Good morning,

Politics attracts people who like to take credit for things they didn't do; it doesn't always work out so well for them. I'll explain what I mean in a moment.

But first, you might want to fill up your coffee mug because there is a LOT in today's Texas Minute!

– Michael Quinn Sullivan
Friday, July 14, 2023 

Speaker Phelan Censured by Largest County in District

• By a 14-6 vote of precinct chairs, the Republican Party of Orange County has censured House Speaker Dade Phelan. The resolution takes aim at his appointment of Democrats to committee chairs in the House, despite the Texas GOP specifically urging against the practice in their legislative priorities.
       

• The resolution also condemns Phelan for his role in killing border security legislation as well as his work against school choice legislation. Now that a county in his district has passed a censure, the State Republican Executive Committee is free under the party rule to consider doing so as early as their next meeting in September. 
       

• Meanwhile, recent polling has revealed Phelan’s popularity among voters has plummeted in his district following the most recent legislative session.

Texas' Pfluger Warns About Chinese Influence At Border

• According to Republican U.S. Rep. August Pfluger of Texas, the Chinese Communist Party is pouring resources into South America as part of an effort to undermine the United States. Sydnie Henry has the details.
      
• Pfluger chairs the U.S. House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence. U.S. military officials and other experts have warned about China’s participation in money laundering and providing drug cartels with the precursor chemicals for fentanyl.
      
• “We know that Chinese nationals are traveling to South America as the first stop on their journey to illegally enter America.” – August Pfluger
      
• According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 12,642 Chinese nationals have been encountered by U.S. law enforcement at the southwest border since the beginning of the federal fiscal year last October. In Texas alone, law enforcement has encountered more than 7,000 Chinese nationals attempting to cross the Texas-Mexico border.

House's New Paxton Prosecutor Contributed to Liberal A.G. Candidate

• Another taxpayer-funded attorney has been added to the prosecution team seeking to unseat Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Records show Harriet O’Neill has a record of contributing to liberal Republicans challenging conservatives. Brandon Waltens has the story.

    
• O’Neill, who formerly served on the Supreme Court of Texas, was announced as the third member of the House’s prosecution team, joining Houston attorneys Rusty Hardin and Dick DeGuerin.
      
• Campaign finance records reveal, however, that this is not the first time O’Neill has opposed Paxton. She contributed $2,500 to liberal Republican Eva Guzman, who challenged Paxton in 2022. (Guzman finished a distant third in the GOP primary.)
      
• O'Neill also contributed to the campaign of liberal Republican Tommy Merritt – a disgraced former member of the Texas House – in a losing bid for agriculture commissioner against Sid Miller.

House Passes Property Tax Relief Package

• Last night, the Texas House followed the Senate in adopting the agreed-upon property tax relief package announced late last week.
    
• No substantive changes have been made. Conservative lawmakers were thwarted in their attempt to put the state on a path toward eliminating school "maintenance and operations" levies. 
      
• The compromise plan increases the homestead exemption from $40,000 to $100,000 and puts $7 billion toward lower school property tax rates. The package creates a 3-year program for capping property tax appraisal increases on non-homesteaded properties while reducing the number of businesses subject to the state's franchise tax.
       
• Gov. Greg Abbott has said he would sign the legislative package when it reaches his desk.
      
• Economists and fiscal watchdogs, like Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, have criticized the plan as not doing enough to offer lasting relief to the state's taxpayers.

DPS Will Patrol Austin, Despite Opposition From City

• City officials announced that Austin will end its partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety after a decision by the city council was approved by Mayor Kirk Watson. But as Matthew DeLaCruz reports, the state agency will continue patrolling the city with the approval of Gov. Greg Abbott.

       
• The Texas Department of Public Safety initially partnered with the Austin Police Department in March to reduce dispatch times after the city reported severe understaffing. In May, DPS reported more than 12,000 traffic stops within the first month of their partnership with APD.
       
• City officials pointed to an incident earlier this week when DPS troopers stopped a vehicle with expired license plates. The DPS officers are accused of drawing their firearms on an unarmed child. DPS refutes the allegations.
       
• Matt Mackowiak, co-founder of non-partisan political activist group Save Austin Now, called the suspension “tragic.” Meanwhile, the president of the Austin Police Association described the city council's action as "absolutely unconscionable."
       
• Gov. Abbott, though, said DPS will continue their law enforcement efforts in Austin. He wrote on social media, "The mission of the Texas Dept. of Public Safety is to serve and protect. Their jurisdiction is every square inch of Texas."

LGBT Groups Challenge Texas’ Ban on Child Gender Mutilation

• After Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a ban on child gender mutilation procedures into law last month, the measure is now facing a lawsuit. Katy Marshall reports that five families with gender-confused children, three medical professionals, and two LGBT organizations are suing the state to block implementation.
    
• The new law protects children from being chemically castrated by puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and from receiving mutilative surgeries to “transition” them. It also prohibits public money from being indirectly or directly granted, paid, or distributed to any healthcare provider, medical school, or hospital that participates in these procedures.
      

• One mother involved with the lawsuit said that after SB 14 was passed, she moved her 9-year-old son—who she claims “identifies” as a girl—out of Texas and split up her family to ensure the child could receive puberty blockers.

Schools Make It Easy for Predators to Prey on Kids

• Students in Texas public schools are sitting ducks for sexual predators, claims an attorney focused on Texas education policy. Robert Montoya has the story. 

      
• In school districts around the state, victims of sexual abuse and their parents are often isolated as districts work to put their public reputation ahead of notifying the public about predators on the payroll.
     
• Legislation proposed in the Texas House this year to require notification of parents about allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of school employees went nowhere. Education attorney Janelle Davis said that without a mandate from the Legislature to notify parents about potential predators, school districts are able to cover up abuses.

Billboards Urge Texans: ‘Stop Having Kids’

• A radical group that opposes human reproduction is putting up billboards around the state urging Texans to stop having children. As Valerie Muñoz reports, yes, they are serious.
    
• Stop Having Kids is a group that seeks to normalize "antinatalism" and freedom from children. In their promotional materials, SHK claims “it is wrong for humans as a whole to procreate."
      

• Their Texas billboards are currently located in the Austin area, Sugar Land, Cypress, and Pasadena. The organization also promotes the sterilization of young women.
       

• “Initiatives like ‘Stop Having Kids’ are ignorant to the joys of parenthood and encourage a generation to live selfish lives. The sad reality is, for many who are deceived by this promise of ‘freedom’ and prosperity, by the time they realize the folly of their ways, it will be too late.” – Brady Gray, Texas Family Project

FWISD 'Scrambling' To Remove Pornographic Books After Exposure

• Following a public backlash, several Fort Worth Independent School District libraries are removing pornographic materials from their shelves and marking them as “checked out.” Soli Rice reports the action comes after activists exposed the district for making available to middle school students a book labeled as "adult only." 

        
• After the social media conservative group Libs of TikTok revealed the graphic comic book being available in a school library, parents and taxpayers took action. In response, district officials say they have begun removing the book.
      
• “I was just informed that Fort Worth ISD is now losing it while they scramble to find and remove these books,” said independent journalist Sarah Fields. “Pressure works.”

📺 WATCH: Border Buoys in the Rio Grande

• On this week's edition of The Headline with Brandon Waltens, Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith drops in to discuss the effectiveness of the newest border strategies by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Also joining Brandon at the desk will be Robert Montoya, discussing his series examining bureaucratic bloat in state and local government.
      
• You can watch The Headline on the Apple TV or Roku apps, on an iOS or Android phone, or on the Texas Scorecard YouTube channel.

Friday Reflection:
The Glory-Takers

Glory hog. Credit-seeker. Spotlight-grabber. Brown-noser. Whatever you call them, we all know the type. They overstate the value of their work or take a little creative license in describing their contribution to a group effort. The political landscape of our “allies” is littered with those people.

Worse, though, is the class of people who loudly seek credit for something they didn’t do. We find a lot of them inhabiting public office.

When the truth emerges, as it always does, people roll their eyes. At worst, their propensity for fabrications cost them an election.

But they should know that it could be worse.

Consider the fate of the unnamed Amalekite that we meet in the first chapter of the Old Testament book of 2 Samuel. This fellow must have thought he was a genius.

Let me back up. The last chapter in 1 Samuel describes how King Saul was in a fierce battle. All three of his sons were killed by the Philistines. Not wanting to be captured and humiliated by his enemies, Saul ordered his servant to kill him. The man refused, so Saul fell on his own sword.

A few days later, a young Amalekite wandered into the camp of David. He brought with him two things: Saul’s crown and a story. You have to know, like this young man knew, that Saul had made David an enemy of the state. Saul knew that David should be the king, but—since Saul was the king—he wasn’t eager to give up the throne.

So, the young man told David that he had killed Saul—out of mercy, to protect the king from being disgraced by the Philistines. And, as a bonus, he preserved the crown for David.

The man no doubt expected to be patted on the back. He was probably certain that David would appreciate the man who so kindly dispatched Saul and thus vacated the throne.

Instead, David ordered the man’s execution on the spot. David hadn’t sought power, and he didn’t want it on dishonorable terms.

The man wanted credit for something he had not done and received the punishment as if he had. As someone craving the approval of others, the man had mistaken David’s divine appointment with royalty for a craven desire for power.

Just as it did 3,000 years ago, governing power draws egomaniacs and sycophants. Today, it is our responsibility to weed both out of public office.

As sovereign citizens in this self-governing Republic, we must be on guard against those seeking the accolades of public office and instead promote those willing to serve the interests of the people.

Now Available: 'Reflections on Life & Liberty'

• The book comes in three formats: hardcover, paperback, and digital download. For now, "Reflections on Life & Liberty" is only available at Amazon.