tex2 bak

texas2918

format mesed up

...Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence wright examines the history, culture, and politics of the Lone Star state.

2 diff pgms?

https://www.c-span.org/video/?449746-20/lawrence-wright-discusses-god-save-texas

PORT ARTHUR, Texas (AP) — As the nation plans new defenses against the more powerful storms and higher tides expected from climate change, one project stands out: an ambitious proposal to build a nearly 60-mile “spine” of concrete seawalls, earthen barriers, floating gates and steel levees on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Like other oceanfront projects, this one would protect homes, delicate ecosystems and vital infrastructure, but it also has another priority — to shield some of the crown jewels of the petroleum industry, which is blamed for contributing to global warming and now wants the federal government to build safeguards against the consequences of it.

The plan is focused on a stretch of coastline that runs from the Louisiana border to industrial enclaves south of Houston that are home to one of the world’s largest concentrations of petrochemical facilities, including most of Texas’ 30 refineries, which represent 30 percent of the nation’s refining capacity.

Texas is seeking at least $12 billion for the full coastal spine, with nearly all of it coming from public funds. Last month, the government fast-tracked an initial $3.9 billion for three separate, smaller storm barrier projects that would specifically protect oil facilities.

That followed Hurricane Harvey, which roared ashore last Aug. 25 and swamped Houston and parts of the coast, temporarily knocking out a quarter of the area’s oil refining capacity and causing average gasoline prices to jump 28 cents a gallon nationwide. Many Republicans argue that the Texas oil projects belong at the top of Washington’s spending list.

“Our overall economy, not only in Texas but in the entire country, is so much at risk from a high storm surge,” said Matt Sebesta, a Republican who as Brazoria County judge oversees a swath of Gulf Coast.

But the idea of taxpayers around the country paying to protect refineries worth billions, and in a state where top politicians still dispute climate change’s validity, doesn’t sit well with some.

“The oil and gas industry is getting a free ride,” said Brandt Mannchen, a member of the Sierra Club’s executive committee in Houston. “You don’t hear the industry making a peep about paying for any of this and why should they? There’s all this push like, ‘Please Senator Cornyn, Please Senator Cruz, we need money for this and that.’”

Normally outspoken critics of federal spending, Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz both backed using taxpayer funds to fortify the oil facilities’ protections and the Texas coast. Cruz called it “a tremendous step forward.”

Federal, state and local money is also bolstering defenses elsewhere, including on New York’s Staten Island, around Atlantic City, New Jersey, and in other communities hammered by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

Construction in Texas could begin in several months on the three sections of storm barrier. While plans are still being finalized, some dirt levees will be raised to about 17 feet high, and 6 miles of 19-foot-tall floodwalls would be built or strengthened around Port Arthur, a Texas-Louisiana border locale of pungent chemical smells and towering knots of steel pipes.

The town of 55,000 includes the Saudi-controlled Motiva oil refinery, the nation’s largest, as well as refineries owned by oil giants Valero Energy Corp. and Total S.A. There are also almost a dozen petrochemical facilities.

“You’re looking at a lot of people, a lot of homes, but really a lot of industry,” said Steve Sherrill, an Army Corps of Engineers resident engineer in Port Arthur, as he peered over a Gulf tributary lined with chunks of granite and metal gates, much of which is set to be reinforced.

The second barrier project features around 25 miles of new levees and seawalls in nearby Orange County, where Chevron, DuPont and other companies have facilities. The third would extend and heighten seawalls around Freeport, home to a Phillips 66 export terminal for liquefied natural gas and nearby refinery, as well as several chemical facilities.

The proposals approved for funding originally called for building more protections along larger swaths of the Texas coast, but they were scaled back and now deliberately focus on refineries.

“That was one of the main reasons we looked at some of those areas,” said Tony Williams, environmental review coordinator for the Texas Land Commissioner’s Office.

Oil and chemical companies also pushed for more protection for surrounding communities to shield their workforces, but “not every property can be protected,” said Sheri Willey, deputy chief of project management for the Army Corps of Engineers’ upper Texas district.

“Our regulations tell us what benefits we need to include, and they have to be national economic benefits,” Willey said.

Once work is complete on the three sections, they could eventually be integrated into a larger coastal spine system. In some places along Texas’ 370-mile Gulf Coast, 18 feet is lost annually to erosion, threatening to suck more wetlands, roads and buildings into rising seas.

Protecting a wide expanse will be expensive. After Harvey, a special Texas commission prepared a report seeking $61 billion from Congress to “future proof” the state against such natural disasters, without mentioning climate change, which scientists say will cause heavier rains and stronger storms.

Texas has not tapped its own rainy day fund of around $11 billion. According to federal rules, 35 percent of funds spent by the Army Corps of Engineers must be matched by local jurisdictions, and the GOP-controlled state Legislature could help cover such costs. But such spending may be tough for many conservatives to swallow.

Texas “should be funding things like this itself,” said Chris Edwards, an economist at the libertarian Cato Institute. “Texans are proud of their conservatism, but, unfortunately, when decisions get made in Washington, that frugality goes out the door.”

State officials counter that protecting the oil facilities is a matter of national security.

The effects of the next devastating storm could be felt nationwide,” Rep. Randy Weber, a fiercely conservative Republican from suburban Houston who has nonetheless authored legislation backing the coastal spine.

Major oil companies did not return messages seeking comment on funding for the projects. But Suzanne Lemieux, midstream group manager for the American Petroleum Institute, said the industry already pays into programs such as the federal Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund and the Waterways Trust Fund, only to see Congress divert that money elsewhere.

“Do we want to pay again, when we’ve already paid a tax without it getting used? I’d say the answer is no,” she said.

Phillips 66 and other energy firms spent money last year lobbying Congress on storm-related funding post-Harvey, campaign finance records show, and Houston’s Lyondell Chemical Co. PAC lobbied for building a coastal spine.

“The coastal spine benefits more than just our industry,” Bob Patel, CEO of LyondellBasell, one of the world’s largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies, said in March. “It really needs to be a regional effort.”

WOW, 1st state tag denier

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX-01)

Climate change denier

"Apparently this climate change was global freezing back in the 1970s. Then global warming and then, when it quit warming, now it's climate change."

[The Washington Times]

Call him: (903) 561-6349 | Email him

Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX-02)

Climate change denier

"The consensus has been for some time that global warming, climate change, continues because man is the perpetrator. Now we are beginning to learn that may not be true, that there is not a consensus that there is global warming or climate change."

[Congressional Record]

Call him: (281) 446-0242 | Email him

Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX-03)

Poor climate change voting record

Introduced the Wasteful EPA Programs Elimination Act of 2015 (H.R. 2111), which would eliminate funding for the Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of greenhouse gases, and terminate "all existing grant programs of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), its National Clean Diesel Campaign, and its environmental justice programs."

"American taxpayers certainly don't need to be paying for the EPA's empty and unused buildings and its wasteful programs."

[Sam Johnson, Congressman for the 3rd District of Texas]

Call him: (469) 304-0382 | Email him

Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX-04)

Poor climate change voting record

"I do not support congressional action to reduce the output of greenhouse gasses."

[Voter guide]

Call him: (903) 823-3173 | Email him

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX-05)

Poor climate change voting record

Voted in support of S.J. Res. 24, a "resolution of disapproval" under the Congressional Review Act that would nullify the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan—the first nation-wide limit on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, and key climate change policy.

[League of Conservation Voters]

Call him: (214) 349-9996 | Email him

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX-06)

Climate change denier

"I don't deny that the climate is changing. I think you can have an honest difference of opinion on what's causing that change without automatically being either all-in that it's all because of mankind or it's all just natural. I think there's a divergence of evidence. I would point out if you're a believer in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change. And that certainly wasn't because mankind overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy."

[Raw Story]

Call him: (817) 543-1000 | Email him

Rep. John Culberson (R-TX-07)

Climate change denier

"This week the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided that the air we exhale, carbon dioxide, is toxic and poses a danger to our well-being. The EPA plans to use this 'endangerment' finding to issue costly new emissions regulations on Americans – once again putting Washington in charge. This deeply undemocratic process is an arrogant attempt by the Obama Administration to enact by regulation what they could not pass through the people's Congress. Such a disturbing and cynical effort to take away your voice should cause all Americans to stop and wonder 'what is next?'"

[US Congressman John Culberson]

Call him: (713) 682-8828 | Email him

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX-08)

Climate change denier

"Climategate reveals a serious lack of integrity in the underlying data and models, such that it is doubtful that any process can be trusted until the data and models are validated and their integrity assured."

[Environmental Protection Agency]

Call him: (936) 441-5700 | Email him

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX-10)

Poor climate change voting record

Voted in support of the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011 (H.R. 910), which relied on climate change denial to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions—additionally excluding carbon dioxide from the definition of "air pollutant"—as a means to prevent further global warming and harm to human health.

Call him: (512) 473-2357 | Email him

Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-TX-11)

Poor climate change voting record

Call him: (325) 247-2826 | Email him

Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX-12)

Poor climate change voting record

[League of Conservation Voters]

Call her: (817) 338-0909 | Email her

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX-13)

Climate change denier

"Any decisions we make should be based on sound science rather than political, social or personal profit agendas. No computer model yet has correctly predicted the Earth's actual temperatures. We simply do not understand enough about the causes and effects related to our weather. Yet, some in Washington continue to push for new regulations and added taxes based upon those flawed models."

[USA Today]

Call him: (806) 371-8844 | Email him

Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX-14)

Climate change denier

"I may want to get your cell phone, because if we go through cycles of global warming and then back to global cooling, I need to know when to buy my long coat on sale. I just don't know how y'all prove those hypotheses going back fifty, hundred, what you might say is thousands if not millions of years, and then postulate those forward."

[The Huffington Post]

Call him: (409) 835-0108 | Email him

Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX-17)

Climate change denier

"It is time we stopped putting petty politics based on dubious "agenda-driven, scientific" research ahead of creating more American energy. We literally have hundreds of years of energy resources under our feet and below our waters waiting to be produced with safe, environmentally sound practices – we just need the will of Congress to change so we can begin developing more of our own oil, natural gas, oil shale, clean coal, and geothermal resources."

[Bill Flores for Congress]

Call him: (254) 732-0748 | Email him

Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX-19)

Climate change denier

Regarding man-made climate change, "Mr. Arrington said the facts fall both ways, so he's not yet convinced," according to a local voter guide.

[Abilene Reporter-News]

Call him: (325) 675 - 9779 | Email him

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX-21)

Climate change denier

"I believe climate change is due to a combination of factors, including natural cycles, sun spots and human activity. But scientists still don't know for certain how much each of these factors contributes to the overall climate change that the Earth is experiencing."

[mySA]

Call him: 210-821-5024 | Email him

Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX-22)

Climate change denier

"I mean, I've said over and over our climate is changing, that's been a fact since God created the Earth. The problem is right now we don't know how much man is making that change happen. So let's take a deep breath and do some studies, and then do some studies about water, because right now all the studies are on land around cities. Let's diversify, actually see what's happening to our planet, see what we can control and not control. Again, I am not this—well, let's just say I disagree with the president's attack on people who just question his motives, because this is not so much for the world, this is politics."

[E&E News]

Call him: (281) 889-7134| Email him

Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX-23)

Poor climate change voting record

[League of Conservation Voters]

Call him: (830) 422-2040 | Email him

Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-TX-24)

Poor climate change voting record

Vowed to oppose all legislation pertaining to climate change "that includes a net increase in government revenue," by signing the No Climate Tax pledge in 2010.

Call him: (972) 556-0162 | Email him

Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX-25)

Poor climate change voting record

Voted in support of an amendment to the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2015 (H.R. 4923), which would prohibit federal agencies from using funds "to design, implement, administer or carry out specified assessments regarding climate change."

Call him: (512) 473-8910 | Email him

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX-26)

Climate change denier

"My opinion, for what it is worth, is that the science behind global temperature changes is not settled. And the fact that we have this panel of experts in front of us today, who, I suspect at some point, will disagree with each other, is indicative of that."

[Committee on Energy and Commerce record]

Call him: (940) 497-5031 | Email him

Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX-27)

Climate change denier

"Global warming is scare tactic used by groups with a political agenda. While I support protecting the environment, the green agenda pushes it way beyond common sense, with ideas like cap and trade which would destroy American industry."

[Black Farenthold, Congress]

Call him: (361) 884-2222 | Email him

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28)

Poor climate change voting record

[League of Conservation Voters]

Call him: (956) 725-0639 | Email him

Rep. John Carter (R-TX-31)

Climate change denier

"Global warming is simply a chicken-little scheme to use mass media and government propaganda to convince the world that destruction of individual liberties and national sovereignty is necessary to save mankind, and that the unwashed masses would destroy themselves without the enlightened global dictatorship of these frauds.

We do face a global threat. But it is not global warming, it is global tyranny from this crowd of liars – the Warmers."

[Congressman John Carter]

Call him: (512) 246-1600 | Email him

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX-32)

Poor climate change voting record

[League of Conservation Voters]

Call him: (972) 392-0505 | Email him

Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX-36)

Poor climate change voting record

[League of Conservation Voters]

Call him: (832) 780-0966 | Email him

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)

Climate change denier

"Taxpayer funded research by NASA and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) concerning the warmest years on record has been the subject of dispute and after challenges, has been changed and re-released. What is less known is why the changes were made and what inherent flaws existed in the original data, if any."

[John Cornyn, United States Senator for Texas]

Call him: (713) 572-3337 | Email him

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

Climate change denier

"The last 15 years, there has been no recorded warming. Contrary to all the theories that they are expounding, there should have been warming over the last 15 years. It hasn't happened. You know, back in the '70s—I remember the '70s, we were told there was global cooling. And everyone was told global cooling was a really big problem. And then that faded."

[New Republic]

The Trump administration has repeatedly returned to Texas to find nominees who’ve been exceptionally friendly to business interests. Last year, Trump nominated Kathleen Hartnett White, an aggressively pro-industry former chair of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to lead the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality. (Her nomination was ultimately pulled after it became clear she wouldn’t be confirmed). The administration also tapped former Texas Comptroller Susan Combs, a critic of the Endangered Species Act, for a top position at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Trey Trainor, a Texas attorney who tried to shred the state’s already-weak ethics laws, was nominated last year to a post on the Federal Election Commission. In April, Trump nominated to the federal bench a former deputy attorney general who stymied the Texas investigation into Trump University.

omg

... ref

The civil war within the Texas Republican Party — billionaires, enormous egos, blood grudges, subterfuge, religion, debauchery — is one of the best and most under-told stories in American politics, but it also has a Tolkien-length backstory. The simplified version is this: A decade ago, as the Bush administration started melting down, the Texas GOP began to split into two. One faction aligned with a more genteel and traditional form of business conservatism; the ideology of the other was nativism, Christianism and a nihilistic approach to government.

The second faction eventually won. But at the beginning, all they had were a few ideologically aligned millionaire and billionaire donors — Tim Dunn, Jeff Sandefer, the Wilks brothers — who wanted to buy legislators, a long-standing trade in Texas. The state’s weak ethics laws inhibited, albeit very modestly, their ability to do so. So they went guerrilla. They set up a constellation of organizations to quietly funnel their money into legislative races, and they used the threat of that money to put enormous pressure on elected officials. It was very effective: They didn’t always win elections, but they changed the way politics is done in Austin.

https://www.ecowatch.com/coal-ash-oklahoma-pruitt-2579396022.html

Pruitt Grants Oklahoma Leniency to Dispose of Toxic Coal Ash Without Federal Oversight

On Monday, Oklahoma became the first state to be granted a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to dispose of its own coal ash, The Associated Press reported.

The move displaces the federal government as the body responsible for coal ash disposal in EPA head Scott Pruitt's home state. Coal ash is the residue left over from burning coal for power that often contaminates groundwater. It is a change that industry has lobbied for and environmental groups have opposed.

States have demonstrated that "they don't care about the health and safety of communities near coal ash dumps," Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans told The Associated Press.

About 100 million tons of coal ash is produced by U.S. plants every year, often left in disposal ponds that leak into groundwater, contaminating it with pollutants like arsenic and radium. Tests ordered by the EPA this spring of groundwater around plants in various states found elevated pollution levels, according to The Associated Press.

Despite this, "industry has asked for leniency, less stringency. That's the direction they're going," Evans said.

According to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, switching coal ash oversight to states was part of an "action plan" proposed by coal industry executive Robert Murray this spring to Pruitt and other officials in the Trump administration.

Pruitt defended the decision, saying in a statement that the move empowered "those who are best positioned to oversee coal ash management—the officials who have intimate knowledge of the facilities and the environment in their state."

Pruitt also moved to weaken Obama-era coal ash disposal regulations in March, but the rule change allowing states to control coal ash disposal was actually passed by Congress and signed by former President Barack Obama in 2016, according to NPR. The law said that state rules had to be "as protective as" federal guidelines.

"I am pleased that Oklahoma is the first state in the nation to receive approval of its Coal Combustion Residuals permit program. We actually incorporated the federal rule into our state permitting rules program over a year ago," Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Executive Director Scott Thompson said in an EPA press release about the decision.

But at a hearing in February, Oklahoma environmental groups said the DEQ was not prepared to adequately regulate coal ash.

"The DEQ rules are weaker than the EPA rules," Oklahoma Grand Riverkeeper and activist Earl Hatley told NPR in February. "This is just a boon for industry to do what they want."

Waterkeeper Alliance senior attorney Kelly Foster further expressed concerns that the DEQ plan did not provide enough information on how companies would be made to comply with regulations and how the DEQ would take on new responsibilities with existing resources.

Georgia and Texas are following Oklahoma in taking steps to control coal ash disposal, The Associated Press reported.

...

conaway huse agric comm ~ agw, pesticides

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/4/20/earth_day_2018_ending_plastic_pollution

We speak to Marcus Eriksen of the 5 Gyres Institute, who has led 20 expeditions around the world to research plastic marine pollution, and Priscilla Villa of the #BreakFreeFromPlastics movement.

cracker EJ houston and gulf exxon

cf hurricane harvey houston

Soot Makes You Live Longer

One of the 10, toxicologist Michael Honeycutt, failed to secure a seat on the EPA’s seven-member Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee when he was nominated for one last fall — with good reason. Over the last decade, Honeycutt, who heads the toxicology division of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, rolled back the state’s relatively weak protections for 45 toxic chemicals, including arsenic, benzene, formaldehyde and hexavalent chromium, the carcinogen that made Erin Brockovich a household name.

Honeycutt also has attacked EPA rules for ground-level ozone (smog), which aggravates lung diseases, and particulate matter (PM) (soot), which has been linked to lung cancer, cardiovascular damage, reproductive problems and premature death. In October 2014, Honeycutt argued that there would be “little to no public health benefit from lowering the current [ozone] standard” because “most people spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors” and “systems such as air conditioning remove it from indoor air.” And despite the overwhelming scientific evidence directly linking fine soot particles to premature death, Honeycutt testified before Congress in June 2012 that “some studies even suggest PM makes you live longer.”

Better Living Through Chemistry...

RPS?

dance w/ stars

b43 signed wind law texas

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/18/1654064/-Rick-Perry-forgets-that-wind-energy-works

First Rick Perry forgot about the Department of Energy. Then he forgot what the Department of Energy did. Now that he’s actually, unbelievably, in charge of that same department, ThinkProgress reports that Perry seems to have forgotten where energy comes from.

Perry wrote in the memo, first reported by Bloomberg, that the United States is “blessed as a nation to have an abundance of domestic energy resources, such as coal, natural gas, nuclear, and hydroelectric.” These sources provide a “stable, reliable and resilient grid,” he explained. Nowhere in the memo did Perry list wind, solar, or energy storage as options for grid reliability.

Rick Perry is from Texas. Texas now produces more than 20,000 MW of electricity from wind, making the state the largest producer of wind energy in the nation. Over 12 percent of power in the Lone Star State comes from the abundant breeziness that’s all too familiar to anyone who has spent time in the western part of the state. Wind power in Texas was boosted because the state senate passed a renewable energy standard in 1999 that was actually signed by George W. Bush. In fact, the blog Knowledge Problem reports that wind power in West Texas grew so quickly that transmission capacity has been the real limiting factor and price of energy in the area has been so low that consumers were actually paid to use power.

In the first half of 2008, prices were below zero nearly 20 percent of the time.

Who was governor of Texas when consumers were getting power for less than free? That would be James Richard "Rick" Perry. But now Perry is not only carefully leaving wind out of his memos, he’s sliding in hints that he has an axe ready for windmills.

The former Texas governor has been tasked by President Donald Trump with prioritizing fossil fuels and nuclear energy over renewables.

While jogging his memory, Perry might want to note that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that wind already accounts for twice as many jobs in America as coal, and that while coal has been trending down, wind jobs have been rising.

As the wind energy industry continues to grow, it will provide many opportunities for workers in search of new careers. These careers extend beyond the wind farm: it also takes the efforts of workers in factories and offices to build and operate a turbine.

no link

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/inside-total-catastrophe-ensued-after-elected-libertarian-mayor-promised-freest

... In 2006, fearing annexation by rapidly encroaching San Antonio, some in Von Ormy proposed incorporating as a town. But in government-averse rural Texas, incorporation can be a hard sell. Unincorporated areas are governed mainly by counties, which have few rules about what you can do on private property and tend to only lightly tax. There’s no going back from what municipal government brings: taxes, ordinances, elections and tedious city council meetings. Still, the fear of being absorbed by San Antonio — with its big-city taxes and regulations — was too much for most Von Ormians.

Enter Art Martinez de Vara. At the time, Martinez de Vara was an ambitious third-year law student at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, a local boy with a penchant for Texas history and right-wing politics.

Martinez de Vara suggested a compromise of sorts. Von Ormy could become a “liberty city” — a stripped-down, low-tax, low-government version of municipal government that’s currently en vogue among the tea party in Texas.

Initially, the city would impose property and sales taxes, but the property tax would ratchet down to zero over time. The business-friendly environment would draw new economic activity to Von Ormy, and eventually the town would cruise along on sales taxes alone.

There would be no charge for building permits, which Martinez de Vara said would be hand-delivered by city staff. The nanny state would be kept at bay, too. Want to shoot off fireworks? Blast away. Want to smoke in a bar? Light up. Teens wandering around at night? No curfew, no problem.

Martinez de Vara and his mother, Sally Martinez, along with other prominent residents, started the Commission to Incorporate Von Ormy. He gave Von Ormy a motto: “The Freest Little City in Texas.”

Folks in Von Ormy liked what they heard and in May 2008 voted to incorporate. Martinez de Vara was elected mayor that November.

In a 2015 presentation he gave at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, Martinez de Vara said that a group of people with no political experience took it upon themselves to do everything a large city like San Antonio does but at a lower cost. He touted Von Ormy’s ability to provide animal control services, a 20-officer police department — a mix of paid officers and volunteers — and an online city hall.

“We were blessed with this unique opportunity to experiment with democracy,” he said.

Today, there is no city animal control program and stray dogs roam the streets. The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office patrols the town instead of city police, and City Hall resides in a mobile home with one full-time staffer — though that’s a step up from the dive bar where City Council met until the owner bounced them out. If you go to the city’s website, you’ll be informed that it’s still under construction....

Art Martinez de Vara (born April 29, 1975) is an American politician of Von Ormy, Texas.

Contents [hide]

1 Early life

2 Incorporations of new cities

3 Mayor

4 Energy policy

5 Texas Legislature

6 Immigration policy

7 Von Ormy Star

8 Electoral College

9 Historian

10 Von Ormy Film Commission

11 References

Early life[edit]

Martinez de Vara was born in Houston on April 29, 1975. He is a graduate of DeBakey High School for Health Professions and attended the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin. While at UT, Martinez de Vara founded the internet service provider AustinNet. The company later merged and re-located to Denver, Colorado. He graduated in 2007 from University of Colorado, majoring in History. He later graduated from St. Mary's University Law School. He also holds two Master of Arts degrees, one in Theology and one in History. While in law school, he interned for the Hon. Xavier Rodriguez, U.S. district judge for the Western District of Texas.

Incorporations of new cities[edit]

In the summer of 2006, Martinez de Vara led a group of Von Ormy residents who incorporated the city.[1] Von Ormy was the first city in Bexar County in over thirty years. Since that time, Martinez de Vara has assisted in establishing over half of the new cities in Texas, including Providence Village, Texas, Ivanhoe, Texas, Sandy Oaks, Texas and Kingsbury, Texas.[2]

Mayor[edit]

In 2008, Martinez de Vara became the first Mayor of Von Ormy, Texas,[3] becoming one of the youngest mayors in the United States. He is a 6th generation Von Ormian.

He sought to establish himself as a leader on issues of economic development, education, and suburban independence. Martinez de Vara's tenure is also notable for its consecutive annual tax cuts of 10% each leading to the elimination of property taxes in 2015.[4] The newly formed city embarked on a large master planning project immediately after the first council took office. The formation of the city of Von Ormy and its policies of reliance on consumption taxes and avoidance of restrictions on personal liberties spurred a movement of suburban city formation in Texas termed the "Liberty City Movement". [5]

During he tenure as mayor, Martinez de Vara’s prioritized luring chain stores with the town’s low-taxes. The primary issue which faced Martinez de Vara was the lack of a sewer system within Von Ormy. The San Antonio Water System informed town officials that a connection would cost $4 million to $5 million. City Administrator James Massey recommended floating a bond, but Martinez de Vara rejected the recommendation. The reasoning behind the rejection was likely due to Libertarian ideologies behind the city, which is against the taking on of debt. “You want to be a liberty city? No taxes,” said a town official. “We could only afford to put in $500,000, if that, but where would we get the rest from?” The sewer system was never installed, and the town still relies on septic.[6]

Martinez de Vara promised that the property tax within Von Ormy would be eliminated altogether by 2015, the bold step he’d envisioned at the town’s inception. Three council members thought it was foolish to eliminate property taxes altogether, due to sales taxes rising and falling with the economy, because very few cities rely on sales taxes alone. In September 2014, Martinez de Vara had formally proposed zeroing out the property tax, but it was voted down in a 3-2 vote. However, to formally ratify the rate, per state law, at least four council members needed to hold another meeting to vote, but Sally Martinez and Debra Ivy refused to show up to any hearing with ratification on the agenda. The result: Martinez de Vara achieved his goal and the property tax rate was eliminated.[7]

Von Ormy has been in near-constant turmoil over basic issues of governance: what form of municipal government to adopt, whether to tax its residents, and how to pay for services such as sewer, police, firefighters and animal control. Further, three City Council members were arrested for allegedly violating the Open Meetings Act, and the volunteer fire department collapsed for lack of funds.[8]

Martinez de Vara serves as President of the South Texas Partnership of Governments and the Vice-President of the Texas Municipal League, Region 7.[9]

In 2013, citing the social enterprise tone set by Mayor Martinez de Vara, Brooks Academy of Science and Engineering announced plans to establish a charter school in Von Ormy.[10] As of 2017 the charter school has yet to break ground in Von Ormy, leaving its future in uncertain.

Energy policy[edit]

Martinez de Vara was recognized by the Business Journal for establishing and running a notable public policy think tank on energy policy.[11] CAN NOT FIND

Texas Legislature[edit]

In 2011, Martinez de Vara served as Chief-of-Staff/Legislative Director for State Rep. John Garza, District 117, becoming the first sitting mayor to serve in the capacity in the Texas Legislature. Garza has authored or co-authored over thirty-five bills dealing primarily with property tax reform, rural and suburban water rights, election integrity, greater accountability in government, and homeowner association reform.[12]

In 2014, Martinez de Vara was hired as Chief of Staff for Texas State Sen. Konni Burton.[13]

Immigration policy[edit]

In the 82nd Texas Legislature, while serving as Chief of Staff for State Rep. John V. Garza, Martinez de Vara drafted HCR 88, which outlines a framework for modernizing the national immigration system utilizing a national guest worker program.[14] At its 2012 State Convention, the Republican Party of Texas adopted this framework under the name of "The Texas Solution", making Texas the first state Republican Party to do so.[15]Martinez de Vara chaired the Platform Subcommittee that drafted the Texas Solution.[16] The guest worker program framework adopted by the Republican Party of Texas was later incorporated into the 2012 National Republican Party Platform, marking a significant shift in Republican policy.[17]

Von Ormy Star[edit]

In 2008, Martinez de Vara founded The Von Ormy Star newspaper, which covers local and regional news.

Electoral College[edit]

In the 2008 General Election, Martinez de Vara was elected as a Republican to serve in the Electoral College representing the 23rd Congressional District of Texas.[18]

Historian[edit]

Martinez de Vara is an award winning Historian of Texas History and has been published in the Handbook of Texas, Encyclopedia of Texas Music and various periodicals.[19] His writings focus on early Tejano history and Jose Francisco Ruiz. He is the author of several books on Texas history, and won the 2014 Presidio La Bahia Award for The Jose Francisco Ruiz Papers, Vol. 1: Report on the Indian Tribes of Texas in 1818.[20] He was the recipient of the 2014 Texas State Genealogical Society Books Award for History and Records of Mission San Patricio de Bexar at Bexar, Texas.[21]

Von Ormy Film Commission[edit]

In 2012, Martinez de Vara co-founded the Von Ormy Film Commission with directors Emmanuel Delfin and Brian Ramirez. Von Ormy is now home to a budding South Texas film industry centered on the Von Ormy Film Commission. In 2013, the San Antonio Express News declared Von Ormy the "Farm Film Capitol of South Texas." [22]

texas $ 2015?

While Iowa and New Hampshire have the first presidential nominating contests, there’s also a key Republican primary fight going on right now in Texas: the money chase.

The ring-kissing is occurring in every metropolitan area in the state and in oil-rich Midland.

And the efforts are worth it for the potential candidates. In 2012, Texas ranked only behind California in presidential campaign contributions. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Texas delivered more than $1 million to six different candidates. Texas gave the most — $36 million — to Mitt Romney's primary and general election campaigns.

But it’s a new era in Texas fundraising, now that GOP megadonors Bob Perry and Harold Simmons have passed away. There are so many millionaires and billionaires in Texas, though, that the hopefuls seeking to mine the state for cash have plenty of options.

Here’s a look at 10 Texas GOP donors and 10 bundlers — super fundraisers — who are in high demand during the money chase. This list is based on interviews with two dozen state and national operatives, Federal Election Commission records and data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. While dozens of influential Texas Republican donors and bundlers are not on this list, their impact could expand as the 2016 presidential race further takes shape.

Donors

Few developments changed politics more radically than the introduction of super PACs in 2010.

These outside groups, which are often aligned with but not allowed to coordinate with candidates, mean that Texas billionaires are no longer restricted in how much money they can spend to support a presidential contender.

Texas, with its bounty of J.R. Ewing-level rich Republicans, have given generously to such efforts.

Here are 10 donors who are reputed to be in the best position to back those efforts:

Bundlers

Some money brokers don’t need to be super-rich to play at the presidential level.

While limited in contribution size, bundled dollars are harder to round up. But some campaign operatives say they still put a premium on bundlers — the supporters who flip through Rolodexes and twist arms for direct campaign donations.

Among the key benefits for bundled dollars: Federal candidates get a lower television advertising rate than super PACs, which means the dollars go further on the airwaves.

To be sure, many of these supporters rank among the wealthiest people in the country and are as prolific in their giving as in their networking.

Here’s a look at 10 key Texas GOP bundlers.

Phil Adams

Profession: President of an insurance firm

City: Bryan/College Station

Influence

There is no more important fundraiser in Aggieland. Adams is a dual threat – a donor and a bundler. A member of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, Adams has a workaholic reputation and a zeal for throwing fundraisers around Texas A&M events.

Ramona Bass

Profession: Philanthropist

City: Fort Worth

Influence

The Basses, heirs to oil tycoon Sid Richardson’s fortune, are so mysterious that many GOP operatives have no idea what exactly they do in politics. But a few GOP insiders say the Basses are consequential. The billionaires cut checks to both parties, but also, GOP operatives say the Bass name all but guarantees local Republicans will show up to events. The key family member to win over? Ramona Bass. “It’s like daylight and dark if she gets involved,” one operative said.

Tilman Fertitta

Profession: Chairman and CEO of Landry’s Restaurants

City: Houston

Influence

This billionaire restaurateur donates to both Republicans and Democrats – including George W. Bush and former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who is married to his friend Mark Kelly. Fertitta is a prolific donor to campaigns and committees from both parties. But Texas Republicans anticipate he will be a major bundler in their presidential primary. An expert in the hospitality industry, Fertitta has a reputation as a top-notch event host.

Gaylord T. Hughey Jr.

Profession: Oil and gas attorney

City: Tyler

Influence

Want to raise money in the Piney Woods? Go through Hughey, who is known among Texas GOP operatives as “the don of East Texas.” His base is in Tyler, but Texas Republicans say that Hughey’s support probably helps deeper into East Texas.

Mickey Long

Profession: President of Westex/WLP Well Service

City: Midland

Influence

Long is the key fundraising player in the Permian Basin, according to multiple operatives. There is mixed opinion of his capacity to personally give, but his efforts were enough to be chairman of the Texas Tech Board of Regents.

John L. Nau III

Profession: President & CEO of Silver Eagle Distributors, an Anheuser-Busch distributor

City: Houston

Influence

One of the most frequently mentioned money players in the state, one Texan called Nau a “tireless networker.” Closely associated with Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, Nau is a solid donor in his own right. In 2014, he donated $750,000 to conservative outside groups.

Ross Perot Jr.

Profession: Chairman of Hillwood, a real estate developer

City: Dallas

Influence

Son of the 1990s-era third-party presidential candidate, the younger Perot is a dual threat as both a check writer and gatherer. Sources say he surrounds himself with savvy advisers who help him leverage North Dallas money – including some of his own.

Gene Powell

Profession: Real estate developer

City: San Antonio

Influence

Operatives name Powell as a gatekeeper for San Antonio’s clubby, old money world. A longtime Perry ally, Powell is a member and former chairman of the UT Board of Regents.

L.E. Simmons

Profession: Chairman of SCF Partners, an oil industry investment firm

City: Houston

Influence

In the same tier as Harlan Crow, Simmons is a top get for any political campaign. No relation to Harold Simmons, Simmons has deep ties to the Mormon donor community and was a top fundraiser for Mitt Romney.

Ray Washburne

Profession: M Crowd Restaurant Group, which owns the Mi Cocina Mexican food chain

City: Dallas

Influence

Washburne is one of the few Texans who’s already announced his 2016 alliance – he’ll be a finance chairman on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s team. Washburne is a familiar player in national politics because of his stint last cycle as the Republican National Committee’s national finance chair. And also, he is related by marriage to the Dallas Hunt family.

ExxonMobil has engaged in a March advertising blitz, repeatedly airing a new commercial during national cable news channel breaks and prominently, during TV timeouts during the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I basketball tournament, better known as March Madness.

The commercial vaguely promotes what Exxon says is a new jobs initiative, which it claims will create 45,000 positions along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, without specifying details about the source of the jobs. Yet far from Madison Avenue advertising firms, a local battle has taken place the past several months in Gulf Coast communities over the prospective siting of and tax breaks for a proposed Exxon refinery co-owned by the Saudi Arabian state-owned company, SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corporation).

A mere three weeks into the ad blitz, two Texas entities voted to give tax subsidies to the proposed facility, dubbed Gulf Coast Growth Ventures. Both representing San Patricio County, Texas, the San Patricio County Board of Commissioners and the Gregory-Portland Independent School District offered Growth Ventures over $1.4 billion in tax breaks for the $9.4 billion Exxon-SABIC plant.

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/5/8/headlines/texas_gov_greg_abbott_signs_show_your_papers_anti_immigrant_bill

Freedom Caucus, including Tinderholt, Jonathan Stickland and Kyle Biedermann,

off bs

Jonathan Stickland is a conservative Christian Republican serving his second term in the Texas State House for House District 92. He supports limited government, the right to life, individual liberties and personal responsibilities, and most of all strives to represent his constituents, not the lobbyists and special interests in Austin.

Jonathan was born in Plano, Texas in 1983. At age 5, his family moved to Hurst, Texas. He attended schools in the Birdville School District before getting his GED. He spent time at Tarrant County College and Parkland College studying sales and marketing. Jonathan currently runs his own oil and gas consulting business. He works with many local oil and gas companies assisting in data management, on-location oversight, marketing and sales of new exploration opportunities, and current producing interests. Being in business for himself allows Jonathan the time to do the things he feels truly defines him, his family and his faith.

Jonathan has been married to his wife Krissy since 2006 . They have two beautiful daughters, Andie Michelle (8) and Carlie Anne (6). Family is the core of Jonathan’s life both personally and politically. He and his family have been members of First Baptist Church of Hurst since 2008. Jonathan is a member of the Church’s One Life Group, softball team, choir, and also helps teach 5th and 6th grade boy’s Sunday school.

Jonathan’s strong family values and conservative roots were an integral part in his voting record during the 83rd Legislative Sessions. Jonathan has been awarded 100% scorecards from Empower Texans, the Texas Eagle Forum, and Concerned Women for America. Jonathan was also ranked as the most conservative Representative of the 83rd session by Professor Mark Jones of Rice University.

off bs

Tinderholt is the representative of Texas’ House District 94.

He is serving on the Corrections Committee and the County Affairs Committee.

Tinderholt is a veteran. He served in the Air Force. He worked as a Spanish Cryptologic Linguist, taking part in counter drug missions across South and Central America. He later re-entered active duty in January 2002 after the events of September 11th. He worked as both a platoon leader and executive officer at the Company level and then as detachment commander for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. Tinderholt then ran operations for the largest Recruiting Battalion in the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. His was later Commander, Fort Worth Recruiting Company in which he was hand chosen by the Brigade Commander for excellence and leadership abilities in his previous position. He then volunteered to deploy to Iraq.

In his 21 years in the Armed forces, Tony earned many badges, awards and certifications to include the following Combat Awards: the Bronze Star and the Combat Action Badge

Tinderholt has worked as a professor of Spanish at Columbia College in Fort Worth. He serves as Director of Training & Recruiting for Eliot Management Group, LLC.

Tinderholt has two children, Kayley and Nathan. He and his wife Bethany, volunteer with Spirit of Hope, providing Christmas to over 180 children from the Boys and Girls Club in Arlington, TX and Catholic Charities in Fort Worth, and also with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and St. Jude Medical Center. Tony and his family attend St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church in Southwest Arlington.

off bs kb

I have been blessed to live in Texas for the past 30 years and I have been working as hard as I can to provide for my family and my community at Biedermann’s Ace Hardware in Fredericksburg.

As a small business owner I know what it means to keep up with a payroll, take care of customers and to make ends meet and I will not be swayed by the power brokers and the unethical influences in Austin.

As a Christian and a conservative Republican I am proud to serve as State Representative in the great district covering Gillespie, Comal and Kendall counties. I am proud to be a conservative and dutiful citizen legislator, not a career politician.

My campaign was a grassroots, positive and focused solely on the issues that affect the hardworking people and seniors in this district like rising property taxes, water conservation, the second amendment, unfunded state mandates on our schools, over regulation and higher taxes on our businesses and our God given private property rights.

At the federal level, and in Texas, I have watched our already bloated government continue to overtax, over spend and rip away our God given freedoms. We need real conservative leadership in our Capitol and this is exactly why I made the sacrifice to run for office.

As more and more folks move to Texas, and as this district grows, we need to be vigilant in protecting life, the constitution, our economy and our very way of life. We must act now to keep Texas free and prosperous.

While there are no simple or easy answers, together we can accomplish great things!

http://www.alternet.org/right-wing/texas-freedom-caucus-kills-more-100-bills

Famed political humorist Molly Ivins liked to call Texas the “National Laboratory for Bad Government,” which is why the nation as a whole should look with trepidation at the events that transpired last week in the state legislature. While the national press was riveted — for good reason! — by the ongoing scandal surrounding President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, the Texas legislature upped the ante when it comes to destroying the government in the name of right-wing ideological purity.

In sum, the self-described “Freedom Caucus” in the Austin legislature, claiming that the Republican-controlled body is somehow not conservative enough, decided to go on a bill-blocking spree, using procedural machinations to run out the clock for more than 100 bills, effectively killing off those bills.

The event was dubbed the “Mother’s Day Massacre” by observers. It’s a nickname that had an uncomfortably literal side to it, as two of the bills that were killed off with delaying tactics were meant to address Texas’ alarming maternal mortality rate, which doubled from 2011 to 2014, making the state’s maternity mortality rate the highest in the developed world.

It wasn’t just mothers who were victims of the Freedom Caucus stunt. Multiple bills meant to help children were decimated as well, including one aimed at protecting children from sexual predators, legislation intended to stop schools from shaming children who don’t have lunch money and a bill to encourage early literacy.

The caucus members were angry because the House’s leadership, which is also dominated by conservative Republicans, caused the demise of a handful of Freedom Caucus-friendly bills covering a range of far-right hobbyhorses, including attacks on abortion rights and public schools. In response the caucus killed dozens more bills.

It’s not easy to write a bill that’s so radical in its right-wing politics that it ends up being rejected by the Texas branch of Republican Party, a point that GOP state Rep. Dennis Bonnen emphasized to the Austin American-Statesman. “So ‘sanctuary cities’ is not a conservative issue for them?” Bonnen complained, referring to a bill signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott that is so racist and oppressive that the American Civil Liberties Union had to issue a travel advisory warning people who might be perceived as immigrants about the dangers of harassment and illegal detention by the police. In response the caucus killed dozens more bills.

Caucus member Rep. Jeff Leach said, after watching the killing of a handful of radical right-wing bills: “We’ve learned time and time again, when a bully punches you again and again and again. You can walk away. You can be kind. But sometimes you got to punch back.”

This behavior by the Texas Freedom Caucus suggests that the newly hardened far right of the Republican Party is not merely not going away, but it may be more willing than ever to use the tactics of blackmail to try to turn the red states — and eventually the country — into a “Handmaid’s Tale”-style dystopia of their dreams.

A version of this, of course, has been happening on the national level, as the Freedom Caucus of the House of Representatives was able to push the American Health Care Act, also known as “Trumpcare,” even further to the right through obstructionist politics. These hardball tactics resulted in a bill that would strip away coverage mandates, slash Medicaid and allow discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.

It’s hard not to see the Lone Star State’s version of the Freedom Caucus as an escalation of this strategy. This isn’t just about changing one bill or even a handful of bills; it’s about demanding that the Republican Party move even further to the right and at an even more breakneck speed than before.

The anger that the Republicans aren’t moving hard enough or fast enough to the right is doubly alarming when one considers how far the party has already traveled. Political polarization has been a major political trend over the past few decades, but most of the shift is due to Republicans stampeding rightward. Yes, it’s also true that Democrats have become more liberal, at least on social issues. But as Nolan McCarty of The Washington Post explained in 2014, “Despite the widespread belief that both parties have moved to the extremes, the movement of the Republican Party to the right accounts for most of the divergence between the two parties.”

To be clear, the Texas legislature’s Freedom Caucus didn’t succeed, in the short term anyway, with its temper tantrum. Its too-far-right-for-Texas bills didn’t end up being reinstated on the legislative calendar and the caucus’ members aren’t going to get a debate on them, much less a vote. But the caucus did manage to derail all other business in the legislature, and it’s hard to not notice that a lot of the dead bills dealt with issues that will get you called a “snowflake” on social media for caring about them — saving women’s lives, stopping school bullying, encouraging literacy.

The bigger issue lies in the very existence of “freedom caucuses,” largely composed of right-wing radicals who are willing to grind the government to a halt rather than compromise on their ideological purity. The members of this caucus held a self-pitying press conference when they identified as victims of bullying because they didn’t get what they wanted. This is a narrative that not only justifies their behavior but that also encourages other extremist politicians to take a hard-line approach to getting their way. As the Republican Party has already shifted so far to the right, there’s good reason to worry that these zealous tactics could actually work.

frack, local ord

March 7, 2005, Leonard Leo tapped out an email on his BlackBerry to Mary Beth Buchanan, then the director of the Executive Office of United States Attorneys, suggesting a candidate to replace Carol Lam, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. "You guys need a good candidate?" Leo, the executive vice president of the Federalist Society, wrote to Buchanan, herself a member of the influential conservative lawyers' group. "I'd strongly recommend the current GC [general counsel] of the Air Force, Mary Walker."

At the time, White House and Justice Department officials were in preliminary talks about replacing an unspecified number of "underperforming" federal prosecutors, a plan that would culminate almost two years later in the forced resignations of nine U.S. Attorneys, including Lam, and ignite a scandal that has claimed the jobs of at least four high-ranking Justice Department officials. Leo's email, written so early in the process, speaks to the close relationship that has developed between the Federalist Society—an organization whose aims include "reordering priorities" within the judicial system to fit its conservative agenda—and key Justice Department decision makers, many of whom are members of the group.

While perhaps not a prerequisite for employment at the highest echelons of Justice, membership in the society has become a standard by which political appointees at the agency identify candidates who share their agenda. Some officials at the agency view it as such an indicator of conservative virtue that membership in the society was included as a category—along with Hill and campaign experience—on a spreadsheet that was used to rank the qualifications of the 93 sitting U.S. Attorneys, a document included in the reams of Justice Department memoranda released by the House Judiciary Committee this spring.

Beyond highlighting the organization's role as the administration's de facto headhunter for conservative lawyers and judges, Leo's correspondence raises the question of what, if any, role the Federalist Society played in the prosecutor firings. Leo did not respond to messages left at his office and on his cell phone, but he told the New York Times last night that, when he emailed Buchanan, he was unaware that a plan was in the works to replace multiple U.S. Attorneys. But, he acknowledged, his recommendation was not unsolicited. "The only way I could have possibly made that recommendation is if somebody said to me, 'Gee, do you know anyone who would be good?'" he said.

Leo's email, released yesterday as part of an ongoing congressional investigation into the prosecutor firings, marks the second time in as many days that his name has been raised in connection with the probe. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Bradley Schlozman—the controversial Justice Department official who replaced Todd Graves as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri—acknowledged seeking Leo's advice on candidates to fill career positions at the agency.Unlike his former colleague, Monica Goodling, who testified that she "crossed the line" in vetting the political bonafides of job applicants, Schlozman denied subjecting potential hires to a political litmus test.

His record would suggest otherwise. Schlozman is a member of the Federalist Society, and in May the Boston Globe reported that half of the career lawyers hired during his tenure were members of the society or the conservative Republican National Lawyers Association; among the eight hires during the previous two years, none had been. According to Joseph Rich, a 37-year veteran of the Justice Department who served as the head of the agency's voting rights section until 2005, Schlozman was among a cadre of appointees who have presided over an unprecedented wave of politicization at the agency. Within the Civil Rights division, where Schlozman served until March 2006, "there appeared to be a conscious effort to remake the Division's career staff," Rich told Congress in March. He described "major" changes in hiring procedures "which virtually eliminated any career staff input into the hiring of career attorneys." As a result, he went on, the attorneys hired for the division had "little if any experience in, or commitment to, the enforcement of civil rights laws."

The politicization of Justice went well beyond hiring practices, according to Rich, extending to efforts to "influence elections." Schlozman, he says, was part of a group of political appointees that greenlighted Tom DeLay's controversial redistricting plan, which resulted in Texas Republicans winning a record number of U.S. House seats in the 2004 election. Later, while serving as the interim U.S. Attorney in Missouri, Schlozman indicted four voter registration recruiters for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) on charges of voter fraud days before the mid-term elections. (During his Senate appearance this week, Schlozman maintained that he was unaware of ACORN's political leanings.)

The Federalist Society's advice has been sought not only on Justice Department hires: Leonard Leo is one of the Bush administration's go-to experts on the federal judiciary. When the time arrived for the president to fill two open Supreme Court slots, Leo took a temporary leave from the Society in order to advise the administration. The administration did end up selecting two Federalist Society members for the high court, bringing to four the number of Supreme Court justices (Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito) who claim membership in the organization.

Leo was less successful in selling Justice on his pick to replace Carol Lam. This owed, perhaps, to Mary Walker's controversial past. In addition to being accused of whitewashing an investigation of rampant sexual assault at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Walker also headed the group of Pentagon lawyers that produced a report arguing that the president was not bound by the Geneva Conventions. When Lam stepped down in February, she was replaced by one of her deputies, Karen Hewitt—also a member of the Society.

Daniel Schulman is Mother Jones' deputy Washington, DC, bureau chief. Reach him at dschulman (at) motherjones.com. Dan is the New York Times best-selling author of Sons of Wichita

https://movetoamend.org/corporate-rule-examples-2

State Denies Texas Community’s Anti-Fracking Rights

The elections of November 2014 brought anti-fracking triumphs in Ohio and California communities, but the ultimate victory was won in the city of Denton, Texas. Denton is the most heavily fracked community in the U.S. with 275 urban wells. It sits above the Barnett shale and is considered the birthplace of this mining technology. The vote was a convincing 59% in favor despite the oil and gas corporations outspending supporters ten to one in this heavily Republican city.[1]

These votes in support of local bans encouraged opponents of hydraulic fracturing everywhere. It’s estimated that more than 15 million Americans live within a mile of an oil or gas fracking well.[1] Hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracking or “fracking” involves the high-pressure injection of millions of gallons of chemical-laced water and sand into deep rock formations setting free oil or natural gas that can’t be captured through conventional drilling.

Frack Free Denton, a citizen group, said: “Simply put, without the ban, fracking will continue unchecked all across Denton less than 200 feet from homes, schools and playgrounds. The negative health and safety impacts of living close to fracking are well established. Fracking requires heavy truck traffic, poses risks of industrial-scale accidents, uses undisclosed proprietary chemicals, and has permanently contaminated over one billion gallons of Denton’s fresh water.”[3]

Community activists used creative means against their well-funded adversaries, captivating residents through puppet shows, flash-mob dances, original tunes by the Frackettes trio, and coffin races.

Fracking Bans Banned by Texas Legislature and Governor

The oil and gas corporations and their industry-wide front groups, the Texas Oil and Gas Association and the Texas Land Office, immediately rose up to whine, initiating a lawsuit against the ban claiming it is “inconsistent with state law and therefore violates the Texas Constitution.”[2] But that legal assault on a community’s right to define its future and protect its citizens’ health and safety will not be necessary. State’s lawmakers passed and Governor Greg Abbott signed a law in mid-May 2015 declaring null and void Denton’s hard-fought victory by forbidding and preempting local laws against fracking.

pix Texas fracking wells.

Despite a Texas Home Rule Law that grants local jurisdictions authority to zone-out industrial activity deemed harmful, this recent law subordinates the people to corporate authority. It denies citizens the power to protect their community. Corporations and their complicit politicians claim that such democratically defined protections take away corporate “rights.”

Indeed, U.S. courts granted corporations plenty of legal rights and powers over the past 200 years—rights associated with their property and profits that gave them great power over people, workers and nature--rights equal to those of “persons under law.” More recently, the Supreme Court granted corporations and wealthy individuals the right to donate without limit in our electoral campaigns. Corporate actors used and use these illegitimate “rights” to foil people’s self-governance. The corporate initiated lawsuit against Denton’s fracking ban is merely the most recent assault on our diminished democracy.

“It was the oil and gas industry’s contempt for impacted residents that pushed Denton voters to ban fracking… and now the oil and gas industry, through state lawmakers, has doubled down by showing every city in Texas that same contempt,”[4] said Sharon Wilson of Earthworks and a Texas organizer for the Denton ban.

Move to Amend applauds the people of Denton for building a movement to assert the community’s rightful self-governing authority. MTA’s national grassroots work seeks to legalize such actions, end corporate rule, and make democracy real.

To learn more:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/05/birthplace-fracking-boom-votes-ban-denton-texas

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/27272660/denton-residents-could-ban-fracking-in-historic-vote

http://www.commondreams.org/election-2014-fracking-bans-ballot

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/05/19/banning-fracking-bans-texas-picks-gas-drillers-over-local-democracy

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/private-prison-companies-openly-boast-about-soaring-profits-locking-children-and

The largest private prison companies in the United States are assuring their shareholders that profits are up, thanks in part to the windfall from locking up women and children in controversial “family detention centers.”

"We are pleased with our first quarter financial performance, which exceeded our first quarter guidance despite incremental startup expenses incurred during the operational ramp of our Trousdale Turner Correctional Center," said Damon Hininger, chief executive officer of the private prison behemoth Corrections Corporation of America, in a press statement issued earlier this month. "Our financial performance was driven primarily by stronger than anticipated demand from our federal partners, most notably Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

According to the company’s assessment, the spike in revenue was “primarily attributable to a contract at the South Texas Family Residential Center,” which brought in over $70 million during the first quarter of 2016 alone—roughly double levels seen in the first quarter of 2015.

The prison-like facility is located in Dilley, Texas and holds up to 2,400 women and children. Atlanticmagazine writer J. Weston Phippen reports that more than half of the people incarcerated there are children whose average age is nine.

Remarkably, the company’s statement came the same day a judge imposed a two-week restraining order on the facility to temporarily prevent the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services from implementing a childcare license for the prison. The advocacy organization Grassroots Leadership has vigorously opposed such licensing, arguing that the facilities are prisons, not childcare accommodations.

“We’re talking about prison-like conditions, in that people are locked up with their kids in these facilities,” said Bob Libal, executive director of Grassroots Leadership, in an interview with AlterNet. “When you talk to the moms there, they say that their kids are really suffering in detention.”

Meanwhile, Brian Evans, senior vice president and chief financial officer of the private prison giant GEO Group, reported in a late April conference call with shareholders, “Our revenues for the first quarter 2016 increased to approximately $510 million from $427 million a year ago.” This was attributed, in part, to the “activation of the 626-bed expansion of the Karnes residential center in December 2015.”

The Karnes camp, also located in Texas, has been the site of repeated hunger strikes over inhumane conditions, including nearly free labor, lack of legal representation and contaminated drinking water. In 2014, some women detained at the prison alleged that guards sexually assaulted them.

“The conditions in which our children find themselves, are not good. Our children are not eating well and every day they are losing weight,” dozens of women at the camp declared last year in a joint statement. “In the name of the mothers, residents of the Center for Detentions in Karnes City, we are writing this petition whereby we ask to be set free with our children. There are mothers here who have been locked in this place for as long as 10 months.”...

Austin, Texas –Today, the Texas League of Conservation Voters unveiled scores for the Texas delegation released this morning as part of the League of Conservation Voters 2013 National Environmental Scorecard. The Scorecard covers a range of votes of specific importance to Texas, including construction of a border fence, the Keystone XL Pipeline, and the health of the Gulf. The Scorecard also reflects how continued attacks on our environment and public health safeguards have led to all-time low scores for House Republicans.

“It was another year of extreme attacks on our environment from far too many in Congress, but allies like Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and Congressmen Lloyd Doggett, Jaoquin Castro, Marc Veasey, and Beto O’Rourke stand out for putting Texas’s values first,” said Texas League of Conservation Voters Executive Director David Weinberg. “Despite a record-breaking year of climate change impacts, members like Congressmen Ralph Hall, Joe Barton, Mike Conaway, Pete Olson, and Blake Farenthold put their polluting special interest allies first.”

The 2013 Scorecard covers votes during the first session of the 113th Congress. It includes 13 Senate votes and 28 House votes on issues ranging from public health protections to clean energy to land and wildlife conservation. It comes on the heels of another record-breaking year of climate change impacts with more than 100 climate change deniers serving in Congress.

In Texas, five House members earned a score of 90 percent or greater on the 2013 Scorecard, while Senator John Cornyn and 23 House members earned an abysmal score of 10 percent or less. The average House score in 2013 for Texas was 29% percent and the average Senate score was 12% percent.

Nationwide, the average House score in 2013 was 43% and the average Senate score was 58%. Members who defeated 2012 members of LCV’s Dirty Dozen have an average 2013 score of 92 percent, while the Dirty Dozen members that they replaced had an average lifetime score of just 12 percent.

“There is a jarring disconnect between the frightening climate change developments of 2013 and the results of the 2013 National Environmental Scorecard,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski. “Together with our allies in the Senate, the Obama Administration was able to defend against the worst attacks on our environment and protect public health.”

For over 40 years, the National Environmental Scorecard issued by LCV has been the nationally accepted yardstick used to rate members of Congress on environmental, public health, and energy issues. LCV has released an interactive National Environmental Scorecard, which allows users to easily see how every member of Congress voted since the launch of LCV’s first Scorecard in 1971. It can be found online athttp://scorecard.lcv.org/

Texas Senate Scores:

Cornyn

Cruz

Texas House Scores

Gohmert

Poe

Johnson, S.

Hall

Hensarling

Barton

Culberson

Brady, K.

Green, A.

McCaul

Conway

Granger

Thornberry

Weber

Hinojosa

O’Rourke

Flores

Jackson Lee

Neugebauer

Castro

Smith, Lamar

Olson

Gallego

Marchant

Williams

Burgess

Farenthold

Cuellar

Green, G.

Johnson, E.

Carter

Sessions, P.

Veasey

Vela

Doggett

Stockman

158 fam

hunt bro

energy transfer partners

Dallas Royalty

The Preston Hollow neighborhood, home to former President George W. Bush and other leading Dallas Republicans, accounts for nearly $13 million of the money flowing to the presidential candidates and their super PACs. Much of it went to help Jeb Bush, who has leveraged his family and political connections in both Florida, where he was governor, and Texas, where his brother George held the same office. But some of the neighborhood’s biggest donors backed Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, who has since dropped out of the race. The Dallas pipeline owner Kelcy Warren gave a super PAC supporting Mr. Perry’s committee $6 million, while another neighbor, Darwin Deason, pitched in $5 million.

2015 forbes released its annual Billionaires List this week, with 536 of the world’s 1,826 billionaires residing in the United States. Among those American billionaires, 49 are from Texas.

The list ranked a record number of billionaires this year—a 181-person increase from 2014’s list of 1,645. Aggregate net worth on the list totaled $7.05 trillion this year, with average net worth of individuals on the list coming in at $3.86 billion. Only California and New York had more billionaires than Texas, and of the 49 Texas billionaires, 22 hail from Dallas-Fort Worth.

Among the top 500 of the world’s billionaires are these 16 Texans, listed in order of real-time net worth as of March 4, 2015:

Alice Walton, Fort Worth- #11, $38.1 billion

Michael Dell, Austin – #47, $18.8 billion

Charles Butt, San Antonio – #94, $12 billion

Richard Kinder, Houston – #100, $11.8 billion

Andrew Beal, Dallas – #105, $11.7 billion

Dannine Avara, Houston – #230, $6.2 billion

Scott Duncan, Houston – #230, $6.2 billion

Milane Frantz, Houston – #230, $6.2 billion

Kelcy Warren, Dallas – #230, $6.5 billion

Randa Williams, Houston – #240, $5.8 billion

Ray Lee Hunt, Dallas – #265, $5.5 billion

Robert Rowling, Dallas – #277, $5.6 billion

Jeffery Hildebrand, Houston – #318, $4.6 billion

Trevor Rees-Jones, Dallas – #381, $4.3 billion

Jerry Jones, Dallas – #393, $4.2 billion

H. Ross Perot Sr., Dallas – #462, $3.7 billion

Other Texans on the list are, in order of net worth:

Dan Friedkin, Houston

Ray Davis, Dallas

Mark Cuban, Dallas

John Paul DeJoria, Austin

Richard Rainwater, Fort Worth

Robert Bass, Fort Worth

George Bishop, The Woodlands

John Arnold, Houston

David Bonderman, Fort Worth

Tilman Fertitta, Houston

Timothy Headington, Dallas

Robert McNair, Houston

Drayton McClane Jr., Temple

Fayez Sarofim, Houston

Gerald Ford, Dallas

Rodney Lewis, San Antonio

Edward Bass, Fort Worth

Lee Bass, Fort Worth

Billy Joe “Red” McCombs, San Antonio

Ross Perot Jr., Dallas

Sid Bass, Fort Worth

Herbert Hunt, Dallas

Joe Jamail, Houston

Leslie Alexander, Houston

David Booth, Austin

Darwin Deason, Dallas

Paul Foster, El Paso

Christopher Goldsbury, San Antonio

Todd Wagner, Dallas

Kenny Troutt, Dallas

Dan Wilks, Cisco

Farris Wilks, Cisco

James Leininger, San Antonio

Texas company behind California oil spill a repeat offender

California declared a state of emergency this week following Tuesday's spill from an onshore pipeline into the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara County. Responding to reports of an overwhelming smell, the local fire department discovered crude pouring into a culvert from a ruptured 24-inch pipeline that carries oil produced offshore from an Exxon Mobil processing plant to a pump station and then on to refineries.

As much as 105,000 gallons spilled, with an estimated 21,000 gallons ending up in the ocean. The oil has contaminated some nine miles of coastline, including Refugio State Beach, and it's injured birds and fish and at least one sea lion. The spill occurred in the same area as a 1969 oil spill disaster that helped shape the modern environmental movement.

The cause of this latest spill remains under investigation. But the company responsible — Plains All American Pipeline, headquartered in Houston — was already on federal regulators' radar as an operator with a history of problems.

The company has been the target of 20 federal enforcement actions since 2006,

according to an analysis of U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration data by the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit conservation group. In all, Plains racked up 175 infractions in that time — mostly for spills, many involving pipeline corrosion control and maintenance issues.

A Los Angeles Times analysis of the same federal data calculated that Plains' rate of incidents per mile of pipe is more than three times the national average. Only four companies reported more infractions. Among the states where Plains' pipelines were cited for problems wereMississippi and Alabama. The company also has operations in other Southern states including Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas.

Plains' various mishaps have caused more than $23 million in property damage. But even though the company has total assets valued at over $22 billion, it was assessed a total of just $115,600 in civil penalties.

Miyoko Sakashita with the Center for Biological Diversity called Plains' record "disturbing." The group noted that the company had five incidents in California in 2014 alone, including the one that dumped oil into a Los Angeles neighborhood.

Coming soon to a beach near you?

Pipeline breaks are among the many risks that come with offshore oil and gas development.

An analysis of federal pipeline data commissioned last year by the Center for Biological Diversity tallied almost 8,000 serious pipeline breaks nationwide since 1986. They spilled more than 80 million gallons of pollution into waterways and caused more than 2,300 injuries and nearly $7 billion in property damage. Most of those incidents involved oil pipelines.

Residents of the Southeast Atlantic Coast could soon be facing these risks: Earlier this year, the Obama administration proposed opening an area off the coast of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia to drilling. A recent Facing South investigation found that a coalition of coastal state governors led by North Carolina's Pat McCrory (R) has been working closely with politically powerful oil and gas interests to make that proposal a reality.

The governors' pro-drilling efforts got a boost earlier this month with the introduction of bills in the U.S. Senate to expand offshore oil and gas development. Sens. Bill Cassidy and David Vitter of Louisiana, Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and John Cornyn of Texas are sponsoring a measure to extend drilling to the Eastern Gulf. Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia and Tim Scott of South Carolina introduced similar legislation targeting the Atlantic, while Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska sponsored legislation to expand drilling in the Arctic. All are Republicans except Warner, a Democrat.

But the Senators face opposition from within their own ranks: U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, introduced a bill this week that would extend the current moratorium on oil drilling in the Eastern Gulf. In a floor speech, Nelson pointed to the unfolding disaster in California to illustrate what's at stake.

"Drilling off the coast is not what the people of Florida want," he said. "We want fishing vessels hauling in prize catches, not Coast Guard vessels skimming oil."

ecowatch.comhttp://ecowatch.com/2015/05/19/texas-prohibits-local-fracking-bans/?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=4f7022ec41-Top_News_5_19_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-4f7022ec41-85920373

It’s Official: Texas Prohibits Local Fracking Bans

Earthworks, Denton Drilling Awareness Group, Earthjustice and Natural Resources Defense Council

Yesterday Texas Gov. Abbott signed HB 40 into law. Written by former ExxonMobil lawyer Shannon Ratliff, the statute forces every Texas municipality wanting common sense limits on oil and gas development to demonstrate its rules are “commercially reasonable.” It effectively overturns a Denton ballot initiative banning fracking that passed last November.

“HB 40 was written by the oil and gas industry, for the oil and gas industry, to prevent voters from holding the oil and gas industry accountable for its impacts,” said Earthworks’ Texas organizer Sharon Wilson. Wilson, who played a key role in the Denton ballot initiative, continued, “It was the oil and gas industry’s contempt for impacted residents that pushed Dentonvoters to ban fracking in the first place. And now the oil and gas industry, through state lawmakers, has doubled down by showing every city in Texas that same contempt.”

By a 59-41 percent vote, including 70 percent of straight ticket Republican voters, the residents of Denton banned hydraulic fracturing within city limits. The ban was a last resort after more than five years of fruitlessly petitioning oil and gas companies, the city and the state for help. “By signing HB40 into law, Governor Abbott just declared that industry profits are more important than our health, our homes and our kids,” said Adam Briggle, president of the Denton Drilling Awareness Group and a leader in the Frack Free Denton effort. He continued, “The letter of Texas law now says no city can ‘effectively prevent an oil and gas operation from occurring,’ no matter the threat to families’ health and safety or damage to private property.”

The City of Denton is fighting a lawsuit brought against it by the oil and gas industry over its ordinance. Until HB40, attorneys for the city felt fairly confident their ordinance would stand. The Denton Drilling Awareness Group and Earthworks have intervened in the case in support of the city. They are represented by Earthjustice, attorneys from the Natural Resources Defense Counsel and the Texas law firm Brown & Hofmeister, LLP.

“The Texas courts have upheld a long tradition of local control, so the Governor and the Legislature took matters into their own hands. Now, they have capitulated to the greedy but powerful oil and gas industry at the expense of their own constituents’ health, well-being, and property rights,” said Earthjustice attorney Deborah Goldberg, who is co-counsel for the citizen groups and successfully defended the town of Dryden, New York, in a similar court case. “We have been proud to represent the proponents of Denton’s ban, and we know they will regroup and fight back against this legislative over-reach.”

“The people of Denton exercised their democratic right to keep a nasty industrial process out of their community–and now big oil and their friends in high places are steamrolling them, along with everyone else in Texas,” said NRDC attorney Dan Raichel, co-counsel for the citizen’s groups. “The interests of a powerful industry should never take priority over the health and safety of American families. Texans should be able to keep dangerous activities and chemicals away from their homes, schools, and hospitals—just as hundreds of other communities across the country have already done.”