Texas law prevents building on the public beach, but in the chaotic final hours of the legislative session state Rep. Wayne Christian helped craft an amendment that exempts an unlikely piece of land from existing law: his own beachfront property.
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Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson has asked Gov. Rick Perry to veto the bill containing the amendment. The bill has not yet crossed the governor's desk, and he will not make a decision until he sees it, said Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger.
"I don't think building houses on the beach, with the waters of the Gulf beneath them, is a good idea or good public policy," Patterson said.
If the governor signs the bill, Patterson vowed that he would not enforce the amendment. "My option is just to say, 'Screw you, Wayne Christian,' because the Legislature didn't pass this, one guy passed this," he said. Patterson said the Legislature would have to impeach him if lawmakers wanted the provision enforced.
The amendment was approved Monday, the last day of the legislative session, as part of a bill extending homestead exemptions to homes destroyed by Hurricane Ike until they can be rebuilt.
The actual amendment was authored by Rep. Mike "Tuffy" Hamilton, R-Mauriceville. According to Rep. Christian, who approved of the amendment, a grand total of 12 people (him and some of his neighbors) would be able to take advantage of this exception. Christian's original vacation house was swept away by Hurricane Ike and was assessed at over $185,000; now it's value is just $100. It's not like he's rebuilding his homestead- we're talking about a vacation house. An exception for rebuilding a vacation house for a state representative and 12 other people.
Do read the full story which details the specific carving out of the language done for the amendment to narrowly apply to Christian and his dozen friends as well as the multiple times the idea died, passed, was stripped out, and inserted into various bills during the session. It's quite the story.
The Travis County District Attorney's office -- in addition to the traditional work all DA offices compelte -- is in charge with investigating the wrongdoings of elected officials in Texas. For the past six years or so, Texas Republicans have given the Travis County DA's office plenty to examine -- most prominently, Tom Delay's cyphering of corporate money into TX State House races.
Now, Republican lawmakers want to limit the scope of power of the Travis County DA's office. From the website Texas Watchdog:
Indeed, the Center Republican has ties to DeLay and his co-defendant and one-time associate John Colyandro. In addition, former District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who hastened the end of DeLay’s political career and indicted Colyandro, also named Christian in an indictment of the Texas Association of Business for violating campaign finance laws. Naturally, some of DeLay’s critics are now wary over Christian’s true motives: Does he want good government? Or does he want to get back at the lawyer who publicly embarrassed his friend?
Rep. Christian does not have a history of good government -- he has a history of partisan hackery.
More on this legislation as it moves through the legislative process...
(It isn't the Libertarians' fault, it's the fault of a failed Republican Party platform. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Smells like Republican desperation:
Austin American-Statesman: A former Republican state representative called three Libertarian Party candidates for the state House on Friday to request that they drop out of their races rather than take votes from their Republican opponents.
Suzanna Hupp, who represented District 54 in Central Texas for 10 years, said she made the calls Friday because of concerns that the Libertarian candidates would take Republican votes and ultimately give Democrats control over state and national seats.
"The fact is, we've got redistricting coming up in a few years," said Hupp, from Lampasas, who served in the House from 1997 to 2007, "and if the Republicans lose the (Texas) House of Representatives because there are a handful of people mad at them and vote for the Libertarians instead, then we could be in big trouble at the federal level."
One day later, though, she could only recall two of the three districts (HD-64, incumbent Crownover, and HD-9, incumbent Christian) where she made calls to the Lib candidates asking them to quit.
(Again great stuff from RBH. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Using the data on the election analysis page (for 2004, I'll update slightly when the 2006 data is posted), here are the 7 Republicans who are in the bluest districts.
Haggerty (HD78), Murphy (HD133), Goolsby (HD102), England (HD106), Harper-Brown (HD105), Latham (HD101), and Branch (HD108).
Haggerty hasn't been challenged by a Democrat since 1998. He was almost unseated in the primary though.
Murphy and Latham are freshmen. Murphy won with 56%. Latham beat an incumbent in the primary and didn't face a Democrat.
Goolsby won with 52%, England won with 49%, Brown won with 55%, and Branch won with 56%.
