Posts Tagged ‘Empower Texans’

Texas Now Running At 25-50% Freedom

Tuesday, May 19th, 2020

Texas governor Greg Abbott is lifting more Wuhan coronavirus-inspired business restrictions:

Monday saw new information released on Phase 2 of Texas’ recovery plan.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced the new guidelines at a press conference Monday.

Phase 2 includes opening dates and health and safety guidelines and checklists for everything from bars and breweries to day cares, summer camps and even aquariums.

After being effectively shuttered for months, and putting thousands of bartenders and servers out of work, bars in Texas will be allowed to reopen Friday, Abbott said.

Under new guidelines, bars will be allowed to reopen at 25 percent capacity under very strict guidelines, he said. Breweries, wineries and wine tasting rooms are also included under these new guidelines.

Likewise restaurants, which had already been allowed to reopen at 25 percent capacity will be allowed to increase to 50 percent capacity starting Friday.

Abbott also issued minimum standard health protocols that bars must follow to keep patrons safe.

The restrictions are more of the “mother may I” rules that both patrons and establishments will probably start ignoring almost immediately.

Abbott is also lifting restrictions on sports facilities (or at least letting such facilities apply to open without spectators), which is good, since the NBA is also allowing teams back in practice facilities (though with a restriction to four players in a facility at a time, actual team practices aren’t permitted yet).

Thanks to Republican control of all three branches of government, Texas hasn’t suffered under the extreme lockdown insanity that Democratic governors have imposed on places like Michigan and California. But given that Texas has suffered no spike in coronavirus cases, and that Georgia has also suffered no spike in cases despite lifting most of their lockdown order, Gov. Abbott’s reopening moves seem relatively timid. Republican activists are not impressed:

For more than two months, Texas has been ruled by the edicts from Gov. Greg Abbott’s office.

It’s been the governor—and the governor alone—who has decided which businesses can reopen and how many people they can allow inside. The governor’s directives have strayed in the mundane operations of individuals, such as noting how often their employees must wash their hands.

As Empower Texans CEO Michael Quinn Sullivan asked rhetorically last week: “Are we finding we don’t actually need a legislative branch, with all their pesky drama and hand-wringing?”

Such is the case in current-day Texas. This is the status quo in a state where the legislature and the Supreme Court have thus far refrained from reining in the power of what’s essentially become an absolute executive.

As with the previous partial reopening announcements by Abbott, grassroots activists like Julie McCarty of the True Texas Project say Texans should not be satisfied with merely an additional portion of the freedom their leaders have taken from them.

“I get what Abbott is doing, he’s trying to save his own skin by doing just enough to not be fully blamed by either side. That’s appeasement, not leadership, and it accomplishes nothing,” McCarty told Texas Scorecard. “Texans have had enough with these made-up orders that don’t follow common sense. It’s time for Abbott to fish or cut bait; he doesn’t deserve any praise for piecemeal actions that put his lack of leadership skills on full display.”

Bonnen/Sullivan Controversy Takes Down Burrows

Saturday, August 17th, 2019

I haven’t been following the Texas Speaker Dennis Bonnen/Empower Texans head Michael Quinn Sullivan meeting controversy due to lack of time (like I’ve said, the past weeks have been a bear), but this Texas Monthly piece provides an overview of the meeting, which took place June 12. “Bonnen appears to have offered to take an official action if Sullivan would use his political organization to go after ten legislators whom Bonnen found objectionable while avoiding attacks on Bonnen.” Depending on the applicability of various statutes, that’s very possibly illegal.

Here’s Sullivan’s description of the meeting:

I was surprised when I got to Bonnen’s office to also be greeted by the GOP Caucus chairman, State Rep. Dustin Burrows (R–Lubbock).

The meeting started off pleasantly enough. And, indeed, there was a little tongue-lashing. The notoriously thin-skinned Burrows didn’t like a tweet from the session in which I wrote he was “moronic” for floating a proposal that would have gutted property tax reform. For his part, Bonnen said he wants to fight the Democrats—offering amusing (if slightly vulgar) comments about Reps. Michelle Beckley (D-Carrollton) and Jon Rosenthal (D-Houston).

But the thrust of the meeting took me by surprise. Bonnen invited me there to make me an offer.

A little context: Given my news background, Empower Texans has long operated as a news-media entity. Our focus on providing information that empowers citizens to exercise their rights as a self-governing people has taken the form of reporting on the actions of lawmakers—especially in exposing the difference between what they say and what they do.

For the past two sessions, our Texas Scorecard Capitol bureau has applied for House media credentials. Despite falling clearly inside the boundaries of the House’s criteria, and despite being granted credentials by the Texas Senate, those applications have been repeatedly denied. The 2019 session was no exception. We filed a federal lawsuit on the matter, which is going up before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Sitting in his Capitol office on June 12, Speaker Bonnen was adamant he wanted to do something for me. I told him I didn’t need anything from him or Burrows. But he really wanted me to listen to what he “wanted to do for me.”

Bonnen insisted: He would ensure Texas Scorecard reporters received House floor access in 2021 if we would lay off our criticism of the legislative session, not spend money from our affiliated PACs against certain Republicans, and—most shockingly—go after a list of other Republicans in the 2020 primary elections.

Spending political money was the issue, Bonnen said. Not just refraining from spending it against his pals. He wanted us to spend it against Republicans he saw as not being helpful.

What strikes me most about this, beyond the rank impropriety, is what a shoddy deal Bonnen is offering. Spend time and money attacking Bonnen’s preferred targets in exchange for…media credentials to the Texas House? That’s it? It’s not only underhanded and unethical, it’s insultingly tacky. “Hey, if you help me whack this guy, I promise there’s a six-pack of Bud Light in it for you!”

Yesterday, meeting participant Burrows reigned as House Republican Chair. “Following Burrows’ resignation as Chairman, Fort Worth Republican State Rep. Stephanie Klick has confirmed with a North Texas news outlet she has assumed the role of Chairman of the caucus and expects the members to fill her, now vacant, role as vice chair according to House Republican Caucus rules.”

Cahnman also has some pungent commentary, such as:

  • The hardest part to wrap your head around is that the substance of Bonnen’s ask isn’t necessarily crazy. While he’s doing it for the wrong reasons, Bonnen basically asks Sullivan to focus on rural members instead of suburban ones. There’s a certain logic to that strategy. Unfortunately, there’s no logic that suggests one make oneself a party to a felony in the process.
  • The most surprising part is the degree to which Bonnen’s talking out of both sides of his mouth on his alleged “no campaigning” edict. Bonnen spends nearly a quarter of the meeting telling Sullivan how he plans to vigorously enforce the edict against Democrats, but casually look the other way with Republicans. At this point, the Democrats have every right to tell Bonnen to pound sand.
  • Snip.

    Bonnen, and especially Dustin Burrows, are super thin-skinned about criticisms of the session. They spend a quarter of the discussion trying to spin the results to Sullivan. At one point, Burrows laughably accuses Sullivan of gaslighting the members.

    Snip.

  • Burrows claims the list is about members who voted against the ban on taxpayer funded lobbying, but Ken King and Gary van Deaver also voted against the ban and didn’t make the list.
  • The list: Steve Allison, Trent Ashby, Dirty Ernie (Bailes), Travis Clardy (“the ringleader of all opposition” according to Burrows), Drew Darby, Kyle Kacal, Stan Lambert, Tan Parker, John Raney, Phil Stephenson.
  • Cahnman also thinks that Burrows is a dead speaker walking.

    There was widespread belief that Bonnen would be easier to work with than former speaker Joe Straus (even by Sullivan), but this year’s legislative session seemed to have just as many conservative bills die in the process as they had under Straus.

    With Burrows down, it’s hard to see how Bonnen survives the scandal as Speaker.

    LinkSwarm for August 16, 2019

    Friday, August 16th, 2019

    Welcome to another Friday LinkSwarm! It hit 107°F in Austin this week, but it was probably only 104° when I rode my bike. Cleared up my sinuses!

  • David Brock’s ShareBlue Media certainly seems to be freaking out over the Epstein “suicide,” sends out talking points to Democratic loyalists to downplay the possibility of conspiracy. Hmmmmm…
  • Illinois is farked.
  • On the same theme: 40% of Illinois education spending goes to pensions. (Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.)
  • Trust no one.
  • Democrats are convinced that a wave of Republican retirements is going to help them flip Texas’ congressional delegation. Don’t count on it. “If they nominate a candidate like Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris, or somebody like, God forbid, Bernie Sanders, if they nominate somebody who is extremely left of center, they’re not going to get there.”
  • For Democrats, filing for bankruptcy doesn’t prevent you from running for the senate. Boy, Democrats sure love nominating people who can’t even handle their own finances, much less ours.
  • Two illegal aliens charged with repeatedly raping an 11-year old girl.
  • Disillusioned liberal sees Obama as a lying tool of corporate greed. “Our political order is oriented around legitimizing only those who can claim some form of victimization. It’s why the woke stuff/white supremacy is so powerful. It’s a fundamentally anti-enlightenment model of politics.” (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
  • More on last week’s Russian nuclear accident:

    United States intelligence officials have said they suspect the blast involved a prototype of what NATO calls the SSC-X-9 Skyfall. That is a cruise missile that Mr. Putin has boasted can reach any corner of the earth because it is partially powered by a small nuclear reactor, eliminating the usual distance limitations of conventionally fueled missiles.

    As envisioned by Mr. Putin, who played animated video of the missile at a state-of-the-union speech in 2018, the Skyfall is part of a new class of weapons designed to evade American missile defenses.

    Lots of Russian military superweapons turn out to be vaporware. This one turned out to be vaporizedware. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)

  • Inside the Polar Star, America’s antiquated rustbucket of an icebreaker.
  • Speaking of ice: President Trump contemplates buying Greenland. On the one hand, in the long run, land purchases have worked out very well for the United States. On the other, Liebensraum is bunk and we’ve got plenty of development left to do with Alaska.
  • New York Times editor demoted for daring to voice obvious political truths…and criticizing The Squad. (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • Important safety tip: Don’t use NULL for your vanity license plate.
  • Shorn of the music and nostalgia, Woodstock was “a field full of six-foot-deep mud laced with LSD.” Bonus: Pete Townshend kicking Abbie Hoffman’s ass. (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
  • Lessons from a “local food” scammer.

    My instructions were to claim that all the produce was local, although nothing was or could be local: It was early June in northwestern New Jersey’s Kittatinny Mountains, and the produce had been shipped from warmer parts of the world to the distributor who’d sold it to my boss. But “local” was the magic word hand-painted on our signs; it was what made our customers, most of them New Yorkers driving to country vacation cottages, slam on their brakes and pull over.

    For the first time in my life, I heard about the naturalness, tradition and superior flavor of New Jersey produce. “Taste-wise, nothing compares to Jersey Silver Queen,” the New Yorkers declared, clawing at ears of a fat-kerneled, North Carolina-grown supersweet hybrid, all sugar and no corn flavor, nothing like Silver Queen. They tossed the husks on the ground for me to rake up.

    “Give me Jersey peaches over Georgia peaches any day.” Those were Georgia peaches they were palming to their kids, whispering, “eat up,” before the fruit had been weighed and paid for.

    “I wait every year for the real Jersey tomatoes. You can’t get that country flavor in the city!” They couldn’t get it here, either: These were New Mexican beefsteaks, greased with mineral oil to an enticing sheen and petroleum fragrance. Didn’t they notice the absence of any roses-and-resin tomato-y perfume?

  • CNN’s Chris Cuomo, the lesser son of a greater father, gets called “Fredo” and hilarity ensues:

  • The Brooklyn bridge used to double as a wine storage facility.
  • A Magic Bus Full of Fraud

    Thursday, August 9th, 2018

    Here’s a story with a staggering amount of government fraud that may have flown under your radar if you’re not in the DFW area:

    A Dallas County bureaucracy brought down by official corruption, mismanagement, and debilitating debt has finally been dissolved. July 31 marked the end of Dallas County Schools, the school bus agency one state lawmaker called “the worst government bureaucracy in our state.”

    But millions in debt piled up by corrupt officials, under the noses of inept bureaucrats, remains.

    A years-long criminal money laundering conspiracy that went seemingly unnoticed by most DCS officials until the agency was on the verge of collapse left Dallas County taxpayers on the hook for over $125 million.

    Dallas County residents voted to shut down the scandal-plagued bus bureaucracy last November. Since then, a dissolution committee has been working to wind down the agency, transfer buses and other assets to area school districts, and figure out how to pay off the mountain of debt left behind.

    County taxpayers will continue to pay the one-cent ad valorem property tax dedicated to subsidizing the now-defunct agency until all its obligations are settled.

    The dissolution committee also filed a civil racketeering lawsuit seeking to recoup taxpayer money that was illegally funneled to corrupt officials and others involved in the conspiracy. Under federal racketeering statutes, plaintiffs can recover triple damages.

    “I’m hopeful that we will get some money back,” said Alan King, chief executive officer of the dissolution committee. “The amount of money that they’ve lost is just staggering.”

    “It was a conspiracy of a number of defendants and individuals that involved bribes, kickbacks, real estate fees and commissions paid,” added Stephanie Curtis, an attorney for the DCS dissolution committee.

    The lawsuit’s targets include former DCS Superintendent Rick Sorrells, former DCS President Larry Duncan, and current Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway, along with Louisiana-based school bus camera company Force Multiplier Solutions and its CEO Robert Leonard. A failed stop-arm camera ticketing scheme hatched by Leonard and then-Superintendent Sorrells back in 2010 precipitated the agency’s financial collapse.

    Dwaine Caraway is a Democrat who also served as interim Mayor of Dallas after Tom Leppert resigned to launch his unsuccessful U.S. Senate race. Larry Duncan is a Democrat who was also on the Dallas City Council. A look at his January 19, 2016 campaign finance report shows that Leonard was his only campaign contributor (to the tune of a hefty $25,000). Evidently no one was paying attention then, or this should have set off some alarm bells…

    Leonard’s associate Slater Swartwood, Sr. is also named in the suit. He was the first to be indicted on criminal charges in the DCS case, late last year. He pleaded guilty to federal money laundering conspiracy charges and gave federal prosecutors details of the multi-year conspiracy. Swartwood was the middle man who helped funnel millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks from Leonard and Force Multiplier to Sorrells “in return for further agreements and camera-equipment orders.”

    Sorrells repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but once Swartwood confessed, Sorrells admitted he abused his position to swindle taxpayers out of millions of dollars. As superintendent, Sorrells awarded $70 million in contracts to Force Multiplier in exchange for $3 million in bribes and kickbacks. He used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle that featured luxury vacations, expensive sports cars, and fancy jewelry. Sorrells pleaded guilty in April to wire fraud and is set to be sentenced soon. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

    Duncan, who was president of the DCS board when then-Superintendent Sorrells and Leonard launched the stop-arm camera scheme, also denied wrongdoing. From 2012 to 2016, Duncan received nearly $250,000 in campaign contributions from Leonard and others connected with Force Multiplier that coincided with DCS board approvals of agreements with the company. Duncan claims the donations were legitimate, but it’s unclear why Louisiana residents would contribute to the campaign of a Dallas bureaucrat running unopposed. Duncan later gave some of that money to campaigns of other DCS board candidates, including Omar Narvaez, who’s now a Dallas City Council member.

    Caraway is connected to DCS through Swartwood, who also brokered questionable real estate deals for DCS that cost taxpayers millions. Financial disclosures filed by Caraway in 2013 and 2014 show he was paid at least $50,000 to serve as a real estate “consultant” for Swartwood. Caraway also admits the money-launderer gave his family at least $20,000 in “loans” he was never asked to repay. In 2015, Caraway “passionately convinced the rest of city council” to vote in favor of DCS’s stop-arm camera ticketing scheme. Caraway is rumored to be eyeing a run for mayor in 2019, but his connection to the DCS scandal could derail those plans.

    State Sen. Don Huffines (R–Dallas) led the legislative effort last year to abolish DCS.

    More background here.

    Liberal Texas Republican Follies

    Saturday, May 19th, 2018

    Two primary runoff tidbits, courtesy of Michael Quinn Sullivan of Empower Texans:

  • A silly but effective fake 911 call from liberal Republican Lance Gooden, who’s in a tight runoff with Bunni Pounds in the U.S. Fifth Congressional District race against Bunni Pounds. (Previously.)
  • Liberal Scott Milder, who got walloped in the Lt. Governor’s republican primary by incumbent Dan Patrick, endorsed liberal Democrat and perennial candidate Mike Collier for the office and announced he was launching a campaign called http://conservativesforcollier.com/. One tiny little problem: Empower Texans already owns that website. That’s some mighty fine planning there, Lou…
  • Dear Jason Villalba: Enjoy This Festive Holiday Primary Challenge

    Monday, November 27th, 2017

    With the retirements of Joe Straus and Byron Cook, Jason Villalba might be the least popular Republican in the Texas House. Which explains why Santa (in this case Texas conservatives) delivered a primary challenge as an early Christmas present.

    With a disastrous record in the Texas House and recent calls for gun control, Texans won’t be surprised to learn that State Rep. Jason Villalba (R—Dallas) could face a tough reelection.

    On Monday, Dallas business owner Lisa Luby Ryan, who operates an interior design firm and the antique home furnishings store Vintage Living in Dallas, validated earlier rumors she was considering a run and announced her campaign against Villalba in the Republican primary.

    “I’m simply overwhelmed at the initial support we have already earned and grateful for the caliber of individuals joining this campaign,” said Ryan in a news release. “Today’s announcement sends a loud and clear message that this district believes that we can do better than our current representation. I am running to provide voters a clear choice, and with this great support I intend to win.”

    In her campaign announcement, Ryan also released an impressive list of supporters who are already endorsing her campaign. The list includes a bevy of conservative mainstays and a substantial number of prominent community business owners including Brint Ryan (no relation), a prominent tax consultant and chairman of the University of North Texas Board of Regents, who will serve as Lisa Luby Ryan’s campaign treasurer.

    While Ryan’s background certainly plays into the amount of support she’s receiving in the district, and it’s also true that Villalba’s record has declined even further this session compared to his last, it’s likely that the donor community is supporting his opponent because Villalba has exhausted his usefulness.

    While Villalba was, admittedly, a clownish and useless member of House Speaker Joe Straus’ team, he was a part of the team. But now, that team won’t be taking the field.

    Given Straus’ announcement that he will not seek re-election and conservative efforts to amend the Republican caucus bylaws to ensure a more conservative Speaker is elected, Villalba is likely to be left on the outside looking in regardless of who is elected to be the next Speaker of the Texas House.

    And it’s not just Dallas donors who have made that observation.

    Indeed, at a recent lobby meeting hosted by Straus’ chief strategist, Gordon Johnson, Villalba didn’t even make the list of lawmakers that the group would try to “protect” in the upcoming Republican primary elections.

    Given that Straus’ allies in the lobby were forced to spend more than $500,000 to protect Villalba in the 2016 primary, Villalba will be in serious trouble if the Austin political establishment hangs him out to dry.

    Or if his constituents take a look at his record.

    You may remember Villalba from such hits as I’m A Thin-Skinned Twitter Blockhead, Let’s Make It illegal For Gun Owners and Bloggers To Photograph the Police and I Have A Whole Lot of Stupid Ideas.

    Let’s hope Lisa Luby Ryan succeeds in retiring him in 2018.

    Welcome Empower Texans To The Blogroll

    Thursday, September 8th, 2016

    Here’s another link I’ve been meaning to add to the blogroll for a while: Empower Texans. Michael Quinn Sullivan’s group (a companion organization to Texans for Fiscal Responsibility) does a good job of covering Texas political news and drawing attention to government abuses.

    Well worth checking out.