Good morning, 

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Wednesday, March 11, 2020
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• After 910 days of waiting, Texas’ James E. “Trey” Trainor III finally received a hearing from the U.S. Senate’s Rules & Administration Committee on his nomination from President Donald Trump to the Federal Election Commission. An otherwise uneventful hearing nonetheless drew the presence of both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
       
• The FEC has been without a quorum and unable to conduct business ahead of the 2020 election. Trainor’s confirmation by the Senate – which could now finally happen within the next several weeks – would allow the agency to conduct business. A widely recognized election law expert, Trainor has advised the president’s campaign, the Republican Party of Texas, Texas Right to Life, and Empower Texans – among a wide variety of conservative and Republican causes. FEC appointments are explicitly partisan, a point made by McConnell, who noted Trainor would “re-establish parity” at the FEC.
      
• “Trey Trainor's confirmation to the Federal Election Commission would not only restore the quorum at the FEC necessary for it to carry out its responsibilities, but would strengthen the FEC with an individual of the utmost character & experience. I strongly support his nomination.” – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz
      
• A state district judge has decided Dallas County must count all ballots cast on Super Tuesday, correcting a mistake by the county’s top election official that left votes from multiple polling places “unaccounted for.” Erin Anderson has the details.
      
• Meanwhile, when Tarrant County judges met behind closed doors last month to remove cases involving Child Protective Services from the purview of a judge, Local Administrative Judge David L. Evans said the move was “in the best interest of the system.” They took the cases from Judge Alex Kim, whose sin was to follow the law and rule for a mother seeking to save her daughter’s life. Robert Montoya reports on the story after reviewing the 92-page meeting transcript.
     
• Apparently the “system” is more important than the lives of “children.”
     
• Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton recently issued a joint statement saying that “Price-gouging is un-Texan and will not be tolerated in our state,” and that they “will work to ensure that anyone who engages in this act is held to account.” But in a new commentary, Matt Rinaldi argues that government meddling with prices “can cause more harm to people ... than temporarily inflated prices.”
       
• “Indeed, the characteristic ‘bread lines’ of socialist economies are the direct result of price ceilings on food, usually promoted by the government as prohibitions on ‘price gouging.’” – Matt Rinaldi

• The Empower Texans team is expanding! We are excited to welcome Sarah Nash as our first Director of Marketing & Community Engagement. With a professional background in the fashion world, but armed with a history of consistent engagement on conservative issues, Nash brings an exciting new perspective to our work.
       
• For our central Texas office, we are hiring for new positions in our expanded development team, and looking for an audio-visual specialist. We are also hiring statewide for our new neighborhood engagement and canvassing program. Check out our “opportunities” page to learn more.

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