SAT brief 10.30.21

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Today’s Stories

TEXAS VALUES is receiving pushback after designating a pair of credibly accused adulterers as “Faith and Family Champions.”

Maximum cringe.

For those unaware, this is about an alleged extramarital affair between state representatives Cole Hefner and Lacey Hull. The TL;DR version is that Hull’s 2020 campaign manager went on the record about the affair and provided receipts which can be viewed here (severe content warning).

Defenders of Texas Values will counter that they didn’t have any choice, and the designation reflects no more than votes cast on a legislative scorecard. The argument is heard and rejected.

This set of circumstances exposes a long-running issue with legislative scorecards. Like report cards in grade school, legislative scorecards should reflect letter grades but be accompanied by notes like “disrupts class” or “has issues with authority.”

The Hefner/Hull award controversy comes amidst grassroots frustrations mounting since 2019’s “Save Chick-fil-a'' farce. During that year’s legislative session, Texas lawmakers engaged in legislative clout chasing for the famed sandwich chicken-sandy company.

Claiming to protect the religious liberty of faith-based businesses, the bill, as written, did little beyond closing an obscure government contracting loophole. The measure was so toothless that even the pro-LGBT Human Rights Campaign ridiculed it.

In 2021, lawmakers continued on this trajectory with the do-nothing, equally farcical, “Save Women’s Sports” act discussed previously.

Flavorless salt. Pearls before swine. A Pergamos/Laodicea Church hybrid. Take your pick, they all fit, and none are good.

Texas Values opposed Dade Phelan’s bid to become speaker less than one year ago, yet today they celebrate his chamber’s legislative output. Given this backdrop, the Hefner/Hull award debacle continues a pre-existing trend.

Related: It’s not even a good scorecard

JEFF LEACH is triggered.

A state representative with unwarranted aspirations for higher office, Leach, earlier this week reacted to responses by three Republican candidates for governor on the topic of secession.

None of the politicians appear to have advocated for the move but said they’d support the will of the people of Texas should it be put to the vote and succeed. Two of the three tossed a little cold water in the direction of the question.

Jeff, probably tasked by someone (errand boy style), appears to have spent a good deal of time thinking about the matter. Too bad that effort didn’t translate into a clear and convincing win.

Of course, what makes his gambit hilarious is that it’s been tried before.

In 2009, then-Governor Rick Perry made comments not dissimilar to those which triggered Leach. Then, as now, Perry’s political opponents (Kay Bailey Hutchison style) tried to make political hay out of them. Perry still won.

An argument can be made that the issue will play even better in 2022 with the base than in 2009.

Joe Biden and Merrick Garland are busy locking up grannies who walked around the Capitol in early January and tracking down members of the PTA justifiably upset about crossdressing trans strippers reading to their kids. This is to say nothing of the mess at the border.

Instead of leading, Leach is taking potshots at Texans who believe they’ve run out of options. Further, in 2022 the political right isn’t alone in lusting after sovereignty.

Ahead of the 2020 election, even as COVID was ragging, the political left appeared to be setting up blocs of states ready to bail on the union should their election meddling fail. Recently, progressive leftist comedian Sarah Silverman has suggested it’s time for the U.S. to split.

While most Texans and Americans likely agree the grand experiment should continue, its current configuration is weakened by distrust in too many institutions.

For his part, Leach is a low rent and low ceiling politician. His pet project at the moment is supporting an amendment to the Texas constitution to protect churches from closure.

Leach supports the Governor who shut the churches down in 2020 and a Speaker of the House who fought efforts to limit this abused power in the future. The duplicity is one reason why Leach’s argumentation is uncompelling.

Many American principals are worth fighting for; they are currently being pulled out and tossed aside while inept politicians give hot takes on Twitter and excuse their half-hearted efforts (see the previous item) or, more often, inaction. 

For their parts, Texas and America have gotten better over time and will (given a chance) continue on that course.  However, political pull-string dolls like Leach will need to be purged for that to happen.

The 2020 ELECTION was fundamentally flawed in Texas and nationally. Many of the court rulings before and after appeared to be driven by a desire by the judiciary to move past upheaval and oust President Trump.

Not allowing legitimate claims like the illegal curing of ballots in Pennsylvania and Georgia to be heard adds legitimacy to the suggestion that the election was stolen.

According to what reads like a hostile interview, incoming Secretary of State John Scott has said he will be focused primarily on an audit of the 2020 election in Texas. Not that the result of that process will lead to a different outcome, but it could reveal shortcomings in how the election was conducted.

Conservative activists will need to watch this process to ensure it’s not rushed or insufficiently rigorous.

Scott, in his sit down with the Tribune, did what lawyers do, parsed words. It’s unlikely to make him friends on either side of the aisle. 

There’s a consensus among most polled Americans that the 2020 election was flawed and that the outcome is untrustworthy. This can’t happen again if the union is to survive (see the previous item).

TEXAS MONTHLY finds zero impact on tech industry employment from Texas implementation of socially conservative policies.  Duh.  This was always the case, but it’s still funny that it catches legacy media by surprise.

Hit the Links

Early Boomer retirements part of labor shortage

Youngkin is likely performing better than polls say

Biden flies to Europe as domestic agenda crashes and burns

Thanks for reading

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