From the Texas Tribune: Analysis: Greg Abbott and the $200 million bully pulpit

In 2306 we've discussed the factors that have led to a gradual increase in the powers of the Texas governor. Here's

- Click here for the article.

The governor of Texas doesn't really have the authority to freeze hiring, except in his or her own office, but he’s got the bully pulpit.

And Greg Abbott used it to full effect in his State of the State speech last week, telling state agencies to pull down the hiring signs until the end of August, when the state’s fiscal year ends. He is making exceptions for public safety and other issues on a case-by-case basis.

The bully pulpit is a powerful soapbox, of course, and there is always the threat that a governor might get really, really mad at anyone who disobeyed his wishes. But the law doesn’t actually give him the power of hiring and firing in state agencies that aren’t part of the governor’s office. Texas governors can't fire the heads of other state agencies, university regents, or even the members of the commissions and boards that they themselves appoint.

Texas is not a strong governor state, whether any particular governor is a strong personality or not.

Texas governors can veto bills. They can appoint people to selected offices. And they can talk.

Vetoes are subject to overrides, if the Legislature is sufficiently stirred up. Appointments only stick if the Senate confirms the governor’s choices. And talk only works if someone says “How high?” when a governor says “Jump!”

Abbott's recently announced hiring freeze is an exercise of that third power: Talk.
Don’t dismiss it outright. Agencies are jumping. Yes, the budget is written by the Legislature and the governor signs it and has a line-item veto power. But he can’t add to it. He doesn’t control the state’s checkbook — that’s the comptroller’s job. He doesn’t handle payroll (comptroller again). And his powers are limited if someone tells him to stick it up his nose.

But the power of suggestion is, after all, a power. If you want to prosper in the executive branch of the Texas government, you’d best believe that the chief executive can find a way to bring praise or opprobrium to your office door. He might not be able to fire you, but he can probably make you want to quit.

From SA Current: Governor's Office is Clearly Not Happy About Bush's Handling of the Alamo

Tensions within the plural executive.

- Click here for the article.

One of the Texas GOP's rising stars — a Bush, no less — is taking heat for settling a battle over thousands of Alamo artifacts with the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.  Last Friday, the Associated Press reported that the Texas General Land Office resolved a lawsuit with the Daughters of the Republic over a vast collection of history: approximately 38,000 books and relics. GLO also agreed to pay $200,000 in attorneys fees to the Daughters as part of the settlement.

GLO Commissioner George P. Bush, who has been heralded as a promising politician since winning elected office in November 2014, fired the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, who managed the shrine for 110 years, as custodians of the Alamo a few months after he took office in 2015. Days later, the Daughters sued the GLO.

An internal memo obtained by the Houston Chronicle this week shows that Governor Greg Abbott's chief of staff Daniel Hodge is not happy with the settlement reached by Bush's office, calling it "regrettable" and "avoidable."

"Had the General Land Office more vigorously defended the State's interests in this matter, the agency would not have found itself in a position in which the (Daughters of the Republic of Texas) can demand this settlement," Hodge wrote in the memo obtained by the Chronicle.

Hodge goes on to say that the only reason Abbott approved the settlement was out of deference for the "independent constitutional officeholder requesting it."

Since Bush took office, he has been embroiled in all things Alamo. The City of San Antonio and the GLO have teamed up to come up with a new master plan for the historic site that could change the landscape surrounding Alamo. The GLO and the city left the Daughters of the Republic of Texas out of the advisory board coming up with the plan.
However, Bush's problems have extended beyond his battle for the Alamo.

From TribTalk: New budget process means unprecedented power for governor

For more on our look at recent attempts to increase the power of the Texas Governor.

- Click here for the article.

The heady days of the Texas Legislature's superiority in state budget writing seem to have come to a close in favor of giving the governor an unprecedented amount of power over how the state spends its money.

On April 14, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Jane Nelson sent out a piece of correspondence that portends major changes for how the budget is written and how bills get passed next session — and probably forever:

"The Senate Finance Committee will be incorporating the principles of zero-based budgeting when drafting our state budget and for transparency purposes will be requesting supplemental programmatic level budget information."

This means that the Senate will file a bill in January 2017 with zeroes for all state agencies and that it will report a committee substitute in approximately April 2017 with line-item program budgets, not the broad — and largely veto-proof — strategy budgets of the last 25 years. This is the next step, technocratic as it is, in a major power change at the Capitol.

The governor never had it so good.

From the Texas Tribune: Analysis: Legal Matters Could Temporarily Expand Abbott’s Power

The plural executive might be - temporarily - a bit singular based on recent events.

- Click here for the story.

Texas doesn’t have a cabinet form of government, but in Gov. Greg Abbott’s case, it might soon have the next best thing.

Two of the state’s relatively new elected officials — Attorney GeneralKen Paxton and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller — are in deep political trouble at the moment. If worst comes to worst for either or both of those fine gentlemen, Abbott would appoint their replacements.

That’s a lot more say than he had when they won the positions in 2014.

State officials in Texas don’t run on tickets of their own choosing. What looks to the voters like a team — with candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and so on — is really just a collection of unrelated candidates who happen to belong to the same political party.

. . . In other states, governors and lieutenant governors get elected together, like presidents and vice presidents. Many states have cabinet governments where, as in the federal government, the chief executive chooses the state’s top lawyers, finance officials and other high officials. The governor runs the government, gets the credit and takes the blame.

Texas governors get some of the credit, most of the blame and none of that power: The 18 judges who sit on the state’s highest civil and criminal courts and the eight officials who run other executive departments are elected in their own right — sometimes from opposing political parties or factions. Photo ops are the only Kumbayah moments.

Abbott can’t control the comptroller, steer oil and gas regulators, decide whether and how the state jumps into lawsuits, or run the Senate, the agriculture or land offices. He didn’t hire them. He can’t fire them. And replacing them is left to the voters.
Usually.

But if the wheels of justice turn against Paxton or Miller or both, forcing or prompting one or both of them to leave office, the governor would have vacancies to fill — just as he would in a cabinet form of government.

The new occupants wouldn’t be under his control, but they would probably remember how they got those great jobs. It’s a subtle difference, but a real one: Are they going to check in with the governor’s office on big decisions and announcements or follow their own political stars?

For background on the problems the AG and Ag Commissioner are facing:

- SEC Charges Ken Paxton With Securities Fraud.
- Timeline: Attorney General Ken Paxton's Legal Saga.
- Sid Miller Criminal Case Would Stay in Travis County.
- Texas Rangers Investigating Sid Miller's State-Paid Trips.












https://www.texastribune.org/2016/04/11/sec-charges-paxton-securities-fraud/

The Major Events Trust Fund

This is the trust referred to in the previous story - it's new to me. Never heard of it before. I have a hunch it's not well publicized though. It cuts against the argument that business in Texas is self sufficient and does not need government support. It does - at least in cases like this.

Here are a few stories about the fund.

- The Comptroller's Office: The rules of attraction: An overview of state events trust funds.
- Texas State Auditor: An Audit Report on the Major Events Trust Fund.
- Texas Economic Development Corporation: Event Trust Funds.

The Texas Tribune highlighted the auditors report which found little evidence of impact.

- Audit: Scant Proof of Event Fund's Tax Impact.

For more than a decade, Texas has dangled tens of millions of dollars in incentives to entice events like Formula 1 racing, cutting horse competitions, the Super Bowl and Final Four college basketball to the state.

But money from the Major Events Trust Fund — long run by the state comptroller but recently moved to Gov. Greg Abbott's office — has been spent on things it probably shouldn't, and no one's done a great job of testing whether the state gets a good return on its investment, a new audit has found.

The audit released Thursday by State Auditor John Keel, examined performance of the Major Events Trust Fund from its inception in fiscal 2010 through January 2015. The fund uses incremental tax receipts — the extra sales, beverage and hotel occupancy taxes presumably generated when people flock to Texas for an event — to pay some of the expenses of putting on a car race, basketball game or whatever the event might be.

Keel's audit examined seven major events picked from among the biggest, most expensive or highest profile hosted by the state. The events include the 2011 Super Bowl XLV, the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 National Cutting Horse Association Triple Crown, the 2012, 2013 and 2014 Formula One United States Grand Prix and the 2013 NBA All Star Game.

In general, the audit found, the comptroller's office followed the rules when deciding which events were eligible for funds, and in parceling out the money. But the report found weaknesses in the process

Catching up with Governor Abbott

He's been very busy.

- Gov. Greg Abbott heading to Cuba.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday announced that he will lead a delegation to Havana, Cuba next week to talk travel, trade and exports. “Opening the door to business with Texas will expand free enterprise and the freedom that flows from it. I look forward to expanding business opportunities for both Texas and Cuba,” Abbott said in a statement.

The visit is Abbott’s second international trip as governor, and it comes after President Obama this summer announced that the U.S. was re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who is charging hard for the Republican presidential nomination, has called Obama’s decision a tragic mistake. Cruz’s father fled Cuba’s dictatorial regime in the 1950s. But other Texans have welcomed the thawing relations, including a delegation of business leaders who visited Cuba in April to discuss trade.

- Greg Abbott tells mayors they can't ban guns in city halls.

Texas mayors cannot prohibit the concealed carry of handguns in city halls and other government buildings even if they contain security-sensitive areas such as courtrooms, according to Gov. Greg Abbott. Abbott, the former attorney general, last month told his successor Ken Paxton that under a new law that went into effect Sept. 1, city, county and agency leaders must allow concealed handgun license holders to carry their weapons into government buildings. The Abbott memo was sent in response to letters from Hays and Tom Green County officials asking Paxton to clarify when and where they can continue to ban concealed carry in their facilities.

- Greg Abbott’s pension board pick draws protests from labor.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s choice to lead the Texas Pension Review Board has drawn sharp criticism from labor organizations that equated the appointment to a betrayal of trust by the governor. Abbott tapped Josh McGee on Monday, lauding the Houston economist as a leading national expert on retirement policy — a fine fit for a board that reviews the health of public retirement systems, studies potential problems and recommends solutions. Josh McGee was named to lead the Texas Pension Review Board by Gov. Greg Abbott. A dozen labor groups representing police and firefighters, however, quickly called on Abbott to rescind the appointment, calling McGee one of the state’s harshest critics of public pensions.

 - Greg Abbott and faith groups head toward showdown on Syrian refugees.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s office appears headed toward a legal showdown with refugee resettlement agencies and their sponsoring faith organizations over Abbott’s efforts to keep any Syrian refugees from resettling in Texas in the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks. Following Abbott’s directive, Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Chris Traylor on Thursday sent a toughly worded letter to 19 refugee resettlement agencies in Texas — including Caritas and the Refugee Services of Texas in Austin — asking that they scrap any plans to resettle Syrian refugees in Texas and that they notify his office by 4 p.m. Friday if they had any plans to resettle Syrians in the state.

After consulting with a number of the resettlement agencies and representatives of their sponsoring religious denominations, Bee Moorhead, executive director of Texas Impact, an umbrella group for Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith groups, wrote Traylor a letter Friday expressing their “shock and dismay,” describing his letter as “an unprecedented attempt on the part of a state agency to pressure private, nonprofit organizations to violate federal law and their federal contractual obligations.” By directing the agencies to refuse to resettle Syrians, Moorhead said that Abbott and Traylor are asking the agencies to violate federal anti-discrimination statues, and “we cannot imagine how any organization could contemplate complying with HHSC’s directive without first obtaining legal counsel.”

How strong is the Texas Governor?

The standard argument is that the office is weak, but it does have a few substantive powers. Often the governor's power depends on the personality of the individual holding the office. We'll cover this in 2306 this week.

Here are a few items to place the issue in perspective:

- Texas Tribune: A Weak Governor System, With a Strong Governor.
- Slate: Is George W. Bush a "Weak" Governor?
- On the issues: Is Texas a "weak governor" state?
- Wall Street Journal: In Texas, a Weak Office Becomes Stronger.
- How much POWER does the Governor of Texas have?
- The Atlantic: Rick Perry, American Caudillo.

Worth a look: Why Strong Governors?

From the Texas Monthly: The Rick Perry Report Card HOW DID HE PERFORM IN EIGHT AREAS THAT ARE CRITICAL TO THE STATE? THE GRADE BOOK IS NOW OPEN.

This would have been a good addition to our look at the Texas executive branch.

- Click here for it.

I'll save it here for a look with the summer classes.

Here's a cut to the chance:

- Transparency and Ethics: C
- Criminal Justice: B
- Economic Development: A
- The Environment: D+
- Public Health: D-
- Higher Education: B-
- Public Education: D
- Transportation: C

From the Atlantic: Rick Perry, American Caudillo The former Texas governor turned a constitutionally weak office into a source of tremendous informal power.

A recent article walks through how Perry was able to assert power in an office designed to limit it. Its a good addition to 2306's look at the Texas Executive.

The author argues that Perry adopted a governing style that mirrored how strongmen in Mexico ruled.

- Click here for it.

Some samples:

Rick Perry represents a model of politician not yet quite known in American politics. He is less a cowboy governor than what would be termed in Mexican politics a caudillo, a strongman. It is no coincidence, then, that the criminal case against him in Austin represents a collision between his vast but informal power and the rules of the road in American governance. And there is more to this case than meets the eye.

. . . Only the constitution imposed on Texas after the Civil War, in 1869, briefly created a strong executive. Backed by federal power, he could appoint judges, mayors, and aldermen. He could order a new state police force into action across county lines. When Reconstruction ended, a new constitution was drafted in 1876 and, in a backlash against Reconstruction, it purposefully hobbled the chief executive again, giving him few formal powers other than being named “chief executive.” Governors could serve only brief, two-year terms. The legislature would be limited to 20-week sessions every other year. Power was diffused among other officials, most importantly the lieutenant governor who presided over the Senate. And so it was for well over a century.
Strong governors would sometimes arise, but it was through dint of personality, the creation of informal alliances, and the bending of the occasional law.

. . . In his first legislative session, in 2001, Perry made a point of demonstrating who would be the boss of Congress Avenue. He vetoed 82 bills in all, most of them on Father's Day in June—the episode was known as the Father's Day Massacre—after the legislature had left town, effectively undoing its handiwork. The constitution may have created a weak governorship on paper but Perry, like Bush and a few others before, would govern strongly.

Over the ensuing years, he became the longest-serving governor in Texas history. By about 2007, he had tipped the balanceof power with the legislature and decisively held the upper hand. By 2009, his longevity in office gave him a legion of loyalist appointees in government, totaling over 3,300 people. The list included powerful university trustees, members of the cabinet, the bureaucracy, state commissions, judges, and fully two-thirds of the Texas Supreme Court. Like any good caudillo, he appointed hiscaciques—or bosses—throughout the territory he governed.

And like any adept caudillo, he returned favors to his patrones. Wealthy contributors brought their private agendas to public institutions.

Ross Ramsey: A Weak Governor System, With a Strong Governor

The Texas Tribune writer points out that longevity and the cultivation of loyalists that he has placed throughout state government has given Perry far more power than is typical in the office. Its unlikely his successor will enjoy the same clout he developed, but he transformed the office while he held it:

Before Perry, half the stories about the doings in the state Capitol were either about the inherent weakness of the governor’s office or the ancient lore about how the lieutenant governor holds the state’s most powerful office.

The governor has no cabinet. He or she can appoint the people who populate the various boards and commissions, but only a third of them come up for appointment every two years, and the governor doesn’t have direct control over them once they’ve been posted. They can’t be fired — they can be made pretty uncomfortable, but that takes a lot of work — and they often behave as if they have their own brains and their own goals and ways of doing things.

That means that most of the people who head the executive branch of Texas government have never had full control over it. Other elected officials head some of the major agencies, and a powerful legislative branch can, with strong personalities in charge, control the agencies to some extent by controlling their budgets.

. . . After six years of Perry being in the governor’s office, virtually every appointee had him to thank for their post. And over his first decade in office, the governor seeded the executive branch with his former aides and their like-minded peers. They’re all over the place, with titles like executive director, general counsel, communications director and so on.

. . . Perry’s transformation of the office might be permanent. The agencies might naturally turn their ears to a governor for guidance after all these years out of habit.

It will take six years to replace all the appointees who owe their jobs to Perry, a third of the jobs turning over every two years. The people at the tops of all of those agency organization charts will linger until retirement — Perry’s legacy —and while they may be helpful to a new governor, they will not be indebted like they are to the old boss.

. . . Perry, because of his tenure and the methodical placement of former staffers throughout the government, changed all that, turning a weak office into a powerful one. It’s hard to remember how it used to be.

14 is enough - Perry will not run for re-election

The Texas Tribune reports:

Gov. Rick Perry announced Monday that he will not run for re-election next year, creating the first open race for Texas governor since 1990 and making Attorney General Greg Abbott the instant favorite to replace him.

"I remain excited about the future and the challenges ahead, but the time has come to pass on the mantle of leadership," Perry said. "Today I am announcing I will not seek re-election as governor of Texas. I will spend the next 18 months working to create more jobs, opportunity and innovation. I will actively lead this great state."

. . . Perry made Monday’s announcement at Holt Cat, one of the largest Caterpillar equipment dealers in the United States. The CEO of the company, Peter Holt, owns the San Antonio Spurs basketball team and is a major donor (nearly $600,000 since 2000) to Perry. He’s given $95,000 to Abbott since 2002, records show.

A huge throng of media was on hand for the announcement. Perry kept a tight grip on his plans, ratcheting up the speculation to a feverish pitch. Reporters were left guessing and parsing the words sent out in a “save the date” email that indicated he would reveal some “exciting future plans.”

Perry has 18 months left in his current term, so he’ll still have a huge political megaphone, appointment power and the ability to call a 30-day special session on any topic at any time. No one watching politics in Texas will be surprised if Perry makes full use of his authority and then some during his remaining time in office.

. . . Perry, who will have been in office for more than 14 years when he departs in January 2015, leaves behind a long and colorful legacy at the helm of state government and the GOP political establishment. A former Texas House member and state agriculture commissioner, Perry was elected lieutenant governor in 1998. He became governor on Dec. 21, 2000, when George W. Bush resigned to become president. Perry is now the longest continuously serving governor in the United States and the longest-serving governor in Texas history by far.

Regarding Article IV officials

Recent news items about the positions established in Article IV of the Texas Constitution:

- The Governor has a new Chief of Staff (see the press release here). The ex-chief, Ann Bishop, has returned to direct the Employment Retirement System of Texas. The new chief, Brandy Marty, has previously worked as Deputy Chief of Staff and as the director of the Budget, Planning and Policy Division within the governor's office.

- The Comptroller is hoping the legislature passes legislation that makes the state's pension systems more transparent. The bill is HB 13, which would make pension information public on the internet and require the Pension Review Board to develop conflict of interest policies for public pension systems.

- The viability of the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Emerging Technology Fund are both being questioned by legislators in the House Committee on Economic and Small Business Development. Representatives from the Governor's office have defended both.

- Governor Perry reappoints Rod Bordelon a commissioner of Worker's Compensation.

1996, the year the Texas Republican Party turned hard right

Paul Burka - from Texas Monthly - explains what happened that year and how. The establishment Republican - and he points out the Bush's and Senator Hutchison specifically, were nudged out of authotitative positions within the state party in favor of social conservatives. It all went down in the 1996 Republican Convention when the governor was no longer designated as the party's chair. State party chair Tom Pauken - who was far more socially conservative than Bush - became chair instead. And the shift in power ensued.

Perry Vetoes Over 20 Bills

Including a ban on texting while driving.

- Story from the Austin American Statesman.
- Announcement from the Governor's Office.

Now the question is whether the legislature, since it is meeting in special session, will claim it has the right to vote to override.

Governor Perry will Head the Republican Governor's Association

From Politico:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be tapped as the new chairman of the Republican Governors Association when the organization meets next week in San Diego, GOP sources tell POLITICO.

Perry recently released a book taking aim at the federal government and both the subject of the tome, “Fed Up!,” and his promotion of it have fueled speculation that he is eyeing a presidential bid.

But his appointment to helm the RGA heading into 2011 — when three states will hold governors’ races — amounts to the first concrete evidence that the Texan is serious when he says he has no interest in pursuing the White House. It would be nearly impossible to raise money for the committee and help direct the gubernatorial contests in Louisiana, Mississippi and Kentucky while running for president.
- Wikipedia: Republican Governors' Association.

How To Become a Regent in Texas

You can start by contributing to Governor Perry's campaign.

This is one of the reasons why some executive agencies in the Texas Constitution were designed to be elected, not appointed. Appointed positions allow for governors to accumulate power.

Texas 2010 Primary Results

Here are a few links to stories about yesterday's primaries. We'll cover these in 2301 primarily, since we're about to discuss elections.

- Gov. Perry defeats Hutchison in Texas GOP primary
- Tea Party activists coming up short in Texas Legislature races
- Lessons From The Texas Republican Primary
- In Texas, It's Perry Vs. White
- Carl Leubsdorf: Is Rick Perry's next race for president?
- Brazoria County Results.
- Harris County Results.
- Results from the Texas Secreatry of State's Office.

Past Divisions in the Texas Democratic Party

From the Texas Tribune: A Brief History of Fraticide.

Few things are uglier that intraparty conflict.

The Stimulus in Texas

Its not being promoted enthusiastically.

Texas State of the State 2009

Rick Perry gave the State of the State address today in Austin

Find the text here.

For coverage, click on this: Perry urges lawmakers to freeze tuition, enact tax reform