January 12, 2005
On The "Surplus" and Jones
By Andrew Dobbs
Yesterday was a busy day in Texas politics with the commencement of the 79th legislative session, the announcement that we have a surplus (or maybe not) and the appointment of Rep. Elizabeth Ames Jones (R-Alamo Heights) to fill a vacancy on the Texas Railroad Commission. A little more should be said about each. I have a good vantage point here at the State Party, and as always nothing I say should be interpreted as representing the positions of the State Party, its staff, contractors, Chairman or other officers.
Let's begin with the surplus. Perry is tooting his own horn claiming that we have more than $6 billion more in state coffers than this time 2 years ago. That much is true, but to keep our stripped down services running at the same level with population increases since 2003, we would need about $5.6 billion of that money- leaving us with a rather paltry $400 million surplus (less than 1% of the entire budget). Perry claims that he wants to overhaul Child Protective Services and school finance. CPS alone would devour the surplus, leaving nothing for schools or restoring some of the more draconian cuts in 2003- still requiring some tax reform. The San Antonio Express News editorial board called him out today for "misleading" Texans with his statements, and Carole Keeton Strayhorn claimed that our problem isn't a budget shortfall but a "leadership shortfall" on the part of the governor. So don't start getting excited yet- we don't have enough to do the things Perry et. al have already promised to do- new taxes or budget cuts are on the table.
And in the Elizabeth Ames Jones affair, it is true that her district is largely Republican and it will be an uphill battle one way or the other. But its very nature is encouraging several Republicans to run- all of whom will surely be sniping at one another- and at least one Democrat (whose name I can't talk about quite yet- I'll have it later this week at the latest) has enough credibility in the district to make a real run at it. The deck is stacked against us by GOP gerrymanderers, but let's just say that the district isn't a total wash for us. Keep your eyes on BOR for all your updates!
Just thought I should throw all of that out there, and like I said- keep up with Burnt Orange Report for all your Texas political news!
Posted by Andrew Dobbs at January 12, 2005 12:33 PM
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Reuters is reporting "another" surplus. It reported that the US government ran a $1B budget surplus in December, helped by a rise in corporate tax payments. The surplus compares with an $18B deficit for the previous year. Again this is not what Democrats were telling us a few months ago. All was bad, our President was taking us in the wrong direction. Must be some more of that "misleading" Democrats like to take about.
misleading, kinda like those weapons of mass destruction that we officially gave up looking for today.
Are we supposed to be impressed that there was a $1 billion surplus for the month of December, which is the busiest shopping month of the year? Sales of iPods alone probably accounted for it.
Take a look at the budget surplus for FY 2004, oh wait, there wasn't one. In terms of real dollars, we are still running the biggest budget deficits in history. Congress is anticipating that the White House is going to ask for another $100 billion dollars in supplemental funding for Iraq and Afghanistan that won't even be reflected in the official budget.
So yeah, things are still running in the wrong direction.
Just like I said, y'all used that word whenever you weren't using the word lied. Both words didn't apply. We found out later that they weren't there. No misleading. Except maybe the Iraqi's.
That's sooo clever I almost forgot to laugh. But it's not really funny. It's sad.
I believe Former Democratic Supreme Court Justice Rose Spector is looking at getting into the race. Hasn't announced anything. She grew up and still lives in Alamo Heights. She is a credible candidate in another one of those 40-44% DPI districts.
Rose Spector? Wow. THAT'd be a race.
