Category Archives: Texas Politics

Ken Paxton – Vexatious Litigant (cont.)

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It’s not enough that Ken Paxton is suing the federal government (again) – this time over the important issue of who gets to pee where.  But now it comes out that Paxton went actively looking for a client to challenge new guidelines aimed at protecting the rights of transgender students.   The Texas Tribune reports that Paxton approached at least two school districts in his quest to find a client to represent.  Paxton was turned down after his assistants made a pitch to the Wichita Falls ISD to enact an identity at birth peeing policy.   But the WFISD board turned him down.

“I feel like in this situation we’ve been put between a rock and a hard place by both the federal and our state government where we are the ones who would be the sacrificial lambs effectively in this fight,” said board member Elizabeth Yeager. “I think that would be completely a waste of time and a distraction from our school business of educating students.”

Wichita Falls Superintendent Michael Kurht also came out against adopting the policy, citing legal counsel that the school district’s current policies were in compliance with the new federal guidelines.  “I don’t know that my time and the district’s time is best suited to do this,” he said.

Kudos to the WFISD for having the sense to not pick an unnecessary fight and to not make their transgender students into a political pawn.

Unfortunately, the folks at the tiny Harrold ISD were not so immune to the charms of the wily Paxton.   After being approached by Paxton’s surrogates, the Harrold ISD adopted a transgender policy clearly targeted to run afoul of the federal guidelines.  Finding a willing dupe for his political agenda, Paxton issued the following duplicitous statement:

“Harrold Independent School District fulfilled a responsibility to their community and adopted a bathroom policy that puts the safety of their students first. Unfortunately the policy placed them at odds with federal directives handed down earlier this month. That means the district is in the crosshairs of the Obama administration, which has maintained it will punish anyone who doesn’t comply with their orders.”

Yes, they were goaded into adopting a policy so that Paxton would have yet another chance to file a frivolous lawsuit and waste more of your taxpayer dollars.  When a non-government lawyer goes looking for a client unsolicited they have a name for it – Barratry.  When Ken Paxton does it nothing happens.

 

The GOP Voters Disappoint Red

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The voters in the GOP primary run-off elections did themselves and Red a great disservice by rejecting Mary Lou Bruner for a position on the State Board of Education.  Readers may recall that Bruner, a Tea Party stalwart and former school teacher, had claimed that President Obama had been a gay prostitute in his youth to pay for his drug habit.  That’s just an extraordinary dose of crazy that very few politicians can deliver.  But Bruner kept the hits coming when she also claimed that the Noah’s Ark flood had extinguished the dinosaurs and that the Democrats had killed President Kennedy.   Such crazy talk did not keep Bruner down as she nearly won in the GOP primary in March and would surely have been elected to the SBOE in the fall despite her lunatic fringe beliefs.  But alas, Bruner went down in flames Tuesday night losing the run off by 18 points to local school board president Keven Ellis.  So unfortunately, Red will not be able to parade her around as the poster child for the band of right-wing zanies that goes by the name of the Texas GOP.

We Haven’t Heard the Last of “Lyin’ Ted”

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Christopher Hooks of the Texas Observer has been following Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) for quite a while and is convinced that Cruz’s quest for the White House has just barely begun.  Hooks examines Cruz’s non-concession speech after getting drubbed in Indiana and sees Cruz planting the seeds for another run in 2020.

Approximately three minutes and 30 seconds into Ted Cruz’s Indiana speech announcing the end of his 2016 presidential campaign, he announced the beginning of his 2020 presidential campaign — before he had even said the words that made his retreat from the field of battle official. For years, Cruz had been telling conservatives about Ronald Reagan in 1980, and the great reversal against Carter’s liberalism. But now, in defeat, he spoke about Ronald Reagan in 1976, the year the Gipper came close to beating Gerald Ford in the Republican primary but came just short of the finish line.

Cruz’s ambition and self-regard is all-consuming. He seems to have possessed a single-minded determination to become president from the time his classmates were falling off of monkey bars. So it’s a fair bet that he woke up the morning after the Indiana primary and started to make plans. But how should he play his hand as Trump flails his way to the general election?

Texas GOP Ready to Play the Gay Bashing Card One More Time

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The Houston Chronicle gets an early jump on the 2017 Legislative session by looking at proposed GOP legislation that would legalize discrimination against gay Texans based on one’s religious beliefs.

Get ready for another round in Texas, too. For state Rep. Matt Krause, a Fort Worth Republican, the fight here extends to legislation next session that would “supplement the state’s existing law to allow business owners to refuse services to people whose lifestyles clash with their religious beliefs,” as reported by the Austin American-Statesman’s Tim Eaton.

Except Krause isn’t only after a law, which would require simple majorities in both chambers and Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval. He wants to send the question to voters as a proposed constitutional amendment — the first time they will vote on something remotely related to gay rights since 2005. Krause has to clear a high bar first, though. He needs to win the support of two-thirds of the House and Senate to get it on the ballot. Still, the issue is that important to him, Krause told Eaton.

“I wanted to put it in the constitution to make it even stronger,” he said. “It is still something I think is very important.”

Should Krause get the election he desires, it will create some crucial challenges and opportunities all around that may well define the political contours of this fight in Texas for years to come.

Red supports the proposed amendment.  Red is anxious to discriminate against numerous of his fellow citizens who have raised Red’s holy ire.  Red’s religious beliefs will prohibit him from providing services to left-handed owners of dogs that weigh more than 50 lbs (the dogs that is), drivers who fail to follow the “every other car” rule,  anyone who claims soccer is boring, stockbrokers, people who fart in elevators just before exiting, Rep. John Culberson, Dallas Cowboys fans, lake trash, Bluetooth cell phone users, anyone appearing on a “Best Dressed” list, several of Red’s in-laws and a few cousins, Aquarians, ethnic Albanians, and high-school science teachers.  There are probably a few more, but this is a good start.

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds One Man One Vote

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In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge by two Texas citizens that would have upended the doctrine of One Man, One Vote.  The case, Evenwel v. Abbott, was masterminded by highly successful Supreme Court lawyer Ed Blum and his erroneously named Project for Fair Representation.  Blum and the plaintiffs claimed that Texas State Senate districts were unconstitutional because they were drawn on the basis of total population instead of the number of eligible voters.  The argument was a clever ploy to redirect political power from more liberal urban areas to more conservative rural areas who have higher numbers of eligible voters as a percentage of total population.   Although the U.S. Constitution mandates that congressional districts be drawn on the basis of population, there is no such mandate for state legislative districts.  Alas, the ploy failed and the Court held that Texas could legally apportion its legislative districts on the basis of total population.

Adopting voter-eligible apportionment as constitutional command would upset a well-functioning approach to districting that all 50 States and countless local jurisdictions have followed for decades, even centuries . . . Appellants have shown no reason for the Court to disturb this longstanding use of total population.

Unfortunately, the Court left open the question of whether a state could use some other basis to draw its districts.  Expect another run at this naked attempt for the Republicans to maintain their stranglehold on Texas politics.    Right now, the population difference between the largest and smallest districts in Texas is about 8 percent. If the State were to change and instead use the number of eligible voters in each district for apportionment, there would be about a 40 percent difference between the largest and the smallest districts.  That would be a remarkable shift of power back to more conservative rural areas and result in unbelievable redistricting battles.

Mary Lou Bruner Update – She’s Still Crazy

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Mary Lou Bruner the GOP candidate for the Texas State Board of Education has been outspoken in her criticism of President Obama.  All well and good, until it crosses the line to utter insanity.  Late last year, Bruner posted the claim on her Facebook page that Obama worked as a gay prostitute in his 20’s to earn cash for his drug habit.

After the ridicule and scorn heaped on her ignorant shoulders from the national press, you might think Bruner would back down or at least make some attempt to back up her claims with some of those things called “facts.”  She is supposedly interested in education after all.  But no.  In an interview with KERA in Denton, Bruner went all in.

“If he’s on drugs, then how did he pay for them?” she told KERA. “There’s two ways that people on welfare pay for drugs — they prostitute themselves or they steal.”

So our President was either a prostitute or a thief.  This is the kind of lunacy the Tea Party has wrought. And this is the person that will be sitting on the State Board of Education setting policies and approving textbooks to guide our young students.  It’s almost, but not quite, as frightening as growing prospect of a  Cruz presidency.

Sid Miller, Liar or Merely Easily Duped Moron?

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Texas Agriculture Commissioner and Tea Party darling Sid Miller posted a photo on his Facebook page of President Barack Obama smiling, holding up a blue T-shirt with the face of Che Guevara.  Miller claimed that Obama was holding the shirt during his trip to Cuba this week.  The indignant Miller wrote:

President Obama refuses to return to the United States in order to meet with European leaders to discuss a response to today’s terror attacks in Brussels–attacks that severely injured a number of Americans. Instead, he remains in Cuba holding a shirt depicting the image of Che Guevara–one of the most reviled terrorists of the modern age–a murdering thug who was responsible for thousands of innocent deaths. President Obama is laughing at us. He understands the symbolism of this picture and yet he doesn’t care. I believe his actions are disgraceful. Do you agree?

Apparently, Miller is easily duped as the photo is from Obama’s 2009 visit to an MIT research lab and the image of Guevara was photo-shopped in.   Sid might have figured out that this shot probably wasn’t from the Cuba trip by looking at the English language sign in the background.  But that would have required some actual thought.

Sid needs to stop posting stupid crap on Facebook and consider doing the job he was elected to do.

Rob Morrow -Just Crazy Enough to Represent GOP

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Robert Morrow ‏@RobMorroLiberty 12h12 hours ago

Robert Morrow Retweeted scrape GOAT

Go to Dallas and see where LBJ murdered JFK.

Robert Morrow added,

I’m traveling to Fort Worth tomorrow. First time in Texas. Any advice?
Nice.  Mr. Morrow throws around the murder accusations rather freely.  Among other things, he claims Pres. Obama murdered a gay prostitute.

File this Under Damn, Damn, Damn

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CNN reports that Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) would have dropped out of the GOP race if he had lost Texas.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was prepared to drop out of the Republican presidential race had he lost his home state on Super Tuesday, he confirmed Wednesday, and is asking Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to do the same should he lose his.

The comments come after Cruz fell well short of expectations he set for himself on Super Tuesday. But Rubio, his chief rival in the anti-Donald Trump contest, is not faring much better. Now, heading into a critical two-week stretch before the primary in Rubio’s home state, Cruz is aiming to change the narrative, working to sell his own donors and backers on his own viability, which is more in question than ever before given Trump’s command of the race.

Listen, everyone recognizes Donald Trump is a unique phenomenon. And we were encouraged by internal numbers, but you know, I asked the team what do we do if we lose Texas?” Cruz told reporters in Overland Park, Kansas, on Wednesday night. “And we had reached the conclusion, if we had lost Texas, that would’ve been the end of the road.”

You blew it Texas.  Now the road goes on forever and the party won’t end until the convention.

Rob Morrow Elected Travis County GOP Chair – Local Party Officials Bemoan the Chaos their Voters Have Wrought

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Travis County Republicans are beside themselves over the newly elected County Chair Rob Morrow who defeated incumbent James Dickey by more than 6000 votes. Morrow is the co-author of “The Clinton’s War on Women” a book akin to the Bible in many GOP households. So why the wailing and gnashing of teeth?  Perhaps it has to do with the chickens coming home to roost.  In many ways, Morrow accurately represents the present tenor of the Grand Old Party.  You see, Morrow is fond of insulting anyone and everyone in his frequent Tweets – including the sainted Rick Perry.  Morrow

Red sees this as simply the natural progression of the GOP’s turn to ad hominem attacks and political viciousness.  Morrow is perfectly in line with the Ted Cruz/Donald Trump insult comic wing of the GOP. And how can anyone in the party legitimately complain about Morrow making fun of Perry or the entire Bush family when its presidential candidates spend about 75% of their time trashing their opponents.  So exactly how is Morrow out of line with the GOP electorate when he questions Rick Perry’s sexual preferences, or claims that the entire Bush family are criminals who should be locked up, or calls Hillary an “angry bull dyke”, or claims that Marco Rubio is “very likely a gay man who got married.”   And Morrow’s response to the Travis County Republicans who want him out?   “Tell them they can go fuck themselves.”  They can do that or vote for Ted Cruz – it’s pretty much the same thing.  Too bad the GOP doesn’t respect the will of the voters.  But if they won’t respect the President who won twice, why should they respect their new racist homophobe of a party leader.

The Texas Tribune has the rest of the hilarious story of the disintegration of the county party of Gov. Greg Abbot and AG Ken Paxton among other notable lights.   Red was literally ROTFL.