Good morning, 

President Trump has suggested sending in military forces if state and local officials around the country cannot put an end to the leftist rioting. Today’s one click survey asks your opinion.

But first, here is today’s Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Wednesday, June 3, 2020
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• The ongoing string of violence by left-wing agitators – under the guise of protesting police brutality – was addressed by Gov. Greg Abbott at a Dallas press conference yesterday afternoon. He asserted that the Lone Star State doesn’t need help from Washington to quell the outbreaks of Antifa-driven violence “because we know that Texans can take care of Texans.” Brandon Waltens examines both the state and federal response to the evolving situation.
      
• “America needs creation, not destruction; cooperation, not contempt; security, not anarchy; healing, not hatred; justice, not chaos.” – President Donald Trump
     
• Julie McCarty, CEO of the Metroplex-based True Texas Project, told Texas Scorecard that Abbott and Trump need to use “every resource at their disposal to restore order.”
   
• “If DPS and National Guard are enough, great. But we don’t have the luxury of taking a wait-and-see approach when properties are being destroyed and people are being injured.” – Julie McCarty

• Add the Texas Freedom Caucus to the growing number of  Texans concerned by the $295 million contract Gov. Greg Abbott awarded to the MTX Group for “contact tracing.” Cary Cheshire has details about the House caucus’ letter calling for the “immediate cancellation” of the project.
     
• “We share the grave concerns of our constituents about the MTX contract from both fiscal responsibility and privacy standpoints, and call for its immediate cancellation.” – State Rep. Mayes Middleton (R-Wallisville), chairman of the Texas Freedom Caucus
   
• Since the spring of crises began, Gov. Abbott has refused to respond to questions, concerns, or criticism from conservative activists, groups, and lawmakers – only from Democrats. For example, when local governments threatened to take advantage of his coronavirus emergency orders as justification for hiking property taxes beyond the allowances of the law, Abbott ignored calls from conservatives – yet he took immediate action after Democrat lawmakers voiced the same concerns.

• In the last 16 years, Texas state government spending has more than doubled, increasing by $142 billion. Policy expert Bill Peacock writes in a new commentary that lawmakers must simply stop growing government.
      
• “The $258.2 billion the Legislature appropriated last year was up $40 billion, or 18.3 percent, over 2017,” Peacock writes, though noting "That is not what the government will tell you, however." Government bureaucrats and elected officials will hide behind "various methods to mask the extent of actual spending growth."
     
• “Some purists might complain that this does not go far enough. If government is already too big, why not actually cut spending and make government smaller? Fair enough. But we have to start somewhere, so let us go at the present with simply stopping the government from getting any bigger.” – Bill Peacock
   
• Get this: your Member of Congress doesn’t even have to bother showing up at the U.S. Capitol anymore. As Rachel Bovard writes, your congressman can now have another congressman – who you obviously didn’t elect – cast his vote on the House floor for legislation affecting you. And here we thought Speaker Nancy and her cadre of lazy miscreants couldn’t get worse... 

• When Republicans gather for their biennial convention in July, they will among other business be electing their new party leadership – a chair, vice-chair, and members of the State Republican Executive Committee. While Texans for Fiscal Responsibility does not make endorsements in party contests, the organization is committed to providing delegates with as much information as possible to ensure they can make an informed decision.
      
• Cary Cheshire, who helms TFR, has put together 20 questions for the candidates for the chairmanship, and five questions for the SREC candidates. Responses are due by 5pm on June 19.
     
• The responses received before the deadline will be published in full and without edits by Texas Scorecard ahead of the start of the Republican convention.

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ONE CLICK SURVEY

Should the military be used to quell rioting incited by Antifa and other leftist organizations?