The state agency that regulates homebuilders should be abolished, according to the staff of the Sunset Advisory Commission, which says the Texas Residential Construction Commission's regulatory structure is worse than no regulation at all.The TRCC "was never meant to be a true regulatory agency with a clear mission of protecting the public," the staff report says (here's a link to the full report). "... Current regulation of the residential construction industry is fundamentally flawed and does more harm than good." That got a quick and negative response from Duane Waddill, the executive director of the agency, who said it would leave the state's homebuilding industry unregulated. Builders want to keep it, too, according to their trade group. The Texas Association of Builders called the recommendation "short-sighted." But Texas Watch, a longtime critic, applauded the idea of killing TRCC. The Sunset panel periodically reviews most state agencies, but those reviews rarely recommend — or result in — abolition of the agencies in question. That's the first recommendation for TRCC. The report — not yet made public — says that would result in the layoffs of 80 state employees. It would also cost about $300,000 annually. That's the amount by which fees charged to builders outpaces the costs of running the regulatory agency. The report is critical of the agency's regulatory setup, which requires homeowners to navigate through its procedures before going to court to sue a builder. "No other regulatory agency has a program with such a potentially devastating effect on consumers' ability to seek their own remedies," the report says. "... Sunset staff did not trust that the commitment exists to establish the true regulation needed for the protection of the public." The full commission will take its first public look at the report next month, and is slated to make its official recommendations on TRCC at its December meeting. TRCC's commissioners will meet in early September to talk about an official response. Their first response? Sunset has a bad idea. "The Texas Residential Construction Commission ardently disagrees with the Sunset Commission staff recommendation to abolish the agency," Waddill said via press release. "Accepting Sunset’s staff recommendation would free nearly 28,000 builders from regulatory oversight. Nearly 600,000 homes have been registered since the commission’s inception. Those Texas families will be left to fend for themselves if an issue arises with their home. "The commission has stripped or denied the right to operate from nearly 500 builders/remodelers in the state. Repealing this legislation would turn back the clock and allow these builders to return and compete in the receding housing market. With the downturn of the market and the ongoing crisis among lending institutions, eroding consumer confidence in the housing industry by deregulating the building industry could be strike three to a fragile economy." Texas Watch, a longtime critic of the agency, hailed the Sunset report and said TRCC should be replaced with something that regulates builders instead of regulating homeowners. "Lawmakers should replace the feckless TRCC with real reforms that ensure builder accountability, quality building standards, and true oversight and regulation of the homebuilding industry," said Alex Winslow, that group's executive director.

The Republican Party of Texas responds, via web ad, to Barack Obama's latest commercial criticizing John McCain.This is Obama's ad, running on TV and online:

 

And this is the Texas GOP response, which is running only on the Internet:

Joe Jaworski got a contribution from Fred Baron, but has given it away in the wake of the John Edwards scandal. UPDATE: Now he says he didn't.Baron's $2,500 contribution to Jaworski was one of the Dallas attorneys few direct contributions. And now that Baron is tangled in the Edwards affair, Jaworski opted to give the money to the University of Texas Medical Branch breast cancer screening program. Baron was Edwards national finance chairman and has said he paid to move the woman with whom Edwards had an affair to help her avoid hectoring from the press and others.

Sen. Kim Brimer went to the Texas Supreme Court Monday to try to knock his Democratic opponent, Wendy Davis, off the November ballot.Time is short. Friday, August 22, is the legal deadline for taking someone off the ballot, whether they're ineligible or not, according to the Texas Secretary of State's office. And next week — Tuesday, August 26, to be specific — is the main deadline for adding people to the ballot. If the court were to declare Davis ineligible after Friday, her name would still appear on the ballot. And if they were to wait until say, a week from Wednesday, Tarrant County Democrats would find it difficult, if not impossible, to put up another candidate for the November election. A state district court ruled earlier this summer that Davis is legally on the ballot. Brimer's lawyers filed an appeal — still pending, with lawyers still making deadlines for briefs and such — with the Fort Worth-based 2nd Court of Appeals. Briefs from the Davis crew are due late this week — on August 28 — that's with a trial date coming after the SOS deadlines. But Brimer's team has now added a filing with the Supremes, asking the state's highest court to order Tarrant County Democrats to "do their ministerial duty" and take Davis off the ballot. Their argument is that Davis wasn't off the Fort Worth City Council in time to qualify for the state Senate seat. Here's a copy of their brief.

The media, mainstream and online, are drawing flack from political people this week. Bloggers are also talking about a new polling project by University of Texas professors, a couple of guys named Edwards, and then there's a list of items even more miscellaneous.

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Stop the Press

KVUE's Political Junkie takes umbrage at allegations by Democratic candidate Rick Noriega that journalists are taking cues from incumbent John Cornyn's campaign. Lonnie Walker's Blog says the problem is the candidate, not the campaign. Meanwhile, Cornyn took his own shot at the media, specifically the Houston Chronicle, reports Trail Blazers, the Dallas Morning News's blog.

Liberal Texas bloggers aren't happy with recommendations by the Texas Ethics Commission to look into regulating blogs' political behavior, via Capitol Annex. And Democrats are righteously indignant over a visit to El Paso by media personality Karl Rove, according to Vaqueros & Wonkeros, the El Paso Times's blog.

Rumor has it that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is playing favorites with Austin American-Statesman reporters, according to Capitol Annex. And Texas Supreme Court justice Nathan Hecht didn't want to talk to any reporters at all after testifying before the state ethics commission, writes Junkie.

Texas Politics, the Houston Chronicle's blog, talks with former Houston TV journalist Jim Moore about being on the federal no-fly watch list. And radioman/Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, is purportedly interested in buying the Austin American-Statesman, says Trail Blazers.

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Poll Positions

BurkaBlog talks about the Texas Politics project, a new quarterly poll by UT professors Jim Henson and Daron Shaw. Burnt Orange Report though it was blogworthy, too. Off the Kuff notes a few weird things he found in the results from the first survey.

Chronic, the Austin Chronicle's blog, examines the stuff concerning the U.S. Senate race. And here's the view from Panhandle's Perspective.

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Edwards and Friends

The scandal over former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and his mistress has hit state House District 52. According to Eye on Williamson, Republican Bryan Daniel wants Democrat Diana Maldonado to give up $25,000 she got from Annie's List because Dallas attorney Fred Baron (who allegedly bankrolled the cover-up of the Edwards affair) had given that same amount to the liberal PAC. Williamson Republic has three posts on the topic: here, here and here.

Hear what Southern Methodist University professor Cal Jillson told Texas Politics about Edwards's affair by clicking the link. On a fiscal note, the bad PR hasn't hurt business at Baron's law firm, says Tex Parte Blog.

And Burnt Orange suggests U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco-and-no-relation-to-the-dude-from-North-Carolina, is inching closer to the vice-presidential nomination. But Texas on the Potomac, the Houston Chronicle's blog, says don't count on it.

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Political Fodder

Burka says Harris County Republicans are working hard to prevent a Democratic flip this fall. North Texas Conservative mocks Noriega for joking about having Paris Hilton's support. A Keyboard and a .45 analyzes the HD-96 race between incumbent Republican Bill Zedler and Democrat Chris Turner.

A Perry adviser says Kay Bailey Hutchison is just bluffing about running for governor, according to Postcards from the Lege, the Austin American-Statesman's blog. KBH was voted one of the best moms in Congress, says PoliTex, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's blog

Texas Blue has the national Democrats' parody of Cornyn's "Big Bad John" video. PoliTex says Cornyn thinks it's great that the spot is getting so much attention.

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Misc.-ing links

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's Sajeewa Chandrasoma is Capitol Crowd's Person of the Week. The Texas Education Agency has OKed an online charter school that allows parents to skip teaching evolution, Observer says. And TexasSparkle will be writing a blog for the new Texas Magazine.

The Texas prison board named a Gatesville lockup after former chairwoman Christina Crain, says Postcards. Private prison contractor the Geo Group is opening up three new facilities in Texas, reports Texas Prison Bid'ness.

Blue Dot Blues urges readers to sign a petition in support of voter photo ID. Policy Spotlight is on the same page. Travis Monitor makes it a trend.

Mike Falick's Blog links to four interactive applications: a timeline generator, a quiz to compare yourself to an eighth grader, a William Shakespeare quiz and a future generator.

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This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Patrick Brendel, who hails from Victoria but is semi-settled in Austin. We cherry-pick the state's political blogs each week, looking for news, info, gossip, and new jokes. The opinions here belong (mostly) to the bloggers, and we're including their links so you can hunt them down if you wish. Our blogroll — the list of Texas blogs we watch — is on our links page, and if you know of a Texas political blog that ought to be on it, just shoot us a note. Please send comments, suggestions, gripes or retorts to Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey.

The Texas Supreme Court won't take Wendy Davis off the ballot, at least not now. A day after he filed it, the court denied Sen. Kim Brimer's request that they declare her ineligible. There's not much poetry to their ruling, just the facts:

Orders Pronounced August 19, 2008 MISCELLANEOUS THE FOLLOWING PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS IS DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE: 08?0651 IN RE KIM BRIMER; from Tarrant County; 2nd district motion for emergency relief and to accelerate the disposition of this original proceeding denied

That leaves the legal fight in Fort Worth's 2nd Court of Appeals, which has set a schedule that'll quickly make election law specialists of the consultants on both sides. Friday is the last day the Texas Secretary of State can remove someone from the ballot. Next Tuesday — a week from now — is the last day (with some technical exceptions) that someone can be added to the ballot. And the briefs from Davis' lawyers aren't due in the appeals court until the end of the week. That appeals court hasn't set a hearing date. But the deadlines could leave that court with the job of deciding whether she's eligible after the law has made it possible to take her off the ballot or to replace her with another Democratic candidate. The Supremes could still be involved later, if either side appeals whatever ruling comes from the appeals court in Fort Worth.

Only three-and-a-half times since 1960 has the national ticket for federal office not included a Texan as either the presidential or vice presidential candidate.

Chances seem slim that a Texan will make the list this year. Only a couple of Texans have won mentions this year, including U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison as a potential Republican veep candidate, and U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards of Waco, as a potential number two on the Democratic side.

So there could be a breather for Texas (from Texas?) for the first time in almost 30 years. And like the last time the state saw a drought on the national ticket, this one would follow a Texan's term as president.

Nobody from here made the major party tickets in 1968, 1972, or 1976, the three elections that followed Lyndon Johnson's term. Johnson was on the ballot in 1960 and then in 1964. Since that break, it's been Bush country, with George H.W. Bush on the ballot in 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992 and George W. Bush on the ticket in 2000 and 2004. We're not even counting Vice President Dick Cheney, though he was living in Dallas when he got on the ticket as a candidate from Wyoming. U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen was the Democratic veep candidate in 1988, and Ross Perot was, in 1992 and 1996, a high-profile third party candidate.

A federal judge stayed the execution of Jeffrey Lee Wood, saying Wood deserves legal help and time to show whether he is sufficiently mentally competent to be executed.

Wood was convicted under the state's "law of parties" for participating in a robbery and killing even though someone else did the killing. His requests for legal help were refused in the trial court, and that refusal was the basis for U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia of San Antonio to stay the execution and appoint a lawyer and a mental health expert to assist Wood in his appeal.

The judge said the evidence falls short of proving Wood is mentally incompetent, but said the state's system for letting him prove it is out of whack, because it requires him to do alone what lawyers are highly trained to do. "With all due respect, a system which requires an insane person to first make 'a substantial showing' of his own lack of mental capacity without the assistance of counsel or a mental health expert, in order to obtain such assistance is, by definition, an insane system."

Kyle Janek isn't in a political race this year, but his money will be. The Houston Republican resigned from the state Senate in mid-term and the special election to replace him is underway.

At mid-year, Janek closed his political accounts, spent some of the $510,957 on charitable and political contributions, political work, bonuses for employees and a last, large payment to his political consultant, Blakemore and Associates. Then he sent the $302,334 balance to a political action committee set up to keep the Senate seat in Republican hands.

The reports for both committees included statements that he's shutting things down. Janek has moved to Austin and signed on with a biomedical testing firm.

The mid-year report for the "Best for Texas PAC" recorded that contribution and five small expenditures for "political promotion: sponsorship." One, to Victoria Ellis of Houston, was for $25. The other four were for $5 each, and included separate payments to Mark and Stacey Clark of Houston, and to Joan Huffman and Keith Lawyer, also of Houston. All five were among the donors who started the PAC last October with token contributions, and each was refunded what they gave.

The main point of interest there is Huffman, one of several candidates vying to replace Janek in the state Senate; Lawyer is her husband. The Clarks are both listed among the sponsors of a Huffman fundraiser coming up early next month. Janek has been supporting another Republican, squiring Austen Furse through introductions to potential supporters and donors in both Houston and Austin.

And it looks like Furse will be the beneficiary of the Best for Texas PAC.

"I made the decision that I didn't want to hold onto the money. That money was given to me to campaign, but I'm through campaigning," Janek said. "I wanted to make sure the district stays in good hands. I suspect they'll use it to help Austen, but I have nothing to do with it."

The new PAC has the same Houston address and phone number that was listed on Janek's campaign accounts. The treasurer, replacing his father, Eddie Janek, is Joe Slovacek, a Houston attorney. The address and contact numbers listed on reports for the PAC and for the campaign match the contact information for Blakemore & Associates, the Houston political consulting firm that has worked for Janek in the past and is working for Furse in this year's special election.

A spokesman for Huffman says she and Lawyer didn't get an explanation for why they got their $10 investment in Best for Texas returned. Chances are they'd have eventually demanded it: Allen Blakemore says Slovacek, the treasurer of the PAC, is a Furse supporter. He notes Janek's support for Furse. And he says the committee's money "may well be spent in a way not supportive of Huffman."

The committee hasn't spent any money so far and Blakemore said he doesn't know whether it will donate to Furse, spend its money on his behalf, or what.

Another curiosity from Janek's last reports: He spent $27,170 on "research" from an Austin-based polling firm, Baselice & Associates. Put that on the calendar: Janek announced his resignation at the end of January, but paid for the polling on March 10. Opponents are wondering if that went to Furse's benefit, but Blakemore says Janek "wanted to get an eye on the landscape of the district and be apprised of what was likely to happen as he left."

Janek also gave $25,000 to the Twenty One PAC, set up to make sure Republicans hold at least 21 seats in the Texas Senate — the number it takes to control the agenda. It reported contributions to Sens. Chris Harris of Arlington, $25,000, Kim Brimer of Fort Worth, $100,000, John Carona of Dallas, $25,000, and Mike Jackson of La Porte, $100,000. Raise your hand if you think you know the address and phone number for that one. Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, is listed as the treasurer, but the address and phone are for Blakemore's office in Houston.

The race to replace Janek isn't limited to Furse and Huffman. Republican Grant Harpold is in, too, as is Democrat Chris Bell. Several of the Republicans we talked to while working on this think the infighting about their candidates will benefit Bell, the only Democrat in the race. Something like that happened in Fort Worth last year, when several GOP candidates in a special election for an open House seat cut each other up and lost the runoff in what looked like a Republican district to Democrat Dan Barrett.

State Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, flew too close to the bug zapper with a mailing inviting folks to a fundraiser featuring Republican U.S. Reps. Joe Barton of Ennis and Kay Granger of Fort Worth among the "honorary hosts." The September 9 fundraiser at Fort Worth's City Club also features House Speaker Tom Craddick as "special guest" and Attorney General Greg Abbott and Sens. Kim Brimer and Jane Nelson as honorary hosts. The invite asks supporters to sign on as hosts for the luncheon at the $1,000, $2,500, or $5,000 level.

If you're a campaign finance lawyer or a political nerd, you'll find the same violation in the previous paragraph that the Democrats at the Lone Star Project found: Federal officeholders solicit more money — even for an unregulated state candidate — than they're allowed to collect for their own campaigns. And for members of Congress like Barton and Granger, that's $2,300 per person.

That group — which supports Democrat Chris Turner in that House race — says Zedler should cancel the event. Jeff Fisher, the former Republican Party of Texas executive director who is now running Zedler's campaign, says it was "a layout mistake" in the mailer sent to supporters. Fisher says only 51 were sent. He says Barton and Granger should've been listed as guests. Asked whether he plans another mailing correcting the first one, he sighed. "I don't think sending a correction fixes it, necessarily."

State government's top three officials say they'll work to take state police funding out of the gasoline tax account that's also used to pay for highways and other roads, that they'll create a transportation finance operation allowing state investment funds to help finance highways, and that they'll put highway bonds approved by voters into the state budget. That's all in a letter to the Transportation Commission, and it includes instructions to get ready to sell $1.5 billion in bonds also approved by voters to get some money into the highway pipeline. The signatures at the bottom of that letter belong to Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick.

• A legislative proposal to limit increases in property taxes has a flaw: It's unconstitutional. Sen. Dan Patrick and Rep. Dwayne Bohac, both Houston Republicans, say the state could effectively halve annual property tax increases by simply appraising properties biennially instead of annually. The thinking? The state limits increases in taxable property value to 10 percent from one appraisal to the next. If those appraisals were done every two years instead of every year, it would take two years for a property to increase — for tax purposes — by 10 percent. Credit the catch to former state district Judge F. Scott McCown, who now heads the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin. The state constitution, he points out, limits the property tax increases to 10 percent "of the appraised value of the residential homestead for the preceding tax year." To change it, the Lege would have to change the constitution. That requires a two-thirds vote in each House, and there weren't enough votes in 2007 to make a similar change by amending the constitution to limit increases to something less than 10 percent.

• Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams is going to the other political party's convention. Williams, a Republican, will be in Denver to talk about energy issues, among other things.

As their State Senator, I have watched the Harrold ISD school board, administrators, faculty, and staff come together to improve the school for the benefit of the students. The actions they have taken have always been with the best interests of the students in mind. I have no doubt that their recent decision to allow qualified, licensed teachers to carry concealed handguns in the classroom comes from that same commitment to the best interests of the students and community they serve. Personally, I applaud the Harrold ISD School Board and the superintendent for their focus on school security and visionary approach toward student safety, and I believe other school districts should carefully review and consider this option. That is not to say every school district should allow their teachers to carry guns, but that each school district should make the decision they believe is in the best interests of their students, parents, staff, and community. State law grants our school districts the option to allow teachers and other school personnel to carry concealed firearms on school grounds, and I will oppose any attempt to take away these rights from our locally elected school boards. The state can set accountability standards, teacher requirements, even a school start date, but lawmakers in Austin cannot honestly guarantee the safety of the children in our public schools. Posting a ''gun free zone'' sign at the door does not stop a madman, and we should not be so naïve to believe that a law can keep a school gun free when criminals do not follow the law. I am not surprised, but no less disappointed, that the editorial boards have begun to gang up on Harrold ISD. I imagine it is easy for the editorial writers to question and even laugh at the decision of a small, isolated school district. But if a tragedy strikes this community like we have seen in too many other parts of the nation, the editorial writers will not be the ones looking into the eyes of a parent and trying to explain why they didn't do everything possible to protect these students and staff. The security of the students is the primary concern, but this is not just about security for the students, but security for teachers and staff who often come to work early and stay late. While intended to keep guns out of schools, the gun free zone also creates unarmed victims for those not deterred by a sign. My good friend Suzanna Hupp, a former legislator and survivor of the 1991 mass murder in Killeen, Texas, reminds us that a gun doesn't guarantee safety against evil, but it sure changes the odds. Harrold ISD school board members and administrators are responsible for the health and welfare of the students in their charge. That is a duty delegated by the state and a responsibility demanded by the parents. I trust that the leadership at Harrold ISD has made the right decision in their best interests, and I trust that if the parents and community agree with the editorial boards then Harrold ISD will be the first to know. Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, has represented SD-30 since 2001.

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Texas Weekly's Soapbox is a venue for opinions, spins, alternate takes, and other interesting stuff sent in by readers and others. We moderate submissions to keep crazy people out, and anonymous commentary is ineligible. Readers can respond (through the moderator) to things posted here. Got something to submit? We're interested in everything from full-blown opinion pieces to short bits to observations or tidbits that have escaped us and the mass media. One rule: Your name goes on your words. Call or send an email: Ross Ramsey, Editor, Texas Weekly, 512/288-6598, ramsey@texasweekly.com.