At Perry's Behest, Lawmakers Back for a Second Helping

Protesters filled the Texas Capitol in June 2013 when state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, filibustered a bill on abortion regulations.
Protesters filled the Texas Capitol in June 2013 when state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, filibustered a bill on abortion regulations.

Here they come again, with one group hoping to keep the spectacle going and the other trying to let the air out of the tires.

Bet on group No. 2 — they have the easier job.

National media trying to catch up on the story of the abortion fight in Texas, on the findings of life in the Texas Democrats, and in the personification of it all in Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, will be watching and hoping for a repeat of the drama of the last night of the first special session.

This time, the time is on the side of the majority. Abortion regulation, transportation and a fix to the sentencing options for 17-year-old capital murderers are on the agenda for the second special session, and this time, they start with 30 days to run. They can actually listen to testimony until even the advocates wear out. They have time to debate, to let the air out of the tires, to lower the temperature.

Plus, they already know how to do it wrong.

Last time, Gov. Rick Perry opened the call to those items two weeks into the first special session. The House was in the middle of a two-week recess and didn’t get back to work until June 17 — a little more than a week before the end of the session. The only tool available to opponents of the abortion measure was the clock. Perry, Speaker Joe Straus and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst have all seen this movie before, and if they were surprised when it went down to the wire, that’s a surprise in itself.

Democrats and reproductive rights activists took advantage of the clock, packing hearings and hectoring the House and the Senate in the way that the rules and the presiding officers allow that to happen. The whys about the legislation go on and on.

For instance.

  • Why didn’t the House just pass the Senate’s abortion bill and then try to run with a separate bill that would have outlawed the procedure after 20 weeks of gestation?
  • Why did the House take the last Saturday off, scheduling the debate for Sunday and all but forcing the Senate to take it up on the last day of the session?
  • If proponents of the legislation in the Senate really wanted to play hardball to shorten a filibuster, why did they take so long to do it?
  • Why didn’t they clear the gallery of loud advocates?
  • Why didn’t they vote on the transportation and criminal justice bills before bringing up the abortion bill?
  • Why did the Republican management build such a tall pedestal for Davis when they and the Democrats knew the governor could simply call everyone back for another try and that, without a deadline to lean on, the Democrats didn’t have the votes?
  • And how did Dewhurst blow an opportunity like that to burnish his credentials with the conservative voters who turned on him a year ago in the U.S. Senate primary runoffs?

And now it starts all over again.

* * * * *

Here is this week's still somewhat fuzzy look at who is in (and might be in) the statewide races in 2014. Unless noted, the candidates below are Republicans. 

Session Gives Perry More Time to Decide Future

Governor Perry answers press questions after his speech at the National Rights for Life convention in Dallas.
Governor Perry answers press questions after his speech at the National Rights for Life convention in Dallas.

No one should be surprised if Gov. Rick Perry doesn't reveal his next political move as soon as planned.

After Democrats blocked a restrictive abortion bill in the waning days of the first special session, Perry announced that he would call another.

Besides putting the abortion bill back on the agenda, he added the other two items that failed during the first called session — including transportation funding and a juvenile justice measure prosecutors say is needed to establish sentencing guidelines for 17-year-olds who commit capital murder.

The move to bring lawmakers back yet again comes amid growing speculation that Perry is on the verge of announcing his retirement from statewide politics — thereby making Attorney Greg Abbott the instant favorite to replace him.

Perry had signaled that he would make his decision about the 2014 governor’s race known by July 1. But that turned out to be the day the next 30-day special session will begin. Governors like to have as much leverage as possible when lawmakers are in session, and Perry may conclude that being a lame duck would reduce his influence. 

At a meeting of anti-abortion activists in Dallas last week, Perry said he would be too tied up with the new session to worry about his political future. 

“We got work to do in Austin, so that is not on my radar screen at the moment," Perry said. Asked about the July 1 deadline, Perry told reporters that date is "probably put back some" but otherwise declined to be pinned down. He said he would make the announcement at the "appropriate time." 

Perry became governor in December 2000 when George W. Bush resigned the office to become president, making him the longest-serving governor in Texas history by a wide margin.

Most political observers believe Perry will step aside in coming days to clear the path for Abbott, a close ally, but the farm boy from Haskell County has a long and colorful history of making unexpected political moves. So a re-election campaign for an unprecedented four-year fourth term can’t be ruled out.

The guessing game about Perry’s future took another couple of twists when sources said Mark Miner, a trusted former aide and spokesman, was returning to Team Perry as a senior adviser to the governor.

A new fundraising letter also provided a new tea leaf to read. Most candidates with statewide ambitions were furiously raising money ahead of a June 30 filing deadline. For those who want to impress other potential donors  — or scare off competitors — the campaign finance reports represent an opportunity to advertise a big haul.

Perry hasn’t been hitting up donors with the intensity that Abbott and other have shown, but he is still raising dough. He won’t say what the money is for. (For the record, neither does Abbott in his latest fundraising missive.)

Of course, Perry spends money from his campaign all year long, so it could very well be he’s just keeping the coffers fat for travel purposes, paying staffers (including those at the Capitol) and conducting polls. Politics is a year-round endeavor.

“Let’s fight together, to continue our fiscally sound economic policies that have made Texas the economic beacon of opportunity in the nation and the world,” Perry writes in the letter.

Third Time's the Charm for Road Funding Plan?

TribLive with State Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville and State Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman - April 4, 2013.
TribLive with State Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville and State Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman - April 4, 2013.

The bid to find the Texas Department of Transportation a quarter of the extra money it says it needs to keep traffic from getting worse got a second reprieve this week.

Gov. Rick Perry added road funding to the call of a second special session, after Senate Joint Resolution 2 died quietly on Tuesday. If the measure from Senate Transportation Chairman Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, and Senate Finance Chairman Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, had received a final vote in the Senate, it would have almost certainly drawn enough support to pass. The bill, and a criminal justice measure from Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Southside Place, ended up as hostages in the dramatic fight between Republicans and Democrats over abortion legislation.

Compared to the intense furor over abortion regulations, and the inertia toward all TxDOT funding proposals during the regular session, the speed with which Nichols and House Transportation Chairman Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, managed to draw the needed support for Senate Joint Resolution 2 in the first special session is striking.

Texas lawmakers proved this year to be unwilling to raise taxes or fees or issue more debt to increase funding for TxDOT. SJR 2 is estimated to raise nearly $1 billion a year without touching any of those fault lines by taking advantage of the state’s oil and gas exploration boom. Currently, a portion of energy production taxes is earmarked for the Rainy Day Fund. Nichols’ plan asks voters to amend the Constitution to divert half of that revenue to Fund 6, also known as the Highway Fund.

But a second special session means new hearings on the measure and some earlier critiques could gain more adherents.

For starters, the way SJR 2 impacts the Rainy Day Fund has raised concern. In the version that nearly passed this week, severance tax revenue would only be diverted from the Rainy Day Fund for roads in years when the fund has a balance of at least one-third of its legislative cap, a figure that varies over time. Some worry that the language will create a perception that the Rainy Day Fund needs to be maintained at a specific level.

“It’s not a floor on the fund,” Nichols said. “It’s a trigger for when the revenue is diverted. There is not a floor on the Rainy Day Fund.”

Another sticking point: SJR 2 falls far short of the $4 billion in additional annual funding TxDOT leaders have said the agency needs just to maintain current levels of traffic congestion.

While Nichols and other supporters argue SJR 2 is still a “good start” to addressing the problem, critics have noted that lawmakers and advocates will have to convince voters to approve an amendment to the state constitution in November. A campaign for the bill could give voters backing the measure the impression that they had just “fixed” the state’s road funding problem. Such a mentality might make rallying support for new road funding proposals in the 2015 session even tougher.

“I almost believe a crisis in transportation would force us to a better solution,” Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, said earlier this week. He still planned to vote for SJR 2 — had it come up for a vote.

Newsreel: Filibuster, Filibuster, Filibuster

Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Ft. Worth, stretches while answering questions during her abortion bill filibuster on June 25, 2013.
Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Ft. Worth, stretches while answering questions during her abortion bill filibuster on June 25, 2013.

In place of this week's Newsreel, we've got the story of the week — and of the political year so far: the debate and filibuster and verbal melee that marked the last day of the first special session. It promises to reverberate into next year's primary and general elections, providing a critical boost one politician's political future while showing the boot to another's. 

Inside Intelligence: About Those Election Laws...

We asked the insiders about politics this week, starting with the man at the top of state government. A strong majority said Gov. Rick Perry should not seek another term as governor if he wants to run for president in 2016.

The insiders said Texas railroad commissioners should resign their offices when they run for other jobs and said appointed regulators should also be required to follow a resign-to-run law.

On the eve of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on a key redistricting case, Texans were rallying to the side of challengers to the Voting Rights Act; 57 percent said Texas should not have to seek federal approval when it changes its election laws. As the respondents were finishing up, the court ruled that the part of the law that describes which states have to get preclearance is unconstitutional.

Finally, we asked if ongoing redistricting litigation is likely to delay next year’s election primaries in Texas. A skinny majority — 51 percent — expects those elections to proceed on time.

We collected comments along the way and a full set of those is attached. A sampling follows below:

======================

If Rick Perry wants to run for president in 2016, should he seek another term as governor in 2014?

• "He currently has no active campaign apparatus in place and his new plan is to seek appointed national office or Huckabee type bully pulpit because he could not get elected to squat outside of Texas. A good plan actually."

• "At this point for him he could do it either way - but perhaps not running for governor makes him a more serious presidential candidate - at least in terms of mass appeal. He can do either."

• "Let's see: As governor he can fly around the country--including key early states--on "official" business to raise his profile and raise cash or he can call it quits and pay out of his own pocket to travel to key early state and have a harder time raising money. Even an Aggie can figure out this one..."

• "The Governor doesn't need to add to his long and successful tenure in order bolster a bid for president."

• "Better to be a sitting governor than a former one. And he'll keep doing crazy things for our amusement!"

• "Decide what you really want and go for it. Perry proved the last time only a full time commitment to seek the Presidency will do."

• "Politically, yes. Responsibly, no. In January 2015 he'll need to be in Iowa courting votes, not naming the official citrus fruit of Texas."

• "As a former governor, he'd have time on his hands to move to Iowa, but little campaign money to tell voters he was there amongst them."

======================

Should Texas Railroad commissioners be required to resign if they declare their candidacies for other offices?

• "No - but if the Legislature tries it again, they should include themselves and every other state elected official."

• "Why is resign to run good for local officials (who might run against state officials) but not state officials?"

• "What does "AG" stand for? Aspiring Governor (not Attorney General). All offices are stepping stones to something else. No need to punish folks for being ambitious."

• "RRC and all elected offices should be subject to such a requirement. This "free shot" crap has got to stop. It's just a shakedown of everyone in sight."

• "Don't think they should be different than any other elected official (i.e. state senators). I believe all should be required to resign to run for another office."

• "The RRC is in part an adjudicatory office. If judges must resign to run, commissioners should be required to do so as well."

• "If you want to be something else then you should move on!"

======================

Should government regulators — appointed or elected — be required to resign if they declare their candidacies for elected offices?

• "If they are an appointed official (PUC, TCEQ, etc.), I think they should be required to resign before seeking elected state/statewide office."

• "If the resign to run practice is good enough for our supreme court justices, then it should be good enough for everyone else."

• "For crying out loud -- they are POLITICIANS! They run for office, and move up the ladder. If they are always resigning to run for other office, we'll have mayhem."

• "Not required but I their action to do so, or not do so, should be noted by the voter."

• "Requiring resignation will force many regulators to stay put and do their jobs. It's the best method to take away the competitive fundraising advantage they have over others running for the same office."

• "Too many times the regulated industry feels "pressure" to support candidates or be subjected to subtle retribution if the individual is not elected."

• "See how much money you can raise when you don't have any "authority" over any one!"

• "We have regulators? In Texas? Working for the government? Is Rick Perry aware of this?"

======================

Should Texas continue to be subject to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires federal preclearance before any change in the state’s election laws?

• "Thank God we have the federal government to save us from ourselves."

• "This continues to be a federal "Mother May I?" requirement for only a few states. If it's that necessary, make all 50 states comply."

• "This oversight needs to stop. It has morphed into a tool to provide seats in the legislature to Democrats."

• "This state is NOT ready to be out of VRA. Witness the many attempts at voter suppression laws."

• "While strides have been made in making voting rights available to all eligible citizens, discrimination still exists. Section 5 should be kept."

• "The Act has outlived its purpose. Next thing you know, we'll have to gerrymander districts to give whites representation."

• "Equal protection in my mind means minority populations should be protected in New York and Maine to the same level they are in Texas or vice versa."

• "It is the guarantee of one person, one vote. Preclearance is not a problem for anyone if the maps are fair for all Texans."

• "Good for the goose, good for the gander. Think that all states should be subject to requirement or none. It shouldn't be selective."

======================

Do you think the 2014 primaries will occur on schedule in March or that redistricting litigation will cause them to be postponed, as they were in 2012?

• "I think the Democrats and Tea-Partiers would like that."

• "Not even a Federal Judge would want to live through that again!"

• "The current Atty. Gen. has screwed this up again and it will become apparent the Primaries will be delayed yet again."

• "God willing. The Courts need to butt out and let elections occur on schedule"

• "Tough to call, if Section 5 ceases to exist after Shelby then in March for sure, but if Section 5 lives, then a delay is more likely."

Our thanks to this week's participants: Gene Acuna, Cathie Adams, Brandon Aghamalian, Jenny Aghamalian, Clyde Alexander, George Allen, Jay Arnold, Dave Beckwith, Andrew Biar, Allen Blakemore, Tom Blanton, Chris Britton, Andy Brown, David Cabrales, Kerry Cammack, Marc Campos, Thure Cannon, Snapper Carr, Janis Carter, William Chapman, Elizabeth Christian, Elna Christopher, John Colyandro, Kevin Cooper, Beth Cubriel, Randy Cubriel, Curtis Culwell, Denise Davis, Hector De Leon, June Deadrick, Nora Del Bosque, David Dunn, Richard Dyer, Jeff Eller, Jack Erskine, John Esparza, Norman Garza, Dominic Giarratani, Bruce Gibson, Stephanie Gibson, Kinnan Golemon, Daniel Gonzalez, Jim Grace, Kathy Grant, John Greytok, Clint Hackney, Wayne Hamilton, Bill Hammond, Adam Haynes, Ken Hodges, Steve Holzheauser, Laura Huffman, Deborah Ingersoll, Cal Jillson, Bill Jones, Mark Jones, Robert Jones, Robert Kepple, Richard Khouri, Tom Kleinworth, Sandy Kress, Nick Lampson, Pete Laney, Dick Lavine, James LeBas, Luke Legate, Leslie Lemon, Richard Levy, Ruben Longoria, Vilma Luna, Matt Mackowiak, Dan McClung, Mike McKinney, Robert Miller, Bee Moorhead, Mike Moses, Steve Murdock, Keir Murray, Nelson Nease, Keats Norfleet, Pat Nugent, Sylvia Nugent, Nef Partida, Gardner Pate, Robert Peeler, Jerry Philips, Tom Phillips, Wayne Pierce, Allen Place, Royce Poinsett, Gary Polland, Jay Propes, Ted Melina Raab, Bill Ratliff, Karen Reagan, Patrick Reinhart, Kim Ross, Grant Ruckel, Jason Sabo, Andy Sansom, Stan Schlueter, Bruce Scott, Steve Scurlock, Ben Sebree, Bradford Shields, Christopher Shields, Jason Skaggs, Ed Small, Todd Smith, Larry Soward, Leonard Spearman, Dennis Speight, Tom Spilman, Jason Stanford, Bob Strauser, Colin Strother, Charles Stuart, Michael Quinn Sullivan, Sherry Sylvester, Jay Thompson, Russ Tidwell, Gerard Torres, Trent Townsend, Trey Trainor, Vicki Truitt, David White, Darren Whitehurst, Peck Young, Angelo Zottarelli.

The Calendar

Monday, July 1

  • Second special session begins

Monday, July 15

  • Mid-year campaign finance reports due at the Texas Ethics Commission

Thursday, July 18

  • Mid-Year Property and Casualty Insurance Symposium; Sheraton Austin Hotel 
 

The Week in the Rearview Mirror

The nation watched on Tuesday — and into Wednesday — as Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis and hundreds of reproductive rights advocates stalled proceedings and ultimately defeated controversial abortion legislation.

Davis came off the Senate floor early Wednesday as the national Democratic Party's newest star. But what effect her 11-hour filibuster to stop abortion legislation will have on her political prospects in Texas is an open question.

The state's lieutenant governor was hoping the special session would revive his support among conservatives. It might have done exactly the opposite.

Republicans in the state Senate looked like tourists who wandered into a hostile neighborhood after liberal activists helped derail an abortion bill. But they are still in the driver's seat in the second special session.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed its version of the comprehensive immigration reform bill that would pave the way for citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the country. The bill now moves to the U.S. House, where it faces an uphill battle. 

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declared that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional, a major blow to supporters of oversight of voting laws that they say protect people from discrimination.

In the wake of its decision to strike a section of the Voting Rights Act earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday tossed out two Texas cases on voter ID and redistricting.

Political People and their Moves

Sen. Dan Patrick’s announcement that he will run for lieutenant governor next year was expected, but the timing of his announcement serves as a commentary on Dewhurst’s performance — especially during the just-ended special session.

Patrick, a Houston Republican, joins Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples in challenging Dewhurst. On paper, it resembles a race for an open seat even though the incumbent has been in office since 2002. In a recent University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll, three-fifths of Republican voters said they hadn’t thought about the race enough to choose a candidate. That sort of thing is good news for the challengers. 

David Watts, a business consultant from Northeast Texas, says he is running for land commissioner, a job opening because of Patterson's run for Lite Guv. Watts will face George P. Bush in that primary.

Eric Opiela, a former Republican Party official who ranches and practices law, will run for agriculture in 2014. 

And former Harris County Tax Assessor Collector Paul Bettencourt will run for Patrick’s seat, he announced just a bit after Patrick declared his intention to challenge Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. Bettencourt started a tax consultancy after leaving the county job.

After weeks of talking to potential supporters about it, Railroad Commissioner Barry Smitherman announced his candidacy for attorney general, saying he will only run if Attorney General Greg Abbott doesn’t seek reelection. Smitherman, a Republican, was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry and then won election last year.

Earlier this year, Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, said he wouldn’t seek another term and said he was mulling a run for mayor. Modify the first bit and scratch the second: Strama resigned his public job to lead Google Fiber’s operations in Austin. He’ll help start up their high-speed internet project in the capital city. The governor will have to call a special election to fill that seat.

Mark Miner is returning to the fold, leaving the private sector to become a senior advisor to Gov. Rick Perry. He worked on several Perry campaigns and worked for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst before that.

Press corps moves: Kate Galbraith, a terrific reporter who covered energy and environment for the Texas Tribune for the last three years, is leaving for sunny California. And Julian Aguilar, who joined the Tribune after writing for Texas Weekly and other publications for years, is leaving Austin to open a border bureau, based in El Paso.

Quotes of the Week

In the emergency room they have what’s called rape kits where a woman can get cleaned out.

Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, R-Parker, on why her abortion bill had no exemption for cases involving rape or incest

At what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over the male colleagues in the room?

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, having a hard time getting the attention of the chairman

You know, I would be lying if I told you that I hadn’t had aspirations to run for a statewide office.

Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, in an interview with MSNBC's Chris Hayes

It’s just unfortunate that she hasn’t learned from her own example: that every life must be given a chance to realize its full potential and that every life matters.

Gov. Rick Perry, referring to Wendy Davis at a National Right to Life convention on Thursday

We now have a Wendy Davis problem. We created an unbelievable opportunity to launch a first-tier Democrat.

Republican political consultant Matt Mackowiak in the Houston Chronicle

We would welcome her running statewide and I wish she would.

Texas Republican Party Chairman Steve Munisteri on Wendy Davis in Politico

I didn’t lose control of what we were doing. An unruly mob of hundreds, if not a thousand, were screaming and yelling and we couldn’t communicate with our members.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, after the end of the special session