The Austin City Council has delayed taking a vote on backing the Formula One racetrack currently under construction in Travis County, prompting concerns that the racetrack may not get the financial backing it "needs" to become reality. Meanwhile, Dutch Mandel, editorial director for AutoWeek magazine, has issued an open letter to Austinites warning them about the sad history of Formula One attempts in the United States.
I really love that Mandel starts out by reminding us that, Formula One or no, Austin is already a great American city. I think this is a crucial point - judging by the crowded roads and constant reminders posted everywhere each week, Austin isn't hurting for major tourist-drawing events. Au contraire! Austin serves as the primary destination for big city types itching to escape and be hippies for a weekend at a time, and the only proof you need for that is how often downtown streets are closed thanks to this marathon or that fair or this music festival.
Mandel's letter has a good share of insider-F1 talk, mainly concerning the premiere F1 promoter, Bernie Ecclestone, all of which comes down to the fact that Austin like other American cities before her stands to fork over significant amounts of dough for the privilege of lining some bigwig's bank coffers. There's also the reminder, ever important, that no attempt to have and keep a Formula One race in the States has been successful so far. I'd say this is a dubious list of cities with which we could one day be listed: Indianapolis, Phoenix, Watkins Glen, Long Beach and Detroit. Best quote from Mandel: "If the cradle of American motorsports, the home of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, failed to keep F1 in America, what makes Austin--not the promoters, who have a bunch of reasons, maybe quite true, for why they are different--think it can succeed?"
Indeed. What does make Austin - and while we're at it, Texas - think it can succeed at this venture? I would like Lee Leffingwell to answer that question at Wednesday's council meeting.
Mandel followed up that letter with a column on the continuing controversy. He points out, and it really shouldn't be necessary to say so, that the upper echelon in Formula One care not a smidge for Austin's economy. They care about how much money they can make, chiefly through television deals, and they are also keenly aware that they need a successful F1 race in the States. The question, I think, for Austinites should be whether or not we're willing to be the next guinea pig in the lab.
And if you're one of those squealing about job creation - I'd like you to show me the average annual salary of track employees, and the crime and poverty stats for communities with that average annual salary. I somehow doubt we're talking about skilled labor here, much less the kind of jobs that require more than a working knowledge of a cash register. That, of course, is an entirely different discussion, isn't it?
Monday, June 27, 2011
Another fiscal conservative gives Burka hives....
Having been the topic of pedestrian mudslinging on Burka Blog's lowlife-populated comments section in the not-too-distant past, my sympathies are firmly with David White, Comptroller Combs' new senior policy advisor, who attracted the ire not of Burka's commenters but Burka himself in this blog post. Full disclosure, I know David and have since college, so I definitely feel a little bit like "you attack my friends, I will toilet-paper your house." Of course, not being in high school, I will refrain from that.
I will say, Burka's pining for the days of Billy Hamilton bring to mind just one point. What Texas Monthly in general has taken issue with in recent political screeds, this post and the Ten Best/Worst list, isn't political connections so much as fiscal conservatism. Calling Senator Jane Nelson one of the ten worst legislators of this session because she drafted health care legislation that recognizes the reality of our fiscal future is low and silly, even for them. As for Hamilton, an advocate of tax and expenditure increases who didn't fit Combs' vision for the state when she took office, I can only imagine that it is his ideology rather than White's that Burka wants ruling the land. Republicans are just fine by guys like him, so long as they don't try and stop the spigot from running unchecked.
Another thing, while I'm thinking of it. Complaining that someone got a job just because of his/her "connections" smacks of desperation. That's the best you got, you clearly don't have much. Moreover, it shows an appalling lack of insight into the situation. The comptroller's office has been in the news quite a bit lately - a little political savvy in a political office never hurts. One senior staff hire does not the Titanic sink, nor for that matter does it shake a sailboat. What will be far more telling over time is how, with a new policy advisor on staff, the comptroller shifts to handle the political wind AND the state's fiscal policy.
It would be one thing if it was the BOR boys who opened fire on White, but Burka claims to be a political moderate, and the Texas Monthly blogs are tied to the journalistic ethics standards of the vaunted "old media." That post today, along with the Ten Best/Worst list, are further proof in the staggering pile of such evidence that there is no such thing as "unbiased" reporting.
ETA: Burka did issue a mea culpa in the comments, after getting an email from former YCT-TAMU member Mark McCaig. It is a bit buried but a page search for McCaig's name will turn it up pretty quickly. I'll give Burka credit for backing down on this.
November bond referendum in Travis County
Labels:
election 2011,
travis county
November elections in odd-numbered years are always fun, peppered as they are with local government bonds and such. Hopefully I'll be able to attend this community Q&A session about Travis County's proposed park/road bond referendum for Nov. 2011 and report back to y'all.
Interested in attending? The Precinct 2 session is on Monday, June 27th at 7 pm, at the Wells Branch Community Center located at 2106 Klattenhoff Drive, Austin TX 78728.
There is detailed information from the Citizens Bond Advisory Committee on the proposed referendum, including dates for the last two public meetings scheduled later this week and agenda items for all meetings, here at the CBAC web page.
Interested in attending? The Precinct 2 session is on Monday, June 27th at 7 pm, at the Wells Branch Community Center located at 2106 Klattenhoff Drive, Austin TX 78728.
There is detailed information from the Citizens Bond Advisory Committee on the proposed referendum, including dates for the last two public meetings scheduled later this week and agenda items for all meetings, here at the CBAC web page.
Monday, June 20, 2011
$86,000 for Chick-Fil-A - but can the children read?
Labels:
dallas isd,
dallas morning news,
texas schools
This post comes with a warning - you may need to keep a bucket handy.
On the front page of today's Dallas Morning News, highly visible despite Mike Rawlings' mayoral victory thanks to a Tom Thumb coupon ad, was perhaps the most illuminating and damning story about school district waste since the credit card scandal in Dallas ISD. Found in Dallas ISD's checkbook register for the last four years by intrepid DMN reporters was $57 million in wasteful, absurd spending - an amount that could save over 1000 teacher jobs.
Among the cacophonous cries about the state legislature's "failure" to "fully fund" Texas schools, you rarely hear so much as a whimper over how school districts spend the money they get, be it taxpayer dollars for M&O, bond packages, or state and federal money. Dallas ISD is one of the largest districts in the state, and plagued by scandal, corruption, and failure year after year. This exposé should be reprinted and redistributed across the state, to teachers, parents, activists, and legislators (it is, sadly, behind the DMN's subscriber-only firewall online, but I'll hit some highlights for you).
Dallas ISD will face $100 million in state funding cuts over two years, and has an annual budget of nearly $1 billion. So $57 million in wasteful spending ($300,000 at the Atlanta Bread Co.; what, your overpaid administrative staff can't pack their lunches?) over four years represents what is likely the tip of the iceberg in necessary cuts. And those of you inclined to whine about cutting so much fat we're cutting muscle would do well to question DISD officials about "benefit management" consultant costs of $400,000 per month ($4.8 million a year since 2002) - on top of a full in-district benefits/HR staff. Or, if that doesn't turn your stomach, maybe you should ask the outgoing superintendent about this past January, when he and some of the staff shacked up at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dallas for a weekend of budget discussions - to the tune of $3,791 for rooms and food.
Most of the checks in the register were for less than $50,000, meaning they didn't require district approval. It is amazing how "little" things add up, though - like over $86,000 spent at Chick-Fil-A. I like my chicken sandwiches as much as the next person, but seriously?? $2500 for one person to attend a conference at Harvard University. $28,529 for an eight-night stay for 17 principals to attend a conference in New York City. Or how about the cash advance for one teacher to attend a conference in Orlando, FL, complete with $1,224 for tickets to Disney World? Receipts don't appear to be available for every expenditure, either, and there are numerous jaw-dropping details, like how much the district spent in four years on per diem expenses for district employees ($608,441).
You gotta feel a bit sorry for the Georgia school district getting Superintendent Michael Hinojosa after his stint with DISD ends on June 30. He's been in DISD since 2005, racking up plenty of front-page time as the district he managed became increasingly scandalous. In 2007, he was making $315,000/year, not including bennies, according to one story from the publication District Administration. After Hinojosa scrapped the infamous credit card program (thanks to another brilliant piece of journalism from the Dallas Morning News, incidentally), checks were used much more frequently, and thus the meat for this latest story was provided with just a little prod of FOIA magic. This latest brouhaha happens just as he's out the door - he "officially" quit back on June 6, leaving interim superintendent Alan King to deal with the fallout (King's a CPA by trade; here's hoping he knocks some sense into the district).
Now, let's turn the focus here for a moment. The Dallas Morning News used that ever-useful tool, the Freedom of Information Act, to access the more than 775,000 checkbook register entries analyzed for this story. MAJOR kudos to Tawnell D. Hobbs and Matthew Haag for their work on this - this is investigative journalism at its most crucial to voting citizens. Dallas ISD is one of the biggest school districts in the state, but size does not matter when we're talking waste and spending sprees - remember Waco ISD's $84,000 Vegas trip last year? If you're paying taxes of any kind in Texas, you are contributing to the schools here, and you have a right to know where the money is going.
If education is going to be the "priority" for spending in this state, then we had better have all the facts in front of us. Like the fact that it is local school districts that make the decision to hire and fire teachers, and how to spend money, and whether or not to beg for bond packages and tax increases. Like the fact that the school district lobby - the administrator lobby, the teacher unions - is one of the most powerful lobby interests in the state. Like the fact that 56% of the state budget is for education, a sacred cow so all-consuming that Medicaid and indigent health care take a backseat even when the required burden is heavier.
Whether you have children in public schools or not, you are paying for them. The Dallas Morning News used tools that are available to you, the citizen, to discover what was really happening in Dallas ISD.
And now, back to Dallas ISD, one of the loudest school districts in the state when it comes to bemoaning cuts and begging for more money. It is difficult to have sympathy when you see what is happening in Dallas. It is harder still to imagine an electorate so blind that it would elect this school board again. And it is very difficult not to be positively enraged on the behalf of Dallas ISD teachers, who do more with less and have to ask parents to supply simple things like dry-erase markers, while the elitist administration pays for luxury retreat weekends at the Crowne Plaza. Dallas ISD has an annual dropout rate of 19.1%, according to the comptroller's Financial Allocation Study for Texas, which also reveals that the average salary for central administration is nearly twice what a starting teacher makes in DISD.
These are the things that should shock and appall you. There is nothing perfect about the way this state funds schools, but to learn that there is this kind of rampant waste proves there are deeper problems that cannot be solved by simply throwing more money at them and hoping no one digs through the check registers.
On the front page of today's Dallas Morning News, highly visible despite Mike Rawlings' mayoral victory thanks to a Tom Thumb coupon ad, was perhaps the most illuminating and damning story about school district waste since the credit card scandal in Dallas ISD. Found in Dallas ISD's checkbook register for the last four years by intrepid DMN reporters was $57 million in wasteful, absurd spending - an amount that could save over 1000 teacher jobs.
Among the cacophonous cries about the state legislature's "failure" to "fully fund" Texas schools, you rarely hear so much as a whimper over how school districts spend the money they get, be it taxpayer dollars for M&O, bond packages, or state and federal money. Dallas ISD is one of the largest districts in the state, and plagued by scandal, corruption, and failure year after year. This exposé should be reprinted and redistributed across the state, to teachers, parents, activists, and legislators (it is, sadly, behind the DMN's subscriber-only firewall online, but I'll hit some highlights for you).
Dallas ISD will face $100 million in state funding cuts over two years, and has an annual budget of nearly $1 billion. So $57 million in wasteful spending ($300,000 at the Atlanta Bread Co.; what, your overpaid administrative staff can't pack their lunches?) over four years represents what is likely the tip of the iceberg in necessary cuts. And those of you inclined to whine about cutting so much fat we're cutting muscle would do well to question DISD officials about "benefit management" consultant costs of $400,000 per month ($4.8 million a year since 2002) - on top of a full in-district benefits/HR staff. Or, if that doesn't turn your stomach, maybe you should ask the outgoing superintendent about this past January, when he and some of the staff shacked up at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dallas for a weekend of budget discussions - to the tune of $3,791 for rooms and food.
Most of the checks in the register were for less than $50,000, meaning they didn't require district approval. It is amazing how "little" things add up, though - like over $86,000 spent at Chick-Fil-A. I like my chicken sandwiches as much as the next person, but seriously?? $2500 for one person to attend a conference at Harvard University. $28,529 for an eight-night stay for 17 principals to attend a conference in New York City. Or how about the cash advance for one teacher to attend a conference in Orlando, FL, complete with $1,224 for tickets to Disney World? Receipts don't appear to be available for every expenditure, either, and there are numerous jaw-dropping details, like how much the district spent in four years on per diem expenses for district employees ($608,441).
You gotta feel a bit sorry for the Georgia school district getting Superintendent Michael Hinojosa after his stint with DISD ends on June 30. He's been in DISD since 2005, racking up plenty of front-page time as the district he managed became increasingly scandalous. In 2007, he was making $315,000/year, not including bennies, according to one story from the publication District Administration. After Hinojosa scrapped the infamous credit card program (thanks to another brilliant piece of journalism from the Dallas Morning News, incidentally), checks were used much more frequently, and thus the meat for this latest story was provided with just a little prod of FOIA magic. This latest brouhaha happens just as he's out the door - he "officially" quit back on June 6, leaving interim superintendent Alan King to deal with the fallout (King's a CPA by trade; here's hoping he knocks some sense into the district).
Now, let's turn the focus here for a moment. The Dallas Morning News used that ever-useful tool, the Freedom of Information Act, to access the more than 775,000 checkbook register entries analyzed for this story. MAJOR kudos to Tawnell D. Hobbs and Matthew Haag for their work on this - this is investigative journalism at its most crucial to voting citizens. Dallas ISD is one of the biggest school districts in the state, but size does not matter when we're talking waste and spending sprees - remember Waco ISD's $84,000 Vegas trip last year? If you're paying taxes of any kind in Texas, you are contributing to the schools here, and you have a right to know where the money is going.
If education is going to be the "priority" for spending in this state, then we had better have all the facts in front of us. Like the fact that it is local school districts that make the decision to hire and fire teachers, and how to spend money, and whether or not to beg for bond packages and tax increases. Like the fact that the school district lobby - the administrator lobby, the teacher unions - is one of the most powerful lobby interests in the state. Like the fact that 56% of the state budget is for education, a sacred cow so all-consuming that Medicaid and indigent health care take a backseat even when the required burden is heavier.
Whether you have children in public schools or not, you are paying for them. The Dallas Morning News used tools that are available to you, the citizen, to discover what was really happening in Dallas ISD.
And now, back to Dallas ISD, one of the loudest school districts in the state when it comes to bemoaning cuts and begging for more money. It is difficult to have sympathy when you see what is happening in Dallas. It is harder still to imagine an electorate so blind that it would elect this school board again. And it is very difficult not to be positively enraged on the behalf of Dallas ISD teachers, who do more with less and have to ask parents to supply simple things like dry-erase markers, while the elitist administration pays for luxury retreat weekends at the Crowne Plaza. Dallas ISD has an annual dropout rate of 19.1%, according to the comptroller's Financial Allocation Study for Texas, which also reveals that the average salary for central administration is nearly twice what a starting teacher makes in DISD.
These are the things that should shock and appall you. There is nothing perfect about the way this state funds schools, but to learn that there is this kind of rampant waste proves there are deeper problems that cannot be solved by simply throwing more money at them and hoping no one digs through the check registers.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Travis County Redistricting - public hearings schedule
This information came from a couple of different sources over the last few days. If you're interested in the redistricting process at the county level (this deals with county offices, such as the commissioners court), please consider weighing in or attending a meeting so you can find out what is happening. It is this kind of minutiae in local government where regular taxpayers need to pay the closest attention.
If you need to know which county precinct you live in (1, 2, 3, or 4), the information is very easy to obtain. Check your voter registration card to discover what your voting precinct is (a three-digit number beginning with 1, 2, 3, or 4). Your county precinct is the first number. For instance, if you vote in Precinct 403, your county precinct is 4. If you cannot locate your voter registration card, you can look yourself up at the Travis County Voter Verification page and look for the same information.
If you need to know which county precinct you live in (1, 2, 3, or 4), the information is very easy to obtain. Check your voter registration card to discover what your voting precinct is (a three-digit number beginning with 1, 2, 3, or 4). Your county precinct is the first number. For instance, if you vote in Precinct 403, your county precinct is 4. If you cannot locate your voter registration card, you can look yourself up at the Travis County Voter Verification page and look for the same information.
This summer, Travis County will be engaged in redrawing the boundaries of its commissioners court precincts, districts for justices of the peace and constables, and election precincts. This redistricting process takes into account changes in geographic and demographic distributions of the county's population as reported in the latest US Census data. The 2010 data reveal that our population has grown by over 26%. These changes must be reflected in our districts to ensure an accurate representation of the voting public.
Aside from the Census data, the process will also require community input. Not only will the new boundary lines have a direct impact on your representation on the Travis County Commissioners Court, they will also determine the demographic and geographic characteristics of each voting district. It is crucial that each and every citizen be given the opportunity to be involved in this process. A series of four public hearings will be held throughout the county the week of June 27, 2011. You are encouraged to attend any or all of the following events:
- PRECINCT 4: Monday, June 27 from 5 pm to 8 pm at the Travis County Precinct #4 Justice of the Peace Courtroom, 4011 McKinney Falls Parkway, Suite 1200, Austin, TX 78744
- PRECINCT 3: Tuesday, June 28 from 5 pm to 8 pm at the Lake Travis ISD Educational Development Center, 607 RR 620 North, Austin, TX 78734
- PRECINCT 2: Wednesday, June 29 from 5 pm to 8 pm at the Travis County Precinct #2 Justice of the Peace Office, 10409 Burnet Rd., 2nd Floor, Austin, TX 78758
- PRECINCT 1: Thursday, June 30 from 5 pm to 8 pm at the Travis County Precinct #1 Richard E. Scott Bldg. - Community Room, 4717 Heflin Lane, Austin, TX 78721
Citizens may view maps and provide comment beginning at 5 pm. A formal presentation begins at 6:30 pm with public comment to follow.
COMMISSIONERS COURT: Tuesday, July 12 at the Travis County Commissioners Court, 314 W. 11th Street, First Floor, Austin, TX. This hearing will also include proposed justice of the peace/constable district maps and provide a designated opportunity for the leadership of racial, language, and other groups representing established communities of interest to provide input.
You may also give input via the county's website www.co.travis.tx.us or by mail Attn: Deece Eckstein, 312 W. 11th St., Suite #535, Austin, TX 78701 through July 15. Civic organizations are encouraged to request speakers to talk about the redistricting process by calling 512-448-4459. For more information on Travis County redistricting, or to provide input online, visit the county website at www.co.travis.tx.us or telephone Deece Eckstein at (512) 854-9754.
Travis County has commissioned San Antonio attorneys Rolando Rios and George Korbel to spearhead the new redistricting plan. Mr. Rios and Mr. Korbel each have over 30 years of government experience and have overseen redistricting for the Texas Senate, the Texas House of Representatives, and a variety of other local and regional entities. The Travis County Commissioners Court will adopt the new plan on or about August 23, 2011.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Aw, SNAP
Labels:
82nd Legislative Session,
health care,
SNAP,
special session
I'll be honest - I almost want to spend this post ranting about the latest hare-brained idea to ruin America's Pasttime, but I will refrain since this is, after all, supposed to be a political blog.
So, if you were watching the Texas House this week, you would have gotten a summary version of the way the regular 82nd session went. There were some debates that seem to be debates that have been ongoing since time immemorial (Republicans want to stop abortions - Democrats don't. Some Republicans want to stop funding superfluous, ideological programs - other Republicans don't. And so on.) There was one debate, however, that was a real head-scratcher.
One Republican (I believe it was Susan King, R-Abilene) tried to amend the big healthcare bill, SB 7, to restrict the types of food that can be purchased under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (commonly referred to as food stamps). A fascinating debate followed, as Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth) moved to amend the amendment, gutting the idea that Rep. King had (leading to Rep. King pulling her amendment down, which is why none of this is in the journal). This debate, unlike most budgetary debates that take place in the Legislature, was extremely bipartisan in nature. Those for King's amendment were arguing that the money in food stamps isn't "earned" by the recipients, and that there is rampant abuse of the system in which people purchase unhealthy food with their SNAP benefits. King pointed out the rise of obesity and diabetes in this country, especially among children, and among the poor. The amendment's opponents, both Republican and Democrat but mostly, significantly Democrat, said that we had no right to dictate how people spend their SNAP benefits, that we should not discriminate against the poor in that way, that we must trust people to do what is best for their own children. There was also some debate about how "healthy" food would be defined, and how the definition often changes (it was recalled on the floor that ketchup was almost classified as a vegetable in the Reagan years).
Back in the day, my first non-babysitting, holy-crap-I'm-a-taxpayer job was at a grocery store. It was not a high-end place and a great many of our customers were WIC or, back then, Lone Star Card users. And like a lot of former grocery store employees, I can testify to the fact that people would often use their WIC benefits for the bare necessities, then spend over $100 in cash on junk food, cigarettes, and magazines. Lone Star Card users would buy food with the card, and spend cash on cigarettes, and later beer when our store sold it. Add in the obesity statistic, and the growing number of diabetes patients reliant on government health care, and I'm in favor of Rep. King's idea.
The debate "blew my mind," as I told one friend on Twitter. Some of the same Democrats who often bemoan the sale of soda and candy in school cafeteria vending machines, who insist on school breakfast programs for low income students, who routinely back bans on the sale of trans fats, higher taxes on soda than on beer, and other such Draconian measures in the name of a healthy America, were all opposed to this amendment (well, except Rep. Richard Raymond, a Laredo Democrat who was very much in favor). Their cries of "big government" and "intrusion" were amazing to behold - I wonder if we'll hear that again, if ever a trans fat ban actually comes to the floor in the House.
Look, I recognize that government's interference for SNAP beneficiaries may seem overbearing. The thing is, though, that it isn't your money you're spending when you use food stamps. It is your neighbor's money. And limiting how that money is spent is not undue government interference - it is good stewardship. The obesity and diabetes argument alone should be enough here. I don't know the numbers to tell you how much we spend now on indigent/low income diabetes care, or how much more we're about to spend once ObamaCare comes crashing down on us all, and I am not so naive to think that limiting what can be purchased with SNAP might magically stop the rise of obesity in the nation. I would like to think, though, that even if you support the concept of public aid in the form of SNAP, that you would want to know that the money is being wisely spent. Such limitations follow the spirit of other Texas laws, such as the sales tax exemption for certain food items (which, for the record, doesn't include soda).
Okay, now I'm going to get back to watching the college baseball super-regional, where hopefully the Horns have improved their hitting since I began this post.
So, if you were watching the Texas House this week, you would have gotten a summary version of the way the regular 82nd session went. There were some debates that seem to be debates that have been ongoing since time immemorial (Republicans want to stop abortions - Democrats don't. Some Republicans want to stop funding superfluous, ideological programs - other Republicans don't. And so on.) There was one debate, however, that was a real head-scratcher.
One Republican (I believe it was Susan King, R-Abilene) tried to amend the big healthcare bill, SB 7, to restrict the types of food that can be purchased under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (commonly referred to as food stamps). A fascinating debate followed, as Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth) moved to amend the amendment, gutting the idea that Rep. King had (leading to Rep. King pulling her amendment down, which is why none of this is in the journal). This debate, unlike most budgetary debates that take place in the Legislature, was extremely bipartisan in nature. Those for King's amendment were arguing that the money in food stamps isn't "earned" by the recipients, and that there is rampant abuse of the system in which people purchase unhealthy food with their SNAP benefits. King pointed out the rise of obesity and diabetes in this country, especially among children, and among the poor. The amendment's opponents, both Republican and Democrat but mostly, significantly Democrat, said that we had no right to dictate how people spend their SNAP benefits, that we should not discriminate against the poor in that way, that we must trust people to do what is best for their own children. There was also some debate about how "healthy" food would be defined, and how the definition often changes (it was recalled on the floor that ketchup was almost classified as a vegetable in the Reagan years).
Back in the day, my first non-babysitting, holy-crap-I'm-a-taxpayer job was at a grocery store. It was not a high-end place and a great many of our customers were WIC or, back then, Lone Star Card users. And like a lot of former grocery store employees, I can testify to the fact that people would often use their WIC benefits for the bare necessities, then spend over $100 in cash on junk food, cigarettes, and magazines. Lone Star Card users would buy food with the card, and spend cash on cigarettes, and later beer when our store sold it. Add in the obesity statistic, and the growing number of diabetes patients reliant on government health care, and I'm in favor of Rep. King's idea.
The debate "blew my mind," as I told one friend on Twitter. Some of the same Democrats who often bemoan the sale of soda and candy in school cafeteria vending machines, who insist on school breakfast programs for low income students, who routinely back bans on the sale of trans fats, higher taxes on soda than on beer, and other such Draconian measures in the name of a healthy America, were all opposed to this amendment (well, except Rep. Richard Raymond, a Laredo Democrat who was very much in favor). Their cries of "big government" and "intrusion" were amazing to behold - I wonder if we'll hear that again, if ever a trans fat ban actually comes to the floor in the House.
Look, I recognize that government's interference for SNAP beneficiaries may seem overbearing. The thing is, though, that it isn't your money you're spending when you use food stamps. It is your neighbor's money. And limiting how that money is spent is not undue government interference - it is good stewardship. The obesity and diabetes argument alone should be enough here. I don't know the numbers to tell you how much we spend now on indigent/low income diabetes care, or how much more we're about to spend once ObamaCare comes crashing down on us all, and I am not so naive to think that limiting what can be purchased with SNAP might magically stop the rise of obesity in the nation. I would like to think, though, that even if you support the concept of public aid in the form of SNAP, that you would want to know that the money is being wisely spent. Such limitations follow the spirit of other Texas laws, such as the sales tax exemption for certain food items (which, for the record, doesn't include soda).
Okay, now I'm going to get back to watching the college baseball super-regional, where hopefully the Horns have improved their hitting since I began this post.
Friday, June 03, 2011
What's so "special" about all this?
Hello, blog. I missed you.
It was extremely difficult to spend this legislative session finding other outlets than blogging for my pent-up political frustration. Especially this session, which found us with an overwhelming Republican majority in the Texas House and a healthy number of Rs in the Texas Senate, and yet still found us flailing and floundering our way to at least one special session.
This is what happens when you don't have a plan or even an agenda going in. Sure, we had the governor's emergency legislation, most of which went through the process without too many hiccups (save long-windedcampaign speeches amendments and closing arguments from the well-organized Democratic minority). Aside from that, we had redistricting, which I'm pretty sure was responsible for my first gray hair and most of the distraction that kept us from coming to terms on the budget and school finance in a timely fashion.
I'm of the belief that Texas' constitutional framers knew what they were doing when they set us a 140 day legislative session every two years, with the buffer of specials to do important work that doesn't get finished. An annual, or God-forbid constant legislature in Austin would spell doom for our state - if I'm hyperbolizing, blame it on the stale basement air I've inhaled for 140+ days, but after watching several sessions up close, I'm convinced of the veracity of my statement. You don't want these guys, who have families, daily lives, and real jobs back home, down here for 365 days a year mucking around with your wallet. I promise, even if you're a liberal, that prospect is grim at best.
As I said, though, we have the buffer of special sessions in the event the legislature can't deal with the business of the state in a timely, gentlemanly fashion. Since school finance legislation was left on the backburner until the last possible moment, making a Senate filibuster all but inevitable, we now watch what happens when you light a fire under a legislator - it is amazing how quickly business can be achieved when you're missing summer vacation with your family.
So why was school finance legislation the trigger for this first special? The problem is, Texas has a school finance system that isn't working. In order to balance this year's budget (a constitutional mandate) without raising taxes (a voter mandate), we have to figure out how to equitably disperse a limited amount of funds. The system as is wouldn't allow us to do that, so we have to tweak it. The budget couldn't be certified by the comptroller without that, and the governor can't sign the budget until the comptroller certifies it....hence the extended work schedule.
Among the ironies here: the Legislative Budget Board, responsible for giving the legislature the data it needs to do anything budget-related, is required to give employees comp time after session. Why, you ask? The LBB staff work 100+ hours a week while we're in session (puts us 60+ hour staffers to shame, really), and state law is set up to allow these guys a break when the gavel falls sine die. So what might have been a short and sweet special is lengthened as numbers only trickle in.
Meanwhile, the governor had already announced plans to bring the Legislature back in July to deal with Texas Windstorm Insurance (TWIA) - as we enter what is expected to be a whopper of a hurricane season, the problems with this agency have to be dealt with, and as the special interests involved created quite the windstorm during session and prevented an agreement on reform, we have to resolve this now and not wait for 2013. Today the governor added TWIA to the "call" (agenda for a special session) for this 30-day period, guaranteeing legislators will be in Austin a little bit longer.
There is also the albatross known as Congressional redistricting. There was no political motivation to get this done during the regular session - likely because there aren't many legislators looking to run for Congress, but also because the political appetite for this process is dulled significantly after the arduous, melodramatic process we went through in 2001 and 2003. But the governor, rumored to be considering a presidential run, can't really piss off the RNC more than the state already has (see this article for more info), so he's added that to the call as well. Today's redistricting hearing in the Senate ran especially long as Austin leftists packed the room to whinge about how Sen. Seliger's proposed map divides Travis County into five districts (and perhaps permanently ousts Lloyd Doggett). Side note - I'm not thrilled with the Travis County proposal either, for entirely different reasons, but as a lege aide I'm not in a position to testify and so had to settle for growling at the screen while following the committee hearing.
I'd like to say that the political junkie in me secretly loves all of this, but frankly I find it nauseating. We'll go through the same round of testimony, protests, angry phone calls, and sanctimonious speeches on the floor that we went through during the regular session, likely come up with the same results, and all at the cost of over $27,000 per day to taxpayers.
It has been an interesting experience so far, working for a legislator and actually getting to work in the coolest building outside of Washington, D.C. I do have some other, less politically-charged thoughts about it that I might share before long. Meanwhile, if you want to see what I'm saying about this stuff as it happens, you can follow me on Twitter (sorry, no Anthony Weiner-style pictures will be found there).
It was extremely difficult to spend this legislative session finding other outlets than blogging for my pent-up political frustration. Especially this session, which found us with an overwhelming Republican majority in the Texas House and a healthy number of Rs in the Texas Senate, and yet still found us flailing and floundering our way to at least one special session.
This is what happens when you don't have a plan or even an agenda going in. Sure, we had the governor's emergency legislation, most of which went through the process without too many hiccups (save long-winded
I'm of the belief that Texas' constitutional framers knew what they were doing when they set us a 140 day legislative session every two years, with the buffer of specials to do important work that doesn't get finished. An annual, or God-forbid constant legislature in Austin would spell doom for our state - if I'm hyperbolizing, blame it on the stale basement air I've inhaled for 140+ days, but after watching several sessions up close, I'm convinced of the veracity of my statement. You don't want these guys, who have families, daily lives, and real jobs back home, down here for 365 days a year mucking around with your wallet. I promise, even if you're a liberal, that prospect is grim at best.
As I said, though, we have the buffer of special sessions in the event the legislature can't deal with the business of the state in a timely, gentlemanly fashion. Since school finance legislation was left on the backburner until the last possible moment, making a Senate filibuster all but inevitable, we now watch what happens when you light a fire under a legislator - it is amazing how quickly business can be achieved when you're missing summer vacation with your family.
So why was school finance legislation the trigger for this first special? The problem is, Texas has a school finance system that isn't working. In order to balance this year's budget (a constitutional mandate) without raising taxes (a voter mandate), we have to figure out how to equitably disperse a limited amount of funds. The system as is wouldn't allow us to do that, so we have to tweak it. The budget couldn't be certified by the comptroller without that, and the governor can't sign the budget until the comptroller certifies it....hence the extended work schedule.
Among the ironies here: the Legislative Budget Board, responsible for giving the legislature the data it needs to do anything budget-related, is required to give employees comp time after session. Why, you ask? The LBB staff work 100+ hours a week while we're in session (puts us 60+ hour staffers to shame, really), and state law is set up to allow these guys a break when the gavel falls sine die. So what might have been a short and sweet special is lengthened as numbers only trickle in.
Meanwhile, the governor had already announced plans to bring the Legislature back in July to deal with Texas Windstorm Insurance (TWIA) - as we enter what is expected to be a whopper of a hurricane season, the problems with this agency have to be dealt with, and as the special interests involved created quite the windstorm during session and prevented an agreement on reform, we have to resolve this now and not wait for 2013. Today the governor added TWIA to the "call" (agenda for a special session) for this 30-day period, guaranteeing legislators will be in Austin a little bit longer.
There is also the albatross known as Congressional redistricting. There was no political motivation to get this done during the regular session - likely because there aren't many legislators looking to run for Congress, but also because the political appetite for this process is dulled significantly after the arduous, melodramatic process we went through in 2001 and 2003. But the governor, rumored to be considering a presidential run, can't really piss off the RNC more than the state already has (see this article for more info), so he's added that to the call as well. Today's redistricting hearing in the Senate ran especially long as Austin leftists packed the room to whinge about how Sen. Seliger's proposed map divides Travis County into five districts (and perhaps permanently ousts Lloyd Doggett). Side note - I'm not thrilled with the Travis County proposal either, for entirely different reasons, but as a lege aide I'm not in a position to testify and so had to settle for growling at the screen while following the committee hearing.
I'd like to say that the political junkie in me secretly loves all of this, but frankly I find it nauseating. We'll go through the same round of testimony, protests, angry phone calls, and sanctimonious speeches on the floor that we went through during the regular session, likely come up with the same results, and all at the cost of over $27,000 per day to taxpayers.
It has been an interesting experience so far, working for a legislator and actually getting to work in the coolest building outside of Washington, D.C. I do have some other, less politically-charged thoughts about it that I might share before long. Meanwhile, if you want to see what I'm saying about this stuff as it happens, you can follow me on Twitter (sorry, no Anthony Weiner-style pictures will be found there).
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