Last Thursday Nate Blakeslee and I sat down with Evan Smith to discuss our picks for this session’s Best & Worst Legislators. Here’s the video of our conversation.
Tagged: best and worst legislators, evan smith, texas tribune
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patriotone says:
I am not able to get the sound to come up.
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Tom Barry says:
Can’t run the video because I get a message saying my setup isn’t up to date. But the system is up to date, including the latest version of Adobe Flash Player – and I have no trouble with videos on other sites.
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Anonymous says:
It’s just as well that this video can’t be played. Is there really a point in listening to an echo chamber with these three men of the left where the same liberal talking points will be regurgited? Here, I will sum it up for you so you don’t have to waste time listening to these silly libs: “Yes, the voter ID bill was very bad, people will be “disenfranchised”– these Republicans want to bring back Jim Crow. We need to raise taxes. The rich people aren’t paying their fair share. Businesses need to pay more too. If we can only pour more money into public schools that will fix the problem because in all the other states where they spend a lot of money per pupil, that solves the problems in public education. But these cutbacks are are bad, very bad. We need to expand government more. If we don’t have the money to expand government, we need to raise taxes until we have enough. It doesn’t matter if raising taxes will wreck the ecomomy in Texas like it has in other states, we still need to raise taxes because that is the only way to make things better. The end.”
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Robert Morrow Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Yes. I do it for entertainment. You know, public schools can never be fixed by the Legislature. It is like asking a blind man to unscramble a Rubix cube. No matter how much money you give them, it aint’ gonna happen.
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Briscoe Democrat Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Voter ID was going to pass regardless anyway because Dems tried to give passionate speeches in their opposition, but they were OUT-GUNNED and out-matched big time.
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No Time Listener, First Time Caller says:
Anonymous at 3:43, First, you are wrong. There was some aggressive conversation about who did and did not make the list including a fair push back from Smith on some of their choices.
Second, quit whining.
Third, if you are going to whine, be informed about what you are whining about.
I believe it helps all of of to listen to the opinions of others, even if we don’t agree with them. To dismiss others outright does little except to divide.
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Anonymous says:
Pitts and Straus should have made top 10 worst. As you said, even Kolkhorst agreed Straus showed zero leadership. Pitts’ budget is full of smoke and mirrors. As the Tribune pointed out, similar to Countrwide and Enron accounting.
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Briscoe Democrat Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 1:09 pm
What about the dude who chairs the Texas House redistricting committee in terms of which districts gets redrawn and stuff ?
Wasn’t he on the Worst List.
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Lee Alt says:
Zero leadership demonstrated by Joe Straus.
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N. Credulous says:
Will there be a follow-up Best and Worst List for the Special Session? I think Weber should really be in the running for Worst–yesterday he asked for strict enforcement and then voted for his absent deskmate! Classy, Weber… Classy.
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Jed says:
i think the observer list may shape to be most interesting of all.
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anita says:
How pathetic is it that Perry has added the groping bill to the call?
Can he articulate to Texans why he believes this is one of the most important issues that the Legislature and the state government needs to address?
If he wants to run for president, he should resign and run. He just ran for re-election, without making his intention to run clear to the electorate. I’m fine with him running — just get off of our dime, quit playing politics with our Legislature, and having his state staff coordinating, including his press office, his political activities.
Move aside, Governor — why don’t you just let us get on down the road?
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Briscoe Democrat Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Anita, Perry will SERVE out his 3rd full term which ends on January 20, 2015. He has ZERO chance of being Prez or VP (unless Romney is pressured to pick him).
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Just Another Joe says:
So when John Kerry ran for President, you were singing the same tune, right?
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Just Another Joe Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 12:17 pm
And Obama, and Clinton, and…well, you get the picture.
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anita says:
You bet — but Kerry was one of 100, just like McCain and Obama. There’s a big difference between the roles of a Texas Governor and a U.S. Senator. I’m sure you would agree with that.
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Briscoe Democrat Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Bush Jr., was a sitting governor and didn’t resign from the governorship until December 21, 2000 (after he was officially elected as the 43rd Prez of the US-once the SCOTUS told Gore to shove it.)
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anita says:
For someone who claims to hate government, claims to be a fiscal conservative, it just makes sense for him to give up his state job and his mansion. He talks a good game, but . . .
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Just Another Joe Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Also, one problem with your Senator versus Governor theory….
By our constitution, we have one of the weakest office of governor in the nation. The legislature can, has, and will do this without Perry. We just need him to administer the call and then sign the bills when we’re done.
The Governor of Texas’ importance – in my opinion – does not rival that of a US Senator in the position that Obama was in when he announced in 2007.
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anita Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 3:05 pm
Seriously? That just doesn’t hold water, but we can agree to disagree.
And to Briscoe’s point, sure — he can do what every other politician has done. But this is the governor who wrote a screed about the evils of government, but apparantly doesn’t have the personal fortitude (or integrity) to give up his government job or government housing. All hat, no cattle.
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Just Another Joe Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 4:05 pm
Anita -
Fact: Governor Perry lives in what a reasonable person would consider to be a mansion and it costs 5 figures a month.
Another fact: The Governor’s mansion (which might have run 5 figures a month in normal operational expenses) was burned down by a person in the act of arson while the democrat state convention was being hosted in Austin.
Ds love to point out how Perry lives in a “mansion” on the taxpayer dime, but they fail to acknowledge that it was likely one of their own that burned down the mansion in the first place.
anita Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 1:40 am
Wow, next you’ll tell us how the Democrats killed the Easter Bunny. This is getting good!
Just Another Joe says:
Well, Anita, you are an expert on the topic of talking a good game.
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Briscoe Democrat Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 1:08 pm
I assume Anita was one of the 42 percent of Texans who voted for Bill “Sanctuary City” White last year.
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anita Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Proudly. Would do it again.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
have to say I kinda envy Anita — it must be liberating to simply turn a blind eye to things like facts, and just spew whatever enters you thoughts.
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anita says:
Where are your facts, JBB?
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Jed says:
you’re soaking in them!
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AreYouKiddingMe says:
Please run for President, Rick! But, I would strongly advise you to resign first and commit full-time to your campaign. I am sure the State will be just fine while you focus all your attention on the White House. Then, when you get single digits in ANY Primary (even Texas) maybe you can become the CEO of the Teaparty movement, headquartered in a one room office in a strip mall in some nice West Texas town…
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Just Another Joe Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Please run for President? As bad as you may think Perry is, do you really want the Dew to take over and start his own 10 year rein?
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anita Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 1:47 am
Yes, I do.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
Guv Perry is Guv for life, this may take some getting used to democrats.
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Briscoe Democrat Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 4:47 pm
I see Perry staying as Guv until January 20, 2015 and don’t see him running again in 2014 due to pissing off everyone-including the Bush family and the supporters of KBH.
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Briscoe Democrat says:
Perry will NEVER resign-never, his ego won’t let him do it and I would personally prefer to have him serve out his 3rd term by January 20, 2015.
I mean Bill Clinton didn’t even resign as Arkansas governor until December 12, 1992 (after he won the November election for the presidency).
John Benard, I’m hearing there is already plans moving forward in renovating the Governor’s Mansion, which should be finished by sometime next year.
Mansion renovations have happened before: back in 1979, Bill Clements didn’t even bother moving into the mansion after being sworn-in for his 1st term, and chose to live somewhere in the suburbs while the mansion was being renovated and he moved in there around 1982 (before losing to Mark “Marky Mark” White).
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anita Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 1:46 am
No, he lived in a downtown condo. He and Rita actually funded much of the renovation, unlike the Perry’s, who didn’t even contribute to the fund to restore the Mansion after the fire. And for all of Perry’s vitriol toward the Feds, he didn’t complain when federal funds were included in the mix for the Mansion renovations.
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Briscoe Democrat Reply:
June 23rd, 2011 at 4:46 pm
I know the Governor’s Mansion is something like 155 years old and all, but doesn’t Perry have any bodyguards because he’s pissing everyone off recently ?
On Clements: I heard that he walked from the Capitol to some BBQ joint and often rode in very old cards instead of chauffered limousines (ala Jerry Brown).
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patriotone says:
Finally got to listen. Well done Evan Smith. This is a remarkably subjective analysis. Dewhurst is infuriating and inscrutable, but on balance not as bad as people like to make him out. He makes mistakes but who doesn’t. We can only hope that some grownups will return next session.
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Dave Shapiro says:
TO: Anonymous (the one who posted June 20,3:43pm)
Please reconsider the standards by which you label Paul Burka as a “man of the left.” Quite the contrary, he is very much a man of the Establishment, complete with the reverence for hierarchy, tradition, structure and order
that are hallmarks of traditional conservative philosophy. There is not one populist bone in his body and I defy you to point to any evidence of egalitarian tendencies in anything he has ever written. A populist, an insurgent, a man of the left, he ain’t. Read your Edmund Burke and you will recognize where Paul gets his belief in ameliorative remedies. Amelioration, gradualism and noblelsse oblige are the antidote to populism of both Establishment Republicans and Establishment Democrats, only party label and some mostly rhetorical differences on the social/cultural/wedge issues separates the two. What unites Establishment Republicans and Establishment Democrats is that they always come together to advance the interests of the special interests which comprise the Establishment. If you have a problem identifying those interests, check online at the Ethics Commission’s for the the clients listed by the likes of Vinson & Elkins, Baker Botts, Hillco Partners and other Establishment law firms/lobby shops. Paul identifies with those outfits, not with populists of the left or the right. Like Paul, those firms and their clients were strong supporters of Lloyd Bentsen, Bill Hobby,John Montford and their Republican counterparts like Bill Clements and Kay Bailey Hutcheson (whose husband was a partner in the Dallas office of V&E with Ron Kirk, a quintessential Establishment Democrat).
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James says:
“The Governor of Texas’ importance – in my opinion – does not rival that of a US Senator in the position that Obama was in when he announced in 2007.”
Mr. Obama was a mere two years into his first term when he announced (elected in 2004, sworn in in Jan. of 2005, announced in Feb 2007.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,251293,00.html
Please tell me how two years in the senate (with NO executive experience) somehow equals 11 years as the governor of the second largest state in the nation?
Also, the fact is that we have been moving towards a much stronger executive system for decades now. The governor appoints the executive commissioners of most agencies and a number of state officials that are elected in other states (like the secretary of state and insurance commissioners).
It is kind of a political myth that we still have these post-reconstruction era weak governors in Texas.
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