Good morning, 

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, December 10, 2020
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• Allegations have arisen that State Rep. Drew Springer (R-Muenster) withheld constituent services to a community because the mayor endorsed his Republican opponent in the special election for Senate District 30.
      
• The news website Push Junction reported yesterday on a text message exchange between Springer and the mayor of New Hope, Angel Hamm. In the text message, Springer acknowledges he was helping the city with a problem involving the Public Utilities Commission but would no longer do so when he learned the mayor had previously endorsed Republican Shelley Luther in the SD 30 race.
      
• New Hope does not fall within Springer’s house district but is in the senate district he is seeking in the special election runoff.
     
• The Push Junction report notes lawyers “consulted on this matter advised that Springer may have violated multiple sections of state law, constituting a crime. Specifically, this could be an example of official oppression, coercion of a public official, and more broadly, the Texas Constitution’s bribery language.”
    
• Springer’s campaign did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s inquiries about the allegations.

• As an aside, Springer was one of the loudest defenders of disgraced House Speaker Dennis Bonnen last year when I exposed his unethical behavior. You might recall Bonnen explicitly tried to tie official actions (granting House media credentials to Texas Scorecard reporters) in exchange for me taking political actions beneficial to him.
      
• In the end, grassroots activists shamed GOP lawmakers into pressuring Bonnen to leave office.

• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick took to social media asking Luther and Springer to support an 18 vote rule for Senate action. Brandon Waltens has the details.
      
• This is the latest iteration in preserving what was the old “two-thirds” rule in the Texas Senate, which prevented measures from coming to the floor without the support of 21 senators – two-thirds of the body. (For reference, 16 votes would be a majority in the 31-seat chamber.)
     
• The 21-vote threshold was originally imposed by Democrats to thwart reform measures, but Patrick successfully championed reducing that to a 19-vote (three-fifths) requirement. But this November saw the defeat of Republican State Sen. Pete Flores (who won the seat in a special election ahead of the 2019 session) and so the Texas Senate will have 18 Republicans. Hence, an 18 vote rule.
       
• Luther was the first to support Patrick’s idea, followed six minutes later by Springer; both did so via Twitter.
       
• Meanwhile, Democrats were left sputtering on social media that they were being denied the right to block conservative legislation.

• Speaking of SD 30... Early voting is now underway in the special election runoff between Luther and Springer ahead of the Dec. 19 election day.

• In the latest edition of his podcast, Luke Macias explains the significance of State Rep. Jim Murphy (R-Houston) being elected as the next chairman of the House Republican Caucus. 
      
• “The election of Murphy sends a clear signal that corruption will be elevated this session. Dishonesty is not only expected but will even be promoted from within the ranks of the Texas House.” – Luke Macias

• Collin County Judge Chris Hill believes taxpayer-funded lobbying should be abolished by Texas lawmakers in 2021. As the political head of one of the state’s largest counties, Hill explains in a new commentary that it is a question of basic morality.
     
• “It does not matter whether conservative officials are taxing liberal constituents to advance conservative policies or vice versa. The problem is nonpartisan, and the outcome is the same.” – Chris Hill
      
• Bans on the practice have been filed in the Texas Senate and House, by Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgewood) and Rep. Mayes Middleton (R-Wallisville), respectively.

• Following a year in which millions of people have been tossed from work, and thousands of businesses have been permanently shuttered, one state representative wants to increase the size of lawmakers’ budgets.
     
• State Rep. Matt Shaefer (R-Tyler) posted to social media this week he is “bringing mischief on the house keeping resolution” that would see staffers in the Texas Capitol make more money. The “resolution” he mentions is one of the first votes taken during a legislative session, which means lawmakers could be voting to increase their office budgets long before any consideration is given to tax cuts, restraints on executive overreach, or banning taxpayer-funded lobbying.
      
• Schaefer argues paying staffers more could result in better legislative outcomes, including cutting the overall size of government. 
     
• Of course, spending could be reduced that much more if bureaucrats hidden safely away in a Capitol closed to the public weren’t getting more money while their fellow Texans are suffering economic hardship under restrictions imposed by state government.

• Erin Anderson and Robert Montoya review the results of key city and school runoff elections held this week around North Texas.  

• A homicide earlier this week pushed the City of Austin to its highest murder rate in two decades. Adam Cahn reports a homeless man was brutally stabbed to death Tuesday afternoon at a downtown-area homeless encampment.
      
• The murder comes after the Democrat-run city council appeased far-left activists by cutting the police department’s budget by a third despite escalating crime.

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