I didn't see much that was surprising in yesterday's University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. Governor Perry's numbers have slipped a little. His approval and disapproval were virtually equal at 41%, but the intensity was upside down: 16% approved strongly while 30% disapproved strongly. If that percentage were to be maintained throughout the electorate, Perry would be in big trouble.
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Mon June 17, 2013 2:05 pm
The New York Times is reporting that for the first time in more than a decade the battle over securing the border has shifted from Arizona to Texas. According to the story:
Now the Rio Grande Valley has displaced the Tucson enforcement zone as the hot spot, with makeshift rafts crossing the river in increasing numbers, high-speed car chases occurring along rural roads and a growing number of dead bodies turning up on ranchers’ land, according to local officials.
“There is just so much happening at the same time — it is overwhelming,” said Benny Martinez, the chief deputy in the Sheriff’s Department of Brooks County, Tex., 70 miles north of the border, where smugglers have been dropping off carloads of immigrants who have made it past Border Patrol checkpoints.
This will surely have an impact on public policy in Texas, and not for the better. It will provide Rick Perry with a ready-made issue for his next political campaign, whatever it might be. We may see a renewed emphasis on sanctuary cities laws and other Arizona-style anti-immigrant legislation, and, of course, criticism of Obama for failing to do the impossible, which is to secure the border. The timing is bad for South Texas, which should be looking toward a bright future with the new UT Medical School and other advances in higher education.
AP Photo | Eric Gay
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Sat June 15, 2013 11:55 am
I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief today. Perry's vetoes did very little damage to the record of the 83rd Legislature. The veto of the Lilly Ledbetter Act was odd, coming at a time when Republicans are supposedly trying to strengthen their support among women, but whatever they might have achieved here in a positive direction was probably negated by the abortion fight in the special session.
The veto of the Ethics Commission Sunset Act was ridiculous. This is the kind of thing that drives me crazy about Perry. Why didn't he just sign it and embrace it as his own? Dennis Bonnen did the best work he has done in years on that bill, with an assist from Charlie Geren. I think Perry vetoed it because of the "resign to run" requirement of railroad commissioners. Not good for Dan Branch.
No one should be surprised at Perry's veto of SB 15, an attempt to rein in the UT regents that was destined for a quick kill. I can't account for his veto of HB 3085, which sought to regulate wreckage and salvage yards in part of Harris County.
It's what didn't happen that we should all be grateful for. After grumbling that the budget spent too much money on education, Perry didn't touch the restoration of the education cuts of 2011. I suppose it would have looked pretty silly if he had cut education funding after he had signed HB 5. Grade: A minus.
AP Photo | Austin American-Statesman, Ralph Barrera
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Thu June 13, 2013 2:56 pm
Brian D. Sweany, Erica Grieder, Sonia Smith, and I joined Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune to talk about our picks for the 2013 Ten Best/Ten Worst Legislators list. Watch the episode below, and be sure to pick up the July issue, which features the full article, available next Thursday.
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Wed June 12, 2013 12:56 pm
Forty years have passed since the first time TEXAS MONTHLY chose the Ten Best and the Ten Worst legislators. In the introduction to the first list, published in July 1973, we wrote, "The ancient Greeks believed that politics was the act of organizing and governing human society for the greatest good, and considered it to be among the highest callings of man." What was true then remains true today. Politics can inform our noblest impulses--and our basest. Our legislators, then and now, may not pass for ancient Greeks, but they deserve better than the cynics who automatically write off politics as a joke and politicians as charlatans.
If there is a single idea that informs our choices of the Best and Worst legislators, it is that the business of governing Texas is a personal business, and that the influence of personality has more to do with success or failure in politics than party or ideology. In this session, as with the 63rd, our team of reporters was present from day one until adjournment sine die. We were on the floor, in committees, and in the hallways and back rooms, talking with members, staffers, lobbyists, and other journalists. Readers will no doubt find things to criticize in this list—after all, that's what lists are for—but it is the result of that work and of the opinions and input of key voices in and around the Capitol.
Of course, I realize that you want to know more than just the names—you want to know the stories behind them. Subscribers will begin to get their copies of the July issue starting this weekend, and next week it will be on newsstands. The story will also be available on our website a week from today. Until then, I hope you'll share your thoughts in the comments below.
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