Good morning, 

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, August 29, 2019
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• For the 100th edition of Texas Scorecard Radio, Tony McDonald visits with political comedian Tim Young about media elitism. (Even if Texas Scorecard Radio isn’t broadcast locally, you can catch every edition on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud, or Stitcher.)
     
• When you listen today you’ll also hear updates from around the state by Brandon Waltens, Jacob Asmussen, and Robert Montoya. (I make a special appearance with this week’s commentary, FWIW.)
    
• A report on mandatory paid sick leave ordinances show they have negative economic effects for employees, businesses, and local economies. The report by Dr. David Macpherson of Trinity University’s economics department was included in an amicus brief filed in the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s lawsuit against Dallas over that city’s ordinance.
      
• The High Plains of Texas are getting higher taxes.
   
• Thomas Warren reports members of the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District board of directors have voted to advance consideration of a possible 7.9 percent increase in property tax revenues.
   
• Same goes for the City of Canyon, where city commissioners are imposing a higher tax burden on residents.

Update: Where is Bonnen’s Retraction?

• House Speaker Dennis Bonnen’s actions are threatening the future of Republicans in the Lone Star State. He has been caught in repeated lies yet refuses to retract his false statements. Meanwhile, the state’s GOP officials are standing idly by – choosing the convenience of cowardice over doing what’s morally right.
       

• Simply: I’m owed a retraction of the false public statements Bonnen has made about me and Empower Texans.
       

• He lost the opportunity to privately retract the unethical offer he made to me in his Capitol office. As Speaker of the Texas House, he had the undisputed authority to take official state actions. He offered those without solicitation in exchange for my political compliance. 
     

• Since I revealed his unethical offer, Bonnen has told so many contradicting lies in his public statements and communications with legislators that it is no wonder he and his advisers seem to have trouble keeping them straight.
     

• At the request of law enforcement, I have given them the recording I made of our meeting – a recording I made only to protect myself from Bonnen’s notorious habit of lying about individuals and organizations. I’m glad I did. 
      

• I have also given every Republican Caucus member a chance to hear the full hour-long audio so they could decide for themselves who is telling the truth. The House Republican Caucus gave Bonnen to Texas, they have a responsibility to clean up his mess – a responsibility the new caucus chair (Tarrant County’s Stephanie Klick) seems unwilling to shoulder. It is apparently easier to be complicit in Bonnen’s abuses than it is to be an ethical leader. Perhaps holding a chairmanship under a corrupt regime is more pleasant than doing what is right?
      

• Seemingly in coordination with Bonnen, the Democratic Party is suing me for the audio recording. I might have to give it to them; which I am certain they will use aggressively against Republicans. I am curious if the House Republican Caucus really wants me to give the audio to the Democrats?
      

• If I release the audio – whether publicly or to the Democrats as part of their lawsuit – will the House Republican Caucus then find the moral courage to hold Bonnen accountable and demand he make the retraction I am owed? Perhaps a better question: Do Texas Republicans want to be known for defending deceit and condoning corruption, or do they want to be the party that drains swamps?