Some we wish weren't so memorable.
Liberal operatives paid big bucks by embattled pro-Clinton super PAC
Liberal operatives paid big bucks by embattled pro-Clinton super PAC
Mike Huckabee with two child molesters, see a pattern here? pic.twitter.com/MlW1ghy5KV
— philip harris (@pharris830) May 22, 2015
Huckabee praised the Duggar family, who took over a year to bring the matter to law enforcement, saying that they “dealt with it and were honest and open about it with the victims and the authorities.”
He adds that Josh is a good person who “confessed his sins to those he harmed [and] sought help,” despite the fact that, according to reports, Josh did not receive counseling and was only sent to live with a family friend who worked in the home remodeling business.
The former Arkansas governor saved his anger for the people who have cited the case to point out the disingenuousness of the reality TV stars and the conservative political activists who hold them up as a paragon of moral virtue, or as Josh referred to his family, “the epitome of conservative values.” They also have a record of depicting LGBT people as threats to children.
Budget writers on Thursday removed a Senate-inserted rider in the spending plan that said the Texas Department of Transportation couldn’t spend any state money on “subsidizing or assisting in the construction of high-speed passenger rail.”
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The two-sentence provision in the massive, $210 billion state spending plan had proved nettlesome in late-session budget negotiations, pitting rural lawmakers against those who represent Texas’ two biggest metropolitan areas.
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But bills aimed at stopping or slowing the project appear bottled up in both the House and the Senate. And with the budget rider shot down, (GOP Sen. Charles) Schwertner predicted that Texans “will rue the day” that they didn’t stop the project when they could.
If finally passed, House Bill 1794 would notch another victory for a wide range of business groups in a legislative session that’s been kind to industry at the expense of environmentalists and advocates for local control. The proposal would set a five-year statute of limitations and cap payouts at about $2 million when counties sue companies that have fouled their water or air.
A 24-6 vote with no debate set the bill up for a final Senate vote. The legislation already sailed through the House, pushed by Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth.
Proponents say that curbing civil penalties assessed on top of those doled out by state regulators would bolster economic certainty for companies and allow them to focus resources on cleaning up their messes.
In the past five years, Harris County has brought about 10 such cases per year, with penalties averaging about $61,000 per case. But several high-profile environmental cases have resulted in bigger settlements with the county, including a January agreement with AT&T for about $5 million over leaking storage tanks.
Lawyers for the county and the state recently won a $29.2 million settlement from McGinnes Industrial Maintenance Corp. and Houston-based Waste Management Inc. for pollution in the San Jacinto Waste Pits in the eastern half of the country, where wastewater containing dioxin, highly toxic and carcinogenic, has festered for decades.
In a turn of events that isn’t terribly surprising, a bill to allow Tesla Motors to sell cars directly to consumers in Texas has failed to make it to the floor, with various state representatives offering excuses about not wanting to "piss off all the auto dealers."
The following criticism from Texas state Representative Senfronia Thompson highlights the challenge Tesla is up against.
“It would have been wiser if Mr. Tesla had sat down with the car dealers first,” Thompson said.
Yes, if only Mr. Tesla came back from the dead to sit down for a nice little tete-a-tete with car dealers, perhaps then they could have hammered out a mutually beneficial agreement.
A private foundation led by billionaire oilman and higher education critic Jeff Sandefer has given $200,000 in recent years to help bankroll a conservative nonprofit now at the center of a scheme to secretly film lawmakers and lobbyists, tax filings show.
Tax records for Sandefer's Ed Foundation, a philanthropic tax-exempt organization that spreads cash to dozens of causes, provide the first connection to a funding source for the group that over the last six months has strapped hidden cameras onto a band of operatives to track the state's political elite.
Reached for comment Thursday, Sandefer said he was not aware of the group's plan to secretly film lawmakers and was unhappy with his investment after he received no feedback on how the group was using his money.
"I was unaware that they were planning to film politicians. Our intent was that they were going to train journalists," Sandefer said. "We were unhappy with a lack of progress in training journalists and asked for the money back. And we did not receive any money back."
As a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, the American Phoenix Foundation does not have to disclose donors and has refused requests to do so, saying only that its source of money has stemmed from more than 11,000 small donors.
A private foundation like Sandefer's, however, must disclose all grantees and grant amounts on an annual filing to the IRS. Tax filings for Sandefer's foundation show $100,000 donations to the American Phoenix foundation in 2011 and 2013, the last publicly available information.
Sandefer, a board member of the Austin-based conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation and one-time adviser to former Gov. Rick Perry, said (Foundation founder Joseph) Basel approached him for the 2011 grant. After the first $100,000, Sandefer said he received no indication from Basel how the money was being used. After he agreed to give the foundation a second $100,000 in 2013, he expected a progress report but received none.
"We did not get into specifics of what they were going to do. I never got that far. I never heard a specific plan to do anything," Sandefer said. "I have no legal right to ask for that, but I would like my (second) contribution returned."
State lawmakers who have been targeted by the secret videotaping operatives say they were not surprised to hear Sandefer's name as a potential major donor behind the group. Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, said Sandefer's connection only heightened his suspicion that the group originally set out to target Republican House Speaker Joe Straus and his allies.
"It's all about transparency," said Larson, who said he has been approached six times this week by American Phoenix operatives. "It's unfortunate that some of the fringe elements in our party continue to take this approach to what we're doing in the Texas House."
Sandefer has been a prolific political donor in recent years, contributing more than more $1 million to conservative candidates and political action committees since 2010. That includes more than $400,000 to a political action committee called Accountability First that took aim at Straus and his top lieutenants during last year's primary. Sandefer also gave $100,000 to state Rep. Scott's Turner's campaign to challenge Straus for the position of House Speaker.
A foundation run by former Texas Secretary of State and one-time state GOP chairman George Strake, a staunch Republican and former TPPF board member who has called for a more conservative House speaker, also gave the American Phoenix Foundation a total of $30,000 between 2011 and 2013 to help launch "training programs."
And The State Policy Network, a national umbrella group for conservative think tanks that counts TPPF and the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute among its state members, also gave a $25,000 grant to the Phoenix Foundation in 2012.
Combined, the grants reflect a total of $255,000 in funding to the American Phoenix Foundation over a three-year period.
Sandefer has never sought elective office, but he once was one of the most influential men under the pink dome. A long-time friend and donor of then-Gov. Rick Perry, the ex-University of Texas adjutant professor drew widespread derision from the higher education community with his "Seven Breakthrough Solutions," a set of business-oriented policy recommendations for the state's public colleges and universities.
Other than a brief and controversial effort at Texas A&M to give teachers cash bonuses for good student evaluations, however, Sandefer's proposals largely have been rejected by higher education leaders.
What he did accomplish was to set off years of infighting at the University of Texas System, between those who supported Sandefer's approach and those that backed the flagship's president and its history of strong academic research. The feud continues to simmer, with new UT System Chancellor William McRaven now butting heads with regent Wallace Hall.
"(Sandefer) was the mastermind, supposedly, of the greatest attack on excellence in higher education in the history of our state," said Sen. Judith Zaffirini, a leading higher education policymaking and long-time critic of Sandefer's methods.
Nearly every time I've asked a Latino political professional, "What are the early signs I should be looking for that Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign is serious about Latino outreach?", the answer has been, "Look at who the campaign is hiring, and how early it's hiring them."
By that measure, the Clinton campaign has just passed an extremely important test. Clinton has already hired her 2016 national director of Latino outreach. And the woman she's hired is a leading immigrant-rights activist — someone with more experience confronting politicians about their shortcomings than consulting them.
"I don't want to depend on Hillary Clinton being on the top of the ticket for the Democrats and trying to run county-wide when I don't know how it's going to play out," (Rep. Allen Fletcher) said (as he withdrew from running for Harris County sheriff next year).
RGR: You’ve talked about wanting to disrupt the narrative. So what is the narrative of the Texas Legislature that you want to disrupt?
HG: One of the biggest things I’ve personally seen is little old ladies that organize and cheer-lead for certain politicians and they think, “Oh they are the greatest and they’re going to go to Texas and represent us.” And then being in Austin and having people who’ve worked in the Capitol and keeping an ear to the ground, I tell people, “No, that politician is just not a good person. They’re not who you think they are.” That person is in Austin partying, and first of all not a Christian like they think – which is fine; we don’t care – but it is just the hypocrisy of representing themselves one way to their constituents and then acting a totally different way, filing bills that aren’t consistent with things they’ve said they’d do.”
RGR: Is “progressive Republicans” just another way to say Republicans in Name Only, RINOs?
HG: What I was trying to explain or get people fired up about is they are all, “Rah, rah, Republicans are doing what’s right!” And I’m, No, not necessarily. I look at both parties as a political class. I don’t see a lot of difference between Republicans and Democrats now that I see what’s going on at the Capitol.”
HG: I’ve changed a lot. I became very disillusioned with the conservative movement after all my ACORN stuff. Philosophically and politically, I’ve evolved a lot.
RGR: Why did you become disillusioned?
JB: It was the enemy of my enemy is my friend problem. All the good right-wingers were: “She took down ACORN and they’re leftist, so we like her.” They probably invited us into the back rooms way too quick. What we saw there made us so cynical of the American right that we have no country in that sense.