The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is happy there's no hint of any special sessions to come, no rain for the past week, and no biker gang-police confrontations (except for this one) as it brings you this week's roundup of the best lefty blog posts from last week.

Off the Kuff notes that while Travis County is ready for the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage, there's likely to be no small amount of chaos in the state once they do.

Letters from Texas explains how a recent ruling in a North Carolina redistricting case may bode well for Texas' plaintiffs.

LightSeeker at Texas Kaos calls "ethics reform" in Texas for what it is. Government is for, by and of the highest bidder. Texas leads the pack. Texas Ethical Reform - DOA.

SocraticGadfly, reading about a new study that claims classical psychological conditioning during sleep can reduce racist tendencies, has two thoughts: it's either too good to be true, or, if it has real and lasting change, it's probably got an element of Clockwork Orange.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is glad the McAllen ISD and others are taking care to feed children during the summer.

Do you think Greg Abbott's first legislative session as governor was a success or a failure? PDiddie at Brains and Eggs wants to know.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson thinks the threat was enough for the clandestine video scheme that may have changed the game on the budget and taxes in 84th Texas Legislature: Timing is everything.

TXsharon at Bluedaze details the cost of the Texas Railroad Commission's denial of the existence of frackquakes.

Egberto Willies thinks we need more than a 'listening' and 'learning' tour from Hillary Clinton at this stage of her political career. Policies, please. (And he got a response from her, this past week in Houston, on voting rights.)

nonsequiteuse missed the mayoral arts and culture forum, but it got her thinking about getting arts organizations out of their silos and engaged as advocates for progressive change.

On her long road seeking the presidency, one of Hillary Clinton's greatest challenges will be to re-create the infamous coalition of 2008. This week at Texas Southern University, she worked hard to mend some fences, and shared some important views on voting rights.

Neil at All People Have Value offered a framework about how to live our lives. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

And McBlogger criticized Leon Cooperman, the hedge fund billionaire, for criticizing Hillary Clinton, who criticized hedge funds.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Texas Watch celebrated its victories from the legislative session.

Grits for Breakfast can't wait to see if the state's new junk science writ will be interpreted broadly or not.

The Texas Election Law Blog asks if our government is supposed to represent everyone, or just everyone who is allowed to vote.

The Texas Living Waters Project warns of a new environmental danger to the Brazos River.

Molly Cox bemoans low voter turnout in San Antonio.

Keep Austin Wonky explains how percentage-based homestead exemptions help fuel inequality.

Paradise in Hell is not impressed by Rick Perry 2016.

Texans for Public Justice and Public Citizen call Greg Abbott "just plain wrong" on the matter of dark money and disclosure.

Texas Vox managed to find a few small rays of hope from the legislative session.

Equality Texas produced its report card for the 84th Legislature.

And Fascist Dyke Motors got stranded in the future.

Janek finally out as HHS director

Your Friday afternoon state execution. No, not that one. This one.

Health and Human Services Commissioner Kyle Janek is on his way out, state officials announced Friday, shaking up Texas' biggest agency that plunged into turmoil over a $110 million no-bid contracting scandal that remains under criminal investigation.

Janek, who makes $260,000 a year and was appointed in 2012, will step down on July 1.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott made no mention of the unrest at the massive agency, which includes an ongoing probe by public corruption prosecutors and the forced resignation of other top officials, in naming two veteran state executives to take over the 56,000-person commission.

But tellingly, within an hour of announcing the changes, the governor touted his signing of contracting laws that are being tightened after HHSC last year gave an Austin tech company lucrative no-bid deals to help the state root out Medicaid fraud. 

Meet the new boss.  Same as the old boss.

Chief Deputy Commissioner Chris Traylor is set to assume the top job. But if Traylor knew it earlier this week, he certainly didn’t show it. The deputy commissioner announced last month that he was retiring and was actually feted Tuesday at a goodbye party for him.

Remember, ethics reform was an emergency item of the new governor's, announced at the beginning of the just-concluded 84th legislative session.   And the one thing he has to show for it is this bill, and Janek's scalp.  Not according to the good doctor, naturally.

Janek told reporters the decision to resign was his and was unrelated to the scandal. Asked if he felt any pressure from the governor's office, he said, "None."

"History will show this job has a shelf life," the 57-year-old said.

Traylor long had been seen as potential pick for the top job, but had said as recently as last month he would retire this summer.

A longtime health commission leader, he was seen inside the agency as more of Janek's co-captain than deputy since the two were appointed to their jobs in 2012 by then-Gov. Rick Perry.

Perhaps most importantly, he had avoided any blame for the contracting scandal, which previously had caused the resignations of four high-ranking officials, a criminal investigation and calls by several lawmakers for Janek to step down.

Republic and Democratic state legislators alike approve of Traylor, so there's that.

"I am thankful Commissioner Traylor agreed to forego his retirement," state Senate budget writer Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, said in a statement. "His institutional memory and his understanding of the mechanics of our programs will be a huge asset, especially as we transition to a more cohesive health and human services system."

State Rep. Garnet Coleman, one of the legislators who had asked Janek to resign, said Friday that Traylor is "more than capable" of leading the commission at this time. 

"You need some experience, some hands on the wheel," said the Houston Democrat, who first met Traylor in 1995. "He's a straight shooter, tells the truth. He's seasoned." 

Okay then.  If the commission can't get its act cleaned up this time, then pretty much everybody running this state should be held accountable if yet another lapse in moral judgment suddenly appears.  With a former governor still under indictment and a current attorney general under investigation, the prevailing Lone Star attitude seems to be: what's a little graft from a health commissioner in the grand scheme?

Sunday Funnies, 19 and counting edition