Good morning, 

Why are judges in Tarrant County avoiding public scrutiny and accountability?

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, February 20, 2020
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• Rather than hold a public meeting, Tarrant County’s district judges have decided to meet behind closed doors this afternoon when deciding whether or not to remove all Child Protective Services’ cases from District Judge Alex Kim. Robert Montoya reports establishment judges are seeking to avoid grassroots’ anger being directed their way.
      
• The move appears to be driven by a desire for retribution against Judge Kim, driven by the locally powerful Cook Children’s Hospital and the state’s Child Protective Services agency. Last fall, over the hospital’s objections, Kim ruled for a mother trying to keep the hospital from killing her infant daughter.
     
• Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton also sided with the mother, and urged a correction be made in the state’s expansive law giving hospital bean-counter panels authority to impose a death sentence on patients without their permission or the consent of a guardian.
      
• The names and contact information of the Tarrant County district judges who will attend the meeting can be found alongside Montoya’s article.
      
• Fresh off success in flipping the Virginia Legislature, gun-control activists are targeting the Lone Star State in the coming November election and planning an $8 million spending spree. Cary Cheshire the details.
         
• Not all gun-grabbers are Democrats. Ahead of the GOP primary, Republican voters must be sure their candidate will actually protect and enhance Texans’ Second Amendment rights.
       
• “If Virginia is the framework for gun-grabbers in Texas, we simply cannot afford to fill the legislature with Republicans who have a malleable view of the Second Amendment,” said Jon Francis, a Republican candidate for Texas House District 60. “We need real, conservative leaders who will not fold under pressure from the gun-control lobby and will boldly stand in defense of our rights without compromise.”

• While banning taxpayer-funded lobbying has long been a priority of the Republican Party of Texas and conservative activists, State Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Van) sided with Democrats and a small number of Republicans in thwarting a prohibition in the most recent legislative session. Brandon Waltens reports Flynn’s betrayal of taxpayers is coming back to haunt him, as his two opponents in the Republican primary—Bryan Slaton and Dwayne “Doc” Collins—have continued to remind voters of Flynn’s out-of-step stance.
      
• U.S. Rep. Kay Granger (R-Fort Worth) has one of the most liberal voting records in Congress, according to the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, Conservative Review, Heritage Action, and others. Cary Cheshire reports this record has left constituents and supporters of freshman U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Houston) frustrated by his decision to endorse Granger this week.
     
• In a continuing series of one-on-one interviews with the candidates running for Texas’ 11th Congressional District, Matt Stringer chatted with Robert Tucker to discuss his campaign for Congress.

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