Monday, April 26, 2021

The Monday Wrangle from Far Left Texas

Recent developments among members of the Texas Legislature -- and those who lobby them -- compel me to open this edition of the collation of leftist views from around the Lone Star State with 'Republicans Behaving Badly', and this time it's not about Tweets or even shitty bills.


Meanwhile, one of the heads of the prominent Austin lobbying firm HillCo Partners wrote in a Sunday email to state lawmakers that the group had hired outside legal counsel and “a respected former law enforcement official” to launch an internal investigation into the matter.

“If facts come to light that anyone associated with HillCo partners had any involvement with such conduct, that person will be immediately terminated,” HillCo co-founder Buddy Jones wrote, adding that the firm would also cooperate with the DPS investigation. [...] Later Sunday, Bill Miller, the other HillCo co-founder, told the Tribune that the firm had been “tipped off” that one of its employees "is a person of interest" in the DPS investigation.

HillCo has been the most influential Republican-based lobbying firm for over twenty years.  (Some might take issue with "Republican", so just replace the word with "corporate" if you're 'some'.)  And maybe you're 'today' years old, hearing the names Buddy Jones and Bill Miller as two of the most powerful people in Texas politics.  That's okay; these guys prefer working in the shadows.

Miller is the public face and spokesman for HillCo Partners, and former legislator Neal T. “Buddy” Jones is the lead lobbyist (they co-founded HillCo in 1998). The firm’s clients include the City of Dallas, the public employee pension funds in Dallas and Houston, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Houston Astros, as well as various interests of Koch Industries. At (71) Miller remains a central figure in Texas politics -- so central, in fact, that it’s not easy to narrow down just what he’s up to. He seemingly has a hand in just about everything.

[...]

Texas Monthly once observed of Miller that “nobody knows exactly what he does, but they know he does it very well.” Officially, he’s a lobbyist and consultant, but that doesn’t really cover it. He’s also an adviser, a soothsayer, a pundit, and a sage. Perhaps he’s best described as a fixer: someone who generally makes the lives of public officials easier.

Journalists love Miller because he is politically insightful and gives good quotes. Politicians like him because he gives consummate back-scratching. His most infamous favor came in 2004, when he arranged for then-House Speaker Tom Craddick, a devout Catholic, to have an audience with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. Before that, Miller employed Rick Perry’s wife, Anita, as a consultant, when the future governor was the agriculture commissioner, and Miller then helped her land a job with political economist Ray Perryman. “I’m happy to do favors. I’m happy to be helpful. That is what I like to do,” Miller once told the Houston Chronicle.

Some of the links embedded above go to stories filed in 2017, but if you think anything's changed since then -- in Austin, at HillCo, at the Lege -- maybe you had better talk to some of the women who've been working there.


Update: Jeramy Kitchen at Texas Scorecard names the accused.


A few years ago my state senator, Borris Miles, was at the center of a sexual harassment scandal under the Pink Dome.  He was by no means the only legislator involved.  Miles gives every indication that he's learned better, and the voters of SD-13 have returned him to the Capitol to serve them.  But the climate, as Rep. Minjarez notes, remains the same.  And I honestly do not know what it will take to change it at this point, short of outlawing bad actors.  I really hope that happens, but Speaker Phelan and Lite Guv Patrick aren't likely to suddenly show up as men who advocate for the needed reforms.  And if the Lege follows through on blocking cities and counties from lobbying them, expect a lawsuit on First Amendment (i.e., Citizens United) precedent.  That would of course be far from the only bills eventually passed that will have to withstand a SCOTUS challenge.

Moving on to Rep. Dan Huberty, also a so-called leader in the Texas House.


We've officially reached that point in the session that when you're a Tex-Pach and Mucus has you in his crosshairs, you know you're in deep shit.

The first Census numbers have been compiled and released; here's a summary of reactions from earlier this afternoon.


This evening's update is late arriving so I'll save everything I have -- election, COVID, social justice, environmental updates, and some of my artistic soothers for tomorrow.  Here's a few scattershots to tide you over until then.

Kuff joined me in deriding that ridiculous Abbott/McConaughey poll, which could have told us something about 2022 but failed to do so.  Socratic Gadfly also echoed my Earth Day post, blogging about the ecosocialist Earth Day to May Day framing by the Green Party of what a real Green New Deal entails.

(No, I don't mind linking to TPA blogs who don't link to me any more.  I've never had a problem linking to blogs or bloggers that I happen to have minor -- or for that matter, major -- disagreements with.  That's for small-minded, petty people.)

Grits for Breakfast reminded that under current Texas law, a police officer has to be fired twice before they can have their law enforcement license revoked.  John Hryhorchuk at Texas 2036 explained what's holding up federal stimulus money for Texas public schools.  And Jef Rouner for Reform Austin gave a legislative marijuana bill update.

Closing today as we began.


Last: a voice from Dallas goes silent.


Lots more coming.
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