Texas Minute: Aug. 27, 2019

[Elderberry]

Good morning!  Here is today's Texas Minute.
– Michael Quinn Sullivan

    Late last week 30 members of the Texas House Republican Caucus asked for an in-person meeting to elect a new caucus vice-chairman in light of the controversy surrounding House Speaker Dennis Bonnen’s unethical actions. (State Rep. Dustin Burrows resigned in disgrace as caucus chair earlier in the month for his role in a quid pro quo scheme; under the caucus rule he was replaced by then-vice-chair State Rep. Stephanie Klick of Arlington.) On Monday, Klick denied the members’ request for the in-person vote. Brandon Waltens reports that Klick wants them to vote electronically or by mail, instead.
       
    Sources in the caucus say Klick, acting on behalf of Speaker Bonnen, is trying to keep members from gathering to compare notes on the various lies and misrepresentations he has been caught making.
       
    Readers will recall that earlier this year it was Rep. Klick, serving as chair of the House Committee on Elections, who killed Senate Bill 9, the landmark election integrity legislation earlier.
       
    The race to replace retiring Houston-area Congressman Pete Olson has a new entrant; Republican activist Kathaleen Wall announced her candidacy on Monday. Brandon Waltens reports Wall has spent the last year leading the Republican Party of Texas’ election integrity efforts. The seat is centered in the battleground of Harris County.
       
    The Georgetown City Council is preparing to approve their budget for next year, forcing the average homeowner to pay roughly $30 more. Though that amount may not seem catastrophic, Jacob Asmussen reports that compared to just seven years ago the average homeowner is now paying nearly $500 more per year to the council.       

    Tarrant Regional Water District has filed an appeal with Attorney General Ken Paxton to block taxpayers from seeing contracts for a marketing campaign they are funding. Robert Montoya reports about the controversial water district's efforts to muddy the waters.     

    Each year at the Conservative Leaders Gala, we recognize the men and women who truly shine in the conservative movement as grassroots leaders. These are individuals who don’t hold legislative office or seek the spotlight; instead, they diligently work to make Texas a stronger, better place to live. Make a nomination today!

    After staying out of the public eye for a month, State Rep. Dustin Burrows last week began speaking about his role in the June meeting that has focused a light on the unethical actions of House Speaker Dennis Bonnen. Unfortunately, the Lubbock Republican has chosen to follow Bonnen down a path of inconsistent lies.     

    For example, speaking on a Lubbock radio show last week, Burrows claimed the June 12 meeting was about a singular message: “We hope you don’t go after any Republicans.”       

    That stands in direct contrast to the actual words spoken by Speaker Bonnen during the meeting:

    “And let’s go after these Republicans that – and I’m not kidding when it comes to 2020 if we’re successful and we gain maybe one or two or three Republican seats, we beat some of these liberal pieces of s—t, and we maybe flip a couple of these primaries, better Rs, kick my ass if we’re not doing a better job.”

    It also flies in the face of the fact Burrows had a “list” of Republicans to be targeted.     

    You might recall that on July 29 Speaker Bonnen issued a public statement in which he claimed Burrows was called into the meeting “to be present as a witness” but that he had – inexplicably – instructed Burrows to be silent. Yet Burrows told a Lubbock TV station this weekend he was there “to answer the complaints, talk about things that I wanted to get done, things that we actually did agree on.”       

    Which one of them is telling the truth? Was Burrows merely a witness, or an agenda-driven participant?         

    And when did Bonnen instruct Burrows to speak?

Number of the Day

36

Number of U.S. House seats for Texas, out of 435.

Today in History

On August 27, 1990, Texas musician Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter accident.

Quote-Unquote

“Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.”

– George Patton​