Category: news

Did you know that Texas REPUBLICAN legislators often vote for DEMOCRATS as committee chairs? Shocked? I was when I found out this was a common practice.

According to Jill Glover, Texas GOP Legislative Priorities Chair, “In the Republican primary in March 2022, 81.24% of close to two million (1,850.020) voters agreed that the practice of awarding chairmanships to Democrats, when Republicans hold the majority, should end. At our RPT state convention in June, our state delegates chose this issue one of the top eight priorities for this legislative session.”

How can this happen, you ask? It happens because Dade Phelan (and to be honest, some past TX House Speakers) wants it to. It gives him and other legislators cover for GOP priorities not being accomplished. They can claim legislation didn’t make it through committee, but if you’re not a political junkie, you probably don’t realize that’s because a Democrat committee chair wouldn’t give a Republican legislative priority bill a hearing.

Dade Phelan, Speaker of the TX House, gives out money like it’s candy. See the list of recipients of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions. (Source: Texas Ethics Commission)

Where did Dade Phelan get so much money to dole out? See the list of donors to Dade Phelan over the last 2 years. (Source: Texas Ethics Commission)

Yes, to get elected a candidate needs money. But, there’s a fine line between just accepting contributions and accepting contributions and then awarding the donor preferential access or worse, a vote. It’s a very strong legislator who can accept thousands of dollars from a contributor, and then look that person in the eye and say “I’m not voting with you on this one.”

Some candidates realize it takes both to get elected: money and voters. Those office holders also realize the equal value of each. You can’t get votes without money, but you also won’t get money if you can’t get re-elected.

That’s what creates the “go-along to get-along” mentality. Buck the powers-that-be too often or on issues they think are important, and the money doesn’t flow. Nor do the plum committee appointments. Buck the voters and you’ll not win re-election.

This is why candidates like Donald Trump are so threatening to legislative leadership. He doesn’t owe his position to them. They can’t call the shots. He can call the shots because he isn’t beholden to them.

But self-funders are few and far between, so the indebtedness of our legislators to those who can hand out valuable campaign contributions grows and grows. Power becomes more centralized. Democrats get elected by GOP members to chair critical committees.

And, who loses? The GOP voters who put these people in office, yet don’t see their priorities come to fruition, in fact, often never heard at all.

In Bastrop County, our Texas House member-elect is Stan Gerdes. Email him. He won the GOP primary over others who vowed not to vote for Democrat committee chairs. Let him know your opinion on this and that you will be watching.

Recently, an organization published a warning to voters to check and double check your selections before depositing your ballot in the “ballot box”, better known as the scanner. I agree.

But what that article failed to do was tell you what to do if your printed ballot doesn’t reflect your wishes. Changes can be made, but they must be made before the ballot is placed in the scanner and counted.

CHECK YOUR CHOICES
As you vote and before you move to the next page on the screen, if you have not made a selection an a race, the ballot-printing machine will notify you that you still have choices to make. You can go back, or if you intended to skip that race, you can move on.

Once you have made all your selections, the ballot-printing machine will provide you with a review of all those choices. Again, you can go back to any race, change your selection, and return to the review.

Your final action on the ballot-printing machines will be to actually print your ballot. Review it again. If it’s right, place it in the scanner to be counted. If it isn’t right, you can still fix it!

GETTING IT RIGHT
All you have to do is notify the Election Judge before you scan your ballot, that you need to vote again. The election judge will “spoil” that ballot and give you another. The “spoiled ballot” will be logged, voided, and placed in an envelope with other spoiled ballots.

There are other reasons for spoiled ballots. Sometimes the bar codes don’t print properly and can’t be read by the scanner. I witnessed that while working as an Elections Clerk.

SCANNING IS FINAL
It’s all well and good to remind people to check their ballots at every step in the process. But, it’s even more important to let people know what to do if there is a problem. Pretty much anything can be rectified before that ballot is scanned. Once it’s scanned and counted, though, it cannot be retrieved. Happy voting!!

One added point: the posting in questions says the voter spoke to a “poll watcher” and also recommends you speak to a “poll watcher” if you have a problem. Don’t do it. Poll watchers cannot speak to voters. That’s a violation of Texas law. Speak to the election judge if you have a concern.

I am sickened by the Alex Jones “punishment”, the demand by the Sandy Hook families for a huge punitive judgement.

Go ahead, call me all the names you want because you think my first sentence is one supporting Alex Jones. Are you done? Well, you’re wrong.

No, I’m sickened because I was once awarded a settlement for a family member being severely injured. That was many years ago and I still remember the nausea-generating feeling of receiving money because of something horrible happening to a family member.

Alex Jones won’t be ruined by this. He’ll just build something new, recreate his “Infowars” under some other name, and while he might be tempered in his commentary as a result, he’ll move on.

Will they? Will the families? Will this monetary judgement assuage their hurt and their anger? Will it help them “move on”?

I doubt it. The lawyers will get rich and move to the next case. But those who lost children? It won’t ease the pain.

I gave whatever monies I received to charities. I couldn’t keep it. I couldn’t imagine spending monies gained because my loved one suffered. Maybe that’s just me. But, I have a feeling it’ll be those parents too, who in the quiet moments enjoying their newfound richness, will still yearn for the return of their child. I have a feeling in the quiet moments, they’d give it all back for more time with their loved one.

That’s why I’m sickened. It won’t change anything at all. The lawyers will be a bit richer, but the parents? They’ll cry for years and years, probably their entire lives, just as I cry writing this so many years later.

Elections In General

There are those who think elections are all alike. But all elections are not created equal, and therefore the decision-making process is different.

Here in Texas, city council and school board are considered “non-partisan“, encouraging voters to pick whomever they think most closely reflects what they want those governing bodies to do.

Then, there are the party primaries. A primary election is to choose the individual who will represent your party in the general election. Allegedly, only members of the party get to pick their general-election candidate. Not so in open primary states of which Texas is one. (The issue of “open” primaries will be the subject of another blog post.)

Last, there are the general elections where voters get to pick between the chosen candidates of each party.

I’ve always taken the position that when the primary is over, it’s over. The party voters chose their candidate, and if it’s not my candidate (or when a candidate, not me personally), then I support the winner of my party’s primary. Why? Because when I go through the “general election” analysis, I always come down on the side of the Republican candidate.

But, you ask, what about third party or Independent candidates? There are several on our ballot. While it might be enticing to vote for one of them, that vote is one not cast for a Republican. Ross Perot gave us Bill Clinton. Need I say more?

Luke macias discusses this issue

Here’s a great podcast from Luke Macias of Texas Scorecard on this subject:

How i analyze & decide

My first question always is “How closely does this candidate represent my views on major issues?”

My second question, specifically for legislative candidates, is “How will this candidate vote once in office?” That’s a completely different question than the first. Once elected, legislators are pressured by members of their caucus, by leadership, by lobbyists, and often don’t agree with much of what’s in a bill, but agree with some, meaning they vote by a scale of what they can live with and defend in public.

For example, if you’re angry about the trans issue being forced on our young children, how could you possibly vote for a trans candidate, no matter what they say on the campaign trail on any other issue (Madeline Eden)? They’d never vote against themselves.

If you are a law abiding gun owner, how could you possibly vote for a candidate who says “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47”, no matter what they say on the campaign trail on any other issue (Beto O’Rourke)? They’ll vote for “buy back”, another term for confiscation.

If you worry about illegal and dangerous fentanyl pouring over our borders, how could you possibly vote for a candidate who supports open borders, government payment for illegal immigrant teen abortions, and who served as a staff attorney for the ACLU, no matter what they say on the campaign trail on any other issue (Rochelle Garza)? They’ll vote pro-immigrant, which with what’s happening today, translates all too often to anti-citizen.

If you can’t pay your bills because food is skyrocketing, electricity is far higher than last summer, gas just to get to work or diesel needed to work is taking a huge chunk of your income, how could you possibly vote for a candidate (any Democrat because they’ll caucus with Nancy Pelosi) who supports out of control government spending? They’ll vote with the caucus, as evidenced by Joe Manchin who caved for a promise that never materialized. He got screwed by his own party, and his constituents got screwed by his cowardice.

It doesn’t take much research – a few Duck-Duck-Go search entries -to find out what candidates have said about a variety of issues. Read their comments, believe them, and vote for the person who most closely aligns with your own beliefs.

On October 18, the Bastrop Chamber of Commerce is holding an alleged “candidate forum”. Don’t waste your time. It won’t help you see the differences between the candidates.

The Bastrop Chamber of Commerce is running a candidate forum for County Judge and for House District 17 at which NEITHER Republican candidate can be there. Both Republicans let the Chamber know quite a while ago that this date was not acceptable. But the Chamber scheduled it anyway.

The Chamber purports this initiative to be “A Resource for Fair, Impartial and Informative Information”, a statement posted prominently on the BastropVotes.com website. It goes on to say “The Bastrop Chamber of Commerce has historically not endorsed political candidates and will not be using this website to do so.”

So, the October 18 forum will be nothing more than an echo chamber, with only Democrats participating. The “Independent” for County Judge is actually a Democrat who chose not to run in a primary but has previously served as, and run as, a Democrat, and whose voting record is strictly Democrat. The “Independent” running for HD-17 voted Democrat in the 2020 primary.

The Bastrop Chamber should have found a date acceptable to all candidates or not run the forum. Doing it this way is a choice, subtle, but a choice nonetheless.

ESG: Environmental, Social, and Governance. DEI: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
It’s really important that you learn about these things and how they affect your investments, pensions, and ultimately, all your savings.

Consideration of ESG factors in investing means that fiduciaries can place woke politics over profits and stability when making decisions about their client’s portfolio.

FreedomWorks

Is that what you want for your investments or savings?
How do you know if your portfolio is being managed with ESG factors having a higher priority than actually making a profit? Do you want your bank or credit card company to stop doing business with you because you don’t support woke ideologies?

How do you find out where to bank, with whom to invest?
We’re lucky that some states have taken to publishing lists of financial management companies and investment funds that put ESG over profitability when investing.

If you own individual stocks, you’ll have to visit the websites of those companies. For banks and credit cards, check the websites of those companies just as you would any other company. You’ll likely find links in website footers.

Take my professional “alma-mater” IBM, for example. In its footer, under “About IBM” are two entries: Corporate Social Responsibility and Diversity & Inclusion. Yup. There it is. ESG. Most Fortune 1000 companies will have similar information on their websites.

State Restricted Investment Lists
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar just published such a list. Learn more about what it took to be on this list. West Virginia published its Restricted Financial Institution List on July 28, 2022.

States invest huge amounts of money through various funds. Think about the amount of money in various Texas state pension funds, the Permanent School Fund, and local government funds. Why would Texas invest in companies that oppose fossil fuels? Why would West Virginia invest in companies that oppose the use of coal? My mother called that “cutting off your nose to spite your face”. Just flat out dumb.

Fund managers make money from investing these funds. Often, investment decisions are made by these fiduciaries (fund managers) and investments in companies provide them with the capital to grow.

In General
Why support the growth of companies that are diametrically opposed to a state’s largest industry and employer? Why invest money in companies that will use your money to create diversity, equity, inclusion departments instead of using your money to support productivity improvements? If you don’t agree with making ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) or DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) or both as high corporate priorities, then invest elsewhere.

Finally states are taking steps to not invest hard earned taxpayer monies in woke funds and fund managers. Should you? Learn and decide.

Supplemental Reading

• States Push Back Against ESG Policies , Inside Sources
• ESG: The Invisible Fist . Idaho State Treasurer’s Office
• ESG: Learn the basics & Why be concerned . The Heartland Institute
• Letter to John Kerry regarding Biden encouragement for lender bullying
• S&P Global: General Criteria: Environmental, Social, And Governance Principles In Credit Ratings .  This article discusses how ESG is used to determine a company’s credit worthiness (access to capital to grow).