at Eliza@afptx.org.

(There will be a second rally at 4pm, with State Senator Dan Patrick, at the Capitol South Steps.  For more information regarding that event, please email Judy Holloway at having.anaustinteaparty@gmail.com)

To give or to serve - not really a question

It's hard to not blog about federal issues right now, especially when they are as ridiculous as this one.

The U.S. Senate voted to invoke cloture (end debate) on H.R.  1388, the GIVE Act (the Senate version is S. 277).  There were only 14 nays, and, you guessed it, none of the nays came from Texas.

I know it must be difficult, what with all the shenanigans happening on the financial side of things, to focus on every single thing the Obama administration has been attempting to foist on the American public.  But I think that's really no excuse, in the end, and that sooner or later we have to take these seemingly small capitulations (*cough*Geithner confirmation*cough*) as acquiesence.  

The GIVE Act is not innocuous, though, and voting to end debate really just means you're willing to let the bill pass.  We're talking about ANOTHER multi-billion dollar boondoggle ($6 billion, to be exact).  We're talking about legislation that will attempt to dictate to American citizens the perimeters of their voluntary service (while Obama punishes those who would donate to charitable organizations, incidentally).

Michelle Malkin has a breakdown in today's column.  

I must say, it makes me sad to know that Senators Cornyn and Hutchison aren't standing up to Obama the same way that some others are.  Hutchison's office even responded to a phone call about this legislation with "sometimes you just have to trust the president."  Um.  What?

I'm going back to watching what's happening in the Texas House today.  Keeping up with Washington is proving more depressing every day.

RR Commissioner Michael Williams coming to the Austin Tea Party!!

The Austin Texas Tax Day Tea Party has gained another Texas luminary and taxpayer advocate, Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams!

Remember, 11:30 am, Austin City Hall, April 15.  

Top 10% rule clears major hurdle in TX Senate

After listening to Florence Shapiro today, I'm more convinced than ever that the efforts to overturn the top 10% rule for college admissions are a mistake unless we first outlaw race-based affirmative action.

Shapiro stated as she has from the beginning that top 10% wasn't creating the "necessary diversity" it was intended to foster.  Hispanic and African-American enrollment at UT is not growing fast enough for Senator Shapiro and others.

Encouraging race-based affirmative action in our institutions of higher learning in Texas is not going to help anyone.  Using race as a factor in admissions creates a wider berth for racism and prejudice - it should not be used as a corrective measure when it corrects nothing.  

Third reading for SB 175 will happen tomorrow.  The Senate will likely vote the bill out, since it passed second reading 22-8.  The floor debate today lasted nearly six hours (the Senate is aiming at marathons for all the controversial stuff, clearly).

Sen. West tried to tack on an amendment to sunset Shapiro's provision after 6 years, and the Senate changed that to 8 years.  

Follow the bill's progress here.

Governor Perry confirmed for Austin Tea Party

The Austin, Texas Tax Day Tea Party is taking place in conjuction with hundreds of similar events nationwide, on April 15.  

Ours is a coalition gathering being held at two different times to accommodate as many willing protesters as possible.

On April 15 at 11:30am, Governor Rick Perry will join Peggy Venable, Michael Quinn Sullivan, and Rep. Wayne Christian at Austin City Hall for a rally.

After that rally, citizens will be encouraged to go to the Capitol and visit with legislators about the so-called stimulus package.  

Then at 4:00, we will gather on the South Steps of the Capitol for a rally and march to Lady Bird Lake for a symbolic reenactment of the Boston Tea Party.

Co-sponsoring organizations include:

Americans for Prosperity - Texas

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility

Travis County Republican Party

Williamson County Republican Party

Young Conservatives of Texas

College Republicans, Central Texas Region

Homestead exemptions for disabled veterans

The House Ways and Means committee is going to hear legislation relating to property tax homestead exemptions for veterans at Wednesday's meeting.  There are a couple of bills up relating to this, HB 62 by Aycock and HB 742 by Flores.  

HB 62 gives a complete exemption for a 100% disabled vet and nothing for 99% disabled and below.

HB 742 gives increasing exemptions based on increasing disability rates.

HB 742 is the better overall legislation for disabled vets, but HB 62 has a better chance of getting out of committee because it has a smaller fiscal note.

It would be really helpful if any vets, disabled vets, and families of disabled vets could call Ways and Means Chairman Rene Oliviera's office and declare their support for HB 742.  All you have to say is that you are a veteran and you support HB 742's passage out of committee.

Oliviera's Capitol office phone number is (512) 463-0640.  The Ways and Means Committee office number is (512) 463-0822.

Also, please call your state rep. and ask that they support HB 62 and/or HB 742 as a co-author.  

This legislation will be considered in committee on Wednesday, March 25.  The Ways and Means Committee meets upon adjournment of the House floor session, so calls all the way up through Wednesday morning will be helpful.

Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you know who might be interested.

St. Patrick's Day is now deemed "offensive"

H/T to Mark Krikorian over at NRO.  Apparently, there are some folks who think we should celebrate Shamrock Day instead of St. Patrick's Day.  Of course, this would be the ignorant greeting card crowd who also think that drinking green beer and wearing green wigs somehow qualifies as being Irish, no doubt.  Or possibly the same crowd who are trying to secularize every holiday with real religious significance because they are "offended" by the idea that some people might learn something from it (and yes, Virginia, there was a St. Patrick).

You know, I come from a family with a lot of Irish (and Catholic) heritage; my maiden name is Gaelic, in fact.  And I try hard every year not to get annoyed with the people who have totally stripped St. Patrick's Day of any significance, because I realize that not everyone was brought up that way, etc.  But things like this annoy me to no end.  I hope there really isn't a Shamrock Day movement, and yet it would not surprise me at all.

I tell ya, it's like there is no shortage of news to get my Irish up, you know??

I could go on a very long rant about the role of the Irish Catholics in building America, but you know, I'll save it.  It's late.  Y'all go read Jay Dolan's The Irish Americans (or any book on the Kennedy family) and I'll go catch some sleep.  

SB 855, aka Transportation Tax, in hearing Wednesday

SB 855, that awful transportation tax being peddled by Sen. John Carona this session, is up on the calendar for tomorrow's Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee hearing.  The notice says the bill will be considered during the afternoon portion of the meeting.

I'm pretty sure that Constant and Faithful Readers know what I think of this legislation, but in case you're new or you have been studiously avoiding these posts until now, I'll recap (courtesy Texans for Fiscal Responsibility):

1. Allow local governments to increase the gas tax by up to 10 cents a gallon. As an added hit, this new tax would go up every year without a vote – the legislation indexes the tax it to an obscure federal government formula that exceeds the rate of inflation!

2. Counties would charge $1 per hour per vehicle for “use of a parking space” without any apparent restrictions -- potentially $8,760 a year!

3. A $250 fee on new residents, and everyone's drivers' license renewal would double.

THIS IS BAD NEWS FOLKS.  How anyone could consider that raising taxes and creating new fees is a GOOD idea in this economy is beyond me, but I'm especially upset our state legislators are trying this when so much nonsense has already been pushed on the American people by the federal government.  

If you have a chance Wednesday, give the members of the committee a call and let them know you oppose SB 855.  Show up in person if you can and at least fill out a card in opposition.  And call your state reps and your state senators, regardless of whether they are on the pertinent committees, and urge them to oppose SB 855.

See previous post, "Opposition building against Carona/Truitt transportation tax"

Another day, another crappy piece of legislation

I spent a good deal of time last session trying to stop legislation that would discourage citizens from filing open records requests (a good deal of time arguing with Republicans, even). It seems you can't really keep that stuff down though. Like the weeds currently choking my backyard, they pop up defiantly every chance they get.

The latest piece of junk is HB 3641 by Rep. Doug Miller (R-New Braunfels). This bill, if passed, would allow governments to file suit in Travis County District Court (oh boy) whose open records requests take up a large amount of time and effort. To clarify - if the government in question feels like the request is exorbitant, then a suit can be filed.

And while that's bad enough on it's own, Comal County requested that this bill be filed because they've got a problem with an individual in Canyon Lake. They actually identified him to the Herald-Zeitung!

So we know that this is a personal attack. It's made rather more suspicious having been filed by Rep. Miller, who garnered heavy support from former rep. and thorn-in-the-taxpayer's-side Carter Casteel. But then, Rep. Miller does represent Comal County, and it makes sense they'd go to him with what they perceive is a big problem. Rep. Miller needs to recall, though, that he also represents the Douglas Kirks of Comal County - and county governments don't vote.

Government should be absolutely, completely open to the people it serves. By what right, and under what circumstances, should government be able to file suit against a citizen? The answer is that government has no right. It has no grounds or standing.

This legislation goes against practically everything Rep. Miller should be standing for -open and accountable government, a government "of, for, and by the people," and a government that does not retaliate against its citizens.

Please call your legislator and urge him/her to oppose HB 3641.

Rumor debunked - no challenge to Straus

Looks like this time, we'll escape the unholy wrath of the disgruntled - Jason Embry at the Statesman has a thorough debunking of the rumor going around that someone is seeking to oust Joe Straus as speaker, at least for the rest of this session.

Texas Insider was the only place to post any kind of story on the rumor, though sources at the Capitol have said they heard the rumor before it got posted there (even Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer says in the Statesman blurb that he heard it from a Straus staffer last week).

I said it yesterday, I'll say it again - an open challenge to Straus is a waste of time and effort in a busy and increasingly important legislative session. And despite what Martinez-Fischer and Rep. Jim Dunnam had to say in the Statesman article about not being entirely happy with Straus, they truly have no reason to complain when you look down the list of key committee chairmen (Dunnam especially - he's got the Select Committee dealing with the stimulus, what more could he possibly hope for?).

Session is just about half over, and we're still not into the really big stuff. There's no good reason for the rumors about a coup to circulate - it's all boredom, conjecture, and pot-stirring.

Happy Birthday, James Madison

Happy 258th birthday to one of my favorites, James Madison (I love that our birthdays are mere days apart, I might add ;-)

Check out what Tim Sandefur had to say here.

And here is my favorite James Madison quote: 

I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.

ACTION ALERT: Save the right to petition for charter amendments

I'm in a hurry, so I will pass on the information from today's alert from Americans for Prosperity:

This Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., the Texas Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee will hear testimony on Senate Bill 690. This anti-democratic bill will —  if passed —  effectively kill your right to petition for city charter amendments by increasing signature requirements.

In Houston alone, the signature threshold would jump from 20,000 signatures to 100,000 — a five-fold increase! For other Texas cities, the signature requirement will at least double.

State Sen. Mario Gallegos (D-Houston) sits on the Intergovernmental Relations Committee, and we believe he is one of two swing votes who could prevent this bill from making it to the senate floor.

Please call Sen. Gallegos' office today and encourage him to vote against Senate Bill 690.  His Senate office number is:  (512) 463-0106. His district office number is (713) 742-5000.

 

Some background on SB 690:
On February 5, Sen. Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio) introduced Senate Bill 690, which proposes doubling the threshold percentage of signatures required for citizen-initiated municipal charter amendments from five percent to 10 percent of registered voters. The bill also eliminates the alternate minimum number of signatures — 20,000 — relied on by activists in larger Texas cities.

SB 690 does not fix any problem. The purpose of SB 690 is to further restrict citizen participation in local government. SB 690 effectively cancels a right Texans have enjoyed for decades — the right of citizens in home-rule cities to propose amendments to their charters, which is the overarching legal framework for their municipalities.

The hurdles for a successful petition to get a city charter amendment referendum are already very high. As a result, such elections rarely occur under today's requirements.

 

Members of the Texas Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee include: 
Chair: Sen. Royce West,  Royce.West@senate.state.tx.us
Vice Chair: Sen. Robert Nichols, Robert.Nichols@senate.state.tx.us
Member: Sen. Mario Gallegos, Jr.,  Mario.Gallegos@senate.state.tx.us
Member: Sen. Dan Patrick, Dan.Patrick@senate.state.tx.us
Member: Sen. Jeff Wentworth, Jeff.Wentworth@senate.state.tx.us

You can read the bill’s language by clicking here.

State representative Dan Branch proposed a companion bill in the Texas House (HB 3458) on March 11. We have the ability to stop the House bill dead if the Senate committee turns SB 690 down. 

Challenge to Straus mounting in Texas House?

The Texas Insider has an article today concerning a list circulating in the Texas House - a list of House members who will support an effort to remove Speaker Joe Straus from his position "when the time is right."

Deja vu all over again!

The article does not cite any names; representatives who have signed the petition, or list, are so far choosing to remain anonymous.

It's hard to say, I think, whether a challenge to Straus would happen, and whether it is even necessary or smart to challenge him and vacate the chair. There's a lot going on in Texas politics right now (as Robbie Cooper put it yesterday, covering Texas politics for a blog is a full-time job), and we have a lot of business to address. Personally, I think the time to worry about who was going to lead the Texas House and how they would do it once elected was something to concern House members back in January. We're two and a half months in, and the House is only now starting to really hear legislation in committee. There is every possibility that Governor Perry will have to call a special legislative session just to ensure the budget passes, and that's just the beginning, as there are a lot of pressing matters (TXDoT comes to mind) that need to be addressed.

I wouldn't venture a guess about who the supposedly disgruntled members are, but I think it's safe to say that as long as Straus has the support of the original bipartisan group that chose him to challenge Craddick, any effort to remove him will be met with the same kind of resistance Craddick mounted last session against his detractors.

More local office filings of interest

I already mentioned Justin Epker, Mike Pearce, and Nate Lambert (more here).  A couple more local filings by conservatives have come to my attention, and some are in the greater Austin area and of high interest to Blue Dot Blues.

Erica Grignon is running for Pflugerville City Council, Place 5.  The blurb on her Facebook page says she is "running for city council...to be a voice for the people.  She is advocating low taxes, protecting private property rights, and championing local businesses."

Lisa Mallory is running for Leander ISD Board of Trustees, Place 1.  Her Facebook page states that she "offers the LISD Board of Trustees 25 years experience in management and analysis."  She's worked in local government before, in Los Angeles, which is quite the punch to pack.

Dan Jaworski is running for Little Elm ISD Board of Trustees, Place 4.  His statement about running states that he pledges, as a fiscal conservative, to "work tirelessly for the taxpayers of Little Elm ISD to ensure that tax dollars are spent wisely and responsibly." 

We've got an increasingly interesting line-up of conservatives running for local office.  If you know of others, please let me know and I'll be happy to post information here.

Draft Medina movement underway

Lots going on, but I thought y'all might want to know that there is now a grassroots movement supporting Debra Medina for Governor.

http://www.runmedina.com/

ACTION ALERT: Public hearing on stimulus funds in Arlington Saturday

The Texas House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding will be holding a public hearing and taking testimony in Arlington this Saturday morning.  If you live in the DFW area and can attend tomorrow to testify, I encourage you to do so.  

Word from inside sources is that Rep. Crownover, who sits on the select committee, was not informed that the committee would vote on language encouraging the state to take the unemployment insurance money that Governor Perry rejected today.  The committee meeting today got very heated, as Crownover argued that she wanted more time to consider this course of action, and she was denied that by Chairman Dunnam and Rep. Coleman.  

According the language in the stimulus bill, state legislatures have the power to override the governors on this matter; this blatant disregard for the Constitution is now playing out in a power struggle here in Texas.  

If you can make it to the hearing tomorrow, I highly encourage you to do so.  Make it clear to Rep. Dunnam that Texans do not appreciate the federal government's mandate, and that we deserve more time to debate changing the statutes on unemployment insurance. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

 

COMMITTEE:

 

Federal Economic Stabilization Funding, Select

 

TIME & DATE:

 

10:30 AM, Saturday, March 14, 2009

 

PLACE:

 

Arlington, TX

 

CHAIR:

 

Rep. Jim Dunnam

 

The Select Committee will accept public testimony related to the American  Recovery and Reinvestment Act.   Location:  University of Texas, Arlington E.H. Hereford University Center ("UC") Rio Grande Room 300 W. First Street Arlington, TX

Radio appearance today

I'll be a guest on the Scott Wilder Show on The Word 100,7 FM in Dallas today; Dwayne Horner is guest-hosting and has asked me to come on to talk about voter ID.

3 witnesses in 11 hours....

The Senate hearing on SB 362 is dragging on and on, mostly due to Democrats' constant playing of the race card and the ideology hammer.  I really can't watch another moment of this tonight and am going offline to do productive things.  If this continues into tomorrow (and it looks as though it definitely will), I'll be back with either the liveblog or a Twitter stream.

To the brave few sticking it out, I hope you're able to wade through the racist dreg to actual substance.  Have fun.

Liveblogging the Senate Voter ID debate

UPDATE 2:15: Tracking the voter ID debate in the Senate

UPDATE 2:15: Debate begins! But I've lost the livefeed due to an "invalid socket error" with RealMedia.

UPDATE 1:03: Burnt Orange Report has a rundown of liveblogging taking place - though you'll have to stomach their accusations of "voter suppression" to read it. Capitol Annex is liveblogging here.

UPDATE 12:25: The Senate is standing at ease, after passing Duncan's resolution to hold the hearing 19-12 (that's a flatout partisan divide, for those keeping score). Van de Putte is telling the press that Republicans aren't playing by "fair rules." She's been kicking and screaming most of the morning about the Dems not having "time to prepare" - since they've got invited witnesses and I've seen several action alerts from D camps, I think she's exagerrating.

The battle is won, but the war rages on - once the committee convenes, there's no telling what kind of shenanigans we can expect. Yesterday someone said they'd keep a running tally of times the race card gets played; I think we'd run out of bandwidth if we tried.

Will update again later.

--

The big day is here, and the Senate is currently discussing the resolution that will allow them to call a meeting of the Committee of the Whole Senate. A few mobile uploads on Facebook show that there was quite the line of Republicans ready to testify in favor of the bill; Gardner Selby with the Statesman confirms that about 120 members of the public signed up to testify (of course, some of them were likely Democrats).

Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) is right now spelling out all the things that the Senate isn't "bending the rules" for; she's talking about the "artificial elevation" of this issue (voter ID) and she wants to put off the hearing on voter ID in order to take up "more important issues." Van de Putte and others are determined to drag this out all day - Sen. Royce West is digging up old procedural rules and asking questions, you name it. At about 10:30, Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) interrupted the proceedings to recognize a visiting high school group.

Quorum Report revealed this morning that the Senate Democrats have invited Attorney General Greg Abbott to testify. I don't think there's been word yet about whether he'll be there (update - Van de Putte says he's "ignoring" the request and that Senate Republicans aren't doing enough to get him there; update 2 - QR stating that AG's office says the Chair (Duncan) advised him not to appear because Abbott would be needed to represent the state in any legal proceedings).

Several people are "live-tweeting" the proceedings. @gardnerselby, @longhornderek, @elisewho, @corriemac, @stephanieklick and others. Elise Hu (KVUE) also has pictures and a liveblog going here.

I'll update this post throughout the day. If you have the ability, I suggest tuning in online.

Republicans view themselves "leaderless"? How is this a surprise?

I'm sure I should be blogging about other things, in an effort to promote conservative values in a pro-active, positive way.  And I'll get back to that, but first I've got some things to say to my fellow Republicans.

A new Rasmussen report came out today, revealing that Republicans (at least those polled - remember the old quote about statistics) see their party as "leaderless."  Given all the hoopla over Rush Limbaugh and Michael Steele in the last couple of weeks, it's not difficult to see why Republicans feel that way.  Most days, and I'm a pretty dedicated and loyal Republican, I don't sense that we have a leader, either.

This same poll reveals that Democrats overwhelmingly believe that President Obama is the leader of their party.  I think he's a titular head of the party at the most.  The real leaders are Nancy Pelosi and David Axelrod.  But Obama is president, and he's prettier on camera than Pelosi, and Axelrod is an operative, not a public face.  So with all that in mind, it's no wonder Obama is perceived to be the leader.  For all intents and purposes, he is.  After all, a true leader delegates, and Obama's great at that (if by "delegate" I'm allowed to mean "lets everyone else do the work").

If perception is key, then why don't a majority of Republicans believe Rush Limbaugh is our leader (or Sarah Palin, Michael Steele, etc)?  My guess on Limbaugh would be that there are a number of self-identifying Republicans who believe he's too polemic to represent them.  My guess on Palin, there are a great many Republicans unwilling to embrace her after the shelacking she took from all sides (I'm looking at you, Beltway Republicans) during the election.  As for Steele - well, let's face facts.  A Republican who apologizes for Republicans does not a reliable leader make.  

Limbaugh (yes, I listen to his show on occasion - I also read Peggy Noonan's columns.  I believe in being well-rounded) said on his show today that Republicans don't have a leader because it's not an election cycle, and we don't have a current presidential nominee.  That's a good point, and if we take that through to it's natural conclusion, we have to state that George W. Bush and John McCain were our "leaders" prior to the election in November.  And if that is the case, it is no wonder that Republicans seem scattered, distracted, angry, and very nearly apathetic.

I was critical of Bush during his tenure in the White House, so I feel no twinge of Republican conscience in being so now.  Likewise with McCain - I didn't vote him in the primary, and up until the moment he was officially nominated at the convention, I was holding out hope for someone else to take the reigns.  I suspect I'm like many Republicans with regard to John McCain.  Bush represents a very irresponsible period in the history of the Republican Party.  While I believe he largely acted in the right with regards to foreign policy (an unpopular opinion, I admit), I think he was dead wrong on domestic fiscal policy.  It wasn't until Pelosi took the speakership that Bush was willing to threaten veto.   It wasn't until they took the majority in Congress that Democrats swung to the left of the Republicans on domestic fiscal policy.  John McCain represents a lot of what has been wrong with the party, in terms of "bipartisan" action (PS - if you're the only Republican in a room, it's not bipartisanship - you're a Democrat), politically correct positions on immigration reform, and other things (a literary way of saying I've typed too long).  It seems like ages ago, but McCain-Feingold ruined John McCain for me, and it was a bitter pill to swallow supporting him in the general election.

I don't doubt that I am not the only Republican who thinks this way.

The Republican Party must turn away from apology, from "bipartisan" action that really means voting according to the Democratic Party platform, and from leaders who believe the only way we can win elections is to tout our pro-life plank.  There is a LOT more that differentiates a Republican and a Democrat than just being pro-life or pro-choice.  The sooner we start doing and saying these things, the sooner we can determine who is our leader - because we will finally have a chance to see who is a Republican, and who just says so to win elections in their district.  

Right now, the path for the Republican Party is fraught with potholes and creeping vines, but it's not unnavigable if our leadership will start behaving as though being a Republican is something to be proud of.  If they will start promoting our platform (in Texas, this is crucial) and vowing to hold elected officials accountable to that platform, we can find our way out of this hole.

The best advice I can think of for Chairman Steele is to wear the name Republican with the same note of pride that one wears the name American.  We talk a lot about getting back to Ronald Reagan's party - Reagan would be appalled that Republicans are suddenly ashamed of being Republican.  Let's get our party back on track now so that we can get back to the business of winning elections and standing up to liberals at every level of government.

Voter ID in the Senate TOMORROW

Hopefully, if you're reading this, you're mostly just annoyed that yet another blogger is stuck on this subject, because you've called your state senator and already plan to be at the Capitol tomorrow wearing red to support SB 362.

If you're suddenly a bit confused, then keep reading.  All will be made clear.  (More information at Texas Republic News and SafeTexas.org - also, Robbie Cooper has a great blog post on voter ID here)

Senate Bill 362 by Sen. Troy Fraser (R-Marble Falls) will be heard before the Committee of the Whole Senate tomorrow - this very rare event requires your active participation!  

Every other democracy in the world requires identification to vote.  We are supposed to be the model for democracy in the world - why doesn't Texas require ID to vote?  

Here is what you can do:

1 - Show up on the south side of the Capitol at 7:45am on Tuesday. Wear RED!! You have to show up early in order to go through security for the gallery in the Senate chamber.

Parking information can be found here.

If you cannot be there at 7:45am, that is fine. Your support will be needed throughout the day. Proceed to the 2nd Floor, East Wing. Sign in at the table in front of the Senate Chamber.

2 - If you are willing to testify in front of the committee on SB 362, indicate this on the registration card. Contact Eric Opiela at idwitness@texasgop.org to let him know.

3 - If you don't wish to speak, but want to register your support, this is needed as well. On the card you complete at the table, indicate SB 362, just check "Support," and "Does not wish to provide oral testimony." You can sign in at the committee hearing as "in favor" of SB 362 without having to actually testify.

4 - If you cannot make it to Austin, please call your state senator and urge him or her to support SB 362. Contact information can be found here.

5 - You might also consider preparing a letter to the editor for publication on Tuesday. Better yet, contact talk radio and make your case about the importance of a voter id bill in ensuring fair elections.

This is an issue that many citizens, regardless of ideology, very strongly support..  Additionally-check out the video on RPT-TV:

Even if you have never testified before a legislative committee, we urge you to come out and support voter ID by joining us at the Capitol on Tuesday, March 10 at 7:45am. At the very least, please spread this message far and wide to your friends and family. Together we can make a difference on this legislation. 

Speaking tomorrow in WilCo - see you there!

I'm scheduled to speak, with Ryan Gravatt of the Patriot Group, to the Williamson County Republican Women tomorrow from 11:30am to 1:00pm, at the Allen R. Baca Community Center in Round Rock.

Our topic is "Using Technology to Promote Republican Values."  With the growth of the National Chicago Tea Party movement and other conservative grassroots movements on the internet, I think this is extremely timely and important.  

Hope to see some of you readers there!

Another reason to oppose SB 855/HB 9

We just paid $72 for the vehicle registration. If HB 9 had been in effect and applicable to Travis County, we could have paid up to double what we paid ($147).

$72 base fee
+ $60 local option mobility improvement fee
+ $15 for a vehicle emissions fee
= $147 total fee

This is doubling the fees for driving on public roads. And it does not relieve congestion or improve air quality as the number of drivers is consistently and continuously increasing.

Please call your TX state House member and your state senator and urge them to OPPOSE SB 855 and HB 9!