The Texas Land Commissioner race between Republican Jerry Patterson and Democrat VaLinda Hathcox could hinge on who voters think can squeeze the most money out of 20 million acres of public lands.The answer directly affects taxpayers and Texas schoolchildren because the millions in revenues generated by the General Land Office help fund public education.
For nearly a century, the land office has generated $9 billion for public education by funneling oil and gas royalties from state lands into the Permanent School Fund. The school fund, through stock investments, now holds $22 billion. Last year the land office generated another $500 million for the fund."That's been a tremendous benefit for Texas schoolchildren. However, oil and gas production peaked 20-something years ago," said Patterson, the incumbent seeking another four years in office. His No. 1 goal is to boost money for the Permanent School Fund by investing oil and gas royalties into lucrative real estate deals and by developing wind energy.
"Diversify, diversify, diversify," he said. "That's part of what we've done in the first four years. We're going to ramp it up substantially."
During the first five years of the diversification program, the land office generated more than $1.3 billion from oil and gas revenues, of which $566 million went directly into the school fund, according to the land office. Of the remainder, the land office invested $500 million directly in real estate and another $250 million into real estate investment funds.
"We're investing in income-producing real estate," Patterson said, explaining the idea is to leverage petroleum royalties long before the oil and gas spigots run dry. "You have to look at the Permanent School Fund as a trust fund for education. We were far behind the time in getting into real estate investments," he added.
Hathcox, of Sulfur Springs, said she decided to run for land commissioner because the state said it had no money for new textbooks even as the price of oil soared to $70 per barrel.
"When (the late Bob) Bullock was comptroller, every time the price of oil would go up you would hear what that meant for children in the state," she said. "You never hear that anymore."
She said that when the price of oil plunged to $17 a barrel in the early 1980s, the land office was still collecting $300 million in royalties for the school fund.
With oil prices more recently at $60 to $70 per barrel, the state collected only $500 million in royalties.
"I don't think we are getting the proper amount of money on our oil and gas leases," she said. Hathcox said she'd direct the land office's audit division to aggressively scrutinize oil and gas companies "to see we're getting the proper royalties we should be."
Patterson said Hathcox is fixated on the price of oil while ignoring two decades of production declines. Hathcox disagrees with the direction of the land office that began under Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and has been embraced by Patterson.
"This is a trust," she said. "I'm a trustee for all Texans. I do feel it's being operated more like a private real estate company where they're selling things for a quick buck and not looking at things for the long haul."
You don't suppose Patterson has managed the lease royalties to the favor of Big Oil and the detriment of public education and our children, do you?
Jerry Patterson has been one of Dubya's Good Ole Boys for a long time now. When Max Cleland, the former Georgia senator and Vietnam vet/quadriplegic, rolled out to Bush's ranch in August of 2004 to talk to the president about the baseless attacks on John Kerry's war record by the Swift Boat Liars, it was Patterson whom Bush dispatched to meet him.
(Of course, since George W Bush is too afraid to meet Cindy Sheehan, I'm not surprised he's scared of Cleland, who could kick his ass with no legs and his only arm tied behind his back.)In the electoral battle for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, the Republican incumbent has decided she'd better start spending some of her campaign millions on TV ads:
Republican comptroller candidate Susan Combs' Democratic opponent has no money, but Combs has bought $3.2 million of television advertising for the final three weeks of the campaign. ...
Combs' Democratic opponent, Fred Head, said he believes her advertising is either meant to help Perry by attacking Strayhorn or to "save" her own campaign from voter doubts raised by a steamy romance novel Combs once wrote. ...
"She may be going to spend the $3 million on T.V. to help Perry and hurt Strayhorn, but she's not going to be able to save her own campaign," Head said. ...
"I would imagine Mrs. Combs is trying to advertise enough to avoid having her pornographic novel stick to her campaign," Head said. "She's not who she says she is, and that's what Mark Foley wanted people to believe, too."
Fred Head has been exposing corruption in state government since 1971, when as one of the "Dirty Thirty" he revealed the dealings of Texas House speaker Gus Mutscher and what came to be known as the Sharpstown Scandal. As a result of Head's efforts in the Lege in 1972, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act -- one of the most powerful consumer protection statutes ever enacted -- was signed into law. Texas also has an Open Records Act and an Open Meetings Act because of Fred Head.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram adds:
"I'm all for the First Amendment [but] this book is 180 degrees in the other direction from the Republican Party, which during their last state convention told the people of Texas that they were the party of God," Head said. "I think it's the hypocrisy -- that's what's relevant."
The two candidates for Agriculture Commissioner, Hank Gilbert and "Big Head" Todd Staples, have highlighted their differences regarding the Trans-Texas Corridor and RFID for livestock in this joint interview on News8Austin. Here's a transcript if you can't watch the video. And the Startle-Gram points out the distinctions between the two on the Texas State Railroad, which runs close to where both men grew up in East Texas.
And David Dewhurst, a man of immense wealth, has already hit the airwaves hard to defend his miserable record as Lt. Governor against the Latina towering over him, Democratic challenger Maria Luisa Alvarado.
What are these Republicans so fearful of? Besides losing, that is?
This Thursday evening, US Senator Perjury Technicality has finally deigned to debate Barbara Ann Radnofsky (it will be broadcast live on your PBS station). Don't miss it.
Oh yeah, my man David is appearing at a courthouse near you this week, and is scheduled to appear in Houston tomorrow, Wednesday afternoon the 18th of October with several Harris County Democratic candidates and office-holders, including the man walking for Texas Supreme Court, Bill Moody. Don't miss that, either.
Republican incumbent Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott was invited but I don't expect he will be there. More about Abbott, the Texas Residential Construction Commission -- a consumer protection organization owned lock, stock, and barrel by Bob "Swift Boat" Perry -- and the overflowing bayous of money surging in and out of these Republicans, in the post above.
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