Local
Court Freezes Plans to Censure 2 Round Rock ISD Board Members
“We will continue to relentlessly advocate for these children.”
Round Rock ISD Seeks to Censure Pro-Transparency Board Members
The Round Rock ISD school board will hold a special meeting on Wednesday.
Jones: Who Does Keller ISD’s School Board Serve?
Keller is a deeply conservative city, yet no one would ever know it from our school board.
Exclusive Interview: Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Chad West Says City Isn’t Defunding Police
In Part 2 of this interview, the District 1 Dallas City Council member answers more questions about his budget amendment.
Local Archive
How much to keep Hollywood away?
The Austin American Statesman is calling on lawmakers to enact a slush fund that would attract more Hollywood liberals to Texas. What's not to love about that? They are particularly appalled by the idea that Friday Night Lights (a low-rated show about Texas high...
Shenandoah Texas May Set Record for Per Capita Cost of Taxpayer-Funded Lobbyists
The Houston Chronicle recently reported that the town of Shenandoah Texas has hired taxpayer-funded lobbyists for $30,000 this session. At first blush, this is not shocking since our friends at Americans for Prosperity-Texas have estimated that governmental entities...
Lubbock Paper Calls for Surplus to be Returned to Taxpayers
Once in a while the mainstream media hits the nail on the head and such is the case with a staff editorial in today's Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. This piece enclosed below in no uncertain terms urges the Legislature to return the surplus to taxpayers. Further, it...
Only in Austin…
Governor Perry had a great line reported in the state's media outlets:Â Â Â Â Â Â "Only in Austin and Washington would returning $8 billion to citizens be considered spending."That's a great point. The state's spending cap was called the...
Dewhurst Questions Existence & Return of Surplus, But More Tax Cuts Now Can Help Avert Future Economic Slowdown
Speaking at a Capitol news conference yesterday, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said "We don't have a 14.3 billion dollar surplus." He asserted that "when you look at promised property tax cuts out to 2011, we're looking at a balanced budget with just...
Taxpayers vs. Spending Addicts in Abilene
The Abilene Reporter-News has a revealing piece today discussing how Abilene taxpayers support revenue and appraisal caps while local officials are frightened by the prospect. The most eye-opening quote is:Taylor County Commissioner Chuck Statler likened the...
Texas Taxpayer Funded Lobbying & Blogging
The Galveston Daily News reported this month that the board of the Galveston Independent School District voted to pay the Austin consulting firm Moak, Casey & Associates up to $15,000 to lobby the Texas Education Agency (TEA) on their behalf. The specific...
Sen. Carona would rather do the wrong thing… on taxes?
State Senator John Carona (R-Dallas) is quoted by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as saying that he'd rather "something wrong than do nothing." The sad thing is that in this case, the "wrong thing" he'd rather do is raise local taxes to pay for more wasteful mass transit...
Houston Chronicle notes TFR
The Houston Chronicle's Janet Elliott noted in her blog this week the creation of TFR.December 05, 2006Too much of a good thingReturning the state budget surplus to taxpayers will be job one for a newly formed advocacy group. Texans for Fiscal Responsibility,...