Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Polution
George Lakoff: Whose Freedom?: The Battle Over America's Most Important Idea
George Lakoff: Moral Politics : How Liberals and Conservatives Think
Samantha Power: A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide
Thomas Frank: What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America
The 80th Legislative Session of the House of Representatives will convene at 12 Noon, Tuesday, January 9th, 2007.
140 days of fun is about to begin.
Watch all the festivities via live video stream or Austin Time Warner Cable on Channel 6
From The Center for Public Policy Priorities :
The fiscal notes for the tax and school-finance bills passed during the special session reveal a gap of $10.5 billion between the expected costs of HB 1 and anticipated revenues from HB 3, 4, and 5 in 2008-09. This deficit will place tremendous pressure on the next state budget, which could cause severe budget cutbacks, an increase in the state sales tax, a turn to gambling as a source of revenue, or all of the above.
Putting a band-aid on a bullet hole. Nice.
All they have done is made it someone else's problem to fix school finance. Unfortunately for the Republicans, elections are changing and there are plenty of folks out there to remind the voters that the Lege failed to do their job.
Found via Pink Dome:
Why are these people considered authors of legislation in the TLO search engine?
Now, if it said Leinginger, I would understand.
Following up on the memo being circulated at the Capitol and Charlie's lack of focus, here they are in all their splendor
Procedural attack on Madla.pdf
Time for the members to pay very close attention to what they will and will not do this session. Every vote is important and there are those waiting in the wing to call to account every one of your votes.
Ain't Democracy beautiful?
Posting has been light, as of late, completely due to my eager antcipation of Charlie and Eileen's Session Crasher Party.
If you are anywhere near Austin, go!
I attended the toast and roast of Emmett Sheppard in Houston this past Saturday. For those of you who don’t know Emmett, he is president of the Texas AFL-CIO, a state labor federation with approximately 220,000 affiliates from labor unions across Texas. The Texas AFL-CIO is the leading voice advocating for workers’ rights in Texas. He has been a fixture of labor in Texas. A former City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem in his hometown of Groves, Sheppard worked at Gulf Oil Corp., where he assumed various duties in his union, Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Local 4-23 (now known as PACE). In 1982, Sheppard became president of the Sabine Area Central Labor Council. In 1989, Sheppard went to work for the Texas AFL-CIO as its legislative director, and in 1993, labor delegates elected him to the position of secretary-treasurer. Sheppard won unanimous support to become Texas AFL-CIO president in 2003.
The roast helped raise money for the Texas Democratic Party. For those who are not sustaining members yet, you should consider helping a growing and changing party. We need more than good intentions to win back our state. With Delay and his minions on the run, now is the time to help. Your contributions are needed and appreciated. I can say this because I bought my own ticket (if only bloggers has press passes).
Emmett Shepard has organized and helped more Democrats get elected than most anyone in Texas. He has done it the old fashion way: burning shoe leather door to door. The roast was a whole lot of fun. Honestly, I laughed my ass off. Roasters were Congressman Nick Lampson, Congressman Al Green, Gov-to-be Chris Bell, secretary-treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO Becky Moeller, Chuck Rocha, national political director of the United Steelworkers of America, State Representative Hubert Vo, former Attorney General Jim Mattox and some Senator from Houston. State Party Chair Charles Soechting was the MC for the night.
Chuck Rocha, redneck Mexican (don’t worry, that is what he called himself), was the funniest one there. Rocha was rank and file making tires when he decided he wanted something different. It really a sight to see a clearly Hispanic man speak like someone from Tyler, TX. Y'all Texas folks know what I mean... One his jokes has him telling the audience “I know what you are telling each other at the table, he looks like a Mexican but he sounds like a redneck. I’m really confused.” Rocha is an impressive person. He rose from the union line to be the youngest political directors in history.
A close second for the funniest was a huge surprise to me. Chris Bell had me laughing so hard it hurt. Yes, the one running for Governor. I have seen Bell speak many times but this was the Bell he should show off more. I saw a relaxed Bell who is smart, quick-witted and funny. It takes intelligence to make people laugh. If the Bell folks can show us more of the Bell I saw Saturday night, then we will have a new governor in Bell. He starts out by saying that this roast is quite refreshing because he spends all day every day saying nice things and now he gets to let loose. Bell roasted Emmett with biting humor including some jokes about sticking your neck out. I won't repeat them because you had to be there. They sat Bell next to Al Green who beat him in the Congressional race where the lines were redistricted to defeat Bell. Green was very classy and gracious by saying in Houston we have seen Bell for City Council, Bell for Mayor, Bell for Congress and soon we have Bell as our Governor.
I didn’t get a chance to hear Hubert Vo roast but I heard he was quite funny. I was out of the reception hall during his roast. Hey, bloggers like to mingle and drink too. Overall, I had a great time and got to meet some great new friends. For the record, I love the unions. I spent part of my career representing union folks and they have always been some the most honest hard working people I have ever met. My clients were salt of the earth and the backbone of our county.
Overall, the night was a great success. It was well run and it was obvious that the staff at the Party put in a lot of long hours getting the event together. Now, if we could only roast the exiting Chair.... They could make a fortune.
The Chris Bell team has the response to the 92 bill up fast.
....Schools, which after all are supposed to be the point of school finance reform, need more money. Perry’s tax plan would provide no new investment in classrooms. Zero. He’s proud that it’s a revenue-neutral plan. I have said since I started this campaign that a school finance plan that does not include new investments in classrooms just rearranges the deck chairs on the Titanic.
....Rick Perry won’t even let the legislature debate a pay raise until they pass his tax plan that wouldn’t raise enough money to pay for a pay raise in the first place. It’s an obvious contradiction that perhaps only he does not see.
Another fatal flaw of Perry’s tax plan is that it cuts more in property taxes than it raises in business taxes, forcing a $1 billion raid of the surplus. Meanwhile, Perry is lecturing his Republican colleagues to avoid using the surplus to achieve a quick fix, bringing up another contradiction and placing him in the indefensible position of arguing for a smaller version of what he says he opposes.
What?!? A contradictory position by the Governor? Say it ain't so. Perry is in quite a pickle. If he doesn't produce here, then that will be the spark that ignites his Hindenburg. I probably gonna blow soon but this will do it.
I once took a life-guarding class that taught me that drowning person will grab and push down anyone around him to keep from drowning. My advice to the Lege: Stay away from Perry and his plan, it will only push you down.
The wonk in me eagerly awaits The Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) analysis of this proposal They say it they will have by Friday. So with bated breath I wait...
Gov. Rick Perry's tax bill is now out for review (tax bill.pdf ~ 92 pages). For those of you who don't like to read bills that long, take a look at the summary (.doc). FYI: The summary read like a campaign mailer for Rick Perry. My favorite part reads:
Why doesn’t this plan provide “new money” for education or authorize additional classroom reforms?
• First, this plan increases the state share of education funding dramatically. Second, it gives schools a more reliable revenue stream for the future. Third, it provides school districts additional funding capacity than they have today. And fourth, it will result in continued economic growth and job creation, which means government will have more money to invest in priorities like education because of a growing tax base.
• The Supreme Court has said that lawmakers must reform our property tax system or schools will shut down. That is why the governor has asked lawmakers to address this issue first.
• There is no greater proponent of education reform than Gov. Rick Perry. He supports higher pay for teachers as well as merit-based pay, tougher classroom standards and more accountability for taxpayers. But he also recognizes that new classroom reforms will accomplish nothing if classrooms are closed because lawmakers failed to pass a school finance bill.
So, no greater proponent for education reform, huh? Is that why he has failed multiple times to fix public school finance? Is that why he commanded that the Sharp's commission not even discuss viable tax options because he did not like them? Is that why teachers have supported someone else? Is that why you chose only to fix the tax problem and not the problem of underfunded schools?
A quick scan of the bill gives me an automatic protest. There is in an increase in the tobacco tax. I understand that an increase in the tobacco tax may affect poor smokers more than the wealthy smokers. Honestly, I do not have a problem with that. Smoking will kill you and you know it's bad for you. My problem is that any money raise through a tobacco tax should go to treating tobacco related illness, smoking cessation programs and health care costs. This tax, if successful in its goal, will decrease in revenue generate as there will be fewer smokers. Feels like a Band-Aid to me....
Call the Texas House and Senate today! Tell the to vote NO on the confirmation of Milton Rister
Today is the confirmation hearing for Executive Director of Legislative Council. Lege Council is a non-partisan, administrative wing of the Legislature. They provide "bill drafting, computing, research, publishing, and document distribution services to the Texas Legislature and legislative agencies. The council also serves as an information resource for state agencies, the citizens of Texas, and others as time and resources allow."
Once again we are seeing the Republican's war on experts. They want to select a partisan to do the job of neutral qualified administrator. Everyone uses Lege Council. If he is appointed, it will have a chilling effect to legislation being drafted and researched.
Rep. Thompson sent a letter (.doc) yesterday to Speaker Craddick and Lt. Gov. Dewhurst asking them take down the nomination of Milton Rister
It has come to my attention that the Council is scheduled to approve a new Council director Wednesday morning, Milton Rister, a political operative, who has worked against sitting members of both Houses. Mr. Rister will more than likely work with some of these members in his capacity as the Executive Director of the Legislative Council. Mr. Rister’s devisive presence may create a perceived erosion of the confidentiality, independence, discretion, and credibility of the non-partisan Legislative Council.
Take 10 minutes, get on your phone and call each and every one of the member on this committee and tell them to vote no. I just did. It's fun and they all work for you anyway.
Via Pink Dome, here are the members of the committee with their phone numbers.
Tom Craddick: (512) 463-1000, Ryan Guillen (512) 463-0416, Peggy Hamric (512) 463-0496, Linda Harper-Brown, (512) 463-0641, Lois Kolkhorst (512) 463-0600, Robert Talton (512) 463-0460, Corbin Van Arsdale (512) 463-0661
The following Senators sit on the committee:
John Carona (512) 463-0116, Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa (512) 463-0120, Kyle
Janek (512) 463-0117, Frank L. Madla (512) 463-0119, Jane Nelson (512)
463-0112, Jeff Wentworth (512) 463-0125
Link: MySA.com: State's savings don't add up.
Link: MySA.com: Carlos Guerra: Where are the big savings from privatizing government services.
During the 2003 legislature, we yelled and screamed that the privatization of state and human services would only benefit those companies seeking private contracts from the state. We yelled and screamed that there would be no appreciable savings. We yelled and screamed that those who needed the most help would be hurt.
The Republicans did not care and passed HB 2292, the largest state agency reorganization.
The $45 million in savings Texas' Health and Human Services Commission hoped to realize by privatizing its payroll and human resources operations will be far less, according to a state auditor's office report to be released next week.
The audit, a draft of which was obtained by the Express-News, said a substantial amount of the projected savings evaporated after "errors and complete data" were considered.
That version of the audit said the commission would save only $1.1 million over five years.
It sucks to be right here.
So who really benefited? The poor? No. The needy? No. Taxpayers? No. Texans? No. Private contractor who donated and will donate to the Republicans? YES!
Perhaps the best known of the privatizing schemes is the $899 million contract awarded to Accenture to determine eligibility and enroll recipients for $20 billion worth of benefits — about half federally funded — by using call centers, including one in House Speaker Tom Craddick's district.
By firing 2,500 state workers and replacing them with private-sector workers who would receive fewer benefits, proponents said, Texas will save $646 million over five years. But both the contract and claimed savings raised serious concerns. Advocates for the poor fear that deserving recipients will become so frustrated they'll stop trying to get critical services.
Texas got scammed. The Republicans lied and said that this would save us money. They used the the looming threat of a tough budget as a excuse to privatize (i.e. give business to their friends). What is interesting is that they so hate government services for the poor and needy that they would give that business to their buddies. Welfare is not bad as long as it is corporate welfare.
Once again, the Center for Public Policy Priorities is the voice of reason. From their statement on the auditors report,
Public money should not just be thrown at private companies to address public problems. The state should hire private companies only when it has a sound reason to believe they can do as good a job for less, and then the state should carefully monitor its private contractors and hold them accountable.
The auditor’s report sends a clear message to the Governor and the Texas Legislature that the state lacks a consistent, comprehensive methodology for making decisions about whether to outsource government functions to private companies. The Governor should direct the State Auditor’s Office to review immediately all of the cost-benefit analyses since the health and human services consolidation that have resulted in the outsourcing of government functions.
Thanks to the Jeffersonian for reminding us of who authored the awful HB 2292, Arlene Wohlgemuth. Let us hope she never tries to run again. Let us never forget the tale of The Wohlgemuth lest she visit us again. 
