Category Archives: Texas News

Texas Cities Under Attack by State Senate

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The Dallas Morning News reports that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Tea Party dominated Texas Senate are working diligently to restrict local governments from straying too far from his conservative vision – the will of the local voters be damned.

The read out: Many of the Legislature’s most conservative members don’t like what they see.

On Monday, a Senate panel heard accusations that city governments abusively have tried to squelch ballot initiatives and complaints that school districts and other local taxing entities too often aren’t candid when they ask voters to approve bond issues.

It was a preview of more fights to come in next year’s legislative session over bonded indebtedness and local control on issues that include transgender people in bathrooms, red-light cameras and fluoride in the drinking water.

Last fall, Patrick asked the Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee to study whether more information about proposed local borrowing should be provided to citizens in the voting booth and whether about 300 “home rule” cities have too much leeway in flicking off unwelcome referendum petitions.

As suspected, Texas conservatives are all for smaller and more local government – except that is when they disagree with the outcome.  Then big state government has to come into play to enforce Tea Party ideological purity.  And next to the word “hypocrite” in the dictionary – big picture of your Lt. Gov.

Flood Photos Showing Oil Spills Disappear from Public View

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The El Paso Times has been on about concerning many photos taken of flooded areas of Texas which show spills from oil wells and drilling sites.  Despite the clear pictorial evidence, the “watchdog” of the Texas oil and gas industry  – the Texas Railroad Commission – for some reason has records of almost no flood related spills occurring during the massive floods that have occurred in Texas over the past two years.

An example are photos taken last summer by the Civil Air Patrol along the Lower Trinity River.  The photos show lots of oil spilling into the Lower Trinity .  But the Railroad Commission’s oil-spill database does not include any record of a flood-related spill along the Trinity.

And if that weren’t suspicious enough, the RRC along with the Texas Department of Public Safety recently removed all the photos from public view.  The reason – concerns that the photos might show dead bodies of persons whose families had not been notified.  The only problem – there were no dead bodies in the photos.  So what exactly is the RRC attempting to hide?  It’s lax oversight of the industry?  That is common knowledge, so it must be something else.

Servergy Sued Again for Fraud

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Servergy, Inc. – the company at the center of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s legal woes – has been sued by a group of Alabama investors who claim they were defrauded into purchasing shares of the company.  The suit alleges that Servergy made numerous misrepresentations about its business to entice new investors to buy into the company.  The investors claim that Servergy made unsupported claims about the sales of its signature product  – a small server – and represented that IBM and other giants were poised to buy the company.  Paxton himself brought investors to the table without revealing that he was getting a commission.  Tea Party favorite Paxton never bought into the company but did receive 100,000 shares as a gift that he somehow forgot to put on his tax returns and his required disclosures with the Texas Ethics Commission.

Texas Loosens Voter ID Requirement

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Texas agreed Wednesday to significantly weaken its voter ID law, which federal courts have said discriminated against minorities and the poor and left more than 600,000 registered voters potentially unable to cast a ballot.

Faced with a direct rebuke from the Fifth Circuit and a complete lack of evidence of in-person voter fraud, Texas has loosened its voter ID requirements for the November election.  Voters without one of the absurd list of seven forms of suitable ID — which includes  concealed handgun permits, but not college IDs —  can now sign an affidavit and vote.  And that vote will be counted.  This provision essentially guts the law.  This is a remarkable failure of the Texas GOP’s attempt to suppress voter turnout – an effort that likely failed anyway.

The state also agreed to $2.5 million on voter outreach before November pursuant to the settlement submitted to U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, who must still approve the changes.

Red can already hear the outcry from Our Poor Idiot Governor Greg Abbott about how this will allow massive voter fraud at the polls despite the utter lack of any such evidence.  Republicans can take their cue from nominee Donald Trump who is already claiming that  the presidential election will be “rigged” against him. No sir, it is your party who has repeatedly attempted to “rig” elections by enacting numerous state laws designed to suppress voter turnout.

Ken Paxton Butts in Again

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Vexatious litigant and embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed another lawsuit to waste taxpayer dollars and deflect attention from his own considerable legal woes.   Paxton is suing the City of Austin for an alleged violation of the state’s open carry law by banning guns from its city hall, according to the Austin American-Statesman.  Red predicts that Mr. P will fail in his efforts to coerce Austin into complying with his Tea Party and NRA agenda.  The language of the open carry law provides that guns can be prohibited in courts or “offices utilized by the court.”  Austin’s city hall (and many others in Texas) frequently hold various types of court proceedings.  Austin temple of local democracy, for example, hosts a community court for low-level offenders, and the City based its gun ban on that fact. Whether that’s actually a court is an open question. Three weeks ago, Paxton issued a non-binding AG’s opinion claiming there is no court in Austin’s city hall and threatened to sue Austin unless it blinked first.  City officials apparently had little respect for the legal stylings of an indicted AG.  Paxton, ever eager for a spotlight that will cement his Tea Party bona fides has now sued.

Must Kill Turtle Before Turtle Kills Me

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Terry Wayne Washington of Austin has been charged with cruelty to a non-livestock animal and unauthorized taking of wildlife after beating a snapping turtle to death with a claw hammer.  Washington was fishing with a friend in Austin’s Lady Bird Lake when he snagged the 40 pound reptile.  Washington was apparently annoyed that the turtle had been chasing away fish and decided to dispatch it with the tool at hand.  According to witnesses, Washington struck the snapper at least ten times finally crushing its skull.  Washinton would like have escaped trouble but for Geoffrey Frank who was jogging on the hike and bike trail around the lake and caught the last few blows on his cell phone.

After turning himself in, Washington claimed self-defense and that he was protecting himself from the raging reptile – claims which are belied by the video evidence.   Now Red has seen a few snappers in his time and you don’t want to mess with them.  But if you can’t out run a speeding turtle, then maybe you should consider staying at home.

Looking to Lower Your Ethical Standards? Just Follow Ken Paxton’s Lead.

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Embattled but apparently unashamed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton may have reached a new ethical low in his fight to stave off a criminal conviction.  Paxton  is reported to have accepted a $100,000 gift to help pay for his own criminal defense from the head of a medical-imaging company that his office investigated for Medicaid fraud.

Preferred Imaging founder James Webb gave Paxton at least $100,000 to help cover his mounting criminal defense bills.  Now Red thinks everyone is entitled to a good criminal defense and very few actually get one.  But when you are the state’s top legal official, it is more than a little suspicious when you are taking large amounts of money from someone your office is investigating.

Be prepared for the usual side-stepping and soft shoe from Paxton as he dances around yet another ethical minefield.  Despite the fact that Webb’s company settled a $3.5 million whistleblower lawsuit this month, Paxton is now claiming that federal prosecutors took the lead and that he had no direct involvement. No involvement other than to cash the check, that is.  Of course, Webb expected nothing in return for his largess.  And if you believer that, Red has Republican presidential nominee to sell you.

 

Walls of the Alamo?

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Researchers working to restore the Alamo have unearthed Spanish colonial adobe bricks at a dig site in Alamo Plaza.  What is not yet known is whether those bricks may have comprised part of the historic shrine’s original western wall.  More analysis may reveal the architectural function of the colonial-era bricks.

According to archaeologist Nesta Anderson, there is a possibility that the bricks uncovered only two feet below the surface are part of the original mission because they clearly form part of a larger wall structure .  “Because we’ve got something from the Spanish colonial period, we know we are digging in the right place. Now we know we can get information from the ground over here that will support the master plan and the reinterpretation.”

The dig is part of a plan by the state and local officials to restore and refurbish the Alamo.  According to the officials in charge of the Alamo project, their work will hopefully  unearth the original western and southern walls.   In December, the state purchased three buildings on Alamo Plaza that housed tourist traps such as Guiness World Records Musuem and a Ripley’s Odditorium.  The purchase was the first step by the Alamo Endowment Board and the city of San Antonio to move forward with plans to de-campify the area around the historic mission.  Last October, the endowment, city and Texas signed an agreement to develop a master plan for the district with a focus on historic preservation and a dignified treatment for the site.

Discovery of the bricks on Friday marked a major step toward uncovering the construction history of the world-famous Texas landmark.

Texans Play Small Role at the Democratic National Convention

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Texas delegates do not play a large role at either of the two major party conventions under the current political state of affairs.  The Republicans pay scant attention to Texas because it is currently the reddest of the red states.  If Trump cannot win Texas, he cannot possibly secure victory and there appears to be no doubt about his ability to win the Lone Star State no matter what he says or does. He might even be able to violate the Edwin Edwards Rule (who claimed he would be okay unless caught with a dead woman or a live boy) and still win the Lone Star State.

The Democrats ignore Texas for similar reasons.  Why pay the slightest bit of attention to a state where your party has not won a state-wide election since 1994 and has not voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1976.  After the abject failure of Battleground Texas in 2014, it’s almost amazing that the Democrats even acknowledge that Texas exists.

Nonetheless, at least of couple of Texans will soak up some of the spotlight in Philadelphia this week.  On the deserving side, there is HUD Secretary Julian Castro – who might be the only hope for Democratic Governor in Red’s remaining time.  Castro is a polished politician who has parlayed his success into serious consideration for the Vice-Presidential nod – only to lose out to Tim Kaine.  On the undeserving side is Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.  Lee is notorious for staking out any opportunity to bore the public.  Never discount a woman who managed to push her way into a speaking spot at Michael Jackson’s funeral.  Red hears that is one of SJL’s favorite stump opportunities around Houston.  There are tales of SJL showing up at a funeral and just taking possession of the altar uninvited and pontificating on someone she barely knew.

Red will tune in for Castro and tune out SJL.

 

Paxton’s Pals Pay to Keep Politician out of Pokey

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“Friends” of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton gave him almost $330,000 to help pay for his legal defense against felony securities fraud charges, according to Paxton’s most recent filing with the Texas Ethics Commission.   Paxton’s personal financial statement establishes that he is funding a high-profile criminal defense team with the help of so-called friends and associates.  And not a single one of those friends and/or associates expects a single favor in return for helping keep Paxton out of the pokey.

 Paxton is using a loophole in the state ethics laws that allow state officials to keep gifts from people who are allegedly not seeking anything in return.  Under state bribery laws, elected officials are not allowed to receive gifts from people or entities subject to their authority.  But as attorney general, Paxton has authority over a wide range of legal issues and controls the state’s largest law department   Nonetheless,  Paxton sought an exception allowing “gifts from family members and those ‘independent’ of an officeholder’s ‘official status.’” In essence if this passes muster, Paxton will be allowed to tap a few rich folks for unlimited sums of cash to pay his attorneys based on the idea that none of these folks have an interest in getting anything in return because they are long time friends, buddies, pals and confidants of the state’s embattled top lawyer.
And Red has a bridge to sell you.