Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen released his much anticipated committee appointments on January 23rd for the 86th session of the legislature. Even after a disappointing general election for Republicans, where they saw their numbers dwindle in the House, there was still some optimism going into this session simply because of two factors. 1. Republicans still controlled the House and 2. Speaker Straus was no longer in charge. The latter was famous for putting in place committee chairs that would thwart any real conservative legislation getting through to the House floor. People across the State heard Speaker Bonnen say, the Republican Legislative Priorities were his Priorities and he would be more fair to let members control what goes on in the House.
So lets take a look at how the committee's fared. Out of 34 committee's, 22 have Republican Chairs, and 17 Vice Chairs. Only four committee's had both a Republican Chair and Vice Chair. Of the 22 Republican Chairs, they have a combined negative -.17 score on the 2017 Liberal-Conservative Score composed by Mark Jones of Rice University. This means, as a combined group, they are less conservative than 1/3 of the Republicans in the House. A score of .02 according to the study means you are more conservative than half your peers.
I also looked at the combined scores of the Committee Chairs from the Fiscal Responsibility Index by Empower Texans. That average score was 56 out of 100. Of the four most important committees in my opinion, State Affairs, Homeland Security, Ways & Means, and Calendars, the average Lib-Con score is -.51, with a far left Democrat, Pancho Neveraz chairing Homeland Security. This committee usually sees gun rights issues come up. Even the makeup of these four committee's do not lend confidence in any conservative policies coming to the floor.
It is hard to see how any of the Texas GOP Legislative priorities will see daylight in this session with these committee makeups. Property Tax Reform and School Finance Reform might come in some form but they probably won't be anything conservatives will like. Gun rights and Abortion issues will probably be dead in the water. I won't be holding my breath.
Friday, January 25, 2019
Sunday, January 13, 2019
The 86th begins without the fireworks
Last Tuesday, January 8th was the first day of the new legislative session in Texas. The biggest and most notable difference was that Joe Straus was no longer in attendance. Gone are the days of favoritism, lobby controlled legislation winding its way through committees, and stopping ones that would benefit the conservative cause. Tuesday, saw a new speaker sworn in to office for the first time in 10 years. Dennis Bonnen, a representative from Angleton, Tx., assumed the mantle of Speaker of the House for the 86th session. Speaker Bonnen was elected by unanimous vote of the entire body and perhaps more importantly, nominated unanimously by the House Republican Caucus earlier in December. You can see his acceptance speech Here starting at the 1:16:00 mark
The only other item of business for the week was the passing of the House Rules for this session. After last year, where the Rules debate became quite contentious and lasted several hours, this years debate barely lasted an hour and the fireworks were mostly duds. Only two amendments drew the ire of some activist across Texas. The first was an amendment by Rep. Matt Schaefer, (read here) from Tyler, which sought to increase staff budgets during the period between sessions, to the same amount they get during the session. It failed, but he and many members of the Freedom Caucus received criticism for it, due to it being perceived as not being fiscally conservative. The second amendment that drew some flak was by Rep. Jonathan Stickland, from Bedford. (read here) He proposed that constituents should be able to register their opinions, for/against a bill, at House District offices, rather than having to drive to Austin to do so. This amendment also failed but with mixed support from Freedom Caucus members. This particular amendment received the greatest amount of backlash from conservative activist around the state.
For some context, in the 85th session, during the rules debate, there were many amendments brought forth that tried to increase the transparency in which the House conducted its business. For instance, Rep Tony Tinderholt tried to pass rules that required the Calendars Committee to publish a record vote when that committee decided to pull a particular bill from reaching the floor. Many people, were expecting for this session to see the same types of rule changes proposed. Rep. Stickland's amendment, which he proposed in the 85th, was the only attempt this year at some resemblance of requiring the House to be more transparent. This author reached out, to several representatives from East Texas, in order to get a better understanding of why this rule was defeated so easily. Only Matt Schaefer and Cole Hefner responded. The biggest concern for each of them was that this rule change would have put some undo pressure in the district offices, which are already understaffed and underpaid. They also said the process and implementation of the rule change hadn't been completely vetted and properly studied in regards to fiscal issues. See Matt Schaefer's comments.
One thing is for sure, transparency in the House is still lagging. The House may operate on a better tone and less divisiveness, now that a new Speaker is in charge, but until Texans start seeing actual changes to how the House operates, there will always be some skepticism.
The only other item of business for the week was the passing of the House Rules for this session. After last year, where the Rules debate became quite contentious and lasted several hours, this years debate barely lasted an hour and the fireworks were mostly duds. Only two amendments drew the ire of some activist across Texas. The first was an amendment by Rep. Matt Schaefer, (read here) from Tyler, which sought to increase staff budgets during the period between sessions, to the same amount they get during the session. It failed, but he and many members of the Freedom Caucus received criticism for it, due to it being perceived as not being fiscally conservative. The second amendment that drew some flak was by Rep. Jonathan Stickland, from Bedford. (read here) He proposed that constituents should be able to register their opinions, for/against a bill, at House District offices, rather than having to drive to Austin to do so. This amendment also failed but with mixed support from Freedom Caucus members. This particular amendment received the greatest amount of backlash from conservative activist around the state.
For some context, in the 85th session, during the rules debate, there were many amendments brought forth that tried to increase the transparency in which the House conducted its business. For instance, Rep Tony Tinderholt tried to pass rules that required the Calendars Committee to publish a record vote when that committee decided to pull a particular bill from reaching the floor. Many people, were expecting for this session to see the same types of rule changes proposed. Rep. Stickland's amendment, which he proposed in the 85th, was the only attempt this year at some resemblance of requiring the House to be more transparent. This author reached out, to several representatives from East Texas, in order to get a better understanding of why this rule was defeated so easily. Only Matt Schaefer and Cole Hefner responded. The biggest concern for each of them was that this rule change would have put some undo pressure in the district offices, which are already understaffed and underpaid. They also said the process and implementation of the rule change hadn't been completely vetted and properly studied in regards to fiscal issues. See Matt Schaefer's comments.
One thing is for sure, transparency in the House is still lagging. The House may operate on a better tone and less divisiveness, now that a new Speaker is in charge, but until Texans start seeing actual changes to how the House operates, there will always be some skepticism.
Friday, November 30, 2018
The session is coming, the session is coming!
As of this writing, there are only 39 days until the 86th Texas Legislative Session begins. The general election back on Nov 6th saw a few changes in the makeup of both the House and Senate but not so much that Republicans lost control of either body. Going into the session, the House will be made up of 83 Republicans and 67 Democrats. The Senate will comprise 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats. Lt Gov. Dan Patrick won re-election and will preside over the Senate while Representative Dennis Bonnen out of Angleton, Tx., just south of Galveston, is considered the presumptive Speaker of the House. On January 8th, the House will vote to make the Speaker nominee official.
I'm hopeful the new session will address issues that Texans have been wanting for several cycles now but haven't been able to receive, mainly due to big money lobbyist and some outgoing legislatures that blocked those reforms each chance they got. In fact, Rep. Bonnen has indicated that the biggest influence on legislation in previous sessions, an Austin lobbyist, will no longer have a seat at the table this year.
In the March 2018 primaries, Republican voters went to the polls and voted on eleven different propositions, priority subjects that the Texas Republican Party wanted feedback on. All eleven propositions passed and here in East Texas, they did as well. Some of these propositions coincide with the Legislative Priorities developed at the Republican Party Texas Convention of 2018.
The biggest priorities I believe Texans want to see addressed, are property tax reform and school funding. In the primary, voters across the State said they wanted to replace the property tax system with a consumption base system, (Prop 1) with 68% of the vote and to cap revenue increases at 4%, (Prop 10) with 94% of the vote. Voter Fraud (Prop 8) and school choice, (Prop 5), were also propositions on the primary ballot.
The East Texas breakdown by house districts and the percentage each proposition received as an aggregate:
Prop 1 Prop 5 Prop 8 Prop 10
HD1, Gary VanDeaver 62 73 97 94
HD5, Cole Hefner 66 71 97 88
HD6, Matt Schaefer 64 81 95 94
HD7, Jay Dean 67 73 96 94
HD8, Cody Harris 67 75 96 93
HD9, Chris Paddie 65 77 97 95
HD11, Travis Clardy 68 79 96 95
We will continue to watch our legislatures and see if they vote the will of their constituents or continue to block reform and pay homage to special interest groups.
I'm hopeful the new session will address issues that Texans have been wanting for several cycles now but haven't been able to receive, mainly due to big money lobbyist and some outgoing legislatures that blocked those reforms each chance they got. In fact, Rep. Bonnen has indicated that the biggest influence on legislation in previous sessions, an Austin lobbyist, will no longer have a seat at the table this year.
In the March 2018 primaries, Republican voters went to the polls and voted on eleven different propositions, priority subjects that the Texas Republican Party wanted feedback on. All eleven propositions passed and here in East Texas, they did as well. Some of these propositions coincide with the Legislative Priorities developed at the Republican Party Texas Convention of 2018.
The biggest priorities I believe Texans want to see addressed, are property tax reform and school funding. In the primary, voters across the State said they wanted to replace the property tax system with a consumption base system, (Prop 1) with 68% of the vote and to cap revenue increases at 4%, (Prop 10) with 94% of the vote. Voter Fraud (Prop 8) and school choice, (Prop 5), were also propositions on the primary ballot.
The East Texas breakdown by house districts and the percentage each proposition received as an aggregate:
Prop 1 Prop 5 Prop 8 Prop 10
HD1, Gary VanDeaver 62 73 97 94
HD5, Cole Hefner 66 71 97 88
HD6, Matt Schaefer 64 81 95 94
HD7, Jay Dean 67 73 96 94
HD8, Cody Harris 67 75 96 93
HD9, Chris Paddie 65 77 97 95
HD11, Travis Clardy 68 79 96 95
We will continue to watch our legislatures and see if they vote the will of their constituents or continue to block reform and pay homage to special interest groups.
Sunday, November 4, 2018
What is a Speaker?
While most voters are focused on the midterm elections, taking place on Nov 6, 2018, there is another election that quite possibly may be of bigger significance for Texas residents.
On December 1, members of the Texas House Republican Caucus will meet to decide among themselves, who they want to be their choice as the next Speaker of the Texas House. With the retirement of Rep. Joe Straus, a Republican, who has held the position since 2009, a new Speaker will be chosen when the 86th Legislative session begins in January. For historical purposes, Speaker Straus won the speaker race in 2009 by garnering all 74 votes from the Democrat party along with 11 Republicans. In the preceding sessions, he continued to receive all democrat votes and a handful of Republican votes until 2017 when he received 100% from both sides. In 2017, he ran unopposed.
Ever since Rep. Straus took the speaker position, there has been a growing concern that many conservative bills were not being passed. There were many that believed conservative legislation, involving but not limited to policies such as gun rights, abortion and property taxes were not being passed, or even heard and passed out of committee's, while Straus was the speaker. The House Speaker has, among some of its duties, the responsibility to appoint committee chairs and assigning bills to respective committee's. In 2017, Republicans controlled the House 95-55. Of the 40 main committee's in the House, only 9 had a Republican Chair and Vice Chair, two committee's had a Democrat Chair and Vice Chair. Overall, Speaker Straus appointed Democrats to chair 14 committee's, and Republicans to chair just 26.
Because of the groundswell of voices throughout Texas, Republican Caucus chairman Tan Parker appointed a working group, that included our own Chris Paddie, HD9, to come up with a legal and enforceable procedure whereby the Texas House Republican Caucus selected the next speaker. The full report can be seen here. This group said among other things, 'there is no legal restrictions on the Republican caucus selecting or otherwise endorsing a nominee'. They also suggested that a Speaker candidate be selected from a majority of votes by the caucus. If there are more than 3 candidates and none of the candidates receive a majority of votes, then voting continues with the person receiving the least amount of votes eliminated, until one person receives the required majority.
In the March 2018 primaries, Texas Republicans voted overwhelmingly in favor of House Republicans selecting their speaker nominee and in June at the Texas GOP State convention, delegates said in their platform, "Republicans in the Texas House should select their Speaker nominee by secret ballot in a binding caucus without Democrat influence". There are currently six confirmed individuals that have declared their intention to be speaker. It has also been reported that some of those six are recruiting democrat support ahead of the Dec 1 vote.
Will Texas House Republicans keep to what Texas Republicans want and elect a speaker candidate without Democrat influence? Will they reject any candidate that claims Democrat support? And will all Texas House Republicans stick to the candidate that comes out of the caucus? Voters should call or write their representative and tell them to only elect a candidate that is not courting Democrat votes and to stick with the plan to support the Republican Speaker nominee.
Jan 8, 2019 is the first day of the 86th legislative session and when a new speaker will be confirmed.
On December 1, members of the Texas House Republican Caucus will meet to decide among themselves, who they want to be their choice as the next Speaker of the Texas House. With the retirement of Rep. Joe Straus, a Republican, who has held the position since 2009, a new Speaker will be chosen when the 86th Legislative session begins in January. For historical purposes, Speaker Straus won the speaker race in 2009 by garnering all 74 votes from the Democrat party along with 11 Republicans. In the preceding sessions, he continued to receive all democrat votes and a handful of Republican votes until 2017 when he received 100% from both sides. In 2017, he ran unopposed.
Ever since Rep. Straus took the speaker position, there has been a growing concern that many conservative bills were not being passed. There were many that believed conservative legislation, involving but not limited to policies such as gun rights, abortion and property taxes were not being passed, or even heard and passed out of committee's, while Straus was the speaker. The House Speaker has, among some of its duties, the responsibility to appoint committee chairs and assigning bills to respective committee's. In 2017, Republicans controlled the House 95-55. Of the 40 main committee's in the House, only 9 had a Republican Chair and Vice Chair, two committee's had a Democrat Chair and Vice Chair. Overall, Speaker Straus appointed Democrats to chair 14 committee's, and Republicans to chair just 26.
Because of the groundswell of voices throughout Texas, Republican Caucus chairman Tan Parker appointed a working group, that included our own Chris Paddie, HD9, to come up with a legal and enforceable procedure whereby the Texas House Republican Caucus selected the next speaker. The full report can be seen here. This group said among other things, 'there is no legal restrictions on the Republican caucus selecting or otherwise endorsing a nominee'. They also suggested that a Speaker candidate be selected from a majority of votes by the caucus. If there are more than 3 candidates and none of the candidates receive a majority of votes, then voting continues with the person receiving the least amount of votes eliminated, until one person receives the required majority.
In the March 2018 primaries, Texas Republicans voted overwhelmingly in favor of House Republicans selecting their speaker nominee and in June at the Texas GOP State convention, delegates said in their platform, "Republicans in the Texas House should select their Speaker nominee by secret ballot in a binding caucus without Democrat influence". There are currently six confirmed individuals that have declared their intention to be speaker. It has also been reported that some of those six are recruiting democrat support ahead of the Dec 1 vote.
Will Texas House Republicans keep to what Texas Republicans want and elect a speaker candidate without Democrat influence? Will they reject any candidate that claims Democrat support? And will all Texas House Republicans stick to the candidate that comes out of the caucus? Voters should call or write their representative and tell them to only elect a candidate that is not courting Democrat votes and to stick with the plan to support the Republican Speaker nominee.
Jan 8, 2019 is the first day of the 86th legislative session and when a new speaker will be confirmed.
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
City of Longview Texas looking to increase its Debt
Will the city of Longview start to be known as the debt capital of East Texas?
I attended the town hall event last night held by city councilman David Wright at Spring Hill High School. He discussed plans for the proposed 20 year $104.2 million bond package the city is considering putting before the voters. He said the city council must decide by August 22, 2018. There were about 40 in attendance of which almost half were city employees. At one point, Mr Wright said of the bond, (I'm paraphrasing), "We can't live on our current budget, to do the things we want, we need more money". In other words, 'We need to raise your property taxes'.
The city of Longview operates on a $162M budget of which 8% is designated to pay down existing debt. It's current debt obligation according to the city's website is $65M in General Obligations (GO) that is not scheduled to expire until year 2033 and another $84M in Revenue Debt according to the Texas Comptrollers office (2016 numbers). The new bond would increase Longview's debt obligation to almost $245M.
That's not all, the four local school districts have also passed bonds in the last few years that have also raised property taxes. LISD in 2007 passed a $267M bond package and according to the TxComp. has $351M in GO debt and another $8.3M in Capital Appreciation debt (CAB). PTISD has $91.25M GO debt and $1.83M CAB debt, and SHISD has $63.4M in GO debt and $3.8M CAB and those residents that touch HISD are subject to $98.5M GO debt.
Longview City Council will hold its regular meeting this Thursday night the 26th. If you're concerned about all the debt this city is racking up, I encourage you to make your voice heard. Tell the city council to vote NO on any more bond elections. Longview residents just can't afford it.
Here are the particulars: (I have it broken down further if you're interested)
Building Projects - $52.4M
Infastucture - $28M
Parks - $ 24.7M
Infastucture - $28M
Parks - $ 24.7M
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Sending Mixed Signals
Now that the 2018 primaries are over, most will go on about their daily routines and forget about the elections, politics and policies until the next time they realize there's an election. Ninety percent of registered voters do not vote, as evidence by the dismal voter turnout. Based on my experience, I'm betting only three percent of those that bother to vote, have any idea of the issues or an idea of how the candidates stand on issues. People vote mostly because they have a friend who told them who they are voting for, or what they've seen on tv, heard on radio ads or what they've read on the many mailers that come during election time. Actual investigation and research are never done by most. This is how most incumbents keep winning. They rely on the uneducated electorate, the low information voter. When information does present itself, it's ignored or spun by the opposition as not true. However, Galileo reminds us that "the truth is easy to understand once it is discovered, the point is to discover it". This is why I write this blog, To help people discover the truth.
Thomas Jefferson linked an enlightened citizenry to an educated one. He spoke of governments degenerating when trusted to the rulers of its people. That the people themselves are the safe depositories to correct abuses in power, but they must be educated, to inform their discretion, so that freedom may be preserved. He said " though the people may acquiesce, they can not approve what they do not understand". I talked with hundreds of people over the course of these last primary elections, many of them on election day as they were exiting the voting locations. I found that many did not know who the candidates were or what positions they held on certain topics. It frustrated me so, that I thought, why are they voting at all? The overall returns of election night to me, were discouraging, not just because my favorite candidates lost, but because of how our citizenry doesn't pay enough attention to these matters. Jefferson also wrote "No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity", and " The most effectual means of preventing power to tyranny is to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large."
Candidates are one thing, when it comes to being educated before you vote, but ideas are quite another. In the Republican primary of 2018, there were 11 propositions on the ballot. For each proposition, voters were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement. These propositions came from the 2016 Texas GOP platform and voted on by the State Republican Executive Committee, to be placed before the Texas Republican primary voter. All eleven propositions passed. These propositions are not binding to any laws, but only to serve as guiding principles for Republican voters and ultimately, Republican legislators. These are opinion questions and as such, research and investigation are not necessary. Or are they?
Remember, these propositions came from the GOP 2016 platform. Many bills were presented in the last legislative session that reflected these platform positions. Bills like HB 948 by Representative Tony Tinderholt, which sought to abolish abortion in Texas. This was proposition #7 on your ballot. It is specifically plank #90 in the platform and linked to planks #88 & #89, right to life and reversing Roe v Wade. The fact that these ideas, platform planks did not pass in the 85th session, drove the SREC to place these positions on the ballot to get a better idea of what the electorate at large wanted, not just the delegates to the State Convention. Lets unpack all the propostions.
Prop 1: Replace the property tax system with a consumption based system. Passed 68%-32%
Prop 2: Toll roads approved by voters. Passed 90%-10%.
Prop 3: GOP members of house vote by secret ballot for speaker. Passed 85%-15%
Prop 4: Employers should use E-verify system. Passed 90%-10%
Prop 5: School Choice using tax credits. Passed 79%-21%
Prop 6: Bathroom Privacy. Passed 90%-10%
Prop 7: Abolish Abortion. Passed 68%-32%
Prop 8: End voter fraud. Passed 95%-5%
Prop 9: Repeal Obamacare. Passed 87%-13%
Prop 10: Cap revenue increases to 4%. Passed 94%-6%
Prop 11: No funding of sports teams. Passed 87%-13%
As you can see, all eleven propositions passed convincingly, including property tax reform and abolishing abortion, the two with the lowest spread but still a 36 point difference. These ideas are what the cumulative GOP voters in Texas want. Lets compare these numbers across the State to the counties in East Texas. The number below each proposition is the percentage of voters that voted FOR the position.
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10 P11
Cass 64 90 88 93 73 96 80 97 93 95 88
Harrison 65 91 87 91 75 95 76 96 89 95 88
Marrion 64 90 87 92 82 94 68 96 89 95 89
Panola 66 92 89 91 69 95 80 97 93 94 88
Sabine 66 93 89 95 83 98 75 98 93 96 87
Shelby 67 92 86 91 79 97 80 97 92 94 86
Gregg 63 89 86 91 73 92 75 95 89 93 87
Upshur 71 92 87 92 73 95 80 97 92 95 89
Smith 64 90 88 91 81 94 76 95 90 94 88
Cherokee 72 92 89 91 80 96 79 97 93 95 90
Rusk 66 92 89 92 78 95 78 96 91 95 88
Titus 66 92 86 91 71 96 77 97 91 95 88
Wood 60 91 89 93 74 95 76 97 92 94 90
Every county listed above falls in line with the state average. Our representatives, Chris Paddie, Jay Dean, Matt Schaefer and Cole Hefner represent these counties. Only Paddie and Schaefer had primary challengers in this last election and both won convincingly. The numbers for representative Schaefer fall in line with his voting record as it relates to each proposition. The voters in Smith county, with the exception of Prop 1 voted at the same rate or better on every other proposition. In regards to property tax reform, they still voted favorably by 28%. Representative Schaefer it would seem is representing his district well. He falls in line with what the voters of Smith county want.
On the other hand, the voters in House District 9 which includes Cass, Harrison, Marion, Panola, Sabine and Shelby counties, seem to be giving mixed signals. The numbers suggest they are overwhelmingly in support of all the propositions but then they also re-elected Chris Paddie, who voted against or didn't support many of the same propositions in the 85th session. Do we interpret this conflict as, there are many low information voters in HD 9 or voters in HD 9 are voting only for a person and not what they believe. In either case, voters in HD 9 need more 'truth discovery' about their elected officials or even their own belief systems. For instance, they said they wanted property tax reform and cap any increases to 4%, (Prop 1&10). Paddie voted against the Senate version that would have capped property tax increases at 4%, in fact, he sided with house leadership to dismiss the session a day early and cut off any debates on the floor or with the Senate. He didn't fight to abolish abortion, (Prop 7) in the aforementioned HB 948. Every county in HD 9 approved this position at or better than the state average. Even when it comes to school choice, voters in every HD 9 county approved this measure overwhelmingly, but yet Mr Paddie continually says he is not in favor of it and will always vote against it. Proposition 11 is another conflict of voter interest. Voters said the state should not be funding private sports teams or venues but representative Paddie voted in favor of doing so.
This phenomenon isn't exclusive to voters in HD 9, but to many districts across Texas. If Republican voters truly believe in the propositions put forth to them on this years primary ballot, then why do they keep electing men and women who do not support these positions? If this election taught me anything, its that there are more voters than not, that need a better understanding of how their representative votes in Austin as compared to what they actually believe. Voters in HD 9 and other districts need to stop sending Mixed Signals. Along with many others, its my goal to illuminate the minds of the people of East Texas.
Thomas Jefferson linked an enlightened citizenry to an educated one. He spoke of governments degenerating when trusted to the rulers of its people. That the people themselves are the safe depositories to correct abuses in power, but they must be educated, to inform their discretion, so that freedom may be preserved. He said " though the people may acquiesce, they can not approve what they do not understand". I talked with hundreds of people over the course of these last primary elections, many of them on election day as they were exiting the voting locations. I found that many did not know who the candidates were or what positions they held on certain topics. It frustrated me so, that I thought, why are they voting at all? The overall returns of election night to me, were discouraging, not just because my favorite candidates lost, but because of how our citizenry doesn't pay enough attention to these matters. Jefferson also wrote "No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity", and " The most effectual means of preventing power to tyranny is to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large."
Candidates are one thing, when it comes to being educated before you vote, but ideas are quite another. In the Republican primary of 2018, there were 11 propositions on the ballot. For each proposition, voters were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement. These propositions came from the 2016 Texas GOP platform and voted on by the State Republican Executive Committee, to be placed before the Texas Republican primary voter. All eleven propositions passed. These propositions are not binding to any laws, but only to serve as guiding principles for Republican voters and ultimately, Republican legislators. These are opinion questions and as such, research and investigation are not necessary. Or are they?
Remember, these propositions came from the GOP 2016 platform. Many bills were presented in the last legislative session that reflected these platform positions. Bills like HB 948 by Representative Tony Tinderholt, which sought to abolish abortion in Texas. This was proposition #7 on your ballot. It is specifically plank #90 in the platform and linked to planks #88 & #89, right to life and reversing Roe v Wade. The fact that these ideas, platform planks did not pass in the 85th session, drove the SREC to place these positions on the ballot to get a better idea of what the electorate at large wanted, not just the delegates to the State Convention. Lets unpack all the propostions.
Prop 1: Replace the property tax system with a consumption based system. Passed 68%-32%
Prop 2: Toll roads approved by voters. Passed 90%-10%.
Prop 3: GOP members of house vote by secret ballot for speaker. Passed 85%-15%
Prop 4: Employers should use E-verify system. Passed 90%-10%
Prop 5: School Choice using tax credits. Passed 79%-21%
Prop 6: Bathroom Privacy. Passed 90%-10%
Prop 7: Abolish Abortion. Passed 68%-32%
Prop 8: End voter fraud. Passed 95%-5%
Prop 9: Repeal Obamacare. Passed 87%-13%
Prop 10: Cap revenue increases to 4%. Passed 94%-6%
Prop 11: No funding of sports teams. Passed 87%-13%
As you can see, all eleven propositions passed convincingly, including property tax reform and abolishing abortion, the two with the lowest spread but still a 36 point difference. These ideas are what the cumulative GOP voters in Texas want. Lets compare these numbers across the State to the counties in East Texas. The number below each proposition is the percentage of voters that voted FOR the position.
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10 P11
Cass 64 90 88 93 73 96 80 97 93 95 88
Harrison 65 91 87 91 75 95 76 96 89 95 88
Marrion 64 90 87 92 82 94 68 96 89 95 89
Panola 66 92 89 91 69 95 80 97 93 94 88
Sabine 66 93 89 95 83 98 75 98 93 96 87
Shelby 67 92 86 91 79 97 80 97 92 94 86
Gregg 63 89 86 91 73 92 75 95 89 93 87
Upshur 71 92 87 92 73 95 80 97 92 95 89
Smith 64 90 88 91 81 94 76 95 90 94 88
Cherokee 72 92 89 91 80 96 79 97 93 95 90
Rusk 66 92 89 92 78 95 78 96 91 95 88
Titus 66 92 86 91 71 96 77 97 91 95 88
Wood 60 91 89 93 74 95 76 97 92 94 90
Every county listed above falls in line with the state average. Our representatives, Chris Paddie, Jay Dean, Matt Schaefer and Cole Hefner represent these counties. Only Paddie and Schaefer had primary challengers in this last election and both won convincingly. The numbers for representative Schaefer fall in line with his voting record as it relates to each proposition. The voters in Smith county, with the exception of Prop 1 voted at the same rate or better on every other proposition. In regards to property tax reform, they still voted favorably by 28%. Representative Schaefer it would seem is representing his district well. He falls in line with what the voters of Smith county want.
On the other hand, the voters in House District 9 which includes Cass, Harrison, Marion, Panola, Sabine and Shelby counties, seem to be giving mixed signals. The numbers suggest they are overwhelmingly in support of all the propositions but then they also re-elected Chris Paddie, who voted against or didn't support many of the same propositions in the 85th session. Do we interpret this conflict as, there are many low information voters in HD 9 or voters in HD 9 are voting only for a person and not what they believe. In either case, voters in HD 9 need more 'truth discovery' about their elected officials or even their own belief systems. For instance, they said they wanted property tax reform and cap any increases to 4%, (Prop 1&10). Paddie voted against the Senate version that would have capped property tax increases at 4%, in fact, he sided with house leadership to dismiss the session a day early and cut off any debates on the floor or with the Senate. He didn't fight to abolish abortion, (Prop 7) in the aforementioned HB 948. Every county in HD 9 approved this position at or better than the state average. Even when it comes to school choice, voters in every HD 9 county approved this measure overwhelmingly, but yet Mr Paddie continually says he is not in favor of it and will always vote against it. Proposition 11 is another conflict of voter interest. Voters said the state should not be funding private sports teams or venues but representative Paddie voted in favor of doing so.
This phenomenon isn't exclusive to voters in HD 9, but to many districts across Texas. If Republican voters truly believe in the propositions put forth to them on this years primary ballot, then why do they keep electing men and women who do not support these positions? If this election taught me anything, its that there are more voters than not, that need a better understanding of how their representative votes in Austin as compared to what they actually believe. Voters in HD 9 and other districts need to stop sending Mixed Signals. Along with many others, its my goal to illuminate the minds of the people of East Texas.
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Believe What I say...Not What I do!
House Representative Chris Paddie of Marshall has repeated two very distinctive mantras while on the campaign trail; telling constituents that he will always represent his district in Austin and not just what the Republican Party platform says, and that he supports public education and its employees.
To be fair, the party platform does have 260 different planks representing five general topics and 27 sub topics. It is lengthy and covers many areas, in which not every plank will be agreeable to every Republican. In fact, not a single plank received 100% agreement from the 6000 plus delegates to the State convention in 2016. So, to ask a representative to be 100% on board for every plank is not realistic. We can however, expect Republican representatives to be on board for the five legislative priorities that were voted on by the delegates and ultimately approved by the State Republican Executive Committee. They were:
1. Pass Constitutional Carry while maintaining licensing as optional for reciprocity purposes.
2. Abolish abortion by enacting legislation to stop the murder of unborn children; and to ignore and refuse to enforce any and all federal statutes, regulations, executive orders, and court rulings, which would deprive an unborn child of the right to life.
3. Prioritize the allocation of funds to effectively secure the border through whatever means necessary, including but not limited to barriers, personnel, and technology over land, sea, and air, because the federal government refuses to secure the southern border of Texas.
4. Call for a limited Article V convention of states for the specific purpose of restricting the power of the federal government, including the implementation of term limits, and balanced budget amendment. Any proposed amendments must be ratified by ¾ of the states.
5. And to replace the property tax system with an alternative other than the income tax and require voter approval to increase the overall tax burden.
[These priorities were the most important to the convention delegates and passed with overwhelming numbers, including the delegates that represented the county's in Chris' district. The delegates to the state convention are voted on at the County conventions and prior to that the delegates at the county conventions are voted on by the voters at the precinct conventions, local neighborhoods. These delegates from precinct to county to State represent the voters at the grass root levels of every county. Delegates at all levels represent the voters at a much more broad level than any one representative.]
Representative Paddie's voting record as it pertains to the five Republican Party Legislative priorities:
1. Two constitutional carry bills were filed in the 85th session, HB 375 and HB 1911. Neither passed. HB 375 was left pending in Homeland Security Committee, he did not author or coauthor which would show his support. HB 1911 died in Calendars committee, where Chris is a member. It was sent to calendars on April 26. In order for bills to be on heard on the House floor they must have been approved by the Calendars committee and read on the floor a second time by the 122nd day of the session, that was May 12. Chris would eventually sign on to HB 1911, on May 8th but only after many called his office and after he knew the bill would die in Calendars.
2. There was one bill that called for the abolition of abortion in the 85th session. HB 948 by representative Tony Tinderholt. Chris did not coauthor this bill and it died in State Affairs committee where Chris is also a member. In the special session, HB 14 was an attempt to curtail agreements between Texas agencies and abortion providers. After this bill passed in State Affairs on 7/27/17, chairman Byron Cook sat on it for 2 weeks prior to sending to Calendars. It did not make it out of Calendars but Chris signed on as coauthor on 8/11/17, the next to last person to do so. HB 214 took elective abortions out of health insurance policies and Chris signed on after it passed the house.
3. While more money has been appropriated for the purpose of DPS funding and border security, in the 84th session, one amendment to HB 1 (appropriations) by representative Tony Dale would have given even more funding to border security, diverting funds from diversity training to much needed assets such as airplanes and helicopters. The amendment was tabled with Chris voting the same, along with every democrat in the house.
4. This is the only priority Chris is consistent in supporting the platform.
5. Says he is for property tax reform but voted against tax payers having a say in any property tax increase by taxing authorities. HB 486, would allow tax payers to vote on tax increases by school districts if the district wants to raise to a previous higher rate. He fought against automatic elections if a county or city raised your tax rates. He voted to silence any voices in the house that wanted to debate property tax reforms on the floor. He fought against lower rollback rates. The list goes on with this priority. This single issue may be the reason he scored so low on many conservative taxpayer watchdog organizations.
Looking at the RPT priorities, Chris only fully supported 1 of the top 5. Now lets go back and look at his claims of supporting his district. The biggest issue he claims is education. It's true that the education industry is one of the biggest employers in HD 9. So what has Chris done to support it? I went back to the first time he was elected until today to see what bills he has authored or joint authored in regards to helping education and the classroom teacher.
In the 83rd session, he joint authored HB 1784 which tried to provide technical training to high school dropouts. He joint authored HB 2201 which required additional credits in math and science curriculum to graduate high school. He authored HB 3472, dealing with the Public Education Information Management System (PIEMS).
In the 84th session, Chris didn't author or joint author a single item dealing with education
In the 85th session, Chris didn't author or joint author a single item dealing with education.
In other words, his rhetoric doesn't match his actions. Not a single bill to help classroom teachers get funding, to provide more money for their classrooms, money for projects, money for increased teacher pay. He didn't file one bill that would help retired teachers receive more benefits or improve upon either the retirement system or its healthcare component. The question then is; Exactly why are teachers and teacher groups supporting him? Or is it really the school boards and administrators that support him? Because again, remember, he voted against homeowners and in favor of the taxing authorities that want to increase your property taxes.
Lastly, when it comes to supporting his district, there have been several referendums on the ballot since Chris has been in office, that he has not supported while in Austin.
In 2016:
Prop 1, "Replacing the property tax", voters passed, 78%-28%
Prop 2, "Prohibit union dues collected from govt employees checks", voters passed, 53%-47%
In 2014:
Prop 3, "Abolish the Franchise Tax", voters passed, 90%-10%
In 2012:
Prop 1, "School Choice", voters passed 82%-18%
Prop 4, "Limiting increases in govt. spending", voters passed 93%-7%
Is he really supporting the concerns of his district, or the concerns of those Austin lobby groups that he gets so much money from? (See Who's Who..Part 2)
To be fair, the party platform does have 260 different planks representing five general topics and 27 sub topics. It is lengthy and covers many areas, in which not every plank will be agreeable to every Republican. In fact, not a single plank received 100% agreement from the 6000 plus delegates to the State convention in 2016. So, to ask a representative to be 100% on board for every plank is not realistic. We can however, expect Republican representatives to be on board for the five legislative priorities that were voted on by the delegates and ultimately approved by the State Republican Executive Committee. They were:
1. Pass Constitutional Carry while maintaining licensing as optional for reciprocity purposes.
2. Abolish abortion by enacting legislation to stop the murder of unborn children; and to ignore and refuse to enforce any and all federal statutes, regulations, executive orders, and court rulings, which would deprive an unborn child of the right to life.
3. Prioritize the allocation of funds to effectively secure the border through whatever means necessary, including but not limited to barriers, personnel, and technology over land, sea, and air, because the federal government refuses to secure the southern border of Texas.
4. Call for a limited Article V convention of states for the specific purpose of restricting the power of the federal government, including the implementation of term limits, and balanced budget amendment. Any proposed amendments must be ratified by ¾ of the states.
5. And to replace the property tax system with an alternative other than the income tax and require voter approval to increase the overall tax burden.
[These priorities were the most important to the convention delegates and passed with overwhelming numbers, including the delegates that represented the county's in Chris' district. The delegates to the state convention are voted on at the County conventions and prior to that the delegates at the county conventions are voted on by the voters at the precinct conventions, local neighborhoods. These delegates from precinct to county to State represent the voters at the grass root levels of every county. Delegates at all levels represent the voters at a much more broad level than any one representative.]
Representative Paddie's voting record as it pertains to the five Republican Party Legislative priorities:
1. Two constitutional carry bills were filed in the 85th session, HB 375 and HB 1911. Neither passed. HB 375 was left pending in Homeland Security Committee, he did not author or coauthor which would show his support. HB 1911 died in Calendars committee, where Chris is a member. It was sent to calendars on April 26. In order for bills to be on heard on the House floor they must have been approved by the Calendars committee and read on the floor a second time by the 122nd day of the session, that was May 12. Chris would eventually sign on to HB 1911, on May 8th but only after many called his office and after he knew the bill would die in Calendars.
2. There was one bill that called for the abolition of abortion in the 85th session. HB 948 by representative Tony Tinderholt. Chris did not coauthor this bill and it died in State Affairs committee where Chris is also a member. In the special session, HB 14 was an attempt to curtail agreements between Texas agencies and abortion providers. After this bill passed in State Affairs on 7/27/17, chairman Byron Cook sat on it for 2 weeks prior to sending to Calendars. It did not make it out of Calendars but Chris signed on as coauthor on 8/11/17, the next to last person to do so. HB 214 took elective abortions out of health insurance policies and Chris signed on after it passed the house.
3. While more money has been appropriated for the purpose of DPS funding and border security, in the 84th session, one amendment to HB 1 (appropriations) by representative Tony Dale would have given even more funding to border security, diverting funds from diversity training to much needed assets such as airplanes and helicopters. The amendment was tabled with Chris voting the same, along with every democrat in the house.
4. This is the only priority Chris is consistent in supporting the platform.
5. Says he is for property tax reform but voted against tax payers having a say in any property tax increase by taxing authorities. HB 486, would allow tax payers to vote on tax increases by school districts if the district wants to raise to a previous higher rate. He fought against automatic elections if a county or city raised your tax rates. He voted to silence any voices in the house that wanted to debate property tax reforms on the floor. He fought against lower rollback rates. The list goes on with this priority. This single issue may be the reason he scored so low on many conservative taxpayer watchdog organizations.
Looking at the RPT priorities, Chris only fully supported 1 of the top 5. Now lets go back and look at his claims of supporting his district. The biggest issue he claims is education. It's true that the education industry is one of the biggest employers in HD 9. So what has Chris done to support it? I went back to the first time he was elected until today to see what bills he has authored or joint authored in regards to helping education and the classroom teacher.
In the 83rd session, he joint authored HB 1784 which tried to provide technical training to high school dropouts. He joint authored HB 2201 which required additional credits in math and science curriculum to graduate high school. He authored HB 3472, dealing with the Public Education Information Management System (PIEMS).
In the 84th session, Chris didn't author or joint author a single item dealing with education
In the 85th session, Chris didn't author or joint author a single item dealing with education.
In other words, his rhetoric doesn't match his actions. Not a single bill to help classroom teachers get funding, to provide more money for their classrooms, money for projects, money for increased teacher pay. He didn't file one bill that would help retired teachers receive more benefits or improve upon either the retirement system or its healthcare component. The question then is; Exactly why are teachers and teacher groups supporting him? Or is it really the school boards and administrators that support him? Because again, remember, he voted against homeowners and in favor of the taxing authorities that want to increase your property taxes.
Lastly, when it comes to supporting his district, there have been several referendums on the ballot since Chris has been in office, that he has not supported while in Austin.
In 2016:
Prop 1, "Replacing the property tax", voters passed, 78%-28%
Prop 2, "Prohibit union dues collected from govt employees checks", voters passed, 53%-47%
In 2014:
Prop 3, "Abolish the Franchise Tax", voters passed, 90%-10%
In 2012:
Prop 1, "School Choice", voters passed 82%-18%
Prop 4, "Limiting increases in govt. spending", voters passed 93%-7%
Is he really supporting the concerns of his district, or the concerns of those Austin lobby groups that he gets so much money from? (See Who's Who..Part 2)
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