The president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility said Gov. Rick Perry correctly wielded his pen this legislative session on the state budget. The governor used his line-item veto authority to cut $288.9 million from the budget, of which $97.2 million came from general revenue spending.
 

Popular wit has us believe there usually isn’t much difference between candidates. It’s sometimes true, but not too often. That became apparent this week as we took at look at the voting records of freshmen legislators compared to the lawmakers they replaced. The impact is striking.

In the case of legislation pending before Gov. Rick Perry, too many friends seem to be fighting a proxy battle on the wrong turf. At issue is whether local schools should be allowed to use dollars allocated for textbooks to purchase electronic texts. Not required, just allowed. The legislation is HB 4294 by State Rep. Dan Branch and some want it vetoed. That’s just not productive.

The Texas Monthly Best & Worst lists are little more than a front for a left-wing ideological agendas. Remember who chooses the Best and Worst: liberal reporters anchored by editor Paul Burka. One of his lead writers, Patricia Kilday Hart, even wrote that the ten-best slots were open for anyone pushing liberal causes.

Hide your wallet, change the locks on the doors and make sure you know where your kids are; the Legislature will be meeting in a special session this summer. What’s so special about it? Looks like just another opportunity for mischief.

Arguing that the Metroplex and other high volume traffic areas do not need answers, and quickly, to major transportation quandaries is an untenable position. Equally untenable is simply hiking taxes and fees on families to fund the same bureaucracies already wasting much of every dollar they are given.

Fort Worth and Dallas are just 30 miles apart, but the attitudes on the opinion pages of the two daily papers might as well be from different planets. Both papers strongly supported the gas tax hike and fee increase plans pushed by government-financed lobbyists. TFR and other groups successfully defeating the measure on the merits, so today’s editorial pages are very revealing.

Ever notice political “courage” is defined only as raising taxes and padding the pockets of special interests? It’s apparently cowardice to actually demand responsibility and integrity, to make hard choices rather than pave problems with patronage. That’s how Republican State Sen. John Carona of Dallas is defining things.

In a blog posting this afternoon, Dallas Morning News editorial writer Rodger Jones admits his position in support of heavy increases on gasoline and new motor vehicle fees isn’t friendly to taxpayers. His admission came in a posting cheering on the pro-tax rally (no doubted funded by taxpayer dollars) that will be attended by Dallas’ mayor at the Capitol on Friday.

Most conservatives have in recent years come to suspect that Texas Monthly’s “Ten Best” legislators list is little more than a compilation of the biggest shills for big government. Now comes proof. In a May 26 posting on the “BurkaBlog,” Texas Monthly writer Patricia Kilday Hart unabashedly advocated for the expansion of the “Children’s Health Insurance Program” and other far-left causes, then suggested supporting such measures would get legislators on the ten-best list.