Week in Review: Texas Oligarchy

With a big dollop of marinara fascism.

-- The local Democrat (I cannot in good conscience use the word 'Democratic', and I explained this distinction nearly six years ago) chapter: here and here.

-- The Republican-dominated Texas chapter yesterday, and also from the Chronic.

Out of the gates early is state Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, who is running to replace outgoing Republican Susan Combs as comptroller.

Hegar, who carried the Senate version of the omnibus abortion restrictions bill, announced his campaign team Thursday.

Leading the team as general consultant is Rob Johnson, who served as a national campaign manager for Gov. Rick Perry’s failed presidential run last year. Johnson also helped Perry win re-election as governor in 2010 and served as chief of staff for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

David White, who served as senior policy adviser for Combs most recently and also worked on Perry’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign, is senior adviser.

Keri Mason, former finance director for the state’s Republican Party, will be in control of the campaign’s finances and Elizabeth White, who worked as legislative director for state Sens. Brian Birdwell and Craig Estes, is political director.

Fairly incestuous little club, isn't it? It's nice to see Greg Abbott branching out a little, though, at least in regard to his pollster.

Consulting services have been the Abbott campaign’s biggest expense this year, according to his latest campaign finance report. Abbott has tapped several longtime Perry consultants. He has spent several hundred thousand dollars on The Lauderback Group, the fundraising firm that helped raise money for Perry's 2012 presidential bid; political consulting firm Bearse & Company, which is run by former Perry speechwriter Eric Bearse; and Norway Hill Associates, another political consulting firm owned by Perry’s former consultant Dave Carney.

Dave Carney, the guy who had to take the fall for Rick Perry's malaprops in 2012. I'm sure he spent a few minutes feeling sorry for himself on his private island.

The campaign has also paid for internal polling using Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research, the same pollsters U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz used during his campaign in 2012.

Past campaign finance reports show Abbott switched to Wilson Perkins from Baselice & Associates, the campaign’s former internal pollster, in 2012 after relying on Baselice for nine years.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst used Baselice, also Perry's former internal pollster, during his failed bid for U.S. Senate (he lost to Cruz in a GOP primary runoff). Baselice’s polling results leading up to the runoff put Dewhurst on top by five points. Wilson Perkins’ predictions were closer to the 13 percentage point margin Cruz defeated Dewhurst by.

Baselice will probably land on his feet, what with all the aspiring TeaBaggers lining up in the primary to get fleeced. 

There's encouraging signs that the conservatives are coming apart, and from time to time even a few unholy alliances come together, but it's still going to take a lot of pick axes, torches, and pitchforks to break up the monopoly.

Hand me that sledge hammer, will you?

Texas retailers back GOP War on Women

It's not just Macy's and Kroger; Gerland's and Brookshire Brothers and others are also on board with the Republican misogyny.

A front-page piece in Tuesday’s Houston Chronicle shedding light on how mega-retailers the likes of Macy’s and Kroger lobbied Gov. Rick Perry to put the kibosh on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is resulting in some public fallout for the companies.

The governor vetoed the Texas version of the equal-pay-for-women legislation -- passed by the Texas Legislature with GOP support at the end of the regular session in June -- after receiving written requests to do so from several retail corporations and associated industry groups. Let's excerpt the most revealing part of the article for those who can't climb over the paywall...

Also writing to seek a veto were representatives of Macy's, the Houston grocery company Gerland Corp., Brookshire Grocery Company, Market Basket, the Texas Association of Business and the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

HEB is a member of the Texas Retailers Association, but lobbyist Rusty Kelley said the company did not lobby against the bill.

The letters to Perry provide a behind-the-scene glimpse of the legislative process. Entities such as the Texas Retailers Association can seek a gubernatorial veto without the knowledge of sponsors. Thompson and her Senate counterpart, Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, say they were blind-sided by Perry's veto and the retailers' opposition.

Veteran Austin lobbyist Bill Miller said seeking a gubernatorial veto is a common lobby tactic. "That's a smart play. You don't fade the heat (by publicly opposing a bill) on the front end and you win on the back end." He said that, except for the Chronicle's open records request, "no one would be the wiser. You do what you gotta do to protect your client."

To refresh your memory, Bill Miller is a mostly-Republican political consultant. He is co-founder of HillCo Partners, which was previously mentioned here in regard to their efforts to kill "sanctuary cities" legislation in the 2011 legislative session.

(Digression: this is a pluperfect example of how to play both sides against the middle. You do what you gotta do to protect your corporate client who writes you large checks for dispensing your political wisdom. Even when it screws over Texans and politicians of both political parties. Hey, that's -- allegedly -- a smart play.)

On Wednesday, the liberal group Progress Texas started an online boycott of Macy’s and Kroger, asking folks to sign on and refrain from shopping at the stores until they support “equal pay for equal work.”

Citing the Chron’s story, Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, followed hours later by announcing that she’s cancelling an appearance at the Macy’s at the Galleria. Garcia was set to kick-off the 2013 annual Texas sales tax holiday, according to her office.

The boycott may be expanding this morning to the predominantly East Texas grocers named above.

This is a BFD. Know why?

Because women in Texas are already losing their health clinics. They have all but lost the right to choose whether or not to give birth. In a state with already criminally low wages for so many of its residents, Texas Republicans (mostly through their agents outside the Legislature, to be clear) are making sure that Texas women do not receive equal pay for the same work that men do. Both of these circumstances would especially be the case in East Texas, where clinic options -- and grocery-shopping options -- were few and far between before all this.

You have to hope that Texas women -- in particular those living  in East Texas who might have been previously inclined to vote R -- are clearly getting the message the Republicans are sending them. And that message is: "We Don't Give a Shit About You."

Update: More from Burnt Orange and from Texas Leftist, with Houston-area store locator maps of the offending retailers.

No debate about the number of debates, or who should be included

Kuffner is surprisingly wrong, while Campos is just being consistent. Both reference the Houston Chronicle's op-ed on mayoral debates, with an excerpt from the newspaper the third of the following.

It’s hardly clear to me that having candidates beyond Mayor Parker and Ben Hall in a debate will yield a “constructive conversation”. The candidates not named Parker or Hall would have to be running constructive campaigns for there to be some chance of that happening, and so far the evidence for that is lacking. The principle of democracy argues in favor of inclusiveness, but the principle of imparting useful information to as many voters as possible argues for limiting the debate to those that have something useful to say.

==========

I totally disagree with their take to include all the candidates in the debates.  That would be a waste of everybody’s time. 

==========

Houston's future is too important to limit the mayor's race to one debate, and we're far too diverse to restrict debates to an incumbent and a self-funded millionaire challenger. Putting multiple candidates on stage will provide a panoply of perspectives and a constructive conversation about our city's needs. Municipal issues don't always make for the most exciting discussions, but the horse-race atmosphere of elections provides a more compelling backdrop for topics like the city budget.

While we hope Ben Hall will use the debates to explain why he is spending his personal fortune on an uphill battle to unseat the mayor, the time for one-on-one debates is during a runoff. The general election should provide voters with multiple options for what our future will look like. Whether the race for mayor, controller or city council seats, voters are best served when candidates debate the issues and define what it means to be a city that is building forever.

==========

I've posted a response to both men at their respective blogs, but I'll expand on what I said there in case the comments don't make, or remain in, the light of day.

We cannot have a functioning democracy where pundits and insiders declare who gets to be included in or excluded from public debate fora. Paying the filing fee -- or submitting the required signatures -- should be enough to grant access to the public conversation. If you want to take note of those organizations who host debates without including all ballot-qualified candidates -- which is their prerogative but is just as wrong -- then watch this space for future developments.

The people who make a living in politics, those who want to curry favor with elected officials and their staff and advisors, and all other assorted lackeys, lickspittles, and hangers-on DO NOT GET, ARE NOT ENTITLED (yes, I'm shouting now) to set the ground rules with regard to who is allowed to participate in the democratic process. Really, it's as simple as that.

Anybody who agrees with me should look askance at people like that. Anybody who disagrees can go get fucked. In their arse.

Oh, one more dumbass thing from Campos.

Excuse me, but when did Ron Green become controversial?  Was he one of the fellas that ran on Highway 288 and blocked traffic?  Does he use PEDs?  I don’t know about that.

Of course you don't, you jackass moron. It's not like it was in the newspaper or anything.

GOP fever shows no sign of breaking

-- Former chair of the Republican Party of Texas Cathie Adams:

Speaking with Christian radio host Rick Wiles last week in an exchange first captured by Right Wing Watch, Adams decried a biometric scanning proposal present in immigration reform legislation already passed by the Senate, claiming that it would give amnesty to people from Muslim countries who "are not here with the best intentions for America."

When Wiles decried a "biometric scanning" proposal present in the Senate's bill, Adams suggested that such a plan would manifest itself by giving "lost foreigners" the sort of "mark of the beast" cited in End Times prophecies.

"And, of course, we know in biblical prophecy that that is the End Times," Adams said of the initiative. "That is going to be the brand either on our foreheads or on the back of our hands. That is demonic through and through. That is End Times prophecy. There is no question about that."

-- House Minority Leader Eric Can'tor, challenged by no less than Fox New host Chris Wallace:

“You talk about creating jobs, you talk about growing the economy, but you have spent the last week in the House on passing your agenda, a series of bills called Stop Government Abuse,” Wallace said. “Is what you’ve been doing the best way to spend Congress’ time when you’re about to go on a recess for five full weeks?”

When Cantor tried to defend some of the laws the House had passed, including a measure to prevent “bureaucrats” from receiving bonuses, Wallace pressed him.

“Rightly or wrongly, none of these bills you’ve passed is going to become law,” Wallace said. “Your own members say they’re not going to pass the Senate, the president won’t sign them. Let’s talk reality. You haven’t passed the farm bill. You’ve only passed four of the twelve appropriations bills you’re supposed to pass. We face a government shutdown and a debt limit in the fall. Is this the best way to spend your time, passing bills that aren’t going to become law?”

“You’ve got the president out giving campaign speeches again, as if we’re in the middle of the election again,” Cantor objected.

“Tend to your own knitting,” Wallace replied. “You could pass a farm bill. You have the power of the purse! Only four of the twelve appropriation bills have even passed. Why not do what the House is supposed to do?”

When you have lost Fox, you've lost the country. More...

Cantor dodged the vacation question, because he is the one who designed the schedule. The 126-day 2013 House work schedule was his idea. Of course, he is not going to take responsibility for only leaving 9 legislative days out of two months to avoid a government shutdown. House Republicans want that confrontation. Even though the manufactured crisis strategy hasn’t worked for two years, they are going to go back to that well again.  

Wonkette always does it better.

“Why is Congress full of morons, Eric Cantor? Why does it suck so very very hard, Eric Cantor? Why is attempting to repeal Obamacare your go-to solution for just about every pressing problem facing the American people, Eric Cantor? Aren’t we heading for a major disaster because you guys are too busy playing grabass to actually get down to the work of real governance?”

Update: Even Politifact found its pants were on fire trying to fact-check (sic) Cantor's remarks.

-- Texas agriculture commissioner candidate Eric Opiela:

He says our Texas way of life is under attack. This land, Texas, is where he learned the value of hard work.

That Obama and his administration will stop at nothing to further their radical agenda. He doesn’t say what the radical agenda is.

But it’s why he’s running for Agriculture Commissioner. To fight the federal government.

Eric Opiela is concerned about future generations. Like his son Ryan. But apparently not his daughter.

It’s Eric Opiela’s Texas. It’s a man’s world.

Get used to that "Fightin' Obama" bullshit from every single Republican running for office, including Houston city council. It's all they have to run on.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance thinks that the Legislature is once, twice, three times a fiasco as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff has an update on BGTX and a few words about what else is needed to turn Texas blue.

Horwitz at Texpatriate notes that the Houston mayoral election has been heating up, criticizing both Annise Parker and Ben Hall in the process.

In a metro area that gained 1.2 million people in just 10 years, new stuff has got to be built somewhere, right? But as more and more neighborhoods wage futile turf wars with developers, Texas Leftist is seeing the signs that Houstonians might be ready for real zoning laws.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw explains what Ted Cruz doesnot know or want to understand about Obamacare. Check out: Ted Cruz is Dead Wrong on Obamacare.

In redacted documents released as part of an FOI request, the FBI was aware of a plot involving snipers directed at the leaders of Occupy Houston in 2011. What isn't revealed in the post at PDiddie's Brains and Eggs is to whom the snipers were connected: law enforcement, or agents of those opposed to Occupy.

Whether it's through gerrymandered districts, impotent opposition, lack of citizen participation, or big money in elections, the far right of the Texas GOP runs our state. WCNews at Eye on Williamson says because of that Texas is on the road to nowhere.

===================

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

Christina Gorczynski explains why members of the LGBTQ community should care about reproductive rights.

Concerned Citizens would like for Sen. Wendy Davis to stay put and run for re-election in SD10.

Harold Cook just wants her not to run for Lt. Governor.

Texas Watch looks back at HB4 from 2003, "a sprawling piece of legislation that upended and undercut myriad aspects of the Texas civil justice system".

Equality Texas does not want the killer of Paul Broussard to get parole.

Nonsequiteuse ponders the deeper meaning of repro-socialism.

Jason Stanford would like for the Legislature to make like Marvin K. Mooney and please go now.