THU brief 12.2.21
Welcome to the brief. If you were forwarded this email, be sure to sign up (hint: there’s a button below). Upon further review, the first nine days of this month are a palindrome (but none as pretty as the first and second).
Today’s Stories
GEORGE P. BUSH has released lists of “South” and West Texas supporters. In no particular order, here are some observations.
Former State Representative Doug Miller praises P’s “integrity.” Miller, who lost the HD-73 seat to Kyle Biedermann in 2016, ended that race by attempting to imply...really bad stuff. So bad that we don’t want to repeat it.
Utterances of integrity from Miller ring hollow. See the following endorsement for “integrity” and gross sex stuff.
Senator Charles Schwertner (i.e., this guy).
Commissioner Chuck Statler, of Taylor county (i.e., Abilene), former president of the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas (Read: taxpayer-funded lobbyists.)
Ambassador Sichan Siv was, apparently, a state department official under 41 and a U.N. official under Dubya. He has a distinct spook vibe, and if not an explicit “company man,” he’s deep state of some sort.
According to a 2008 interview with Texas Monthly, Siv came to the U.S. from Cambodia in the late 1970s. Mr. Siv might have a compelling life story, but we find it difficult to trust anyone who came out of that time and region who’s politically aligned with the Bushes.
Some of the messaging accompanying Bush endorsements come at Governor Abbott’s expense. The above endorsements came alongside one from the National Border Patrol Council insisting:
We must secure the border immediately, restore law and order, and stop Joe Biden’s radical federal overreach in our state.
The border was mentioned in four of the endorsements. Read you loud and clear P. Bush, Abbott has failed to secure the border.
In a radio interview this morning, Bush suggested Congressman Louie Gohmert joining the race would bring comic relief. It will undoubtedly be a more exciting race with Gohmert, but the comedic value may come at Bush’s expense if Gohmert bumps the baby Bush into third place. (AC)
JARED PATTERSON is floating a trial balloon aimed at tossing cold water on the escalating drumbeat for a special session to deal with vaccine mandates leading to Texans losing their jobs.
Suggesting this isn’t an emergency, one that ought to be left to the courts, is clownish. The timing of Patterson’s test is telling and appears to be linked to the Governor.
Patterson’s gambit was run alongside a joint filing of an amicus brief by Texans for Responsible Government a new PAC operating with a $1M loan from Michael Porter of Doss, Texas, according to Transparency USA.
The Porter’s are best known for dropping million-dollar donations on Governor Abbott.
WAYNE CHRISTIAN is pushing back against media distortions of recent decisions by the Texas Railroad Commission.
Over the weekend, the Houston Chronicle published an editorial claiming the railroad commission allowed natural gas producers to escape weatherization requirements by paying $150. This sleight of hand conflates unrelated decisions, which Christian explains in detail in the piece linked above.
While there are many grounds to criticize the Governor, Lite guv, Speaker, and legislature over the grid, charges against the Railroad commission aren’t being leveled in good faith.
This dispute with the media comes at a politically advantageous time for Christian, whose Railroad commission seat is on the ballot this cycle. (AC)
The TEXAS GOP has announced a candidate recruitment drive across South Texas, including Jim Wells County. The perfect irony would be Jim Wells county flipping by 87 votes. (AC)
FOUR TEXAS REPUBLICANS, in Congress, have joined Nancy Pelosi in voting to establish a national vaccination database.
Michael Burgess, Dan Crenshaw, John Carter, and Michael McCaul were the offenders. This isn’t the first time those four have had a conflict with conservatives. It’s unlikely to be the last, either.
Pat Fallon and Van Taylor, who have come under fire in recent months, voted no. (AC)
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