July 20, 2018 4:15 PM People on the Move A notable retirement, some big new gigs, and more Editor’s Note: Updated with a
clarification – SB Another
scorching week in Austin as members and lobbyists get ready to head to
conferences like NCSL in Los Angeles and ALEC in New Orleans. “Glad they
could find the only city more humid than Houston this year,” quipped someone in
the Texas
Capitol hallways a couple days ago. Meantime,
there were some notable career moves this week to pass along. You can always
brag on yourself or your colleagues by shooting an email to ksbraddock@gmail.com
and be sure to put “People on the Move” or “POTM” in the subject line. Here’s
Texas’ weekly roundup of People on the move: The rest of the story, subscribers only By Scott Braddock |
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July 20, 2018 3:31 PM Smith: We will repudiate the darkness in 2018QR’s Liberal Columnist Glenn W. Smith notes that some conservatives are fine Putin’s subversion of our democracy as long as it serves their own power, but most Texans and Americans will repudiate the darkness in 2018. The
Atlantic
reports that some Donald Trump
supporters and conservative pundits are saying out loud that they are fine with
the intervention of Russian President Vladimir
Putin in the 2016 election. Hillary Clinton “is a greater threat to our
Republic” than Putin, the magazine quoted one Trump supporter saying. It also
cited is Jacob Wohl, a Trumpist with a large Twitter following: “If Russia assists
MAGA candidates on the internet in this year’s midterms, that’s not the end of
the world,” Wohl said. The full column by Glenn W. Smith is in the R&D Department. By Glenn W. Smith |
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July 20, 2018 9:40 AM Missed in our Clips: Cong. Hurd--Trump Is Being Manipulated by Putin. What Should We Do?"Over the course of my career as an undercover officer in the C.I.A., I saw Russian intelligence manipulate many people. I never thought I would see the day when an American president would be one of them." West Texas Republican Congressman Will Hurd pens a stinging editorial on President Trump and Putin in today's NY Times. |
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July 18, 2018 5:46 PM Abbott loses fight to keep Bexar County out from under Clean Air Act nonattainment status
The
Environmental
Protection Agency has overruled a recommendation of Gov. Greg Abbott and placed Bexar
County in the nonattainment category under the Clean Air Act. That
means Bexar County will join the Houston and Dallas regions in filing
attainment plans, although Bexar County’s requirements will be to a lesser
degree. The rest of the story, subscribers only By Kimberly Reeves |
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July 18, 2018 4:53 PM Senate confirms Andy Oldham to Fifth CircuitGov. Abbott tweeted: "He’s a strict constitutionalist cut from the same conservative mold as @Scotus Justice Alito for whom he clerked." |
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July 17, 2018 5:55 PM Audit slams HHSC for inconsistent, incomplete contracting practicesThe audit outlines the many challenges former Sen. Williams faces, including significant deficiencies on five procurements totaling well over $3.4 billion The choice of vendors in contracts worth $4.6 billion out of the Health and Human Services Commission cannot be adequately defended with reliable, accurate and complete information, according to a letter out of State Auditor’s Office today. The audit, requested by Gov. Greg Abbott, is the worst blow yet for an agency that has seen both procurement management and Abbott’s hand-picked Executive Commissioner Charles Smith depart the agency in recent months under a heavy fog of confusion over the execution of some of the largest contracts in the state. The rest of the story, subscribers only By Kimberly Reeves |
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July 17, 2018 5:51 PM Lt. Gov. Patrick leading the charge to defend Sen. Burton, and other campaign finance filings Of the three potentially vulnerable Republican senators in the fall, Burton appears to be the only one backstopped by the Senate’s presiding officer so far; Patrick has been working to secure business support for her with mixed success Editor’s
note: This story has be updated throughout – SB It’s Christmas in July for state political
nerds today, with another round of semiannual reports now on the Texas
Ethics Commission website. Even if there was some delay this morning as
an upgrade to the site was being done. Here’s what we rounded up at Buzz
Central. The rest of the story, subscribers only By James Russell |
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July 17, 2018 11:59 AM HK: A primer on past speaker races and a few observations about this oneThe GOP caucus route sounds good but has little upside and much downside Back
in 1964 a two term Texas House member from De Leon decided he wanted to run for
speaker but one term incumbent Speaker Byron
Tunnell had his re-election all but locked down. Undeterred,
this member went across the street from the Capitol to seek the
advice of a former one-term member turned lobbyist at the Texas Auto Dealers Association.
The lobbyist agreed that Tunnell had a lock on
re-election and said the best the wannabe could do was collect “second-vote”
pledges which would be easy because there was virtually no chance of a second
vote. Turns
out that then-Governor John Connally
wanted Tunnell out as Speaker
but this quintessentially internal House decision was beyond his ability to impact.
Instead, after Tunnell was re-elected in his
district, Connally offered him an appointment to the Railroad Commission
basically just to get him out of the Speaker’s office. Tunnell accepted and suddenly there was only one lawmaker
to whom virtually every House member had pledged. His name was Ben Barnes and in 1965 he became the
youngest Speaker in Texas history. The
lobbyist whose advice proved prescient was Bob
Bullock who later became Comptroller and subsequently Lt. Governor. The
point is that there is no such thing as a typical Speaker’s race. So, what could
be about to unfold now? The rest of the story, subscribers only By Harvey Kronberg |
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July 17, 2018 11:55 AM Video: Gutierrez slams Gallego as career politician While a poll is circulated showing Gallego leading in SD19 special election where early voting is underway, Rep. Gutierrez is on TV slamming the former congressman: "You fired him from Congress." |
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July 17, 2018 10:38 AM AG Paxton reports $7.2 million cash on hand His Democratic challenger Justin Nelson has $1.1 million in the bank |
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July 16, 2018 5:56 PM Campaign finance reports in legislative races trickle in
The June semiannual
campaign finance reports are here. Well, sort of. Reports from candidates and
incumbents are trickling in. Some press releases announcing major hauls have
hit our inboxes, too. Candidates running in the three most competitive senate races
have yet to post their numbers. So, at
the moment we are looking at the Texas House races that look to be competitive
in the fall. The rest of the story, subscribers only By James Russell |
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July 16, 2018 5:51 PM Federal judge promises a narrowly focused trial over requirements for burial of fetal remains“We’re not going to decide here…at what point in time a fetus is viable or life exists or any of that…..it isn’t before us in this case.” Senior U.S. District Judge David Ezra beat back criticism of his handling of discovery in the so-called “fetal remains trial” this morning, while insisting the parameters of his judgment be as narrow and possible and not tackle the settled law of Roe v Wade. Ezra was clear today about what he did and did not want to consider in a week-long trial on part of Senate Bill 8, the state’s new requirement to bury the fetal remains from abortion procedures: at which point life begins and whether a clinic should or should not be performing abortions. The rest of the story, subscribers only By Kimberly Reeves |
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July 16, 2018 7:35 AM Gov. Abbott spent $22 million in the reporting period, per TEC filings Per the Texas Ethics Commission filings, Abbott raised $10 million and maintains a cash on hand balance of roughly $29 million. The amount spent includes a $16 million media buy placed in June |
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July 13, 2018 10:58 AM People on the Move A power player brings a Washington firm to Austin, senior staffers moving on to new ventures, promotions earn congratulations, and some award winners to brag about I
take a couple days off and you folks make all kinds of news. Wasn’t this
supposed to be the dog days of summer? First,
a personal milestone to share: The 100th episode of the Texas
Take Podcast that I co-host with Mike
Ward at the Houston Chronicle and Ryan
Poppe of Texas Public Radio is now available here along with the
previous 99 episodes. How is it possible we’ve already done 100 of these? It’s
all thanks to those of you who listen each week and to our Quorum Report advertisers
including the Texas Association of Counties and the Texas Association of Realtors.
It is humbling that anybody cares what I have to say about any of this in print
or in audio form. If you have yet to check out the show, subscribe on iTunes
or listen here. Thanks so much. Enough
about me. People on the Move is about you. As
always, if you have career news to share, send a note to ksbraddock@gmail.com and put “POTM” or
“People on the Move” in the subject line. Here’s Texas’ weekly roundup of People
on the Move: The rest of the story, subscribers only By Scott Braddock |
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Copyright July 20, 2018, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved 