Left Behind Special Issue: the 81St Legislature ' S Unfinished Business

JUNE 26, 2009 I $3.00 I OPENING THE EYES OF TEXAS SINCE 1954

LEFT BEHIND SPECIAL ISSUE: THE 81ST LEGISLATURE ' S UNFINISHED BUSINESS

•• III 0 48939 TheTexas Observer DIALOGUE JUNE 26, 2009 REFORM TCEQ e-mail every Monday from an Austin

FEATURES Thanks to Forrest Wilder for his Realtor; it allows me to ponder the article on Waste Control Specialists' possibilities. Thanks for a good article. THE PEOPLE'S FRIENDS & FOES 6 waste dump near Andrews ("Water, John Irsfeld Legislators who worked for—and against— Water Everywhere," June 12). Everyone Posted at www.texasobserver.org the people's interests. expects the radioactive waste dump to THE BADDEST BILLS 9 go forward even with the TCEQ evi- I only met Bud Shrake on one occa- This year's worst of the worst. dence regarding groundwater pollution. sion. It was a fine experience. This was Let's all remember that the TCEQ is up a fine article about a fine writer and a UN - COVERED 10 What happened to Capitol reporting? for sunshine review next session. Let's fine time. by Bill Minutaglio gather all the evidence and be prepared. Bob Moncrief The willful indifference to human safe- Posted at www.texasobserver.org OUT OF THE BOX 12 ty and ecological health is typical of Texas needs a full-time Legislature. LIVE AND EARN by Sen. Dan Patrick TCEQ. The arrogance is overwhelm- ing. Let's reform the agency. It will not Big Blue is a corporate entity, doing SNUFFED 14 change on its own. what corporate entities do: organizing How Big Tobacco killed the smoking ban. Fran Sage people who seek to maximize profits By Melissa del Bosque Posted at www.texasobserver.org ("Offshoring Big Blue," May 29). As RECONSTRUCTION 16 such, the company is neither stupid nor Can legislative reform fix the DPS? BUSINESS, AS USUAL traitorous, both of which are decidedly by Victoria Rossi Texas is growing commercially human attributes. If IBM violated a REPUPLICAN FROM LA MANCHA 17 because it is "friendly to business" contract with New York, the state might The Don Quixote of the Texas Senate. ("Dying to Build:' June 12). Businesses sue—or at least learn from its experi- by Reeve Hamilton make political contributions (guess to ence. Thanks to Jim Hightower's report-

STATE SCHOOLED 19 which party?). "Guest workers" make ing, others might learn, too. Ian Reid A fix for troubled institutions for the few complaints and are replaceable. You mentally disabled? don't have to like it; that's how it is. Posted at www.texasobserver.org by Dave Mann Bob Walton Posted at www.texasobserver.org LEAVE THE TRINITY BE FIVE DAYS OF CHUB 21 Since this article, more bad news for Your Legislature at work. Shortest book in the world: Texas the Trinity toll road ("If They Build It," by Reeve Hamilton Workers' Rights. May 29). The city of Dallas will have NO GREEN SWEEP 24 Sam Davis to spend $29 million to test the levees. How high hopes for environmental Posted at www.texasoberver.org This will delay the toll road at least progress were dashed. 20 more months. The current cost of by Susan Peterson and Forrest Wilder WELL READ the Trinity toll road is $20o million a

STATUS WOE 26 David Theis has "done it well;' both mile. For the same $1.8 billion, DART Two big agency reforms are tabled. for Don Barthelme and for Tracy is building 20 miles of light rail that by Melissa del Bosque and Dave Mann Daugherty ("The Donald," May 29). parallels the road project. The Trinity This is a wonderful book review. I toll road should die just like any other DEPARTMENTS want to run out and buy the book government project that's over-budget DIALOGUE 2 immediately. and impractical. The business com- Sally Lehr munity will pay the price, because EDITORIAL 3 Posted at www.texasobserver.org now they will have to get flood insur- BOOKS & THE CULTURE ance for all the buildings adjacent to HOMESICK BLUES the levees along the river. The Army

BACK OF THE BOOK 28 I've been gone from Austin for 40 Corps of Engineers has determined Confessions of a jerky boy. years, and I miss it every day ("Better that the levees cannot protect against by Brad Tyer Back When," May 29). I left it once a loo-year flood. My advice: Leave

DATELINE: ARLINGTON 30 before to go into the Army, and when the river alone and remember that it Dodging the ditches at GM. I came back it was even better. When I floods whenever it rains a great deal by Michael Hoinski finally had to go away for what looks like in a short period of time. forever, I got lost heading out of town. Stan Aten Cover illustration by Ben Sargent How psychological is that? Now I get an Posted at www.texasobserver.org

2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009

EDVIORAL The Lost Lege of 2009

f Texans loathe and fear the G-word—government—half as much as everybody always assumes, there should have been hoedowns and fiestas spon- taneously erupting in every Lone Star city, hamlet and colonia when the 81st session of the Legislature sputtered to its constitutionally mandated halt on JuneII i. When the dust had cleared from the biennial 140- day slugfest in Austin, their senators and representatives sure as heck hadn't given 'em much. For those of us who cling to the utopian pipe dream of good government, the 2009 session was less a cause for celebration than a nasty kick in the privates. Nothing unusual about that, of course. But there was reason for cautious optimism at the get-go--actually, before the get- go. The Republicans' once formidable edge in House seats had been cut to just two after last November's elections. With Wendy Davis, a rising Democratic star from Fort Worth, gaining a seat in the Senate, Republicans were two votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to ramrod bills through that chamber. And in December, a coalition of Democrats and non-loony Republicans had come together to replace the tinpot dictator of the previous three sessions, House Speaker Tom Craddick, with a rich, genial and relatively moderate Republican obscurity from San Antonio named Joe Straus. Craddick had reigned over the Capitol since 2003, when the Republicans' government-shrinking reactionaries and corporate puppet-masters handed him the gavel. Under Craddick's thumb—with Gov. Rick Perry leading his "wealth first" cheers from the sidelines, and Big Oil and the home builders' lobby calling the shots—the Legislature had deregulated and privatized just about every square inch of The Texas House on Day i. photo by Chris Carson

THE TEXAS OBSERVER I VOLUME 101, NO. 13 I A Journal of Free Voices Since 1954

FOUNDING EDITOR Ronnie Dugger CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jana Birchum, Alan Pogue, The Texas Observer (ISSN 0040-4519/USPS 541300), entire con- CEO/PUBLISHER Carlton Carl Steve Satterwhite tents copyrighted © 2009, is published biweekly except during EDITOR Bob Moser CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Maggy Brophy, Michael Krone, Dusan January and July when there is a 4-week break between issues MANAGING EDITOR Brad Tyer Kwiatkowski, Alex Eben Meyer (24 issues per year) by the Texas Democracy Foundation, a 501(c)3 ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dave Mann EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD David Anderson, Chandler Davidson, nonprofit foundation, 307 W. 7th St., Austin TX, 78701. Telephone INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Melissa del Bosque Dave Denison, Sissy Farenthold, Lawrence Goodwyn, Jim (512)477-0746, fax (512)474-1175, toll free (800)939-6620. Email STAFF WRITER Forrest Wilder Hightower, Kaye Northcott, Susan Reid, Rusty Todd [email protected] , www.texasobserver.org. Periodicals ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Julia Austin TEXAS DEMOCRACY FOUNDATION BOARD Lisa Blue, Melissa Postage paid in Austin, TX, and at additional mailing offices. CIRCULATION/OFFICE MANAGER Candace Carpenter Jones, Susan Longley, Jim Marston, Mary Nell Mathis, Gilberto ART DIRECTOR Daniel Lievens Ocanas, Jesse Oliver, Bernard Rapoport, Geoffrey Rips, Geronimo POSTMASTER Send address changes to: The Texas Observer, 307 WEBMASTER Shane Pearson Rodriguez, Sharron Rush, Kelly White, Ronnie Dugger (Emeritus) W. 7th St., Austin TX 78701. Subscriptions:1 yr $32, 2 yr $59, 3 yr POETRY EDITOR Naomi Shihab Nye IN MEMORIAM Molly Ivins,1944-2007, Bob Eckhardt,1913-2001, Cliff $84. Students $20. Foreign, add $13 to domestic price. Back issues COPY EDITOR Brian Baresch Olofson,1931-1995, Frankie Carter Randolph,1894-1972 $5. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk rates on request. Microfilm ADMINISTRATIVE INTERN Mary Hannah Duhon available from University Microfilms Intl., 300 N Zeeb Rd, Ann EDITORIAL INTERNS Josh Haney, Victoria Rossi Arbor MI 48106.. NATION MAGAZINE LEGISLATIVE INTERN Reeve Hamilton INDEXES The Texas Observer is indexed in Access: The LEGISLATIVE INTERN Susan Peterson Supplementary Index to Periodicals: Texas Index; and, for the years 1954 through 1981, The Texas Observer Index. c';;;,,A,;-, CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Nate Blakeslee, Robert Bryce, Emily DePrang, Michael Erard, James K. Galbraith, Patricia Kilday Hart, BOOKS & THE CULTURE is funded in part by the City Steven G. Kellman, Robert Leleux, James McWilliams, Char Miller, of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a Ruth Pennebaker, Kevin Sieff, Andrew Wheat grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 3 Texas. Practically every statewide measure of social well-being voter ID beast was born. On Day One in January, as Straus and economic fairness had devolved from merely embarrass- was warming hearts in the House with a call for bipartisan ing to downright atrocious. Teacher pay plummeted; college consensus—declaring with shocking good sense that the tuition soared; electricity and home-insurance rates spiked to "speaker's role ... is to help the members, all the members, the nation's highest. Texas now has more uninsured children do good things for the people of their districts"—Senate (and adults) than any state in the union. Twenty-two percent Republicans were already tucking into the dirty work of of our kids are underfed. Our water supply is approximately sabotaging progress. as abundant as the moon's. And the list goes on. Introduced by Gov. Perry's longtime BFF, Republican As you'll see in this special Observer issue recapping the 81" Sen. Troy Fraser of Horseshoe Bay, the bill was intended Legislature, admirable attempts were made this year to reverse to make citizens produce a photo ID (or two other accept- some of the devastation. Both Republican and Democratic able forms of identification) before casting a vote. Right- lawmakers cooked up smart measures to clean up govern- wing Republicans swore, with remarkably straight faces, ment corruption; repair the state's broken law enforcement, that nothing was more crucial to the future of the state. transportation and insurance agencies; restore a dollop of The "sanctity" of Texas elections, they said, hung in the bal- economic justice; and bring down the spiraling costs of home ance. So what if they could produce no convincing evidence insurance, higher education and electricity. Meanwhile, law- that voter fraud is actually a problem? Democrats swore, in makers fought valiantly against a fresh outrage: Perry's politi- response, that legions of elderly and minority voters would cally calculated move to reject hundreds of millions of federal be disenfranchised by voter ID requirements—though they stimulus dollars for unemployment insurance, even as the could muster only slightly more compelling evidence to number of jobless Texans continues to climb and the state's back up that counterclaim. unemployment fund runs dry. On both sides, what really mattered was the politics of this But when the clock chimed midnight on June 1, most of ginned-up business. Rank-and-file conservatives, all swollen those sound proposals lay limp and lifeless on the floor of the with Fox News propaganda about runaway voter fraud orches- Texas House, trampled into submission by the beast that ate trated by liberal groups like ACORN, adore voter ID. Rank- the 81" Legislature: voter ID. and-file Latinos, Texas Democrats' most important constitu- ency of the future, despise it in equal measure. he handiest way to prevent an outbreak of good Surprise: Politics won out. And Texans lost out. The Senate, government, as right-wingers long ago discovered, traditionally the more congenial chamber, was riven by parti- is to divert everybody's attention with an issue that's san rancor as Republicans set fire to the long-observed tradi- T controversial, divisive, bitterly partisan and large- tion of requiring two-thirds support for any bill to be brought ly insignificant all at once. From this reliable formula, the up for debate. If Craddick's House had once embodied the old Tom DeLay philosophy—if the rules don't suit your purposes, blow the bastards up—the Senate now became, as many observers lamented, the new House. Every GOP senator except John Carona of Dallas voted to give voter ID a At a February hearin 'on unemPloyment benefits, Bill special exemption from the supermajority rule, allowing it Hammond, head of the Texas Association of Business, to pass on a simple majority vote—which it did, after much did his best Marie Antoinette impersonation, accusing time-wasting and energy-draining debate. The collaborative jobless Texans of "sit[ting] on their laurels." Far from spirit of the Senate was badly damaged. And in the end, sitting on his, Hammond gets paid handsomely for his voter ID would wreak its devastation on the newly placid efforts to defend the indefensible—more than $317,000 House of Straus as well. in 2007. This session, he was the loudest voice against The speaker had pledged to end the partisan divisiveness accepting $555 million in federal stimulus money that wrecked the last few sessions, and by and large he fol- earmarked for unemployed Texans. "The dealer gives lowed through. Democrats had considerable say in lead- you your first hit for free to get you hooked, and then ing committees and crafting legislation. Before the session, you are addicted and are paying the consequences for Straus had described his modus operandi to Texas Monthly: a long, long time," Hammond testified. Sounding like "Let them do what they want to do." But what struck a he was smoking something, Hammond took another refreshing note in January turned problematic in late May, star turn at a March hearing, insisting that people who when the traditional last-minute rush of bill-passing came leave their jobs because of domestic violence should to a screeching halt thanks to voter ID—and thanks also to be excluded from jobless benefits. Abuse "is a tragedy," a lack of effective leadership. he allowed, "but the question is, you know, is that the On May 21, just before the frantic final push commenced, intent of the unemployment fund?" the Republican-led House Calendars Committee, which schedules bills for floor debate, slated voter ID for May SESSION SNAPSHOT 23—ahead of every significant bill with Democratic backing, including sunset reform of the Department of Insurance and

4 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009

Department of Transportation. If Democrats wanted mean- ingful reform, they would have to let voter ID come up for WHERE IT HURTS a vote first. The strategy was wickedly clear, as Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, readily admitted: "We fear insurance," he After Sen. Troy Fraser torpedoed a broadly supported said. "They fear voter ID." needle-exchange program in the waning days of the Fear triumphed. With filibusters not allowed, Democrats session, fellow Republican Sen. Bob Duell—who's a stalled debate on voter ID by "chubbing"—chattering for physician—prescribed some tough love: "I think it's the maximum allowable time about a series of routine time, especially for you Republicans, that if we're to "local and consent" bills that should have been quickly remain a viable party that we need to start looking at cleared away before important legislation was voted on medical facts and dealing with reality and not dealing (see story, pg. 21). Half-hearted attempts at breaking the with black helicopters and other myths that are out logjam got nowhere. Anti-chubbing Democrats were there by the right-wing extremists:' Unfazed, Fraser ignored. Republicans howled and stamped and bayed to told Quorum Report there was no "black helicopter no effect. • conspiracy." He and his constitilents just "don't. believe Unable or unwilling to break the deadlock, Straus strayed [in). handing out needles to drug addicts." Texas from his even-handedness and blasted Democrats as remains the only state without a needle-exchange pro- "obstructionists." The Democratic caucus chairman, Rep. grani to reduce HIV/AIDS . infections. Jim Dunnam, who'd orchestrated the "chubfest," shot back: "We didn't take up bills on the House floor until maybe the SESSION SNAPSHOT latest point of any session. Why wasn't insurance reform on the House floor weeks ago? Why'd we go home last week every day at 6 or 7 o'clock so that committees could go have U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison by double digits among likely dinner? ... These were decisions that the speaker made Republican voters in next year's gubernatorial showdown. The House had gone from "Kumbaya" to Mutually Assured But the governor used the Lege to make hay with right-wing Destruction. And a session that had promised a long-awaited Republicans. It wasn't about effectiveness—far from it. The break from partisan gridlock had ended in another sickening main item on Perry's legislative priority list that passed was example of just that. Voter ID had, indeed, been derailed. So a puny thing: a bill to allow Texans to buy "Choose Life" had a noxious bill by Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, originally license plates. And in an unusual show of defiance, lawmakers intended to force women seeking abortions to undergo ultra- rejected two of his appointees—most notably Don McLeroy, sounds against their will. So had a Republican proposal to the creationist dentist who no longer chairs the State Board allow concealed handguns on college campuses. But so, too, of Education. But with his vocal support for voter ID and had just about every bill that might have made Texas a fairer mandatory ultrasounds, his political ploy to block stimulus and better place. funds for unemployment compensation and his crazy-like-a- Nobody won. Everybody lost. It was, ultimately, the same fox campaign for a doomed-from-the-start "states' rights" bill, old dirge sung in a different key. Perry used the session to woo ultraconservatives and vault past Hutchison in the polls. nd what do you know? It ain't over yet. Because the In fairness, let us note that the governor also made perhaps end-of-session meltdown doomed bills to reform the only sensible comment about the end-of-session failure and reauthorize the state insurance and transpor- to pass sunset bills to keep key state agencies in operation: A tation departments (see story, pg. 26), Perry will "I have no idea what they were thinking. ... I thought I was be calling the angry horde back to Austin for a euphemisti- watching an episode of Lost." cally named "special session." The guv gets to pick the date— Also worth noting: Before the end-of-session madness and set the agenda. Which just might, if he thinks it'll boost took hold, a smattering of worthy measures did manage to his poll numbers, include voter ID. And which won't, you become law: a "media shield" allowing journalists to protect can rest assured, revive any of the progressive legislation that their sources without risking jail time; minor improvements didn't deserve to die. for the troubled Texas Youth Commission; a partial cure for Even without the special session, Perry is pretty much the the state's sick institutions for the mentally disabled (see story, only person in Texas with reason to smile about the 2009 pg. 19). And Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, finally got her fel- Legislature. He was doing just that, in fact, the day after the low lawmakers to post-ratify the 24th Amendment to the U.S. lawmakers sped away from Austin to try to spin the results Constitution, which prohibited the poll taxes Texas and other to their constituents. At a news conference in the suddenly states once used to keep minorities, women and low-income empty Capitol, Perry gave the 81st session a big thumbs-up. "I folks from voting. grant you, there was some unfinished business," he allowed. The 24th amendment was ratified in 1964. It took the Texas But otherwise, it had been a triumph—for his political Legislature 45 years to symbolically grant its assent. You prospects. don't have to be an English major to spot some very telling

Back in January, Perry was languishing in the polls, trailing irony in that. — Bob Moser

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 5 As a rule, we tend to steer clear of "best of" and the "top 10" lists at the Observer. Sure, they're fine harmless fun; we just can't help feeling that their PEOPLE'S FRIENDS natural milieu is high school yearbooks and The Late Show with David Letterman. But even haughty and FOES journalist types can't always resist the tempta- tion. We herewith offer our highly selective tallies BY OBSERVER STAFF of lawmakers who notably opposed—or bravely championed—the best interests of the good folk of Texas at the 81st Legislature.

the

PEOPLE'S FOES Americans to deal with." That made Saturday Night Live. A month later, on May 5, Brown met in her Capitol office with six advocates for Asian Americans. (Three people in the SEN. TOMMY WILLIAMS, R-THE WOODLANDS meeting confirmed the details to the Observer.) After a long No lawmaker bears more of the bur- discussion about potential problems with voter ID, during den for the Legislature's failure to do which Brown was cordial but refused to change her stance, the the people's business than Tommy advocates—all of them Americans, four of them with law Williams. His destructive maneuver degrees—got up to leave. They thanked the lawmaker for to eviscerate Senate tradition to meeting with them. Brown responded, "I'm thankful you all allow consideration of Republicans' speak English so well." Uh, ahem: Could someone please pass controversial voter ID bill—without the turkey? the two-thirds support traditionally required to bring up legislation—knocked the wheels off this REP. WAYNE CHRISTIAN, R-CENTER session before it could even get rolling. Unsatisfied with Bless his heart, this former gospel merely destroying any prospect of a productive session, singer and current leader of the Texas Williams went on to dubious efforts like trying to ensure that Christian Coalition just couldn't help family planning centers providing abortions wouldn't get any himself. In the twilight hours of the state money. When he tried to amend a media-shield law by session, Wayne Christian snuck an forcing publications to print disclaimers on every story with amendment through that allows him a confidential source, Sen. Rodney Ellis, the Houston to rebuild his oceanside Galveston Democrat who wrote the law, rejected the amendment on County vacation home, destroyed by grounds that "it runs afoul of the Constitution:' Nothing new Hurricane Ike, on the public beach. Critics have blasted there: Running afoul was Williams' special role this session. Christian for eroding the so-year-old Open Beaches Act. He insists he's just protecting property owners from the "Big REP. BETTY BROWN, R-TERRELL Brother State." Before striking that blow for liberty, Christian Among some Capitol watchers, spent much of the session trying, unsuccessfully, to impose white-haired Betty Brown has earned his ultraconservative beliefs on the poor and weak, most nota- the nickname "Evil Grandma." bly with a bill requiring all applicants for government ser- Indeed, she sometimes sounds like vices to get drug-tested—even moms and dads applying for someone's mortifyingly dated their kids. Hey: It's the Christian thing to do! grandparent muttering bigoted comments during Thanksgiving REP. DAN FLYNN, R-VAN dinner. Brown has been a back- Payday lenders, who charge low- bencher for years, but on one controversial issue—voter income borrowers up to i,000 per- ID—she seems omnipresent. Last session, she wrote a voter cent interest, operate virtually with- ID bill that narrowly lost. This session, Brown was again a out regulation thanks to a loophole prominent voter ID proponent—to the delight of comedy in Texas law—and thanks to Dan writers everywhere. During a committee hearing on the Flynn, who bottled up legislation in issue, Brown said that Americans of Chinese descent should his subcommittee that would have Americanize their names so they would be "easier for closed the loophole. Flynn, who

6 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009

collected $5,000 in the last election cycle from payday-lender the PACs, suggested during a hearing that borrowers were to blame for not reading the fine print on their contracts. "The PEOPLE'S FRIENDS disclosure is there—it's very prominent. I can read it without my glasses," he said. "Do they not realize what they are doing? Is it because of education?" When he wasn't bashing low- SEN. JOHN CARONA, R-DALLAS income borrowers, Flynn wrote a bill that would have prohib- When his fellow partisans in the ited Texas from spending money on public-safety messages Senate voted to abolish the two- and election materials in languages other than English. "It's thirds rule in order to railroad very frustrating to most Americans:' he said. "You've probably through the divisive voter ID bill gone to Wal-Mart and picked something up and had to search (see Tommy Williams, opposite for English on the instructions?' Charming. page), John Carona balked. Didn't the Senate have more important

SEN. TROY FRASER, R - HORSESHOE BAY things to do? he asked. Carona was Troy Fraser is a human black hole: the sole Republican to vote against the scheme. He showed He sucks the light out of everything his independent streak on other issues, too. Carona champi- he comes near. A bosom buddy— oned legislation that would have allowed communities to some say lackey—of Gov. Rick Perry, raise money through taxes for transportation projects, Fraser's signal contribution to the including mass-transit projects like commuter rail in Dallas- session was the divisive, destructive Fort Worth. That bold proposal provoked howls of indignation voter ID bill, which Democrats said from anti-tax zealots. Carona pushed back, criticizing the was designed to suppress minority naysayers, including Gov. Rick Perry, for being blinded by votes. During a 24-hour floor debate, Fraser was long on pas- ideology. He even threatened to filibuster when the local- sionate intensity but short on details. At one point, he repeat- option tax was struck from the bill late in the session, quoting edly insisted that one of his amendments would have pre- an old Italian saying: "I can protect myself from my enemies; vented voters from using voter-registration cards—when he may God protect me from my friends!" had explicitly added them to the list of acceptable forms of ID. On environmental and consumer issues, Fraser frequent- REP. GARNET COLEMAN, D - HOUSTON ly played spoiler, delighting business lobbyists. As chairman For those who follow Texas politics, of the Business and Commerce Committee, Fraser squelched Garnet Coleman and the Children's bills to promote energy efficiency and solar power, provide Health Insurance Program have assistance to low-income electric customers and start a nee- become nearly synonymous. Perhaps dle-exchange program. If it's good for ordinary folk, Fraser's no recent government program has agin' it. benefited working families as much as CHIP, which provides low-cost Wweiwg,SW.i coverage to families that earn too SHOTGUN OFFENSE much to qualify for Medicaid but still can't afford private insurance. And no lawmaker in the state has nurtured and In a state that permits concealed handgun licensees protected the program since its inception in 1999 as fiercely to pack heat almost anywhere, a bill allowing hand- as Coleman. This session, Coleman once again fought the guns in college dorm rooms and classrooms seemed good fight, sponsoring a bill to expand CHIP to 8o,00o more likely to pass—but not without an appropriate dose of Texas children. He pushed the bill through the House, only skepticism. At the height of the Senate debate in May, to see it die in the Senate. Coleman tried to resurrect the Eliot Shapleigh, a Democrat from El Paso, facetiously proposal right through the session's final hours. He didn't win asked the bill's sponsor, San Antonio Republican Jeff this one. But Coleman will surely return in two years with Wentworth, why sporting events were being left out. another CHIP bill. "When you have UT and A&M playing each other, why not create the scenario where everyone has a SEN. JUDITH ZAFFIRINI, D - LAREDO handgun?" Shapleigh asked. Wentworth replied that If this were a geniality contest, Judith alcohol and handguns don't mix. Shapleigh responded: Zaffirini would certainly fall on the "You think there's no alcohol in dorm rooms?" The bill "foe" side. She is famous for being still passed the Senate but never made it to a House relentlessly aggressive in pursuit of vote thanks to the voter ID logjam (see story, pg. 21). her aims—and downright mean to colleagues who stand in her way and staffers who don't meet her standards. But however devilishly, she

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 7 often does the Lord's work. This session, Zaffirini passed a bill REP. SCOTT HOCHBERG, D-HOUSTON through the Senate to limit out-of-control college tuition One look at Scott Hochberg and you increases to 5 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is can tell he's a nerd. The ruffled mop lower—a canny move designed to force legislators to prop- of hair, the rounded bookish glasses, erly fund higher education. When the measure died in the the constant talk of school-funding House, she was characteristically blunt: "What an embarrass- formulas and accountability stan- ment. What a shame." Zaffirini, who worked tirelessly on dards give it away. The man is toting behalf of students and educators at all levels, fought a fierce, around serious brainpower. He's one down-to-the-wire battle—locking horns with Lt. Gov. David of about six people in the state who Dewhurst—to do away with "proportionality" in state funding actually understands school finance. For years, Hochberg has for community colleges, which relegates those vital institu- used that brainpower to try to improve education in Texas. tions to third-rate status in Texas. Dewhurst won this round. This session was no different. Hochberg was integral to passing But Zaffirini will be back, with a vengeance. two large, complicated education bills this session. One bill makes minor changes to the school-finance system. Some REP. TODD SMITH, R - EULESS school districts will receive a nearly 3 percent funding increase Todd Smith had a thankless job. As under the bill, which also includes an $800 teacher pay raise. chairman of the House Elections Hochberg also authored House Bill 3, which will slightly reduce Committee, he was tasked with shep- Texas' reliance on standardized tests. Neither of these bills herding voter ID through the cham- added up to comprehensive reform, and education groups were ber. Partisan Republicans badly hoping for more from both. But in a legislative session in which wanted the bill to pass. Democrats very little got done, Hochberg was relatively productive. * were desperate to kill it. To Smith's credit, he tried to find a compromise on an issue so polluted by partisanship that compromise might have been impossible. In the end, it did prove impossible, but Smith gets an "A" for effort. Later in the session, Smith broke Most days in the Texas House kick off with a pastorly again with the hardcore members of his party. Some House invocation that righteously flouts church-state separa- Republicans, suspecting a Democratic ploy, opposed a bill by tion. On May 23, delivering the daily invocation her- Dallas Rep. Rafael Anchia that was designed to register more self, Democratic Rep. Donna Howard of Austin dem- high-schoolers to vote. Smith spoke in favor of the bill on the onstrated the only indisputably inclusive and appropri- House floor, informing his colleagues that registering voters ate way to begin a day of government work. "No mat- was a nonpartisan activity that everyone should support. He ter what our individual beliefs might be," she said, "we was one of just two Republicans to vote for the bill, putting represent all Texans who are citizens of this great and good public policy ahead of rank partisanship. diverse state." Howard then read and applied the Texas statute granting public school children an undisturbed SEN. KIP AVERITT, R - WACO minute of silence each morning to "reflect, pray, medi- Kip Averitt is a rarity at the Capitol: tate, or engage in any other silent activity that is not soft-spoken, respectful of differing likely to interfere with or distract another?' opinions and allergic to flights of ideological fancy. Averitt usually votes the GOP line, but in two important areas he has shown a willingness to break with the pack. A supporter of the Children's Health Insurance Program (see Garnet Coleman, previous page), which has been under sustained attack from other Republicans, Averitt played a pivotal role this session in trying to expand access to the children of middle-class Texans. He was also a sensible voice on water and environmental issues. Averitt assembled a pack- age of legislation that—had it been able to vault the voter ID logjam that marred the end of the session—would have pro- vided a $4,000 rebate for plug-in hybrid vehicles, updated building codes, encouraged more efficient appliances and brought long-overdue reforms to the state's antiquated air-pollution permitting rules, finally forcing the state's environmental regulators to consider the cumulative impacts of new polluters.

8 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009 BAD(dest) BILLS

f there's any upside to having an end-of-session to be eligible for the necessary license. At UT-Austin alone, this breakdown in legislative progress—beyond the sheer, "small part" could add up to thousands of armed students. After dopey spectacle—it's that a lot of bad bills end up in the HB 1893 failed to move in the House, SB 1164 passed the Senate resulting pile of dead legislation. (See stories, pp. 3 and on a 20-11 vote—but thankfully, that's as far as it got. 21.) During the 815t session of the Texas Legislature, the Observer's intrepid legislative interns, Reeve Hamilton NEEDLE WORK and Susan Peterson, sussed out and exposed dozens of rotten House Bill 1135

I - PASADENA pieces of legislation. Here we've selected the worst of the worst KEN LEGLER, R from the nearly 7,500 bills filed during the session—no easy In a session in which the Legislature desperately needed task. Though none of these stinkers made it to the governor's to (and didn't) expand eligibility for unemployment insur- desk this time around, chances are that they will be revived in ance benefits to draw down federal stimulus money, Rep. Ken 2011 because, sadly, most of the authors will be back for more. Legler opted, instead, for downright stinginess. HB 1135, which And we'll be back to dog them. withered and died in committee, would have (expensively) mandated drug testing for the rapidly increasing number of THE BIG EMPTY applicants—and denied benefits to those testing positive. Rick Senate Bill 362 Levy, legal director at the Texas AFL-CIO, marvels at the sheer

TROY FRASER, R- HORSESHOE BAY counterproductivity of the proposal: "We should be doing Under the misleading banner of preserving "voter integ- everything we can to get people back to work, not devoting rity:' Sen. Troy Fraser's SB 362—universally known as "voter precious resources to ferret out the drug-using unemployed:' ID"—singlehandedly wrecked much of the session, sucking up the energy and attention of legislators, reporters and con- NUKING PUBLIC INPUT cerned citizens. To prevent the virtually nonexistent crime of House Bill 2721 voter impersonation, Fraser's bill would have required Texans DAN FLYNN, R - VAN wanting to vote to present identification that some tradition- One problem with building potentially hazardous, ecosys- ally Democratic voters don't have. This desperate Republican tem-altering nuclear facilities: People aren't always keen on the ploy to pilfer votes brought out the ugly in Democrats, too (see idea. Republican Rep. Dan Flynn of Van thought he'd figured story, pg. 21). out how to sidestep that hang-up: Keep us out of the picture entirely. It's bad enough that HB 2721 tried to fast-track the FOR SHAME process for obtaining the water permits needed to build nucle- Senate Bill 182 ar plants. (That's right: Build more water-guzzling factories in

DAN PATRICK, R- HOUSTON a state that's periodically wracked by drought, and build 'em Brought to us by the tech-savvy Sen. Dan Patrick, the latest faster.) What's worse is that the bill would have kept Texans "informed consent" bill to show up this session took a multi- from challenging those water permits in court. This two-in-one media approach to shaming women who opt for abortions. Like assault on the environment and democracy never made it out its less-successful companion, House Bill 36 by San Antonio of committee. Rep. Frank Corte, SB 182 would have required doctors to provide even unwilling pregnant women with ultrasounds. The bill ROUND 'EM UP allows women to avert their eyes, but in this case it's their ears House Bill 254 that matter: Women would have to hear doctors narrate what LEO BERMAN, R- TYLER they see on screen—fetus size, heart activity, organ develop- You might wonder why we're singling out Rep. Leo Berman's ment, arms, toes—and listen to the heartbeat. Fortunately, after HB 254, which makes the impossible demand that undocu- passing the Senate, this nasty piece of legislation died during mented Texans be rounded up and restricted to "sanctuary cit- the stalemate in the House. ies:' Why not the potential gubernatorial candidate's House bills 253, 256, 260-263, 370, or any of the other stabs Berman made at

BACK - PACKING making life rougher for what he prefers to call "illegal aliens"? Senate Bill 1164 Well, we had to pick just one, and among stiff competition,

JEFF WENTWORTH, R - SAN ANTONIO this one stood out for its sheer, vaulting madness. Berman's Sen. Jeff Wentworth and Republican Rep. Joe Driver of quintessentially ineffective legislative agenda has nothing to do Garland filed companion bills under the misguided prem- with good public policy; it's all about proposing mean-spir- ise that the way to improve security on college campuses— ited bills and, knowing they won't get anywhere (which they which are already exceptionally safe—is to allow concealed didn't), taking pride in the audacity of the filing. Call it what handguns. Driver argued that the bill would apply only to a you will—overcompensation for being born a Yankee, per- "small part of the campus population" because you have to be 21 haps—but, undeniably, it's legislating at its worst. *

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 9

gone—aim VVCti tAtIt.tA., • packed press table at the state Capitol. depth pieces, period:' says Jim Har- Scrutinizing Governor Dunyas plans. nd then would come the inevitable the many issues that afflict the chroni- to privatize the state's welfare system cally overlooked Rio Grande Valley. rington, director of the Texas Civil 4. question: Where is everybody? by handing it over to giant defense (Her absence was painfully under- Rights Project. Harrington is among Legislators weren't the only ones who those who've relied on the media to contractors, most of whom were noticed. Political insiders who tinker scored in the June 11 New Yorker, which features a long investigation into provide leads on which cases he needs twitching with excitement about bei 'th all the oily machinery, out of to litigate. "What strikes me is how paid billions to control social servi t and below deck, were well aware why McAllen has the lowest household incon e nation and some of the shallow the coverage is," he says. "You in Texas. e crushing cutbacks at traditional see thegovernor say something and it The Star-Telegranr was able 4,- outlets that have decimated the high- care costs.) The Dallas ing on q..<.,, had lost Karen Brooks, is taken at face value, without do feavreiesstis, that of Capitol reporters. And they Texas Railroae incite, buy- -media job at Austin's ical analysis or follow-up. It at each round of of great concern W.; aons of tic. etirements left ers e Houston Chronicle, riding. "Jak Ng,2eady combined its Capi- troublesome' for that ma A really kirt; all threads that!, lith the one from the San made regui, investigative press-News, announced nbean says l ia.rvO' on that it was cutting 90 g light o at°orY l,g; ege Quorum R ve busin jobs. ... ., y become required t a lot of my time at the port has ''' c peopl fain- reading,. ,..f Y who used to turn t some th' m doing criminal justic ets for legislative oritz says. "During th irough to b '' m says. "You t led to co titutional kno of the advocacy grou when 1 think of for avenues to get a point d corrupt would have And how nreported now,". se little tri eir side of the story out beca this says now attending em" ey would call me riting her usual with them before. in- law the 20 , some latory en She mentions their n energy repo D-Palmview, • ram Retorts is for.

UN- COVERED & Wildlife Commission and the often-secretive Texas Railroad Commission. Elizabeth Hernandez, who exposed abuses of chil- Where did all the Capitol reporters go— dren and power at the Texas Youth Commission for Freedom and what happens without them? Communications' papers in South Texas, was gone—and so was her ability to cover the many issues that afflict the chroni- BY BILL MINUTAGLIO cally overlooked Rio Grande Valley. (Her absence was painfully underscored in the June ii New Yorker, which features a t got to be routine. Brandi Grissom of the El Paso long investigation into why McAllen has the lowest household Times would look up and see yet another lawmaker income in the nation and some of the highest health care costs.) standing there, peering down at the handful of report- The Dallas Morning News had lost Karen Brooks, who took a ers scattered around what was once a jam-packed new-media job at Austin's KXAN.com. The Houston Chronicle, press table at the state Capitol. And then would come which had already combined its Capitol bureau with the one

the inevitable question: Where is everybody? from the San Antonio Express - News, announced in midsession Legislators weren't the only ones who noticed. Political insid- that it was cutting 90 newsroom jobs.

ers who tinker with all the oily machinery, out of sight and "I had spent a lot of my time at the Star- Telegram doing crimi- below deck, were well aware of the crushing cutbacks at tra- nal justice reporting," Moritz says. "During this session some ditional news outlets that have decimated the ranks of Capitol of the advocacy groups were looking for avenues to get a point reporters. And they knew that each round of layoffs, buyouts of view or their side of the story out there, and they would call or retirements left fewer reporters to monitor that machinery me because I had worked with them before:' But Moritz, now and spot the small threads that can lead to important investi- an energy reporter for the online Quorum Report, had to tell gative stories or analysis shedding light on the dark corners of the advocates that his new gig didn't allow him to sink his teeth legislative business. into their plight. "I had to tell them that I could nibble around "The specific people who had expertise about some things are the edges," he says, "but to fulfill my new mission, I had to be not here Grissom says. "You just miss a lot of that institutional true to it:' knowledge. People who would have been keenly aware of those At least Moritz still had a Capitol reporting job. The dearth of little triggers are not there to see them:' reporters at this year's session left newspapers and broadcasters, As the 2009 session opened, some veterans were missing from even more than in the past, scurrying to follow the politicking their usual stations. John Moritz, who had expertly bird-dogged as if it were a horse race. Many Texas papers were hard-pressed a variety of issues for seven sessions, was no longer represent- to provide even episodic daily coverage, let alone the longer,

ing the Fort Worth Star - Telegram, whose four-person Capitol analytical pieces that decipher the myriad obfuscations at the bureau shrank to one. Jake Dyer (who also happens to be one state Capitol. of the nation's best writers on billiards) had accepted a buyout "There are certainly a lot fewer in-depth pieces, period," from the same paper, taking with him years of experience drill- says Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project. ing down on state regulatory agencies like the cozy Texas Parks Harrington is among those who've relied on the media to

10 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009 provide leads on which cases he needs to litigate. "What strikes reporting on the Texas Railroad Commission, including inves- me is how shallow the coverage is," he says. "You see the gov- tigations into millions of dollars in questionable spending. "Jake ernor say something and it is taken at face value, without any Dyer was the last guy who really kind of made [energy] his critical analysis or follow-up. It has been of great concern to beat, made regulatory agencies his beat:' says Harvey Kronberg, me, actually very troublesome!' whose Quorum Report has increasingly become required—but subscription-only—reading for people who used to turn to big- eaders can argue till the cows come home about ger, older outlets for legislative coverage. how strong state government reporting in Texas has "It boggles my mind when I think of how many stories go been in the past. But there certainly has been bril- unreported now:' says Hernandez, who is now attending law liant reporting through the years, including stories school instead of writing her usual end-of-session pieces. She R mentions state Rep. Kino Flores, D-Palmview, who's reportedly that led to important legislation, exposed corrupt actors and derailed harmful bills. And there's no question that during this been under federal and state investigation for possible ethics session, several big issues—storm insurance, the environment, violations. "He is not one to enjoy media scrutiny, to put it regulatory agencies, poverty, health benefits for kids—needed nicely. There is no one asking him questions. I think that is far more scrutiny than they got. pretty incredible!' "We can safely say that environmental reporting during the Meanwhile, bowing to the new financial metrics, traditional session was really thin. Energy reporting was pretty thin:' says media have made a relentless drive to "go local"—giving Dallas Ross Ramsey, whose online Texas Weekly has taken up some of readers, for instance, nothing but news about Dallas. In the the slack caused by newspaper cutbacks. past, some reporter could routinely convince her editors that a The fundamental problem, Ramsey reminds anyone who story not necessarily "about Dallas" or "about Houston" could thinks Texas can do with fewer reporters, is this: "We don't be something that people in those cities would want to read know what [stories] we missed!' and talk about—because it had a human-interest quality or a That uncertainly grows from the fact that "specialty report- stunning investigative underpinning, or because it was just a ing" has been one of the casualties when news outlets cut back. well-written and well-photographed piece. In the late 19905, The Dallas Morning News had the luxury of In 1997, I talked my Morning News editors into letting me assigning me to a specialized story: Scrutinizing Gov. Dubya's go to the Rio Grande Valley to gauge the true effects of Gov. plans to privatize the state's welfare system by handing it over Bush's social-services policies. I remember trying to measure to giant defense contractors, most of whom were twitching with the exact distance from the front steps of the state Capitol to excitement about being paid billions to control social services the door of an abandoned, dilapidated school bus in Edinburg in Texas. that a poor family had converted into a very unsafe home—and where folks anxiously wondered whether they could survive The Star- Telegram's Dyer was able to do fearless, thorough Bush's "compassionate conservative" proposals. I wanted to put the precise mileage in my story to underscore how what happened in the air-conditioned hallways of the Capitol directly affected people with no running water along the Texas-Mexico In May, El Paso Times reporter Brandi Grissom per border—the kind of connection that's rarely, if ever, made by manently disabused her readers of the notion that the the events-driven coverage today. And, of course, the piece was Capitol's working environment resembles anything meant to be a preview of what the governor might later do at more sophisticated than a junior-high sleepover. a national level. Grissom broke a juicy story about El Paso Democratic It's unclear whether that kind of big-picture, narrative policy Reps. Norma Chavez and Marisa Marquez, whose reporting is going to prosper again. The local-news philosophy relationship had soured—to put it mildly—since that picked up pace in the late '9os moved along at warp speed Chavez helped Marquez get elected last year. After this legislative session, and it shows no signs of stopping. "We Marquez joined a procession of legislators congratulat- ing Chavez on her newly earned college degree, the elder stateswoman fired off a text message, insisting Sulu Hain that Marquez stay away from a subsequent party in her International Headquarters honor: "U have treated me with the most calculated Come Visit us for LUNCH! In addition to our organic disrespect the entire time since yr primary election," coffee, pizzas, empanadas, pastries and pies, we Chavez fumed. "I asked Joe to ask u to stay away. U now prepare made to order sandwiches, salads,

did not. Piz do not go to my , noon reception. Or I will and even black bean gazpacho. ask U to leave. U ridiculed my education every drunk opportunity u had. U R not my friend." 3601 S. Congress off f. Alpine Penn Field • under the water tower (512)707-9637 www.rutamaya.net SESSION SNAPSHOT check our s,;e for monthly ca:efifir

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 11 consider our Austin bureau an extension of our local desk," says Dallas Morning News deputy managing editor Mark Edgar. OUT OF THE BOX As one instance of what's lost in that approach, Kronberg points to the battles in this year's session over how to fund the Is it time for Texas to Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, which offers cover- have a full-time Legislature? age to people who can't get private insurance. At first glance, BY SEN. DAN PATRICK windstorm insurance may seem relevant only to coastal citizens. But folks in non-coastal areas might have found themselves paying for the billion-dollar, state-chartered fund. The espite the myriad, thorny possibilities—getting policyholders around the various slow- state to subsidize the fund, using general state revenue, tapping downs and Texas' Rainy Day Fund—clearly resonated far beyond the coast. mad rushes Ferreting out the complex machinations, taking a deep-rooted in the Texas look at who was lining up where and who was scratching whose House this back, is the kind of story that can take weeks or months. (Kelley session, the Legislature man- Shannon of the Associated Press was one of the few reporters aged to pass a number of key able to dig into it.) bills that will benefit Texans. Such far-reaching stories sometimes require strength in num- But the fact that the system bers: an organic, holistic process where one reporter pursues almost crashed, and the likeli- one angle, another reporter from another news outlets advances hood it will only get worse in the story by building on the first reporter's findings, and on the future, means that we must and on until some sunshine prevails. Brandi Grissom says the take a serious look at how our competition elevated the level of journalism as reporters fed off legislative process can be improved to meet the people's needs one another. Talking about Elizabeth Hernandez, she says: We in sessions to come. competed, but we could bounce ideas off each other." Here's the reality: By 2040, the state's population will double In the end, the most troubling aspect—which might become to nearly 5o million. Our budget will likely be well over $5oo bil- even more evident when the lawmakers reconvene in 2011 lion. We'll need hundreds of miles of new roads, 40,00o or more with even fewer reporters—is this: The kingmakers with the new teachers, more nurses, more schools, more hospitals. bucks to control their public image will be more powerful In legislative time, under the system of meeting every two than ever before. years, 2040 is only 15 sessions away. Since both chambers spend As Ross Ramsey puts it, having a decimated state Capitol only about two months of every session actually voting on bills, press corps "increases the power of those with the resources to this means that we have about 3o actual months to solve the communicate. It disempowers the people who have to rely on problems, and take advantage of the opportunities, of what will the free press." * likely be the state with the nation's largest population, economy and budget. Bill Minutaglio is a professor of journalism at the University Consider a few other data points. This session's Legislative of Texas at Austin. He is the author of several books, including Council—a group of 5o state-employed lawyers who write all unauthorized biographies of George W Bush and Alberto the legislation, amendments and resolutions—logged 100,000 Gonzales. His book on Gonzales and his book on the Texas City hours of overtime. The workload increased in some areas by disaster were excerpted in the Observer. Minutaglio is the co- more than 150 percent over just the 2005 session. The council author of a biography of Molly Ivins that will be published later did an outstanding job, but this insane workload created errors this year by PublicAffairs Books. that gave some House members the chance to kill important legislation based on minor mistakes. We cannot continue to operate as we have, with 140-day ses-

•- " sions every other year, and serve the best interests of the people. The jobs of legislators will only grow more difficult as our population grows. Already, each state Senate district is larger than a congressional district in Texas. By 2040, each House member will have nearly 250,000 constituents. . • . www-planetktexas.com What should we do? I have several ideas. The most controver- GROWNUP GIFTS FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES sial: Make legislating a full-time job. This is not just a matter of IN AUSTIN (512) & SAN ANTONIO (210) making the House and Senate work more smoothly. Today, the NORTH SOUTH EAST S.E.MILITARY people who can afford to serve are mostly lawyers and wealthy

832 - 8544 443 - 2292 654 - 8536 333 - 3043 businesspeople. There is nothing wrong with these folks, but RESEARCH E. RIVERSIDE CENTRAL WEST we do not have a true cross-section of the people. The average 502-9323 441-5555 822-7767 521-5213 person cannot work for $600 a month and take six months

12 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009 off every other year from their job. I believe Texas would be better served if more citizens could run and hold office. Full- Can a state of 25 to 5o million time members would need to be paid a reasonable salary, but in a state our size, that would be a small cost to do the job as it people operate with apart-time needs to be done. I know this: When constituents call or ask to meet with me, team of leaders who show up they expect me to be in my office. They don't want to hear that I work part-time. The truth is that many of us work full-time every other year to vote on a now, serving our districts. But not everyone can do that. Short of a full-time Legislature, we could also consider meet- budget of several hundred billion ing 90 days every year, so we can address issues in a more timely manner. We could spend one session only on the budget and dollars and legislation that affects emergency items that need action. The following year, we could focus on all other issues, along with emergency items relating the lives of every citizen? to the budget. The rules of each chamber also must be reformed, beginning with a cap on the number of bills each member can file. I do not suggest that my ideas are the only ones, or even (Lawmakers filed more than 6,000 bills in 2005, and nearly the right ones. We need discussion and debate. But one thing 7,500 in 2009, though about the same number passed and ended is clear: We cannot continue the way we now operate and up on the governor's desk.) Next, the House must find a way to serve the future needs of Texans in the manner that they retool its rules so that no one person, or small group, can sabo- demand and deserve. We must look forward and make sure tage an entire session. (This is a tricky matter, since members that our Legislature is ready for the next exciting chapter in must retain the right to stop a bill they feel is bad for their dis- Texas history. * tricts or for the state.) The House should also eliminate "ghost voting," where a member can cast a vote by proxy when she or Dan Patrick, R-Houston, has served in the Texas Senate since he is not on the floor. 2007. He asks that readers send their thoughts and ideas about The Senate should also look at internal reform. The fact that legislative reform to his Facebook page. we are a body of only 31 members gives us an inherent advantage: We are forced to work together. It is rare that a senator kills a bill on a point of order, or because of a personal issue with another member—something that is, unfortunately, not so rare in the House. Still, most of us serve on five or six committees, which often meet at the same time. We cannot possibly be in every committee meeting to hear the testimony or debate on every bill. We run back and forth to cast votes on bills on which only our staff are fully up to speed. I always feel bad when a citizen comes to testify on an issue, and only one or two members of a seven- or nine-person committee are present. Sometimes these citizens have shown up at 8 a.m. and waited 12 or more hours to speak their piece. Often, members have to leave in the middle of their testimony. I usually try to explain that there is nothing to be done, because I have to vote in another committee or lay out a bill. But I always feel rude doing so. I wonder if the people ask themselves whether this is the best way to run our government. Ultimately, here is the question Texans must ponder: Do they feel their Legislature is doing the will of the people now? Can a state of 25 to 5o million people operate with a part-time team of leaders who show up every other year to vote on a budget of several hundred billion dollars and legislation that affects the lives of every Texan? The answer is clearly no. This session, I filed a bill that would have simply formed a bipartisan committee of legislators and citizens • e; ••••: >4 • to study how best the Legislature should prepare for 2040. The bill didn't make it to the Senate floor, because certain committee members were afraid to even discuss the possibility of change. •

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 13 illustration by Mike Krone

SNUFFED find common ground on a tough issue," he said. "Myra and I are not bitter because we couldn't get the votes in the Senate." How Big Tobacco fended off a James Gray of the American Cancer Society had more point- ed words about the bill's failure. "Apparently our supporters statewide smoking ban. couldn't overcome the deep pockets of Big Tobacco," he said. BY MELISSA DEL BOSQUE "They were very good at killing this bill this session. Once again, politics has trumped public health here in the Texas Capitol." How did a high-profile bill with such widespread public sup- n a chilly January day, Lance Armstrong and port end up on the scrap heap of failed legislation? Stealth lob- a coalition of anti-smoking groups joined bying, Ellis and other advocates later told the Observer. In 2007, legislators on the steps of the Capitol to when the smoking ban was first floated, lobbyists for tobacco announce that the days of puffing in Texas companies were vocal in their opposition, swarming the Capitol bars and restaurants would soon be over. A and ensuring that the bill was so loaded up with qualifying new poll indicated that 68 percent of Texans amendments that it teetered and sank. Ellis ended up pulling favored0 a statewide smoking ban, Armstrong told the crowd. the bill back because it had been neutered, exempting bars and "The first job of government is to protect the people," he said, allowing broad exemptions for city ordinances already on the "and today, the people of Texas are sending a clear message books. "I had to withdraw the bill rather than allow it to be to their elected representatives: They want protection from gutted:' Ellis said. secondhand smoke." This time around, with the tide of public sentiment so strong Four months later, as Armstrong competed in the Giro against them, Big Tobacco's well-paid minions adopted ninja d'Italia bicycle race, the smoking ban bill was pronounced dead. tactics, lobbying members behind closed doors and over the Authored by Democratic Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston, the leg- telephone. "You didn't see them, but you knew they were there islation would have prohibited smoking in indoor public places, said Kristin Voinis, spokeswoman for Smoke Free Texas, a non- including government offices and bars. At a news conference on profit group that spearheaded the grassroots push for the ban. May 19, supporters including Ellis and Rep. Myra Crownover, Tobacco companies invested heavily in lobbying during the a Denton Republican who authored the companion bill in the 2009 session, hiring 40 lobbyists and paying them as much as House, admitted defeat. In full Senatorial mode, Ellis waxed $2.4 million collectively to kill the ban, according to the Dallas diplomatic. "Members were acting in good faith and trying to Morning News. It was money well spent. Again and again, Voinis

14 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009 said, advocates would think they were making headway with legislators, only to return to members' offices later and get an earful of tobacco-industry talking points on individual liberties and the dangers of big government telling private business owners what to do. One key legislator who apparently changed her mind was Sen. Jane Nelson, a Republican from the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound. In January, Nelson had stood by Armstrong and publicly pledged her support for the smoking ban. As the chair- woman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, Nelson was a key ally: Ellis' bill would have to pass through her committee on its way to the Senate floor. Supporters were flummoxed when Nelson sat on the bill for two months, refusing to bring it up for committee approval. Ellis repeatedly begged her to hold a hearing. Nelson finally relented just two weeks before the session ended. Nelson's office insisted that she was not trying to kill the bill but was waiting for it to pass a House committee first. "It was basically a game of chicken all session:' said a Capitol staffer who worked on the legislation and requested anonymity to avoid angering Nelson. Nelson would not comment on her role in snuffing the ban. According to the staffer, she wanted Ellis to guarantee that he had the necessary 21 votes in the Senate before it passed through the committee; she didn't want her fellow Republicans to cast a controversial vote for a bill that might fail. Ellis' tally showed that he had only 20 votes. A vote for the ban could prove expen- Lance Armstrong peddled the smoking ban in January. photo by Reeve Hamilton sive for legislators, who'd risk losing campaign contributions from tobacco interests and affected businesses. A vote against it, on the other hand, could alienate constituents who favored the ban. Ultimately, neither House members nor Senators had to make Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the Senate's presiding offi- that choice: The ban did not come up for a vote in either cham- cer, spent most of the session out of sight and mind as ber. Advocates were frustrated but not deterred. Armstrong Tyler Republican Kevin Eltife smoothly commanded fired off a defiant message from Italy: "Big tobacco spent mil- the helm. Confronted about his frequent absence by lions to kill smoke-free legislation and they got to enough of Houston Chronicle reporters in mid-May, a flustered our legislators to win this round." But, he wrote, "As we've seen Dewhurst offered excuses about being more effective in states all over America, it's just a matter of time before our away from the dais. But he was a constant presence efforts succeed. We are not intimidated by big tobacco and we ever after—bringing confusion and turbulence with will not give up." him. Dewhurst raised eyebrows in late May when he He's right: Despite its money and its army of lobbyists, Big declared that the controversial creationist State Board Tobacco is losing this battle one state at a time. Smoking bans of Education chairman, Don McLeroy, had been have already passed in 28 states. At the news conference in May, confirmed—after McLeroy had come up one vote Ellis noted that the governor of North Carolina—the nation's short. "Uhhh, uhhh ..." Dewhurst said as the Senate top tobacco producer—was signing a smoking ban into law parliamentarian corrected him. On the penultimate that same day. day of the session, frustrated with confusion over the For now, Texas is left with a crazy quilt of local ordinances. legislative calendar, Dewhurst snapped at the chamber: Twenty-eight cities, including Ellis' hometown of Houston, have "What I'm concerned about is that some people really adopted smoking bans. Even the Texas Restaurant Association, don't understand English:' then sneered into his cell which lobbied against the legislation in 2007, has switched sides, phone at House Speaker Joe Straus, "Why don't you recognizing that a statewide ban would at least equalize the just listen to what I'm saying and then call me back?" rules for all restaurants. The senators, heads reeling, quickly asked to caucus Ellis won't quit. He said he's confident the smoking ban will with Dewhurst in a back room, where he would no pass during the next session, in 2011. Or maybe sooner, during longer be standing in front of a live microphone. the special session that Gov. Rick Perry is expected to call this year. "If there's something I can amend it to," Ellis said, "you SESSION SNAPSHOT can be sure I'll do it." *

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 15 RECONSTRUCTION the partisan stalemate that killed hundred of bills in the last week of the session (see story, p. 21). The bill modernizes DPS's driver's Can legislative action repair the troubled license and vehicle inspection divisions, setting "civilian business" goals for shorter lines at licensing offices and less hold time Department of Public Safety? at call centers. It puts the Division of Emergency Management, BY VICTORIA ROSSI which deals with disasters like last year's Hurricane Ike, under DPS's management rather than the governor's. Perhaps the most significant reform is the creation of an t's been a year since a still-unidentified arsonist inspector general to investigate complaints and report directly lobbed a Molotov cocktail at the Texas Governor's to the Public Safety Commission, a five-person oversight panel Mansion. The Greek Revival columns out front are appointed by the governor. Women and minorities at the agency still black from the smoke, but crews have torn out have long complained of being passed up for promotions. The damaged walls, cleared away debris and stabilized need to "transform the culture" of DPS, as Hinojosa puts it, the foundation. Now, with a mix of federal stimulus was made painfully clear in early May when Col. Stanley Clark, funds,I state money and private cash, officials say they're ready who'd replaced Davis as the agency's director, resigned after three to rebuild. women employees leveled charges of sexual harassment. The Texas Department of Public Safety underwent a razing "I hope that [incident] will help people recognize that for of its own this session, and plans to rebuild the state's top law- years DPS has had these issues," says Phillip Durst, an Austin enforcement agency, with its history of scandals and chronic lawyer who represented DPS Sgt. Thomas Williams in a suc- mismanagement, are under way. The Governor's Mansion cessful lawsuit last year. Williams, once among the elite detail burned on DPS's watch. Whether or not it's fair to say that guarding Gov. Rick Perry and his family, accused DPS of retali- DPS could have prevented the arson, the fire added fuel to the ating after he filed complaints alleging sexual harassment of department's many critics' calls for a thorough reconstruction a Capitol trooper and race and sex discrimination within the of the agency. agency. A jury awarded Williams $620,000. (The state has filed "Unless you have Fortress America, a large number of people an appeal that is scheduled to be heard this fall.) guarding constantly, that sort of stuff is going to happen," Scott Henson says that the sunset legislation could help turn the Henson, creator of the criminal-justice blog Grits for Breakfast, beleaguered agency around. But much depends on the quality says of the fire. "But internally, the agency was almost megalo- of new leadership at DPS, where huge turnover among the upper maniacally seeking power. It was resented by local law enforce- command has left a vacuum. "These things always depend on ment, and I think that's contributed a lot to the willingness of how they're implemented:' Henson says. "There's no magic bul- people to go after DPS. Best time to kick 'em is when they're let. That depends on who's in charge and what they do." * down." The time was ripe for reform. The Sunset Advisory Commission, a legislative body that reviews each state agency every 12 years and recommends corrective action to the Legislature, had released its report on DPS just a month before While most of the session's important bills died dur- the fire. The report described security lapses and structural inef- ing the House's last-minute meltdown, lawmakers ficiencies; the fire made the point more dramatically. Weeks did manage to pass one vital piece of legislation: a bill later, a legislative review panel harshly criticized DPS, a billion- to keep teens 161/2 and under out of tanning booths. dollar agency with more than 8,00o employees, as disorganized One of the bill's few skeptics, Republican Rep. Jodie and outdated. Lawmakers were taken aback to hear Col. Tommy Laubenberg of Parker, sarcastically grilled the bill's Davis Jr., the department's director, avow that DPS was "oper- author, Carrollton Republican Burt Solomons, about ating better than I've ever seen it" in the 43 years he'd worked why it didn't go further. "What about those girls laying there. Davis' career was over by August. out there on the beach with the baby oil?" she demand- A $1 million study by the private firm Deloitte & Touche ed. "We need to put a bill on that one. My God! They followed. The conclusion, in short, was that DPS needed a are frying like little fish out there!" Solomons respond- thorough overhaul. The department "had gone a little stale," ed that a tanning booth was 15 times stronger than the says Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, a member of the Sunset sun, an expressway to melanoma. Laubenberg raised Commission who wrote the sunset bill to restructure the agen- another concern: that high-school cheerleaders would cy. "Obviously there were some very troubling patterns." be forced to violate the tanning-bed ban to obtain the "It's been a culture where there's a lot of resistance to change requisite golden-brown tan. Otherwise, "You're going says Sen. Juan Hinojosa, a McAllen Democrat who carried the to change the glare on the lights of the Friday night Senate bill to remake DPS. "There's a good-old-boys system." lights," she warned—strangely, to no avail. Unlike those of other major agencies up for sunset review this year—including the departments of Transportation and SESSION SNAPSHOT Insurance (see story, p. 26)—DPS's sunset bill managed to survive

16 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009 the REPUBLICAN from LA MANCHA Another frustrating session for the Don Quixote of the Texas Senate. BY REEVE HAMILTON

ike any summer camp or high-school clique worth its salt, the Texas Senate produces a distinctive anthology of inside jokes. Of the many ' tedium-induced, knee-slapping nicknames concocted and whispered in the hallowed chamber—"Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Wisteria Lane," "Sen. Tommy Williams, R-Bedrock"—the most fitting is limsurely "Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-La Mancha." A casual observer might think the wiry San Antonio Republican, nearly 7o years old, is too frail to keep battling the giant political windmills he tilts against session after session. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, one of Wentworth's most powerful foes, stands at least 6-feet-5, with impeccable posture and middle- aged vigor to boot. But if diligence is, as Cervantes claims in Don Quixote, "the mother of good fortune," then Wentworth is way overdue for a triumph over the likes of Dewhurst. "He does the heavy lifting when no one is looking," says his fellow San Antonian, Democratic Sen. Leticia Van de Putte. Try, try again: Sen. Jeff Wentworth. photo courtesy Sen. Wentworth Though she does not back all of Wentworth's causes—such as the legislation he carried this session to allow carrying con- bipartisan congressional redistricting commission that would cealed handguns on college campuses—Van de Putte supported end the gerrymandering that the then-dominant Democrats what Wentworth immodestly but accurately calls "two of the had been practicing for decades. (In Texas, redistricting is best bills" of this session: unsuccessful efforts to create a less controlled by the lieutenant governor, speaker of the House, partisan, more genuinely representative Texas government. attorney general, comptroller and commissioner. For more than Wentworth locked horns with Dewhurst over one of those a century, all five had been Democrats.) bills, a resolution that would have allowed legislators to return After studying other states' practices, Wentworth crafted a to Austin for a three-day session to consider overturning guber- proposal to have both parties, in both chambers, pick two people natorial vetoes. It was "a significant proposal ... to bring about apiece, creating an evenly divided eight-member commission. a needed check and balance," as Wentworth wrote in a fiery The commissioners would choose a non-voting ninth mem- protest letter to the balky lieutenant governor. Wentworth had ber to preside over the deliberations. The result, Wentworth lined up 26 senators behind the measure, five more than the believed, would be a more equitable divvying of political dis- two-thirds majority usually needed to bring up a bill for consid- tricts in the state. eration. The Senate operates under the understanding that when The majority Democrats rejected Wentworth's idea in a bill garners the necessary support, the lieutenant governor (as 1993—and lived to regret it. Ten years later, Republicans had president of the Senate) will recognize its sponsor to introduce gained control of redistricting and engineered the infamous it. In this case, Dewhurst refused to recognize Wentworth, let- Tom DeLay–driven gerrymander that gutted Texas Democrats' ting the veto-override resolution idle and ultimately die. power in Washington. "He finally admitted to me," Wentworth says, "that he had "Transparently hypocritical" was how Wentworth saw it. "We been talked to by the governor 20 times on this resolution—in turned around and did exactly the same thing to the Democrats opposition to it—and he had given the governor his word that that we had been suing them for doing to us." he would not recognize me:' This year's was the ninth consecutive session in which Wentworth's habit of battling seemingly intractable political Wentworth carried that bill. This time, he was sure he had the forces began during his freshman term in 1993. He proposed a votes. He'd managed to pass bipartisan redistricting out of the

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 17

Senate in 2005 and 2007, only to watch Republicans kill it in the House. This time, he had lined up the 21 "yes" votes he JUSTICE DEFERRED needed in the Senate. But before it came up for a third reading and final passage, Houston Republican Sen. Dan Patrick, Dozens of Texans have been exonerated in recent who'd voted yes on the first two readings, changed his mind, years by new DNA evidence, some after spending leaving Wentworth in a familiar situation: stymied. decades in prison for crimes they didn't commit. In this case, Wentworth lost in part because of his stubborn Perhaps no case is as gut-wrenching as the tale of sense of fairness, which prevents him from collaborating in a Timothy Cole, wrongly convicted in 1986 of raping common Senate practice that fast-tracks bills to passage. "We a fellow Texas Tech student. As with many wrongly routinely suspend the Constitution of the state, which is offen- accused, Cole was done in by witness misidentifica- sive to me:' he says, referring to the Senate tradition of over- tion. DNA evidence exonerated him last year—nine turning the rules so a bill can be passed on second and third years after he died in prison of complications of asth- reading at virtually the same time. (The Texas Constitution ma. He was the first Texan exonerated posthumously. requires three days between second reading and the final This session, Cole's family came to the Capitol from vote.) If Wentworth had gone along with that, Patrick would Fort Worth to join Democratic Sen. Rodney Ellis and likely not have had time to change his mind. But time and time the Texas Innocence Project in pushing for a bill, bear- again, Wentworth has been the lone vote against suspending his name, that will increase the compensation paid ing this rule, repeatedly entering into the Senate journal his to the wrongly convicted. That bill passed. But in a explanation: "No circumstance exists in this case to justify the bleak irony, the Legislature failed to pass several other extraordinary act of suspending a requirement of the Texas crucial criminal-justice reforms, including a measure Constitution. The suspension of this Constitutional Rule has to overhaul police procedures for lineups and witness the direct and immediate impact of denying the people of identifications—the one reform that might have pre- Texas knowledge and notice of the passage of this measure vented Cole's conviction. until it has already been finally passed on third reading." SESSION SNAPSHOT

He does the heavy lifting 7TS77‘' ,-P.Fst when no one is looking."

Pt: Being human and a politician, Wentworth isn't always a purist. When May rolls around, he typically succumbs to TUFFOSAURUS REX suspending the three-day rule so that bills can be passed in the last-minute flurry of action. And this January, he voted Never mind federal stimulus money or the fate of the with the rest of the Senate Republicans to change tradition state's transportation agency; the House had more and allow the voter ID bill to be brought up without the sup- important business in late April. A purple-and-red- port of two-thirds of the body. spotted Tuffosaurus rex (aka Rep. Tuffy Hamilton, For the most part, though, Wentworth's quixotic adherence R-Mauriceville) and a green Markosauria homerotops to principles over party loyalty gives him a distinctive role (aka Rep. Mark Homer, D-Paris) bounded into the in the Senate. "I don't know whether I think of myself that House chamber, much to the chagrin of Republican way:' he says, "but apparently I do." This session, he received Charlie Geren of Fort Worth, who was holding forth the lowest rating of any Republican from the anti-govern- on his bill to correct the name of Texas' official dino- ment Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, and he consistently saur. Flanked by grown legislators in dinosaur cos- gets a high score—higher than many Democrats—from tumes, Geren tried to keep his cool as he explained NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. At the same time, of course, his that scientists were incorrect when they identified campus-carry bill (which ultimately failed) endeared him to the Pleurocoelus dinosaur in 1997; since then they've the National Rifle Association. determined that the Texas fossil was a species called Like a knight-errant staying true to a stern (and mysteri- Paluxysaurus jonesi. "I'm very troubled by your bill," ous) order of chivalry, Wentworth sees no reason to change. mock-asked Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Kileen. "Is "It's been an ongoing battle since '93," he says. In 2011, if he's this species named for Rep. Delwin Jones?" (Jones has elected to a loth term, he promises to file the bipartisan redis- been a House member for nearly three decades.) "No, I tricting bill a loth time. He vows to take another shot at think it was named after his father," said Geren, getting giving legislators the power to override gubernatorial vetoes in the spirit. after sessions end. Above all, he says, he will try to stick to that most quixotic of quests: "the fundamental responsibility SESSION SNAPSHOT of following the Texas Constitution." * ...;b•• -0,0 1- Er.0 07.; ■ arlk4a 4,■ :4127,15‘V 7g.‘"

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The Austin State School. photo by Daniel Carter

STATE SCHOOLED Lubbock State School. The facilities are known as state schools, though that's a misnomer—they are actually sprawling insti- Lawmakers finally approved tutions for Texans with mental disabilities who need 24-hour care. They house a diverse population, from elderly residents long-overdue reforms of institutions who have been institutionalized for decades to teenagers who for the mentally disabled stay just a year. (In an attempt to clear up the confusion, the Legislature, in its most superficial reform of the system, changed —because they had to. the names of the facilities. The state schools will now be called BY DAVE MANN "state-supported living centers:') The residents are among the most vulnerable Texans. Some can't feed or clothe themselves; t's long been a cliché that no positive change occurs others can't rise from a gurney. in Texas without a major public scandal or a federal In the past three years, media reports have documented lawsuit. This session, reforming Texas' violent and gruesome stories of abuse (one caretaker at an East Texas cen- troubled institutions for mental retardation required ter repeatedly smashed a resident's head into a metal door), both. and numerous systemic flaws, including direct care workers The state operates 13 large facilities for mentally dis- who earn about $8 an hour. The turnover among the low-paid, abled Texans. After neglecting and underfunding them for years, overworked staff is astronomical: Among direct care workers the Legislature finally took steps this session to make residents at Austin State School in 2007, the turnover rate was 7o percent safer, lighten the workload on the overburdened staff and raise (see "Systemic Neglect," May 2, 2008). the level of care. All it took to prod lawmakers to implement The Justice Department investigated all 13 facilities and these reforms was three years of damning media reports (includ- released a scathing report late last year that said the care violated ing several in this magazine), an embarrassing abuse scandal and residents' constitutional rights. Investigators documented more the threat of litigation from the U.S. Department of Justice. than 5o recent preventable deaths in the facilities. The Justice The abuse and neglect inside Texas' institutions for the men- Department indicated it would sue to force reforms. tally disabled first made headlines in December 2005, when With a federal lawsuitlooming, Gov. Rick Perry and state lead- a Justice Department report detailed poor conditions at the ers suddenly deemed state schools an "emergency issue" when

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 19 the session opened in January. In February, just as the Legislature While those well-intentioned reforms certainly couldn't hurt, began to debate reforms, the system became a national embar- security cameras and ombudsmen weren't going to fix troubled rassment. Police in Corpus Christi obtained video that showed facilities that lawmakers have chronically underfunded. As the workers at the Corpus Christi State School staging fights between legislative session lumbered into its final months, it appeared the residents. The "fight club" video was shown on CNN and quickly state schools would not receive the funding boost they needed. became the symbol of a system in crisis. That changed in May, when state officials reached a settle- The debate over how to reform state schools was emotional ment with the Department of Justice. Federal officials agreed and fierce. Some advocates for the mentally disabled want all to put off their lawsuit as long as Texas improves conditions in the facilities closed permanently and residents moved to small, the state schools. As part of the agreement, the state promised three- and four-person group homes in community settings to spend significantly more money on the facilities, hire more where, they say, residents live more independently "It's just staff and raise the level of care. The Legislature later approved that large institutions are fraught with this ability to get skewed the settlement—and added funding. into a guard-and-prison mentality; even if it's not a jail," Susan State schools will receive an added $279 million in state and Murphree with Advocacy Inc., a nonprofit that advocates for federal funds during the next five years, including $112 mil- the mentally disabled and wants state schools closed, told the lion in state money. That's roughly a 12-percent increase. The Observer. "It's really hard to get someone to have control over money will help hire 1,160 more state school workers to give the their own life in a large facility. ... [It's] not the same as living overworked staff some help. Facilities will add doctors, dentists, in a typical neighborhood, going to community events much nurses and direct care workers. more often, deciding where and when you want to eat, helping Those changes pleased state school advocates. But advocates prepare your food, and deciding just general things you want for the disabled at the ARC of Texas and Advocacy Inc., who to be interested in." have pushed for at least some state schools to be closed, were less pleased because closure was never addressed. They One big problem with state did support the $20o million increase in funding that bud- schools wasn't addressed: the low pay. get writers approved for community services for mentally Direct care workers in the disabled Texans who are not in state schools. The money facilities earn fast-food wages. will pay for nearly 8,000 more mentally disabled Texans to receive needed services in On the other side, many parents and relatives of state school their neighborhoods, including housing and medical care, residents argue just as fervently that state schools should from a list of approved providers. That's a 40-percent increase remain open and be reformed. Nancy Ward helps run the in funding for these community services—a move that Dawn Parent Association for the Retarded of Texas, which advocates Choate with the ARC of Texas called "monumental." for state schools. Ward's 47-year-old daughter is profoundly But one big problem with state schools wasn't addressed: mentally disabled and has lived in state schools for nearly four the low pay. Direct care workers in the facilities earn fast-food decades. Ward says some higher-functioning residents might wages. They are, on average, the lowest-paid state employees benefit from the added independence of a small group home, in Texas, and that contributes to the high turnover. Neither the but not her daughter, who can't dress herself and needs constant Justice Department settlement nor the state budget mandates care. Like many parents, Ward knows the state school staff and a pay raise. State health officials had asked the Legislature for a trusts them to keep her daughter safe. She is deeply suspicious 10-percent pay increase for state school workers, but lawmakers of the conditions in privately run group homes. didn't put it in the budget. As a result, state officials may have Early in the session, the Legislature appeared divided on a hard time filling all the new jobs. whether to close any of the state schools. Eventually, lawmak- Without a pay raise, it's unclear whether the reforms passed ers fell back on their tried-and-true response to such conten- this session will solve the major problems with state schools—or tious issues: They punted. They never seriously debated any satisfy the Justice Department. The settlement requires the state bills dealing with closure and funded all 13 state schools for to improve conditions, and independent monitors will inspect the next two years. every state school at least twice a year to ensure that care inside Instead, lawmakers enacted a modest bill by Sen. Jane Nelson, the facilities is improving. If not, the Justice Department could a Republican from the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound, and still go ahead and sue the state. Democratic Rep. Patrick Rose of Dripping Springs, that requires For the moment, the political fight over state schools (or security cameras in all public spaces in state schools. It also cre- state-supported living centers) is over. But the hard work of ates an ombudsman's office to review the facilities and stipulates bettering these sprawling institutions—whatever you call that abuse investigations be handled by an independent agency. them—has only just begun. *

20 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009 "What the ... ?" Republicans confer on the first day of Democratic chubbing. photo by Reeve Hamilton

Democrats were willing to consider more pressing matters in FIVE DAYS of CHUB the waning days of the session; they wanted to vote on tax cuts for disabled veterans, for one, and insurance reform. But the Your Legislature at work. Republican leadership had placed those bills on the calendar after voter ID, and Democrats couldn't muster the two-thirds BY REEVE HAMILTON vote they'd need to bring those substantial bills up first. With neither side willing to budge, and almost nothing IFII or most of the session, the plotline featured of substance to debate, the chatter often devolved into pure an uncharacteristically demure House carry- gibberish as the chubbing stretched out over five long days. ing out its business—slowly but surely—while Representatives who weren't blathering into the microphone the Senate went berserk over what Republicans had to pass the time with activities other than legislating. called voter ID and Democrats called voter sup- What follows is an abbreviated eyewitness account of what pression. That all changed when the Senate's happens when "the people's work" turns into a big pile of chub. voter ID bill showed up on the House legislative calendar, just five days before the deadline—midnight on May 26—for DAY 1: FRIDAY, MAY 22 passing bills into law. As the chubbing commences, Rep. Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg, Democrats would have filibustered voter ID, which they said declares on his blog: "So begins the period of pon fare For would block thousands of Texans from voting, if House rules those not entrenched in the Star Trek universe, Pena described hadn't forbade it. Instead, they resorted to a tactic called (for it as a time when "normal expected rules of the natural order reasons long forgotten) "chubbing." Basically, chubbing means are suspended so that the combatants can exercise their latent stalling: seizing the microphone to talk for the maximum allow- hostilities:' On Star Trek, pon farr is a periodically recurring able time about every bill that comes up. By stretching hours surge of hormones that causes uncontrollable aggression in into days, the Democrats could push voter ID past the deadline, Vulcans, throwing them into a bloody fever that proves fatal killing the bill without a vote. But since the bills scheduled for unless they mate, participate in a "passion fight" to the death, consideration before voter ID were almost all "local and con- or do some truly intensive meditation. sent" bills—routine legislation usually dispatched in a matter Legislators are not a particularly meditative bunch, so this of hours—they'd have to get creative. does not bode well.

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 21 Chairman Larry Taylor, he says, "reported to us that he offered a deal to the Democrats and the [Republican] caucus turned him down:' As if on a schoolyard, fellow Republican representatives, unhappy with this disclosure, surround Merritt, taunting him, calling him a "minority of one" and shouting, "You're not speaking for us!" (It will later turn out that Merritt's account is accurate.) Once the chubbing resumes, Senfronia Thompson, D- Houston, gets on a caffeine-themed roll, repeatedly referring to herself as "coffee" and her white Republican colleague, Mike "Tuffy" Hamilton of Mauriceville, as "cream," elabo- rating on how well the two go together. Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, joins in, asking, "I just wondered if we could add some brown sugar?"

DAY 3: SUNDAY, MAY 24 As the chubbing drones on, Larry Taylor, Republican from Friendswood, stands silently next to the microphone holding a sign reading, "Texas Held Hostage—Day 3." Mark Veasey, a Fort Worth Democrat, stands on the other side holding one that declares, "Voting Rights Are Worth Fighting For." ;•:A:SI .:::ka:KOMWOMMW:::::::::::MM::::*:**:**,: Houston Democrat Al Edwards steps to the mike with an important parliamentary inquiry: Where is his large, white One exchange encapsulates the inanity of the day's discus- cowboy hat? He has already made this inquiry several times sions. El Paso Democrat Joe Pickett and Rob Eissler, a pun-lov- and, though the joke is growing old, will keep doing it until ing Republican from The Woodlands, get rolling on a routine the final day of the session—at which point it will be revealed bill to let a municipal utility district (MUD) in Harris County that Rep. Kino Flores, D-Palmview, who spends the chubfest sell bonds to build new recreational facilities. The two quickly repeatedly making the same dramatic appeal for veterans' tax discover that MUD rhymes with many other acronyms, such cuts, had stolen it. as PUD (Planned Unit Development) and HUD (Housing and Late in the evening, representatives crowd around for the Urban Development). Joining them about eight minutes in: day's most exciting moment as Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, lays out his bill establishing the proper way to fold the Texas flag and Eissler: If we had pasture out there, we could worry Eddie Rodriquez, D-Austin, demonstrates. "There are several about cuds. ways you can fold a flag," Dunnam opines, "but the Texas flag is unique' So, too, are Texas legislators. Pickett: We'd have cuds in the PUDs, which borrowed from a HUD, in the district of a MUD. DAY 4: MONDAY, MAY 25 With a ruined weekend behind him, normally even-tempered Eissler: Right, and if you open a beer joint, you'll have Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, finally speaks to the press, suds. calling the Democrats "obstructionists" who will have some "explaining" to do when all is said and done. Never one to be Pickett: And if they were flat, they'd be duds. And if left out of a fight, Dunnam, the Democratic caucus chair, hits you had a cow, and you could mix it, it would be Milk back at the Republicans. "Someone who controls the agenda, Duds. and decides when we are going to hear bills, can't complain when they set the bills that they say are so important on the While others babble, Pena notices that there is no tilde above last few days:' he says. the "n" in his name on the House vote board. He mentions this While Dunnam and Straus bicker, the other Vulcans come to to Sergeant-at-Arms Rod Welsh, who has a corrected nameplate a bill that would water down the "top io percent" rule designed ready to go in 3o minutes. Pena installs the new nameplate to increase diversity at Texas' top-tier universities. A new chub himself, making him perhaps the most productive legislator strategy kicks in, as Democrats add numerous amendments to of the day. the bill, discuss them at length and then withdraw them. With tongue firmly planted in cheek, Democrat Lon Burnam of Fort DAY 2: SATURDAY, MAY 23 Worth, a liberal stalwart, takes the opportunity to elaborate on As the Democrats and Republicans return to the House floor a topic he claims other representatives are afraid to discuss: the from separate caucus meetings, Republican Tommy Merritt of joys of white-male privilege. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, calls Longview gives his account of the GOP caucus to reporters. Burnam "the most minority non-minority" he's ever seen.

22 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009 6 • "S■ ' ,arestx ♦ ♦

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Rep. Larry Taylor holds his protest sign. photo courtesy Rep. Aaron Pella

DAY 5: TUESDAY, MAY 26 Convinced that voter ID has been pushed back far enough that it won't come up for a vote, many Democrats are willing to end the chubfest—but not Richard Raymond, D-Laredo. Raymond commits to solo chubbing until he's absolutely certain that voter ID is dead. A little late to the leadership fight, Larry Taylor, the GOP caucus chair, feeds the media some tasty quotes about why his party has refused to suspend the rules to take up important leg- • islation. "You don't deal with kidnappers and terrorists because, if you do that, then you'll do it over and over again:' he says. Under questioning, Taylor insists he is not calling Democrats terrorists or kidnappers. So what is he calling them? "We can use 'whiny kids," Taylor growls. With just a few hours till midnight, voter ID is dead. Which is too bad, because Angie Chen Button, a first-term Republican from Garland, has just figured out how to save it. She person- ally distributes a press release to perplexed reporters detail- ing an amendment she has just added to the bill, addressing concerns about voter ID expressed by Asian Americans. Chen Button's determination might be admirable, but her timing is a little of With midnight at hand, House Democrats still have a chance to approve changes that would allow Texas to pull in more than $555 million in federal stimulus money for unemployment insurance. So Republicans enjoy a little payback, ending the five-day siege with their own round of chubbing. Midnight strikes. The gavel comes down. A host of important bills are dead. And so ends the period of pon farr. * Vat4MbRa.i:etar.

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 23 NO GREEN SWEEP How high hopes for environmental progress were dashed. BY SUSAN PETERSON AND FORREST WILDER

hen green jobs guru Van Jones spoke at the Texas Capitol during the jam- packed Texas Energy Future: Green Jobs and Clean Power conference in mid-February, the state's environmental advocates might have been forgiven for pinchingIN themselves. Jones' keynote address about achiev- ing social justice by "greening" the economy came at a time of palpable optimism for the gathered crowd of students, lawmakers, renewable energy boosters and environmental activists—a crowd not necessarily accustomed to a speaking role, or even a friendly ear. A new president was already rolling back certain Bush administration policies and promis- ing to restore the role of science in federal decision-making. Change was in the air in Texas, too. Not a revolution, exactly, but a thawing—a green glasnost—seemed to be underway at illustration by Alex Eben Meyer the Texas Legislature, a body not known for environmental enlightenment. That message dovetailed with the priorities of lawmakers of The House had ousted Tom Craddick, the conservative both parties. Even before the session began, legislators had sig- Midland oilman who had shown little but contempt for envi- naled their focus on renewable energy, conservation and energy ronmental issues, and replaced him with Joe Straus, a relatively efficiency, and green jobs. unknown moderate Republican from San Antonio. One of At the top of the green team's agenda: jump-starting the state's Straus' accomplishments had been the 2007 passage of a bill fledgling solar energy sector. In the end, though, the session that doubled the state's energy-efficiency efforts. wasn't as sunny as many hoped. Craddick's lieutenants had kept good bills bottled up in committee; Straus stripped those lawmakers of their chairmanships. olar proponents looked to Texas' successful A few true-blue progressives even made it onto the House wind energy industry for inspiration. In 1999, the Environmental Regulation Committee, previously overseen by Legislature mandated that power generators install Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, who earned the nickname 2,000 megawatts of renewable energy capability— enoughS to power half a million homes. Seven years later, Texas Dennis the Menace for his badgering of witnesses. Lawmakers responded to the new climate by filing a flurry of pro-environment had surpassed that goal and rocketed past California to become bills. Perhaps more significant, the usual rash of bills punching the top wind energy-producing state in the nation. holes in Texas' already-patchy regulatory net never materialized. Advocates argued that what worked for wind would work Long used to fending offbad ideas, environmental and conserva- for solar. A bill by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, would have tion groups suddenly found themselves playing offense. required utility companies to develop 1,500 megawatts of non- Jones, who has since been named special adviser on green wind renewable energy—from solar, biomass or geothermal jobs with the White House Council on Environmental sources—by 2020. Mindful that many of the wind turbines Quality, told his conference audience that Texans could lead cropping up in West Texas are manufactured out of state, the nation in building a green economy from the ashes of the legislation included a requirement that the Public Utility the old "gray" one. Commission devise a "made in Texas" incentive program. "You've been the energy leader for ioo years," Jones said. "You While Watson's measure focused on utility-scale solar power can be the energy leader in a new way." He singled out three key stations, a related bill by Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, areas primed for progress: wind power, solar energy and energy was aimed at putting more solar panels and other renewable- efficiency. "Here's the truth;' he said. "Everything that's good energy devices on the roofs of homes, businesses and churches for the environment is a job. Solar panels don't put themselves statewide. A small monthly fee attached to consumers' and busi- up, wind turbines don't manufacture themselves, homes don't nesses' electric bills would have raised up to $500 million for a retrofit or weatherize themselves." rebate program.

24 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009 Solar boosters even found common ground with some measures came to the floor, our position won," Reed said. He unlikely partners, including Rep. Warren Chisum, a Panhandle points to several key votes in which about two-thirds of the farmer, conservative Republican and chairman of the io8-mem- House—virtually all the Democrats and a bloc of moderate ber House Carbon Management Caucus. Chisum may not Republicans and Straus allies—backed the solar incentives bill, believe in global warming, but he does believe in sticking it to as well as measures promoting state purchases of low-emission the feds. With the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gear- vehicles and implementation of green building standards. ing up to regulate carbon, Chisum wants to ensure that Texas With such "broad-based support," those bills stand a good reduces its footprint on its own terms. chance of being reincarnated next session, says Rep. Rafael "Rather than wait for something to come down the pike from Anchia, D-Dallas, a key negotiator at the end of the session. the federal government," Chisum told Newsweek in February More broadly, the Legislature has clearly shifted in recent ses- zoo8, "we should go ahead and enact something for ourselves, sions away from viewing environmental positions as extremist. and not let a bunch of federal bureaucrats stuff something down "Thirty-five years ago, if you called yourself an environmental- our throats." ist, you were considered a communist, and you couldn't get Chisum and the carbon caucus favor using tax breaks to get elected:' Averitt told the Waco Tribune-Herald in December. fossil fuel-burning industries to reduce their carbon dioxide emis- "Now if you're not an environmentalist, you're a goober, and sions. One strategy involves the development of so-called clean you can't get elected." coal power plants that capture carbon before it leaves the stacks. Of course a lot depends on how you define "environmental- Texas environmentalists are divided on the usefulness of that ist." The Texas approach, at least at the Capitol, is comfortable approach. Some note that the technology is costly and unprov- with policies that are perceived as market-friendly, that create en. Others say all options deserve a place on the table. Either jobs and that don't step on the toes of powerful interests. Texas way, with Republicans pushing carbon capture and Democrats pols, let it be said, are powerfully attracted to certain kinds of pushing green jobs, renewable energy and efficiency, veteran green. Cracking down on polluting industries—with their dol- Public Citizen lobbyist Tom "Smitty" Smith said he was "suf- lars and lobbyists—remains a Sisyphean task. fering from a crisis of abundance." For example, a suite of bills aimed at toxic hotspots near pet- "There are more good bills in the legislative session than I rochemical plants in Port Arthur, Houston and Corpus Christi can keep up with:' Smith told the Observer on Earth Day in went nowhere this session. Likewise, attempts to force the Texas April. "It is reminiscent of the 1991 legislative session when Ann Commission on Environmental Quality to consider the cumula- Richards was elected and there was a wave of reform. This is the tive effects on air quality from new polluting facilities—a loop- best session I've had in 18 years." hole that has made it difficult to bring the Dallas-Fort Worth At least that's how it looked before the session's end, at which area's air quality into line with federal standards—died on the point "the program became roadkill on the voter ID highway:' vine. Smith said in June. In the final days of the session, House And even talking about climate change is still considered Democrats used a filibuster technique called chubbing to talk taboo among some legislators. "The carbon caucus has one the highly partisan voter ID legislation to death. rule Rep. Chisum has said. "We do not discuss global warm- Though Democrats succeeded in killing voter ID, they killed ing, because there's never an end to that discussion." dozens of other bills in the process, including all the major After a failed attempt in 2007, Sen. Watson did manage to pass renewable-energy and energy-efficiency legislation. The melt- a "no regrets" climate change bill, so named because the study down derailed the solar power legislation and an omnibus clean required by the legislation can propose ways to reduce green- air bill by Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, that included incentives for house gas emissions only if they save businesses or consumers plug-in hybrid vehicles and a voluntary greenhouse gas regis- money. Other similarly modest, commonsense ideas failed at try. Legislators attempted a Hail Mary by rolling solar power the outset. Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, proposed that major incentives and other green bills into an energy-efficiency bill, state agencies consider how to adapt to climate change as part but negotiations broke down in a "comedy of errors:' said Cyrus of their planning processes. That measure died in committee. Reed, a lobbyist for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. Every Republican but Averitt voted against it. In the end, little progress was made on the environmental The Texas Legislature may not care much about climate front. In hindsight, Smith gives the session a D+. change, but crafty advocates have found a way to get at the issue Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, worries that lawmakers' inac- in language even the oiliest lawmaker can understand. tion might cause Texas to miss the renewable energy boat. "Putting the words 'climate change' in a bill may not help "The maturation of the industry is going to accelerate in the 18 it pass, but putting the word 'energy' in a bill, even if it says months before we come back here," Strama said. "We will come `renewable, sounds pretty Texan:' Strama said. back here in 2011 a lot further behind than we currently are." That strategy wasn't enough to get over the hump this session. But two years from now there's likely to be greenhouse espite disappointment over the Legislature's failure gas regulation and a tightening of federal clean air and water to pass any big environmental bills this session, there standards. Texas will have little choice but to adapt. At least are reasons to remain cautiously optimistic. some of the solutions are likely to be found in the wreckage of D "I think the good news is that when these big the 81" Legislature. * JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 25 STATUS WOE •

h • :" t.rt ' • • Two state agencies needed big reforms; " b S. lawmakers did nothing. albaz,temiyvt;tit BY MELISSA DEL BOSQUE 4-iztert qs,ter .ek., 4 Apt(

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.111111 he idea behind sunset reviews is straightfor- ward enough: On a staggered 12-year schedule (in most cases), Texas' state agencies, com-

0141,9L,L, ■ missions and boards submit to examination 4 ft .11,4444,14e is by an independent commission charged with ibad3141/er4 .-rrece rooting out waste, fraud and defunctitude. The agency under review may get a clean bill of health or an opportunity to reform. If it's judged to have outlived its usefulness or is otherwise beyond saving, it may be mothballed. 44:44:VA,110.. In practice, the outcomes are rarely that simple. When the largest and most important state agencies undergo sunset review, political fisticuffs are almost always the result. Such was the case this session when the Legislature tried to reform two of Texas' most controversial bureaucracies: the Texas Department Still under construction: the TxDOT bill. photo by Melissa del Bosque of Transportation and the Texas Department of Insurance. Both agencies arrived at their day in the sun trailing the same With foreclosures on the rise and the economy contracting, basic stories. Each deals with a contentious political issue. In costly home insurance could contribute to people losing their TxDOT's case, it's the building of toll roads. For the insur- homes. They're also barriers to homeownership for working ance department, it's the high price—highest in the country— families. Texans pay for homeowners insurance. Each agency has long While Texans have suffered, the industry has made a killing. been dominated by powerful industries. Contractors and road The past five years in Texas have been among the most profit- builders have long held sway at TxDOT, while major insurance able ever for home insurers, even with the occasional hurricane companies have had the run of the insurance department. In rolling ashore (see "Are You in Good Hands?" Dec. 12, 2008). both cases, consumer advocates hoped the sunset review rec- The insurance companies have long contended that they ommendations would spur the Legislature to call for reforms set high rates in Texas because of the unpredictable weather. curtailing industry influence. Consumer advocates say the weather has some influence, but The Legislature did file bills reauthorizing the agencies, but they attribute the high rates mostly to the state's lax regula- that's as far as it went. Industry hijacked both bills midway tion. through the session, and both jumped the tracks on the session's Insurers have wide latitude in Texas to set their own rates. final weekend. So did the so-called safety net bill—which simply Under the system in place since 2003, home insurers are ensures an agency's continued existence—that lawmakers usu- required only to notify regulators of rate increases. If the rates ally pass when sunset bills fail. As it stands now, both TxDOT are deemed too high, the Department of Insurance can object and the insurance department are set to expire in September and take the company to court—after the hike has gone into 2010. Lawmakers will have to return for a special session just effect. The department has had little success winning large rate to keep the agencies alive for another two years so they can go reductions in court. through the process again. Consumer advocates hoped the sunset process would spur Maybe consumers will fare better in 2011. This year, though, lawmakers to tighten regulation of the home insurance mar- the TxDOT and insurance department sunset bills are excel- ket. They wanted a prior-approval system, in which insurance lent examples of how much weight big industries still carry at companies would have to gain regulatory approval before rais- the Capitol. ing rates. But when the insurance sunset bill came to the Senate floor, ENSURING FAILURE the insurance industry once again prevailed. With Republican o pocketbook issue facing Texas this year was more senators leading the way, the Senate rejected prior approval pressing than homeowners insurance. Texans pay, and passed a bill that would have kept the system of minimal on average, the highest homeowners rates in the regulation for years to come. One consumer advocate called N country, an average annual premium of roughly that outcome "catastrophic" for homeowners. $1,300. The national average is about $800. Consumer advocates hoped for a better result on the House

26 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009 floor, but the bill never got that far. It got hung up behind the As the session progressed, the House and Senate took mark- voter ID legislation that bottlenecked the Legislature at session's edly different paths: Some House members wanted to rein the end. House members could have voted to suspend their rules agency in, much as the Sunset Commission recommended. The and bring up the insurance sunset bill out of order, which many Senate preferred a softer touch, fearing that anything too drastic Democrats and some Republicans wanted to do. The move would would result in a veto by the governor, who has long favored have required a two-thirds vote. But more than a few in the GOP toll roads. By the time the TxDOT sunset bill surfaced in the wanted to stall the sunset bill to death. With many Texas hom- Senate in the waning days of the session, senators were so miffed eowners angry over high rates, some Republicans feared that with the more than loo House amendments—many of them voting with the insurance industry would carry too high a price handwritten and nearly illegible—that they chucked the House's come re-election time. So they did nothing and let the bill die, version and crafted their own. an approach that comes with its own political risks. The tension between the two chambers peaked on the next- That outcome means the status quo will remain in place for to-last day of the session over an amendment to add a local- as long as two more years while the Insurance Department goes option gas tax. Sen. John Carona, a Dallas Republican, was through the sunset process all over again. pushing the idea as a way for local governments to boost their "This is a complete and utter failure of leadership to address transportation funds. The House's refusal to accept the amend- the very clear desire and need of homeowners in this state said ment in conference committee got Carona's Sicilian blood boil- Alex Winslow of the consumer advocacy group Texas Watch. ing. He issued a news release written partially in Italian: "Dai "The industry wanted nothing to pass. They wanted to get out of nemici mi guardo io, dagli amici mi guardi iddio." Which more this session with the status quo. They got what they wanted. or less translates to "Y'all screwed me over big time." Carona, "It's clear from our polling and our research that Texans who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, wrote that expect their lawmakers to do something about high rates. Not HB 3oo's demise would be no real loss anyway. doing so is, I suspect, going to come back to haunt them." There was loss, though: The bill would have allowed the state The one bright spot in the muddle is that because nothing to sell $2 billion in general obligation bonds for road building. passed, consumer advocates will get another crack at reforming Steven Polunsky, Carona's spokesman on transportation, said the system in two years, perhaps sooner. Winslow hopes that the senator hopes during the upcoming special session to pass Gov. Rick Perry, once he calls the inevitable special session, will legislation allowing the state to sell the bonds, and to let TxDOT put insurance reform on the agenda. reform wait until 2011. More likely, lawmakers will use the special session to pass the Many experts say Texas needs billions of dollars worth of infra- safety net bill that simply extends the life of the department. In structure additions and improvements. The big question is how that case, Texas homeowners will most likely continue to pay to pay for it all It may be two years before we have an answer. the highest home insurance rates in the country through 2011. A local-option gas tax is off the table for now, and TxDOT's much-maligned "comprehensive development agreements" to TOLL ROAD TO NOWHERE allow private companies to build toll roads will evaporate at the ust six months ago, legislators seemed eager to end of August unless the Legislature reauthorizes them. reform the Department of Transportation. The It seems unlikely that Gov. Perry will be looking to over- Sunset Advisory Commission had issued a scathing haul his signature agency in a special session, and Republican j report summing up the agency as "permeated with legislators aren't likely to have the stomach to address such a an atmosphere of distrust." The public and legislators com- contentious issue headed into next year's primaries. plained that the agency was intent on building toll roads at Polunsky says Carona will hold a transportation hearing taxpayer expense. Some legislators pledged to follow the com- this August in Fort Worth. No doubt angry Texans will show mission's recommendations and trim the bloated department up to vent their frustrations about TxDOT. Now they can add into a lean, transparent agency that would be more responsive their frustration that the Legislature doesn't seem willing to do to the public. anything about it. * But by May, the sunset bill that was intended to reform TxDOT—House Bill Soo—had been so larded down with amendments that some reformers felt the legislation in its final b 13,; if "Best place to cure form would do more harm than good. The 344-page bill was left The Her (A what ails you" stranded when negotiations broke down in the final weekend. Explore our Oasis of Some advocates weren't sorry to see it die. "It was horrible said Terri Hall, founder of a grassroots orga- Earthly Delights! nization called Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, which • extensive array of natural health and bodycare products opposes toll roads. "It was a taxpayer's nightmare that did not even remotely represent the original sunset recommendations." • comprehensive collection of herbs It's no surprise that TxDOT created controversy in the www.theherbbar.com • great gift ideas and much more! Legislature. For two years legislators had politicked and debated 200 West Mary • 444-6251 Mn.-Fri. 10-6:30 whether to reform the agency and, if so, how. Sat. 10-5

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 27 •

BACK OF THE OK I BY BRAD TYER Jerky Boy SUMMERTIME, AND THE LIVING IS BEEFY.

y the time you read that BBQ is little more than the sum total For instance: I've been referring to the this, it will officially be of its sexy implements. book as a supplemental itinerary and summertime, and I've You have to bring your imagination to wish list during an ongoing BBQ binge, got heat on the brain bear if you want to see through the beef- which has so far been largely contained and meat on my mind. master mythology to the uncomfortable within the Central Texas environs of Partly that's a result fact underneath, which is that the state's Austin, which is happily no cause for of13 a seasonal impulse toward back- iconic cuisine is an elaborately grue- complaint. I followed Texas Monthly's yard grilling—a custom that apparently some endeavor, its char-crusted pits just Top 50 list out to Snow's (#1) in Lexington tracks back to a time when summer the final link in a food chain that relies and found no reason to dispute the stand- days in Texas were warm, but not yet on—no pretty way to put it—mechanized ing, eating my personal Trinity plate of competitively hot with an actual char- mass murder. ribs and brisket and sausage, no sides, at coal fire. Partly it's the result of 9:30 one especially fine morning having my head buried these last this spring. Four hours later, up several months in photographer the road at Louie Mueller's BBQ Wyatt McSpadden's big, beauti- in Taylor, I skipped my usual pork ful Texas BBQ book, published ribs to make room for a beef ver- by University of Texas Press back sion that came on a bone heavy in March. And partly it's because enough to kill a possum with. I summer is my favorite time for know from McSpadden's book I long weekend drives, which I have to try Taylor Café in Taylor, could hardly afford last year, and too. That day, I just couldn't. so am making up for with a ven- So far, in addition to the above, geance now. Summer drives and I've been to Black's, Kreuz Market Texas BBQ were made for each and Smitty's, all in Lockhart; other. You could say the same Meyer's Smokehouse in Elgin; thing for the Spoetzl Brewery's Luling City Market; Salt Lick in new mesquite-infused Shiner Driftwood; and Ruby's and Park Smokehaus, but you might end House in Austin. up telling it to a judge. I know, I know: I've got a long Texas BBQ is an appetizer to way to go, miles of meat before I the real thing, with its impeccably sleep. But for the record, my own well-informed essay by veteran personal all-round high marks so food writer John Morthland and far amount to a tie between Snow's an oddly tangential introduction and Smitty's. I like Snow's sausage by Jim Harrison, who is a hell of a writer This is a book of photos about BBQ best—a matter of personal preference for in other contexts, including the gustatory, culture, BBQ people and BBQ restaurants the slightly coarser filler grind. For pork but who doesn't seem to have much to that does not contain a single photograph ribs, my slight nod to Snow's. Smitty's do with Texas or BBQ. He does, howev- of anything even close to a whole cow or medieval pit dungeon gives it the clear er, have a nationally recognized name in pig. Nobody would buy the book that edge in the all-important ambience cate- quality-lit circles, and he seems properly showed the whole story. Not for their gory. On the brisket I could go either way, appreciative of McSpadden's skills behind coffee table. depending on the day. I haven't found any a lens. But Texas BBQ doesn't seem out to reason to disagree with John Morthland McSpadden's photos are gorgeous in make any particular arguments aside that the best pork chop in the known their blocks of grimy color and grit. They from the obvious one—the aesthetic universe is found at Kreuz Market, but rightly romanticize a culinary culture that appeal of the accoutrements of smoking I can't agree that that chop stands at the has a lot of merit, a lot of history and a lot meat—so there's no reason to judge it too absolute pinnacle of the sport. It's a pork of appeal. But if you look at these fetishis- harshly for forgoing the animal-rights chop, fer chrissake. It may be one of the tic pictures of knives and fires and smoke rhetoric. Coffee-table books have com- most delicious things ever to melt in a and grates too long, you can start to think pensating raisons d'être. mortal mouth, but in a sense—it's hardly

28 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009 a tough cut of meat requiring low and X-Sticks, Beef Sticks, Combo Packs, system exists purely in the realm of slow smoke cooking—it hardly seems Jerky Chew, Lil' Chub and "organic" extreme luxury, as reflected in exorbitant BBQ at all. We could argue about that, I beef jerky. (for snack food) price tags of anywhere suppose. We probably will. This is what the company refers to between $16 and $40 a pound. People like to talk about this stuff, to as "highly differentiated meat stick and That's because a good amount of any know what you like and tell you where jerky products:' Jack Link's aims them meat is actually water, which is a nice wet they've been, which is one of the finer at "young adults with action-driven life- reminder of the almost unconscionable things about BBQ culture, and a good styles." To reach more of those, Link's quantity of natural resources—land, reason we'll probably never see another and Frito-Lay announced their agree- grain, fertilizer, irrigation—that get summer pass in Texas without some new ment this week to jointly launch a new sucked into the raising of cattle. Dry the book about the subject hitting shelves. line, "... supported by an integrated action water out of your meat, i.e. turn it into 'Tis the season. sports platform and dedicated advertis- jerky, and you don't have much meat left. ing campaign, including sponsorship of Gary Zaludek, the meat guy at Woody's, e can flap our gums all we the Dew Tour and top athletes in BMX, says it takes 6 to 8 pounds of beef to make want about Texas BBQ. skateboarding and snowboarding." a single pound of jerky. He makes nine (Is it Bar-B-Que or barbe- It's called Matador by Jack Link's, and it varieties of just the beef. Hickory-pep- cue or BBQ? Did The New sounds like either a really awful cologne pered beef is his best seller, moving off YorkerW really need to send Calvin Trillin or a line of overprocessed meat scraps the shelves at 600 to 800 pounds of fin- all the way to Texas just to rewrite Texas marinated in testosterone. ished product weekly. Monthly's Top-5o paean last summer? There's no good reason to eat that stuff That accounts for 3,600 to 6,400 Sauce or sans?) in Texas. Not when you can buy genu- pounds of raw beef a week, for just that While we're smacking, let me submit ine Texas-made beef jerky smoked with one style, at just that one store. Ubiquitous a modest proposal: It's jerky, not BBQ, hickory, or mesquite, or pecan (try Oma's packaged convenience and low-fat pro- that deserves top meat billing in this Choice, out of Schulenburg). Not when tein aside, jerky is quite likely the most state. I'm chewing a chunk right now, you can chew on farm-raised turkey, pork, absurdly inefficient way to eat meat there the honey bison variety from the Texas venison and bison (I prefer my turkey is, and ultimately I figure that's what I Best Smokehouse outlet in Italy, south of from Woody's Smokehouse on 1-45 in love most about it. The indulgence. Dallas. I could eat this stuff till I pop. Or Centerville). In terms of sheer wasteful pleasure, I could if it weren't twice the price of line- Look around a little and you can find jerky is the gustatory equivalent of driv- caught salmon. emu and alligator and elk jerkies, too, ing all over creation in this stupid-hot There are no jerky-related releases never mind fish and chicken—not that summer weather with the windows down forthcoming from Texas' university press- any of those are strictly necessary. and the A/C cranked up to 11—another es. There are no glossy food-porn photo No jerky can be said to be strictly nec- favorite and increasingly inexcusable essays foretold in the Chronicle Books essary. In fact, jerky as a meat delivery Texas-bred summertime vice. * catalog. Search for jerky on Amazon.com and you'll find a few how-to pamphlets and some old Jerky Boys CDs. There are no social histories, no slaughterhouse exposés, no $40 art books. As something of a jerky connoisseur, this lack strikes me as wrong, and not just because jerky, the very essence of meat, is available at every single corner store and interstate pit stop in this great meat-lov- ing state of ours. And I'm not talking about Jack Link's, which is distributed by PepsiCo's Frito- Lay division, of Plano, and thus domi- CentralTexas nates the racks in every grocery store and Gardener convenience mart in the land. Jack Link's sells 15 jerky products, including beef, turkey, bison and ham, KLRU•TV, Austin PBS, creates innovative television that inspires variously co-branded with Al or Tabasco and educates. KLRU-produced programs that air statewide on kiru or KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce. Link's Texas PBS stations include Central Texas Gardener, Texas tv and beyond also sells dozens of varieties of Tender Monthly Talks and The Biscuit Brothers. Check your local listings. kiru.org Cuts, Nuggets, Beef Steak, Deli Cuts,

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 29 DATELINE I ARLINGTON Dodging the Ditches at GM BY MICHAEL HOINSKI

t's kind of sad that it had to hap- of about 7o percent of their gross pay. Chandon sat inside a paper bag on the pen," says Enrique Flores Jr., union Whether the temporary displacement of concrete. The shell of a black SUV was president at the General Motors jobs is genuinely "routine" depends on abandoned behind a chain-link fence. assembly plant in Arlington, of whom you talk to. To the north, on the, other side of the GM'sI bankruptcy filing this month. "I Even with a set return-to-work date, Union Pacific tracks, lies an entertain- mean, it's one of the biggest compa- union members are worried about their ment district that includes Six Flags (itself nies—at one time the biggest company jobs. a recent bankruptcy filer); the Ballpark in the world—and it's come to this. But "Everybody's holding their breath," in Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers we're ready to go ahead and do it, and go Flores had said before the bankruptcy baseball team; and the new billion-dol- through the process, and get to being a filing. "Anytime you're on a layoff, you lar Cowboys Stadium, where the NFL profitable company so we'll continue to worry that you're not going to come back franchise will kick off for the first time be around. It has to be done." on the day they tell you to come back." this fall. Flores has worked for GM for 28 years. Now that bankruptcy court is a real- "GM was the key to the town of He's worked in just about every depart- ity, and restructuring is under way, the Arlington becoming the city of Arlington," ment. He's welded floorboards. He's Arlington plant's long-term future is former longtime mayor and county judge installed transmissions. He's started up even more uncertain. The only GM Tom Vandergriff said in a 2004 GM news vehicles and driven them off the line. His assembly plants now slated for shutter- release commemorating the plant's 50th commitment is probably one reason he ing are in Pontiac and Orion, Michigan; anniversary. was elected full-time union head, which Wilmington, Delaware; and Spring Hill, Tom grew up in the car business, in turn is probably one reason he's speak- Tennessee. But if the Arlington plant under the tutelage of his dad Hooker, ing with the Observer, despite a memo were to close for good it would maroon who founded Vandergriff Chevrolet instructing plant employees to direct all a work force that Flores says is about 85 more than 7o years ago. When Tom media inquiries to a designated flack. percent transfers from GM plants that became mayor of Arlington in 1951, he Flores and his brothers and sisters in have already shut down elsewhere. helped bring the GM plant to town. (He Local 276 of the United Auto Workers And what about the city of Arlington? was also instrumental in the Washington are collectively one of several major "It really isn't as simple as just think- Senators' move to Arlington, where they Arlington stakeholders in GM. Others ing that you might lose a General Motors became the Rangers.) include suppliers and service providers plant," says Wes Jurey, president and CEO "The town of 7,500 has become the city like the seat-assembly company Lear; of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce. of over 300,000," he said in the release. dealerships like Vandergriff Chevrolet, "It's all the other related jobs that are tied "We owe so much of that development whose original owners played a vital role to that General Motors plant, and all and growth to GM." in bringing the plant to Arlington; and those other suppliers—many of whom The Arlington plant has likewise been the city of Arlington, which benefits to are located here in Arlington." important to the development and growth the tune of $393 million annually through No matter how you slice it, GM's trou- of GM. The diversity and flexibility of its payroll, taxes and charitable contribu- bles are not just a Detroit problem. operations are reflected in the array of tions derived from the plant and its sun- The Arlington assembly plant occupies vehicles it has produced. Sedans were dry vendors, by Flores' estimation. several long blocks just south of Division the rage in the first couple of decades, The Arlington plant is in the middle of Street and west of Texas 360, about mid- starting with the Star Chief and later the an eight-week furlough. Flores calls the way between Dallas and Fort Worth. Its Monte Carlo and the Impala. By the end idling—May 18 through July 13—a "rou- endless, windowless metal siding seems of the 199os, trucks and SUVs were the tine inventory reduction:' In other words, designed to shield workers from outside plant's bread and butter. there are too many vehicles sitting on distractions—in this case, a plant periph- "We've built everything," Flores says. dealers' lots to justify making more. ery dotted with watering holes, strip "We've built Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, During the furlough, Flores says, most clubs and any number of rim shops and Oldsmobile, Pontiac. We've built cars. plant employees will file claims for a slice car-alarm installers. We've built trucks. We've built SUVs of the dwindling Texas unemployment I drove through the plant's parking lots and station wagons. We've built it all for insurance fund. Senior union members over Memorial Day weekend, a week into them." should receive an unemployment benefit the furlough. An empty bottle of Moet & The Arlington plant now stakes its

30 THE TEXAS OBSERVER JUNE 26, 2009 illustration by Alex Eben Meyer reputation on its gas guzzlers: Escalades, But if GM was building something has challenged that restructuring in Tahoes and Suburbans. And there's a good people wanted to buy, why did the com- court, contending that the new franchise chance that production of those beasts pany have to file for bankruptcy? agreements GM wants its 415 Texas deal- could come to a screeching halt, now Cantalini blames last year's $4-a-gal- erships to sign violate state law designed that the U.S. government is the major- lon gas prices for setting off GM's demise. to protect them.) ity owner of GM and President Obama Now that gas prices are lower, he says, Cantalini says he's not worried about is tightening federal emissions and effi- sales of full-size SUVs are on the rise. his own dealership, though. He says he ciency standards. Flores says those new His sales of compact cars (he also sells scores high on GM'S quarterly metrics: standards will threaten the viability of his Hyundais) are flatlining. sales, customer satisfaction, capitaliza- plant's full-size SUVs. But Cantalini realizes there's a lot more tion and market coverage. The rub, Flores insists, is that people to GM's bankruptcy than the price of gas. "I think they would want us to be part still want full-size SUVs. He says their "GM had high fixed costs," he says, of the new General Motors," he says. roominess and towing capacity—the "with too many models, dealers, factories, What that new General Motors will characteristics that differentiate them employees, benefits, et cetera. That's why look like is the $64,000 question. A brave- from smaller, more efficient SUVs like the they need this reorg and money." new-world commercial tells us this much: Honda CRV—are conveniences not easily Regardless of root causes, Cantalini "GM isn't going out of business. GM is sacrificed, even in a climate of inconsis- was upbeat the morning of June 1, right getting into business. Because the only tent gas prices, a sour economy and the after GM's bankruptcy filing. chapter we're focused on is Chapter 1." growing green movement, he says. "Bankruptcy is nothing we hadn't If only it were that easy to restart a car That may be hard to believe—there expected:' he said. "But it is official, and company from scratch. In Arlington, as are waiting lists for Smart cars, not for that's a relief that we're moving forward. in other cities where GM does business, Suburbans—but Flores is steadfast in his All the indecision and waiting for things the corporate behemoth arrives at this assertion. He's not the only one. to happen, that's what's bad for any kind new beginning with a whole lot of bag- "General Motors was guilty of building of market." gage. It's just going to have to cram it into something that people wanted to buy," Cantalini's optimism is driven in part a smaller trunk. * says Rick Cantalini, a 33-year veteran of by the business he stands to gain from the car business who, along with Cecil the dealerships whose contracts won't Austin freelancer Michael Hoinski writes Van Tuyl, bought Vandergriff Chevrolet be renewed under GM's restructuring. for the Austin American-Statesman, in 1998. (Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott Rolling Stone and The Village Voice.

JUNE 26, 2009 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 31 1 11 lIZI171111

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