I had the pleasure of sharing a podium last night with Robin Armstrong, vice chairman of the Texas Republican Party. We were speaking at an event in Horseshoe Bay (Llano County).

A practicing physcian (and a fellow graduate of Texas A&M), Robin has risen quickly in GOP's inside politics. His comments were refreshingly strong, focusing on the need for our elected officials to return to the core principles of the conservative movement that excite the grassroots.

State Rep. Jim Pitts should be ashamed of his bald-faced hypocrisy. Jim Pitts is saying tonight that he is voting against the budget on the grounds that it represents an irresponsible jump in state spending, and criticizes it for being laden with pork.

This begs a response. The proposed budget increases the size of government about 9 percent, while the budget Jim Pitts shepherded through the process, when he chaired House Appropriations, increased state spending 18.7 percent.

That porky smell emanating from the Capitol arises from many quarters, but Mr. Pitts' office would surely have to be one the smelliest. He's never lifted a finger to reduce spending or cut the size of government. He should be ashamed.

Late last night the Texas Senate unanimously passed House Bill 3430, which gives Texas' taxpayers the ability to monitor spending and ensure tax dollars are being well-spent. This legislation marks a great milestone for fiscal accountability in Texas and across the country.

State Rep. Mark Strama and his colleagues in the House, and State Sen. Glenn Hegar and the other members of the Senate, along with both Speaker Tom Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, are to be congratulated for opening the state's expenditures, grants and contracts to healthy scrutiny and important sunlight. Having this transparency in spending is good for all Texans.

Thousands of Texans directed letters and phone calls to their legislators this Session, asking for this legislation to be enacted. Those efforts have paid off in moving the legislation unanimously through both chambers; now we wait for a conference committee to finalize the legislation before it is adopted by the governor.

The Senate this evening finally passed House Bill 735, legislation that represents one of the largest tax cuts in Texas history. The House version had the tax cut going into effect immediately, but the Senate opted to keep taking the tax for one more year. This is a tax, by the way, which was supposed to have gone away years ago; it had completed its statutory purpose but lawmakers decided they liked getting the money and refused to follow through on the promise to abolish it.

With just 10 days left in the legislative session, time is running out. On the one hand, that is a good thing – less time for bad things to get done. On the other, it’s less time for good things to be accomplished. Either way, the clock is ticking. Here are some important items pending in the Senate…

When the moderate to liberal editorial board of the San Antonio Express-News blasts ostensibly conservative Republican Senate leaders for not getting rid of an outrageous tax, something is seriously wrong in Austin.  That is what happened earlier this week.