For his responsible leadership in Collin County, Keith Self is being attacked for being too fiscally conservative. In these troubling economic times, it’s hard to imagine that that’s an effective criticism. Self is running for a second term at the helm of a county which is one of the most prosperous and growing in the nation, thanks in part to his even-handed leadership. His Republican primary challenger, meanwhile, apparently believes residents are not taxed enough.

Austin restaurateur Marc Katz was finally able to toss his hat in the ring for lieutenant governor as a Democrat after being stymied months back by a complete lack of understanding about Texas election laws. He says his campaign “millions” from out-of-state relatives. We can only hope!

Austin Police Officers will have to abide by the “Texting While Driving” ban but not really. Police officers will be allowed to email (notice they use email not text) using semantics to avoid a law everyone else will be ticketed for come Friday.

KLBJ radio Austin reported yesterday that in 2009, there were 129 serious crashes in Austin that had cell phone usage as a factor. Interestingly some of the collisions involved Austin police officers.

The City of Austin is ending a rebate program subsidizing the installation of water efficient toilets in apartments and businesses. Similar to the city’s push for solar panel installation, this potty initiative has overflowed the budget.

Houston haircare billionaire Farouk Shami is focusing on one issue at this early point in his Democrat gubernatorial bid; jobs. This focus is fine, Texas does need more jobs, but the path Shami wants to take will not lead to job creation but job destruction.
 

The Lubbock newspaper has reported that democrat state rep. Joe Heflin is going to have a Republican opponent. This is hardly news since David Andrews of Jones County has openly been running for some time. What may be news is who else gets in the GOP race for the seat long occupied by Pete “Pay-in-Cash” Laney.

After failing to push a gas tax and fee increase through last legislative session Tarrant County officials are foolishly pushing for an even larger tax and fee package.

Potter County officials may have spent too much time researching the object of their latest desire. Exposure to heavy fumes is the only way one can reasonably explain the purchase of $450 per gallon paint.

Just received the new “Fiscal Notes” from the Texas Comptroller, which is this month highlighting the growth of small business in Texas. The number of self-employed Texans rose 2 percent last year, while self-employed Americans overall dropped 2 percent.

Lots of emails are popping up around the state making ludicrous charges about the propositions on the Texas constitutional amendment election. Apparently some hope it’s easier to peddle irrational fear than be bothered with reality. Facts are pesky things, and the facts are that taxpayers have a lot to gain by three of the amendments — which might explain who is behind the misinformation campaign.