The Best & Worst Legislators explained
The 20th edition of the “Best & Worst Legislators” story is complete. Yesterday we posted, on Twitter and on this blog, the names of the ten Best, the ten Worst, the Bull of the Brazos, and the Rookie of the Year. Today the write-ups for all of these 22 members are available online. The full story, including honorable and dishonorable mentions, furniture, and the very special features that mark the 20th edition of the story will be available in the magazine, which will begin reaching subscribers this weekend, and on our website next week.
I have been involved in nineteen of the twenty previous articles, and I cannot recall a more difficult year when it came to selecting the members on both lists. This was a session without heroes. All the usual jokes about naming 5 Bests and 15 Worsts were on point, for a change. The budget dominated everything, with the result that there were few major bills. I count three: Truitt’s effort to regulate payday loans; Ritter’s attempt to get funding for the state water plan (one of several occasions on which Perry could have exercised leadership for the state’s future but did not); and Keffer’s bill regulating hydraulic fracturing in shale formations. The rest was noise. Particularly cacophonous was the governor’s “emergency” agenda, which consisted of nothing but red meat for Republicans. Republicans got to vote on abortion, immigration, voter fraud, tort reform, and, shades of the fifties, state’s rights. Democrats got to vote no a lot. Even the major Sunset bills didn’t seem to generate any interest. You could look out across the House floor during any debate and see few members engaged.
The House Republican caucus was a curious organism. Its members preferred to vote as a block, as if they lived in fear that their age-old enemies, the Democrats, might perhaps be resuscitated to offer a scintilla of opposition. The group-think voting was reminiscent of the refrain sung by the “Monarch of the Sea” in Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore: “I grew so rich that I was sent/by a pocket borough into Parliament/I always voted at my party’s call/and never thought of thinking for myself at all.” The anemic Democratic caucus, meanwhile, mustered up occasional resistance, mostly with parliamentary maneuvers, but the D’s were so outnumbered, and so demoralized by their election rout, that they never seemed to have a leader or a plan. Not that it would have made any difference.
Democrats in Texas are fast approaching the point that Republicans were at when our list began. Over the 20 sessions that we have compiled Best & Worst, Texas politics has turned upside down. In 1973, the first year we published our story, Republicans were vastly outnumbered, lacked political power, and virtually absent from our lists. No Republican made the Worst list that year (though one, Ray Hutchison did make the best list). There weren’t enough of them to cause trouble. Today, some thirty-eight years later, the tables are turned, and no Democrat has made the Worst list. This fact has already caused some consternation on Twitter and in the comments to this blog, but we don’t have quotas. When one party has a supermajority, they dominate our story. Wendy Davis was a possibility for either list, but at the time we went to press, it wasn’t clear–and it still may not be–whether her session-ending filibuster was productive or destructive. The fact is that Democrats were not consequential this session (except in a few rare instances). They may not be a factor in Texas for a decade.
The necessity to cut, cut, cut defined the session. This is not the Legislature’s fault. It was the fault of the Republican leadership, which has systematically starved public schools of revenue since 2006 and appears to be bent upon extending its shameful record of neglect and structural deficits. The leadership, especially Perry, seemed eager to embrace the catastrophe; the more the Legislature cuts, the more Perry can brag that he balanced the budget without raising taxes. Hence, the House version of the budget, which was based on the miscalculation that deep cuts might scare Republican members into voting for a more benign budget—a flawed strategy if ever there was one, since the likes of Jim Landtroop and Phil King view cuts with all the trepidation of B’rer Rabbit encountering a briar patch.
A session without money is destined from the start to be ugly, and this one was really ugly. Perry drew a line in the sand over the Legislature’s use of the Rainy Day fund and made it stick. Well, sort of. Budget writers may have had the last laugh by deferring required payments (such as to school districts) into future budgets. The first thing the Legislature is going to do in 2013 is siphon off the deferred spending out of the Rainy Day Fund. Budget writers struggled mightily to give schools, nursing homes, and hospitals a little more money. Some of our Ten Best legislators shined in this effort: namely, Ogden, Duncan, Zaffirini, and Zerwas.
Yet to be decided is whether the 82nd session will mark a turning point for Texas. With each passing day, the likelihood grows that Rick Perry will run for president of the United States. Perry has had a remarkable career, which began in a different millennium, and he has outlasted and outperformed a myriad of challengers, naysayers, and disrespecters. In all that time he has never lost a race. His political skills have become finely honed, and he has been able to impose his rigid ideological views on a diverse state. If Perry does run for president, win or lose, Texas politics in the 83rd Legislature will be different from what it is today. And you can count on our being there to tell you who were the Best and the Worst of the 83rd.
Tagged: best and worst legislators, jim keffer, John Zerwas, judith zaffirini, rick perry, robert duncan, Steve Ogden, vicki truitt, wendy davis
Anon says:
I’ll give you that Branch deserved 10 best (though the competition was low this year) but to say that the man does not care about status shows how little you really pay attention, Paul.
The man cares almost as much about status as he does passing good bills, almost. It kills him that he can never be President like his buddy George and everywhere Branch goes he has to have 2 or 3 staffers tailing him so he can look important, even if every other lawmaker around is flying solo.
Status matters to him, Paul.
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Anonymous Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 10:38 am
Anon……you are exactly correct. Status and appearance do matter to Branch…..tremendously
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C'mon Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Branch cares more about substance than status…
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paulburka Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 8:27 am
Re Branch:
Branch’s critics, if that is what they are, are using status in a different sense than I am. I’m not referring to accountrements. I’m saying that he could have chosen calendars or some other position of power, and he opted for a chairmanship that amounts to doing good works.
Briscoe Democrat Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 3:32 pm
Perry will NEVER ever be President of the US anytime soon in my lifetime and don’t be surprised if the Bush family backs Romney instead.
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Robert Morrow Reply:
June 19th, 2011 at 1:47 am
Bush family is backing Huntsman.
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Pat Burns says:
Thanks, Paul. Now I’m thoroughly depressed….
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Pat says:
Pretty good write-up. The enormity of the task was overwhelming this session.
I am disappointed there was nothing about the further erosion of the 2/3ds Rule in Dewhurst’s writeup. If anything, that will be his legacy. I’m glad you singled out Duncan for praise. He’s earned it. Hance, Montford, Duncan – per capita, Lubbock produces the finest senators in Texas.
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Branch Watcher says:
Dan Branch? His campaign treasurer is Mary Ceverha. Democrats should well know about the Ceverhas, and what being a Ceverha-Republican
means. Bill Ceverha was the Treasurer of “Texans for a Republican Majority PAC” – - TRMPAC.
Branch has sponsored legislation to end straight party voting.
Senator Fraser is a given on the ‘worst’ list. We need a full time staff just to go over the statements of author’s intent that he attaches
to his bills, which are frequently misleading and incorrect. Included in that is the statement of author intent attached to his Voter ID bill.
Special interests need Senator Fraser – - to see to it that Texas consumers pay higher rates for electricity than residents of other states.
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Paranoid much? Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
That’s silly. Dan has been friends with Mary Churchill Ceverha since she was Mary Churchill.
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Anon says:
Paul.
You argue that Solomons is on the worst list because he is a bully (meaning, he plays hardball with the lobby and the Senate) and the Lite Guv is on because he is weak and caves in on issues?
The whole explinantion is simply weird. A couple hard-knock stories of a guy trying to do heavy lifting in this place should not qualify for placement on the list.
Solomons may not be a loveable teddy bear, but that should not be the reason he is on the list.
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Pat Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
HUH?
Solomons is on the list because patience is the virtue most valued in a redistricting chair. Solomons flaunted his attitude in the face of the unwritten rules.
Dewhurst made the list, because, well…this one should be obvious. He tanked budget negotiations and once again brought mayhem to the senate. He threw his own Finance chair under the bus. He made senators look bad – on the floor, no less. Bill Hobby used to have one rule: “Do not embarrass the senate.” Dewhurst bent, broke and smashed it all session long.
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For Whatever It's Worth Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Watching Solomons this session, I thought he was reasonably patient considering what he was asked to do by Straus and Perry. Taking a couple of isolated incidents out of context and not even bothering to ask Solomons about it was not very professional. You don’t succeed passing redistricting maps by being patient with everyone. I can just imagine the stress he was under dealing with every House member as some kept pushing the envelope in what they wanted. And, he was a major voice for homeowner rights ands the groups didn’t want to negotiate with him versus West. From what I saw, he was kept at a distance by the HOA lobby & his statement to QR was his way of telling everyone he wasn’t allowed in the room. The West committee substitute was in Calendars for almost 2 weeks and all interested parties could have talked to Solomons but didn’t. The HOA lobby was afraid that West would concur if Solomons passed the bill on the House Floor and they lied about what was in it. The few changes Solomons made were negotiated by Solomons and the HOA groups last session and had been acceptable. They got a better deal this session from West and wanted it untouched. I believe that the real reason Burka put Solomons on the Worst list this session is that he didn’t like the sanctuary cities bill and took it out on Solomons with those two out-of-context incidents. Or perhaps it was just that he had to have one of the inside Straus guys on the list and Solomons was the easiest one to pick on because of the sanctuary cities bill.
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paulburka Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 8:32 am
I didn’t like the sanctuary cities bill, but if I thought Solomons’ handling of it was bad (and I fault him only for not taking the Huberty-Oliveira amendment), I would have included it in the writeup.
Shadrach says:
It seems clear that the two worst decisions of this legislature (atleast to some observers) were driven by political ambition and not the esire to goven effectively.
These decisions – (1) Perry’s to not use the Rainy Day Fund to reduce education cuts; and, (2) Dewhurt’s decision to let Perry get away with it.
Of course these decisions are based on the pending candidacies for the White House and the US Senate.
Only makes you wonder, if they will throw our schools under the bus to seek higher office, then what will they do if they get higher office?
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Briscoe Democrat Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
Obama will likely get re-elected due to the following:
1. 2012 will be a year where Dems and lots of them vote including Latinos, Afro-Americans, Asians, 18-29 yr.olds, etc.,
2. Obama will say, “Now is not the time to turn the keys to those who messed up the place before I got there.”
3. The GOP’s controversial plan on Medicare will backfire.
4. No incumbent President has been voted out of office during time of war.
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Anonymous Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
No incumbent president has been re-elected(that I can find in the books) with an unemployment rate over 7.2% nationally. Good luck Chairman O.
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Fiftycal Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
1. With VOTER ID, lots of dims, including ILLEGAL aliens, won’t be voting.
2. Any and every thing out of 0-BOMB-AH’s mouth is a lie.
3. We can fix Medicare/medicaid now or wait til it is bankrupt and start over.
4. Don’t know of a pResident that had FOUR wars saved or created that got re-elected.
5. Don’t know of any pResidents that got re-elected after TRIPLING the national debt.
6. Don’t know of any pResidents that got re-elected after inflicting 200% inflation in gas and food prices.
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thebigeasy2000 Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 9:38 am
Your lies are bigger! And you actually believe your own lies…
Kenneth D. Franks Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 10:23 am
1. dims? Democratic / Democrat
2. Lies? List please.
3. Republicans want to kill it not fix it.
4. The real wars: Iraq, G.W.B. We were lied into it by Republicans. Afghanistan G.W.B.’S We should get out.
5. Fixing Republican disasters cost money.
6. Increased demand for gas, plus speculation = higher gas prices. Weather conditions, increased demand, higher production costs (fuel)= higher costs for food.
Jed Reply:
June 18th, 2011 at 11:43 am
normally i don’t cite wiki pages, 50cal, but you could learn a lot re: #5, from this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms
provided you first learn what the “debt” is. no president has ever tripled it, of course. that’s just nonsense. however, the president who was reelected after increasing it by almost 50%? you guessed it: reagan.
and check the average growth of the debt per term in the past 30 years or so:
under repubs: 36%
under dems: 4%
the last two presidents to actually reduce the debt? clinton. and carter.
check back once you’re caught up.
Robert Morrow Reply:
June 19th, 2011 at 1:48 am
Being the war party has never helped the Democrats.
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Robert says:
In other words, Burka admits that it is a Left-Wing list. Those who push more gov’t spending or a larger regulatory state are among the “best”.
We’ve always known this but it is fun to see Burka put it in writing.
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Kenneth D. Franks Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 10:34 am
The Economic Stabilization Fund / Rainy Day Fund was created for a budget shortfall for a current and the next biennium and not for pet programs for governors or to be held back to the next session to cover the budget tricks used this session. It will become obvious the budget was not balanced this session. It is not to cover their gimmicks this session two years from now.
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paulburka Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 8:37 am
Hmmm … I don’t recall “admitting” it’s a left wing list. There are 7 Republicans on the Best list and three Democrats. Explain to me how this is left wing.
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Anon's admirer says:
Branch not taking calendars or appropriations had nothing to do with a humble side and everything to do with him being smart enough to realize that both were going to be a train wreck in the 80th and 81st and neither could serve as a launching pad for statewide office. Instead he took higher education so that he could start shaking down all these wealthy university regeants and so he could tour the entire state in the name of “improving higher education”.
The one thing though, Paul, that you tagged right about Branch is that his “childhood friend” is now the Speaker of the House. Branch is the product of good fortune, that and having Van Taylor trying to muddy you up from the back mike.
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Pat Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Thats not a very deft way of putting it, but…you hit the nail on the head with a sledgehammer.
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South Texan says:
The Republican-dominated Texas Senate definitely could have passed a bipartisan budget. Its failure reflects the typical 2011 Senate Republican strategy of appeasing 19 Republicans and “peeling-off” two or three Democrats.
A better, healthier, more positive and productive approach would have been to gain the support of the five Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee (which almost automatically would have garnered more Democratic votes)and as many Republicans as possible. The most liberal Democrats and the most conservative Republicans might have opposed that bipartisan alternative, but it would have been a significantly, dramatically superior product.
How sad! How very, very sad.
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Briscoe Democrat says:
Burka, the money is still on Obama winning re-election next fall and Romney is still favored to be the GOP nominee because he has $$$ and lots of it while the other GOPers will have to play catch-up.
Perry will NOT be the nominee, but VP is likely for him.
Dewhurst is likely running for KBH’s US Senate seat, which opens up the LG’s office in 2014 for Abbott (unless he goes for governor-in the event Perry doesn’t run again).
That said, if Perry loses in his presidential bid, I do NOT rule out the possibility of Perry winning again three years from now.
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Texian Politico Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 3:28 pm
Abbott will either run for gov in 2014 or nothing at all.
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Brent Connett says:
The rationale for including State Senator Jane Nelson on Texas Monthly’s “worst” list is puzzling. The vignette about her questioning contact lens benefits could be painted negatively, as TM has done. Or, more reasonably, it could be used to show that Senator Nelson is a serious legislator who wants to make sure that public benefit programs, no matter how limited or justified, are set within reasonable parameters. Must the taxpayer pay for every conceivable health-related product, simply because it is health-related? Questioning assumptions that are taken as gospel by some is a praiseworthy trait of the Senator, especially in light of the revenue shortfall that was, in part, a result of ever-expanding human services programs.
Charging the Senator with a “compassion gap” is unsupported, unwarranted, and simply insulting. Like most conservatives this session, Senator Nelson managed to balance compassion for public school students and program beneficiaries with compassion for taxpayers.
Additionally, an interstate health care compact would be truly transformative, freeing the state from prescriptive federal mandates. This type of big-picture, long-term thinking should be rewarded rather than mocked.
But most off-base is the allegation that Senator Nelson suffers from a “knowledge gap”. Her knowledge and expertise in the HHS policy arena are beyond dispute, even if one disagrees with her philosophy. The long-time chairman of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee used her depth of policy acumen to send thirty-eight bills to the Governor’s desk this session. Senator Nelson authored more bills that are now on the Governor’s desk than did most other Senators. Disagreements over policy are to be expected but impugning the intellectual capacity of a long-serving, well-accomplished State Senator is uncalled for.
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Blue Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 4:26 pm
Yep, Nelson’s inclusion was a real puzzle.
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OhMy Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 6:45 pm
I wondered about the justification for Nelson on worst, expecting some big issue of which I was not aware
But, the write up justifying her inclusion with an anecdotal story was pretty much off base. The explanation of her inclusion at the Tribune event (she should have “more knowledge” and apparently some sort of a silver bullet plan for Medicaid) was weak.
I think TM just whiffed on this one.
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No Le Hace Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 10:30 pm
How about her attempt to reduce Higher Ed budget because she does not a President in her district making 900,000 per year.
paulburka Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 8:59 am
That “whiff” should be scored as a direct hit. I was in the Senate on the day the budget was passed. Senator Zaffirini had read out the amount of the cuts. There had been comments throughout the session about “putting a face on then cuts.” WWhen Z finished going through the cuts, Senator Nelson said, There is another face, and that is the face of the taxpayer. I cringed when she said this. It was so inappropriate. People who qualify for state-provided health care are going to endure billions of dollars in cuts. Meanwhile, the taxpayer is making out like a bandit. No tax increase since 1991 and the lowest tax burden of any state–not to mention billions of dollars in tax exemptions for ag values and high-cost gas. This is why lack of compassion is cited in the writeup.
jpt51 Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 6:03 am
In case one hasn’t figured it out, Brent Connett is a policy analyst with the Texas Conservative Coalition …
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Anonymous Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 9:40 am
…and in case one hasn’t figured it out, jpt51 is a self-described “yellow dog Democrat.”
http://www.chron.com/commons/persona.html?plckPersonaPage=PersonaProfile&plckUserId=jpt51&newspaperUserId=jpt51
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Another Wilco Voter Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Another cringeworthy Nelson moment: On the Senate floor, Sen. Nelson was attempting to make amendments to reduce the salaries of state employees and making comments about state employees that were less than flattering. In response, Senator Ogden stated that while she might have another name for them (I’m paraphrasing), he called them “constituents.” It seems to be very popular to badmouth state employees and blame them for the size of government. I applauded Sen Ogden at the time for taking a different stance.
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Anonymous Reply:
June 23rd, 2011 at 7:51 pm
The Conservative Coalition is a complete joke. The have taken NUMEROUS positions this session that would make a true conservatives’ skin crawl. They are a bunch of sellouts, in my opinion.
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hb5 Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 9:19 am
Nelson from last session to this session became a conduit for the tppf and the tea party. Simple as that. this session was not the same Jane Nelson. We have to give credit to her great staff, who make her look well informed. I know they no longer agree with her on many of these issues but do well by her anyway. For being in the senate, and chair of hhs for so long, she should have a much greater grasp of the realities and consequences of hhs than she does.
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Ubercon Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Zaffirini passed TWICE as many bills as Nelson. Nelson is nothing but a blockade for good policy that does not sit well with the powers that be. She is a glob of asphalt in the road. Hence the reason substantive health care bills were sent to Finance.
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goober Reply:
June 18th, 2011 at 2:03 am
Nelson has been a poor legislator for her entire tenure in the Senate. She gets attention because she has an important and far reaching portfolio as Chair of HHS. She’s never been especially creative or forward looking in that role and she’s so captive to the far right and to certain professional groups that she doesn’t have the independence to be a truly good legislator. When has she ever bucked the tide? She has also personally destroyed the nursing home industry by blocking quality assurance fees in 2001 and ever since. She has singlehandedly cost that industry billions in available federal funds, out of personal pique. Her kowtowing to MQS on amendments to SB 1811 were despicable and by themselves entitle her to dishonor by TM.
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EducateMe Reply:
June 18th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
I suppose you may have contributed to Burka’s lack of knowledge on the subject. You cannot simultaneously say that Senator Nelson does not “buck the tide” but singlehandedly stopped the nursing home quality fee.
She opposed in 2001, but the Senate still passed it. The House did not.
OMG! I just realized that the Laney House cost the nursing home industry billions!!!
Seriously, the knock on Nelson is unjustified, and you just proved it!
goober Reply:
June 19th, 2011 at 4:23 pm
In 2001 the budget conference committee report was agreed to and used quality assurance fees to generate several hundred million to improve reimbursements for Medicaid nursing homes. At the lset minute Jane Nelson threatened filibuster which forced the conferees to meet again and pull that money out and make other cuts to balance the bill. She said it wasn’t fair to ask her to pay more for her mother’s care to support Medicaid beds. All facts.
paulburka Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 8:50 am
I was in the Senate on the day the budget was passed. I heard Nelson make light of “putting a face on the cuts” and then saying, There is another face to be concerned about (as best I recall) and that is the face of the taxpayer. This is gilt-edged lack of compassion. Senator Zaffirini had just gone through the list of the billions of dollars of cuts that would be endured by people who qualified for health care. Meanwhile, the taxpayers are making out like bandits. Texas has the lowest tax burden of any state, and many taxpayers enjoy generous exemptions, ranging from ag values to high-cost gas. Nelson’s comment was inappropriate at best, and revealed a major lack of compassion at worst. It is not the kind of leadership one expects from the chairman of the committee who oversees public health policy.
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paulburka Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:05 am
Note to readers: I posted a previous reply to the discussion about Senator Nelson and subsequently posted the one above, which is very similar. I did not intend to say the same thing twice.
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Emptyk says:
Someday soon, like by the first day of the fall semester, 101 House members and 19 Senators are going to wake up rubbing their eyes and mutter, “we did what?”.
Republicans move to the suburbs to educate their kids in neighborhood schools. A hndfull of extremists have hijacked the budget and the session because Republican primaries have been overtaken by idealogues who view tax cuts as being divinely inspired.
Nothing the State of Texas does, absolutely nothing, has a more palpable impact on the daily lives of Texans than the funding of public schools. In vast regions of rural Texas the public school is the community. In suburbs, the adhesion of the community is the football team, the choir concert, the elementary school carnival.
The State may be subject to a range of lawsuits on tax equity and delivery of healthcare because the Legislature is openly admitting that it is running a deficit, hoping that an economic recovery bails them out. As the Republican leadership hopes for an economic windfall, watch as they simultaneously attack Obama for overseeing a poor economy.
The release of the full set of the Pentagon papers this week may remind us that from time to time, otherwise perfectly reasonable people march insanely toward an irrational destination.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 5:58 am
last Nov the voters woke and cleaned house, the Tex Senate is next.
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Ubercon Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
Oh, puhhleeze. The tea baggers sent us some idiots who spout all rhetoric and no policy. Go listen to Glenn Beck.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
then you’re gonna luv the Tex Senate next yr
Ubercon Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 12:17 pm
LIKE
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TX Probate Victim says:
Jane Nelson was informed of the injustices against elderly and disabled. She was told of the Gestapo justice in Tarrant Probate courts, particularly regarding secret hearings. She was pointed out the failures of DADS in HHS to protect disabled and their families. Because of the Kidds’s case, she knows first hand about the abuses and estate theft. What did she do about it? Made the laws even more oppressive to citizens. Because she claims to listen to her constituents, she earned this rating.
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Ben Quick says:
I am disappointed z gets a free ride – claiming it was the Article II funding – she voted for the 2003 budget and negotiated Article II for the Senate – I am not sure that budget was any less hurtful than the current Article II budget – did anyone ask?
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Snoopy says:
Zaffer the Greek on the best list is a joke. Her son is lobbying as an unregistered lobbyist. Other Senators barely speak to her. And how can you have cast all those votes consecutively when you are off the floor so often? Shows what a sham and scam artist she is.
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not so much bexar Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 9:24 am
…and she did nothing to defend herself in redistricting. If her son registers as a lobbyist, then how can she let him sit with her on the senate floor?
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Anonymous says:
The whole list is a wonky and is not at all credible…..you’ve got your “regulars” (favorites)….best and worse……and a few thrown in to complete the numbers. There are plenty who are worse than the worse and several who are as good as the best. How about having a criteria where a person can’t be picked for either list more than twice in a row. Then you really will have to do your homework and be observant. Right now it is a watered down ….lite and less filling.
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Robert Morrow says:
I think it is unlikely that Rick Perry is going to run for president.
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judy burns says:
Generally not happy with the list, and your explanation doesn’t help. Dan Patrick certainly distinguished himself with his misanthropic ideas about women’s health, and the idea that education is an “entitlement.” What more does it take? I’m no fan of Senator Nelson, but how is she worse than Patrick?
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The House is Not a Home says:
Is anyone else tired of hearing about the “unwritten rules of the Legislature” and how distinguished the body is? Please, the Texas Legislature is not some august body.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
It was an exciting time to be alive in Texas, TM was preparing the annual bashing of republicans list and the excitement was high in liberalville.
Then just when bloggers couldn’t write another word, many huddled in the corners at coffee houses to excited to sleep, it was almost time for the list!
Then it was upon them, Its out! Its out! they cried!
But their excitement quickly turning to wails of dismay, but Dan Patrick isn’t the worst!
What happened? Why did Burks betray us? He’s a conservative! How could he not be the worst, he’s a conservative!
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Pat Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
Was that supposed to rhyme…? Or be in meter…?
Because…oh, nevermind.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 2:06 pm
You expect poetry on a blog?
It appears to be plain ol’ pokin fun @ liberals to me.
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stainedclass Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
well, not poetry maybe, but is it too much to ask for something witty or consequential or reflecting the thoughts of a non-infantile mind? wait, I answered my own question on that one. keep dribbling you old fool.
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
witty? you must want wiener jokes.
thebigeasy2000 says:
Paul,
Again, your team at TM gave a very honest and balanced approach to the Best and Worst of 2011!
I think Turner and Pitts needed a bit more praise for their work. Straus was also very quietly strong in dealing with a super majority of Rs.
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paulburka Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:11 am
Turner is always at the top of the list. It’s too bad that when he finally got on LBB, there was no money. Pitts is a good man who had a bad session. His strategy to scare conservatives with the size of the cuts didn’t work. He caved into the governor on using the rainy day fund and didn’t insist on using more of it when he had the chance.
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Anonymous says:
Solomons deserved to be on the list. Last year, a kid almost beat him with no money, imagine what he’ll do this time with real help. Pitts and Straus are missing from the Worst list. I doubt Pitts returns, so I guess it doesn’t matter. Straus showed no leadership and offers little.
No one is targeting Straus’ cardinals, but somehow I think I a lot will get beat. Going to be an interesting year.
I also predict that we lose a few freshman that voted for him outside of the Dallas/Houston areas.
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Predictions says:
I think the election analysis above is flawed. It is unlikely the Republicans will return with more members–they will have fewer.
Also, never underestimate the power of the soccer mom–once these budgets are in place, suburbia may not be as enthusiastic about these education decisions as you think. An open US senate seat and presidential primary in the GOP will bring in a lot of moderates which dilutes tea party influence. The moderate majority may assert itself.
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Jeff Crosby says:
Very often, people live in suburbs because of the good schools. However, those schools will take a big hit after this session. How could that not lead to political unrest in the burbs?
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Fiftycal Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 7:17 pm
Yes, I’m sure the 6% decrease of the INCREASE OF EXPECTED FUNDS will set off a revolution. Next session there will be 100 dimorats and 50 Republicans. Maybe they can impeach Gov. Dewhurst? Pass a Constituional amendment to institute an income tax? Raise car licenses to $500 each? Pass a “living wage” law?
Tell us, what other wet dreams do you have, fantacizing about “how it should be”?
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WURSPH says:
Jeff is certainly correct that there will be “political unrest in the burbs” but the question is to whom will it be directed? Perry and his friends obviously believe that they can successfully divert it from them and onto “over paid bureaucrats” in the school system; excessive numbers of non-teachers; and greedy teachers who “only work 9 months”. Any cuts, they will say, were because the locally elected school board did not have the will to face those forces and run an “efficient, business-like” school system. All of this will be backed up by the usual right-wing entertainment media type. If I had to bet on whether they will get away with it…I’d have to say why not, they’ve been successfully doing it for years.
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Fiftycal Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 7:20 pm
Gee wursph, you got it right. You forgot to add that voters, nationwide, finally realizing the ponzi scheme that O-BOMB-AH has floated will elect Perry as the next President after WINNING 49 states.
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Anonymous Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 8:27 pm
I’ll take that bet. How much are you willing to put up on your dystopian vision of the future???
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WURSPH says:
The REAL PONZI SCHEME is the way Perry and the GOP controlled State have run our state budget for the last 10 years….Betting on the come! and, when it don’t come, covering it with the use of FEDERAL FUNDS (2009) or by cutting basic services that will harm the future of this state and blaming it on someone else (2003, 2005). Only a even a few of them (Ogden, etc.) have the balls to admit it….but the day of reckoning will come…Of course, by then Perry plans to be long gone in his new rule as National Prophet so someone else gets the blame.
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James says:
How to get on the 10 best: Be a moderate/liberal GOP or a Democrat.
How to get on the 10 worst: Not be a moderate/liberal GOP or a Democrat.
I have long thought that Jane Nelson has gotten hosed when it came time for these 10B/10W. She has actually been in the middle of lot of fairly good health care legislation oveer the years and her senate bills this sesion and last tended to be much better than the house counterparts. I saw a lot of senate bills “broken” when they went through the house. SB 7 has some very good stuff in it and she gets a 10 worst? You can argue that Dewhurst was behind it, but the fact is that Jane had to pass it. Jane ain’t perfect, but she is better than a 10 worst listing.
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EducateMe Reply:
June 18th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
You got that right. Her critics are grasping. To justify her ten worst, they are reaching back to a nursing home tax proposal from ten years ago, saying she stopped “billions” for nursing homes.
True, she was is opposed. But the critics problem is that it passed the Senate, but not the House. Her critics may have a reputation for knowing their business, but I have found they know less–a lot less–than is supposed.
Anybody want to tee this up with me, come on.
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goober Reply:
June 19th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
In 2001 the budget conference committee report was agreed to and used quality assurance fees to generate several hundred million to improve reimbursements for Medicaid nursing homes. At the last minute Jane Nelson threatened filibuster which forced the conferees to meet again and pull that money out and make other cuts to balance the bill. She said it wasn’t fair to ask her to pay more for her mother’s care to support Medicaid beds. All facts.
Her actions on SB 1811 were nakedly political. She proposed amendments that weren’t even properly drafted and claimed they would save money to “help teachers” which they did NOT do.
This is the actual language of her hiring freeze amendment: “All state agencies, including institutions of higher education, shall institute a hiring freeze for 2012 and 2013 biennium.”
She could have reduced positions in agencies during the budget process, and she argued for higher staffing at many HHS agencies. Senator Uresti completely called her out on this with regard to child protective services personnel. The amendment didn’t even pretend to help teachers if you read it. That’s because it was political grandstanding, as were her other amendments to SB 1811, designed solely to cater to the far right elements and embarass rational, hardworking Republicans. The whole exercise was so nakedly political and so self serving she lost the remaining little respect she had among the majority of the Senate Rs. I could go on, but I’ve already figured out who you are and I won’t change your mind.
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EducateMe Reply:
June 19th, 2011 at 7:25 pm
Actually, the granny tax was pulled from a bill, not the budget, in 01. It was pulled after a serious concern from a statewide elected official The rate increase was funded without a tax, anyway.
You missed the sessions it was in the budget by four and six years.
You are right, you will not change my mind. I have too much respect for members who earnestly work hard, regardless of party of philosophy. I just think the attacks on Nelson are wrong.
Even so, I really do not understand why you care who I am.
goober Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 12:58 am
To confirm what happened in 2001, simply ask Rodney Ellis, who was SFC chair in 2001. You weren’t there.
Also, look at the 3 floor amendments Senator Nelson offered (and lost on) to SB 1811. None of them amends statute, which clearly shows how bogus they were. If this wasn’t political grandstanding, what is?
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paulburka Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 9:15 am
I don’t necessarily want to tee it up, but I will say that what happened in 01 did not impact our decisions ten years later.
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Julie says:
WURSPH,
I like your last comment, because it puts what’s happened in plain, truthful terms.
The bad news is that most Texans don’t realize what’s happening or they don’t care, as the truth is covered up by Gov. Perry’s oft-repeated claim that he’s balanced the budget, despite the truth that the state is still facing a multi-billion dollar revenue shortfall that will have to be closed with funds from the rainy day fund when the Legislature convenes in 2013.
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Spirit of Buck Travis says:
Let’s face it, folks. We’re not blessed with the “Best and Brightest” in the capitol.
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Jed says:
i’d settle for average.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
I kinda like the current crop of legislators. Who wouldn’t?
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Nick Manning Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 3:46 pm
any grownup with a lick of common sense.
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Linda H. Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Disagree
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Linda H. Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 4:52 pm
I also like most of them. There are a few that I hate to see at either mic, but the good outweigh the bad!
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Colleen Horton says:
I have much respect for the incredible work done by all those on Mr. Burka’s “best” list. I especially appreciate the wisdom of including Senator Zaffirini. Her passion for improving the lives of people with disabilities is never ending. No matter how difficult the circumstances she stands by her belief that children with disabilities should grow up in families and that adults with disabilities have the right to a meaningful life in their community. Many individuals she has helped will never know the extent to which Sen. Z has impacted their lives. Whether it is advocates rolling through the capitol or individuals residing in institutions, she is their champion.
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Dennis Borel says:
In my original recommendation of Senator Zaffirini, I referred to her as a stalwart on issues for people with disabilities. I still like the term as reflective of her keen insight into disability issues, both on a large scale such as budget support for cost-effective community services and small but personally-important legislation like the Respectful Language Bill. Sen. Z easily made the Ten Best for 2011 and continues her stellar work as the Capitol’s top legislator on disability issues. And wouldn’t you know her SB41 on restraint and seclusion is already being cited as model legislation.
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Susan Murphree says:
Senator Zaffirini’s long term commitment to people with disabilities and the supports needed to promote independence and full participation in their communities is demonstrated year after year in the legislation and funding she supports. Congratulations to a deserving champion who fights for people with disabilites and creates positive change in Texas.
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Briscoe Democrat Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Susan, I heard that someone from the San Antonio-Express News tried to ask former Texas State AG Dan Morales (D) some questions about his life after prison, but Morales told her he couldn’t speak to her due to the judge not letting him speak to anyone.
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Jeff Garrison-Tate says:
Senator Zaffirini is often the lone voice for people who do not have a voice: People with disabilities and their families. The House budget would have turned people with disabilities onto the streets and force families to put their loved ones in institutions. Gratefully the Senate budget greatly soften the blow. Senator ‘Z’is tough and often a lone advocate. She works tirelessly for people with disabilities and their families. Her grace, diplomacy and tenacity will always keep her at the top of any list of excellence.
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Codie Smith says:
Can’t believe Sheffield made the “Furniture” list. Especially since, by the numbers, he was the most effective legislator this session (according to Telicon). I agree with many of the choices on the lists, but Sheffield and the fact that no Ds made the worst list really cast a shadow on TM’s credibility.
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linda h Reply:
June 24th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
What do you (or Telicon) think Sheffield did? He did nothing this session. Furniture is really a kind way of describing him.
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