Texas Take

Call this the week of the throwdowns.

It started with a raucous Houston Independent School District board meeting over controversial plans involving several school campuses, in the nation's seventh-largest district, where cops were eventually called to eject and arrest several unhappy constituents.

The result ended up looking more a like a Jerry Springer Show, with the throwing of chairs. And the board backed up and dropped its plans for now.

Then, Gov. Greg Abbott penned a letter to disgraced former U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, demanding he pay for a special June election necessitated by his sudden resignation over sexual harassment claims.

He's the guy who promised to repay taxpayers for an $84,000 settlement, but never has. Abbott says he should pony up personally to cover the election costs resulting from his misbehavior, a tab that could reach $200,000.

Crickets so far from Farenthold about Abbott's demand.

In Austin, state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, made it clear to state higher education officials that he's not happy with their progress in upping the college graduation rates for African-Americans and Hispanics. He gave them two weeks to come up with a plan.

And in Washington, Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson -- two national media personalities who are better known by their brand name Diamond and Silk -- took on U.S. Rep. Shiela Jackson Lee, D-Houston, during a hearing about how they got the boot from Facebook for pro-Trump comments.

Jackson Lee, not a Trump-y by any measure, set off a tense set-to with the two ladies after she suggested they lied during a Fox interview and had received payments from the Trump campaign. They bluntly denied both assertions.

Our sponsors this week: The Texas Association of Counties and Lone Star Targeting.

With Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report, and Mike Ward, Austin Bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle, with special guest Ryan Poppe, Texas Public Radio's Capitol reporter.

Texas politics are entertaining but never boring, as this edition of the state's leading political podcast, produced in collaboration with partner Texas Public Radio, clearly shows.

Andrew White, the Democrat running a long-shot campaign to become Texas' next governor, thinks Texans should get the chance to roll the dice for improved schools. Literally.

Under his plan, casino gambling in the Lone Star State would be expanded to help pay for billions of dollars more in public education improvements, including a teacher pay raise, college scholarships for students with a B average and above and much more.

To get it done, though, White will have to win the jackpot: Win a May 22 runoff and then become the first Democrat elected to statewide office in Red State Texas in 24 years.

As remembrances continued pouring in for former First Lady Barbara Bush, who died at 92, her son, George W., gave this example of her famous wit, just days before she died.

As a doctor visited, she asked him -- with Dubya present -- if he'd ever wondered why her son turned out the way her did. Without missing a beat, she answered: "Because I drank and smoked while I was pregnant with him."

That she could still bring down the house, days after she passed, was a testament to why America loved her straight-spoken manner.

As new polls showed the political races are presently much closer than expected, as Gov. Greg Abbott was reportedly considering an expansion of medical marijuana laws to benefit autistic children, and as a high-stakes gerrymandering case prepared to hit the U.S. Supreme Court, politics in Texas were anything but dull this week.

Our sponsors this week: Lone Star Targeting and the Texas Association of Counties.

With Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report, and Mike Ward, Austin Bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle, with special guest Ryan Poppe, Texas Public Radio's Capitol reporter.

Texas politics are entertaining but never boring, as this edition of the state's leading political podcast, produced in collaboration with partner Texas Public Radio, clearly shows.

New forecasts are predicting that a mushrooming population of senior Texans, and a shortage of doctors to care for them, could produce a "silver tsunami" in coming years.

This, in a state targeted for years by complaints that it was not providing enough healthcare for its most needy children.

As that news rolled out, the politics in Washington went wild -- again -- as President Trump's personal legal papers were seized in an FBI raid on his lawyer's office, as Republican U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold resigned amid sexual harassment allegations,  as former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman was convicted on federal corruption charges, and as Republican U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan shocked the D.C. political establishment by announcing his retirement.

In a year when President Trump is considered a drag on many Republican reelection campaigns, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was smiling broadly as Fox Business host Neil Cavuto suggested Abbott was Trump's favorite governor.

And then there was this: U.S. Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, and Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, were warning Texas colleges and universities that a foreign exchange program at the schools was actually a spy front for China?

Not fake news, folks.

With Mike Ward, Austin Bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle, and Ryan Poppe, Capitol reporter for Texas Public Radio. Scott Braddock, the editor of Quorum Report, is out this week on assignment.

Texas politics are always entertaining but never boring, as this edition of the state's leading political podcast, produced in collaboration with partner Texas Public Radio, clearly shows.

Gov. Greg Abbott surprised Democrats with a tweet where he acknowledged for the first time that former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez would be the party's nominee to face him next November.

"The next 7 months will be a battle between @LupeValdez and me about whether or not Texas will secure our border and protect our sovereignty," the governor's message said. "It's about whether sanctuary cities will remain banned or be allowed. I need your help to fight for the future of Texas. #tcot @TexasGOP."

An hour later, Valdez shot back: "@GregAbbott_TX it's a shame your future for Texas is full of fear."

Remember that while Abbott has said zippo about his Democratic rivals during his reelection campaign so far, members of his inner circle have privately said for months that they would prefer facing Valdez than Houston entrepreneur Andrew White, who is more conservative on some issues than Valdez.

An unamused White responded: ""Clearly, I don't have Gov. Abbott's support for the Democratic nomination for governor. He wants Ms. Valdez as his opponent. But don't Democratic voters get to decide?"

The rest of the political week in Texas at times looked like a shootout between political rivals than a reasoned  civics debate, over issues including proposed revisions to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Abbott has warned President Trump that tearing up the pact could blast a hole in Texas' booming economy.

Don't mess with Texas, he said.

Also up for debate: Toll roads, an investigation of the Cambridge Analytica data case and the U.S. Senate race, where incumbent Republican Ted Cruz is positioning himself as a unity candidate.

Our sponsors this week: Lone Star Targeting and the Texas Association of Counties.

With Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report, and Mike Ward, Austin Bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle.

Texas politics are entertaining but never boring, as this edition of the state's leading political podcast, produced in collaboration with partner Texas Public Radio, clearly shows.

Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who was Donald Trump's favorite punching bag during the 2016 GOP presidential primary, is at it again with the orange-haired guy who is now POTUS.

In a speech at Yale University (he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin), Jeb noted that his kids love him. That caused Donald Trump Jr. to fire back on Twitter with some unpleasantness that can be summed up: My dad won, your's lost.

Remember that Junior and The Donald himself both endorsed Bush's son, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, during the March primary election, where he avoided a runoff against challengers.

The political week in Texas also took several sharp turns, as Democrats and immigration reform advocates called on state leaders to join a lawsuit against the Trump Administration to prevent the upcoming federal census from including a question about citizenship -- which they said would result in an under count for Texas, affecting federal funding among other things.

Don't expect the state's Republican leaders to rush to join the suit, since several support including the question.

Then, there's Gov. Greg Abbott's trade mission to India, a nine-day visit that's made headlines several times for the mega-deals he's announced are on the horizon that could mean billions in additional business for Texas plus hundreds of new jobs.

At one point, Abbott visited with the prime minister, the same guy who Trump he likes. Cue the Bollywood music, and the photo op at the Taj Mahal.

Our sponsors this week: Lone Star Targeting and the Texas Association of Counties.

With Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report, and Mike Ward, Austin Bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle, with special guest Ryan Poppe, Texas Public Radio's Capitol reporter.

Texas politics are entertaining but never boring, as this edition of the state's leading political podcast, produced in collaboration with partner Texas Public Radio, clearly shows -- even when those politics reach as far away as India.

In a week dominated by news about the Austin bombings, Texas politics gave up a few surprise headlines to make things interesting.

The bombings came to an end after the suspect, a jobless, 23-year-old college dropout, blew himself up as police closed in. While no motive has emerged, police revealed some of his last words from a taped confession on his call phone: "I wish I were sorry but I am not."

He labeled himself a "psychopath."

In Houston, a federal criminal trial of former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, provided this stunner: The same folks who created a stir at the State Capitol in 2015 by secretly taping lawmakers partying two years earlier shadowed state Rep. James Whitelooking for dirt, when Stockman thought White might run against him.

Result: They confirmed that White, R-Hillister, was boring. About the most exciting thing he did was go to a frozen yogurt shop.

Political chatter this week also focused on the ugly U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke, who agreed with a TV show host who labeled Cruz a crude name.

Texas counties that are bigger than Iowa also made the story line.

Our sponsor this week: The Texas Association of Counties.

With Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report, and Mike Ward, Austin Bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle, with special guest Ryan Poppe, Texas Public Radio's Capitol reporter.

Texas politics are entertaining but never boring, as this edition of the state's leading political podcast, produced in collaboration with partner Texas Public Radio, clearly shows.

With the primary election now in the rear-view mirror, Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is amusing himself with a short song, "You Can't Be a Liberal Man," that pokes at his Democratic general election opponent, U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke.

And even makes fun of his nickname.

Liberal. That's the new tagline for Texas Republicans seeking to dis their opponents, whether it's Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick blasting the "Liberal Texas Association of Business" for opposing his conservative agenda or Gov. Greg Abbott working to defeat "liberal" incumbent Republican state Reps. Sarah Davis of Houston and Lyle Larson of Antonio.

Both won.

With several runoffs coming up May 22 to decide the remaining contests, including the Democratic nomination for governor, the heated political rhetoric promises to continue for two more months as an entertaining work-up to the November balloting.

Then there's this: In talking about the need for gun-control, and why Texans have such steadfast support for the Second Amendment, O'Rourke recently told a story about a woman in Brownwood who was "born with a gun in her hand" and who has 46 grandkids.

My, my. Now that's something.

Our sponsor this week: The Texas Association of Counties.

With Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report, and Mike Ward, Austin Bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle, with special guest Ryan Poppe, Texas Public Radio's Capitol reporter.

Texas politics are entertaining but never boring, as this edition of the state's leading political podcast, produced in collaboration with partner Texas Public Radio, clearly shows.

The Texas primary season is nearly over as early voting closes Friday and election day is Tuesday.

All across the state, Texans have been turning out in record numbers for a non-presidential election, with huge enthusiasm on the Democratic side.

Meantime, Texas House Speaker Joe Straus says business leaders need to be asking candidates three questions:

• Do you support more investment in public schools?
• Do you support local control?
• Would you vote for a bathroom bill if it comes up in the 2019 session of the Legislature?

Gov. Greg Abbott this week told President Trump about the state's school marshal program as a possible model for the national following the tragic school shooting in Florida. Trump was happy to hear about the program created through legislation by Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas.

Candidates across Texas spent big out of their campaign accounts for things like SUV's, Christmas ornaments, and paper weights. Yes, paper weights.

And, one way a candidate raised money for her campaign raised quite a few eyebrows – she received deer semen donations to auction off and netted more than $50,000.

Our sponsor this week: The Texas Association of Counties.

With Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report, and Ryan Poppe, Texas Public Radio's Capitol Reporter, sitting in for Mike Ward, the Houston Chronicle's Austin Bureau Chief who is out on assignment, this is Texas' leading podcast about Lone Star politics -- coming to you in collaboration with Texas Public Radio.

Early voting has started in Texas' spring primary elections, and Democratic turnout is reported to be at record levels. Republicans, on the other hand, seem focused on attacking each other in several high-profile contests.

Gov. Abbott is campaigning not just for himself, but against three Republican incumbents in the Texas House -- Sarah Davis of Houston, Lyle Larson of San Antonio and Wayne Faircloth in Galveston. The split in GOP ranks stems from a throwdown over ethics the lawmakers had with the governor last year.

He's out there calling them liberal -- practically a profanity in conservative Republican circles -- and they're firing back that they've voted with him on most issues, which they believe vouches for their conservative credentials.

Then there's the nasty fight between Land Commissioner George P. Bush and challenger Jerry Patterson, Bush's predecessor. Bush is accusing Patterson, a tough-talking former Marine and author of the state's concealed handgun law, of being l-i-b-e-r-a-l.

He says Patterson deserves the tag because of his softer stance on immigration and other issues important to staunch conservatives. Patterson questions why Bush is cozying up to President Trump, who was mortal enemies with Bush's dad -- former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush -- during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Remember the "Low-Energy Jeb" slap during one nationally televised debate?

Get some popcorn and pull up an easy chair. The primary elections are March 6, and the testiness between candidates in coming days promises to get quite a bit more acrid and entertaining.

Our sponsor this week: The Texas Association of Counties.

With Mike Ward, the Houston Chronicle's Austin Bureau chief, and Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report, it's Texas' leading online podcast about Lone Star politics -- coming to you in collaboration with Texas Public Radio.

Forget that civilized political discourse thing that you may think elections are all about. Texas' Republican primaries are beginning to look more like a full-on street fight.

It's a state where GOP leaders pride themselves as being conservative with a capital "C.  But l-i-b-e-r-a-l is the label that's getting the throwdowns rolling.

Gov. Abbott is accusing three incumbent House members of being too liberal as he campaigns for their challengers, and they're throwing punches back at him. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is helping fund the challenger to a sitting senator.

Incumbent Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has no nice things to say about GOP challenger Trey Blocker, and vice versa.

And incumbent Land Commissioner George P. Bush and challenger (and predecessor) Jerry Patterson? They aren't playing nice with each other, either.

Other candidates are blasting their opponents for being-shows at public forums, for lying about their voting record and for being incredibly disingenuous in their rat-a-ta-tat attacks. Even an endorsement by President Trump's son touched off a brief spat.

The spokesman for Ken Paxton, Texas' indicted attorney general, went off on lazy reporters for trolling Twitter and writing "crappy articles" without ever going out to cover Real News.

Geez. Is no one happy? Really not happy, in fact, just weeks before the March 6 primary.

Our sponsor this week: The Texas Association of Counties.

With Mike Ward, the Houston Chronicle's Austin Bureau chief, and Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report, it's Texas' leading online podcast about Lone Star politics -- coming to you in collaboration with Texas Public Radio.