Burnt Orange Report

Phillip:

Another good one is this "Memo to Mehlman" from the DMN last Sunday.

"Memo to Mehlman ...

08:35 AM CDT on Saturday, August 20, 2005

To: Ken Mehlman, National GOP Chairman

From: Dallas Morning News Editorial Board

Re: Texas Republican Party

Pardon our butting in, but there's a problem you need to address down here.

Your party's leaders are brawling like gunslingers. If word gets out that Republicans can't govern in the reddest of red states, how can they govern anywhere?

In case you missed it, the Republican speaker of the Texas House recently took out radio ads dissing the GOP Senate for its stands on funding schools. Before that, he and the Republican lieutenant governor duked it out during four consecutive legislative sessions over how to fund schools. Part of the fight was about honest differences, but your party has controlled the House, Senate and Governor's Mansionduring that entire time, and it hasn't done a lick for Texas school kids.

The situation has grown so bad that some Seriously Important Republicans are wondering what's happening. Former Texas GOP Chairman Fred Meyer, who helped build the state party, sounded off in our newspaper about how frustrated he was about his party's handling of Texas' government. He called the situation "ridiculous." Collin County Judge Ron Harris, who heads Texas' fastest-growing suburb, has decried Austin's inability to solve the crisis. You hear rumblings like this all around the state.

And then there's the governor's race. Your party's heading toward a huge blowout in its March primary now that the Republican comptroller is challenging the Republican incumbent.

If Republicans want to govern states with large Hispanic and black populations, they need to do a better job than they're doing in Texas. We know you care about this. It was just last month that you addressed the NAACP convention in Milwaukee and apologized for the so-called Southern strategy, when Republicans years ago used the hostility of the civil rights era to pit Southern conservatives against blacks.

As head of the national party, you need to pay attention to Texas. It's not pretty, especially with 2006 elections on the horizon. You can hear the ads now:

Republicans can't even govern George W. Bush's home state.

We recommended some of these leaders for office, and we're beginning to wonder why. If something doesn't change, Republicans are going to have a tough time explaining why they should govern here – and elsewhere."

The only "bipartisanship" at work with Crabapple and Dewdrop was what appears to have been a concerted effort to block any real education reform and in particular any real education funding. They apparently don't like Perry and wanted him to look bad. Rumor was Dewhurst was mulling entering the race for Kay Bailey Hutchison's seat in the Senate. Rumor is he may be mulling entering the race for governor. Craddick apparently just likes being where he is. And apparently won't be there much longer. They made themselves look bad in the end. He doesn't look too good either but at least he can claim he took some action on his own. They cannot.

They forgot that they were called into special session after special session after special session after special session to do what they refused to do. Address the needs of our children. Instead they were only interested in addressing the needs of the special interests who wanted to pay nothing as always towards anything.

The only one who seems to "get it" unfortunately is Rick Perry. The only solution to the mess in our public schools, in addition to the lack of any real "accountability" on the part of local districts which he seems to have addressed with the stroke of a pen, is equitable funding from equitable taxation. Perry wanted equitable taxation. And that is in his own words in print. Dewdrop and Craddick did not. What it comes down to. But for the most part neither did the legislature.

The real solution is to get rid of the majority of the legislature. That includes most of the Republicans and some of the Democrats.

We also need a governor who can lead. A stroke of a pen does not a good governor make. But we also need a legislature that can override a veto when need be. That is what you call true government at work. But first you have to have a government that serves the people. Not the special interests. Even with Kinky Friedman as governor you are still going to have a problem with the legislature. We need a new governor and a new legislature.

And the legislature is where Charles Soechting needs to focus his efforts and the efforts of the party.

I don't see why, if the Republicans insist on only pushing nonsense tax bills that do nothing to actually raise money an education, there's any point for any Democrats or rural Republicans to vote to raise taxes. If there was a plan for the money, then that's one thing. But there was no plan. And despite whatever Perry might have said in print, he sure as hell didn't encourage a lot of bipartisanship.

Perry may have great quotes, but he submitted an education plan that got laughed out of the House. Even Republicans weren't supporting it, especially when, after announcing his plan, Perry didn't stay in Austin, but went out around the state touting his plan.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3328079

"But first you have to have a government that serves the people. Not the special interests."

As I said, Perry looks very good. Everyone else looks very bad. Dewdrop in particular. Complaining about the lobbyists after the fact doesn't say much except he lost and wants to divert attention from him and Crabapple. Reality is the lobbyists won. And Perry took a pen and pulled a public relations coup. He may have pulled a political coup. Or he may have committed political suicide.

Of course if he really wanted to take a stand, he might have followed his own precedence and suggested that the businesses who don't want to pay their taxes in Texas should find someplace else to do business. May happen yet. I'm not holding my breath.

There are Democratic things and Republican things and just plain old money things. And our government for the most part across the board has become just a money thing. We simply don't matter anymore. Only the corporations.

But we do have the votes. Time to throw most of the bums out of office. Especially the ones in Austin. All of them.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3327107

I absolutely agree with you about the fact the funding itself was not increased. Just the same, I suspect most of the larger districts like HISD could benefit from a watchdog state agency making them account for every penny and staying within a mandated budget that guaranteed a certain percentage of funding went to the clasroom itself although that in itself can quickly become a can of worms. Define "in the classroom."

Reality is they're all to blame. Because at the end of the day, and at the end of each successive special session, only the special interest groups mattered. Not our children.