The Houston Chronicle recently reported on the number of positions in Texas agencies that have been staffed by people with connections to elected officials - cronies they are sometimes derisively called. The positions are often not advertised, which is in violation of state law. A law which is seldom enforced.
Keep in mind that strategic decisions about who gets what job allows for the development of political networks that can come in handy when seeking higher office. There are reasons why this occurs - tangible benefits as well.
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The paper the editorialized that this suggests - as you all probably have always suspected is true - that is matter who you know rather than what you know. The problem is pervasive they say.
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. . . Texans should be glad to see their taxes spent on qualified employees instead of diverted into a spoils system, but the problem is more pervasive than elected officials hiring a few friends.
The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas was caught in 2012 handing out millions in grants without proper scientific and business reviews. It turned out that the recipients had made donations to the secretive CPRIT Foundation that boosted salaries for CPRIT officials. Closer to home, in 2013 the Houston Community College was caught up in a scandal involving a contract redirected to a politician's buddy. And earlier this year, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission came under fire for spending $30 million on scholarships for employees who had close ties to elected officials.
Even within the boundaries of the law, governments routinely grant tax exemptions or other so-called economic incentives that favor some companies over others. Sometimes these incentives are worthwhile, but they hardly take part in the sort of pure free-market philosophy that plenty of Texas politicians claim to endorse. The deeper you dig, the more it becomes clear that Texas isn't exactly a low-regulation state. We just have regulations that reward friends and punish enemies.
New upstarts, such as Tesla's electric cars, Uber and Lyft, and microbreweries, have had to fight regulatory structures that protect entrenched interests while discouraging new competition. Meanwhile, the young, the poor and the sick who could truly use help often find government assistance in Texas lacking.
So if you're a ambitious Texan who wants to lift yourself up by your bootstraps, the lesson taught by our elected officials isn't that you need to work hard, get good grades or have the best ideas. If you want to be successful in Texas, have the right connections.
And a good last name doesn't hurt, either.
