Good morning, 

Over the next few weeks, Texas Scorecard will look at some of Texas' top paid lobbyists – people paid to whisper in your legislators’ ears... and often against your interests.

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Tuesday, January 19, 2021
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• In the 2020 general election there were “5,875 state legislative seats up for regularly scheduled elections,” reports Ballotpedia. Of those, just 315 “flipped from one party to another.”

• With their votes, Americans overwhelmingly pushed distinctly “rightward” in their state legislatures. It will be up to those Republican lawmakers to deliver on voters’ expectations, rather than being warmed over versions of the Democrats they just defeated.
     
• Despite the national trend, and giving an indication of how little Republicans have done to distinguish themselves in the Texas Legislature, there was no increase in GOP numbers in the Lone Star State.

• As noted above, over the next few weeks Texas Scorecard will be profiling some of the top paid lobbyists driving the Capitol culture. The first lobbyist profiled is Andrea McWilliams, who boasts a client portfolio that is 20 percent taxpayer-funded.
     
• As Michael Swirsky reports, included in McWilliams’ list of clients is MTX Group, a previously unknown company that was suddenly awarded last May a $295 million contact-tracing contract by Gov. Greg Abbott – without any legislative oversight or approval.
     
• McWilliams, who previously served as the chief of staff to a Democrat state representative, is married to her fellow lobbyist and business partner Dean McWilliams.

• Has the odious “cancel culture” hit Texas’ airwaves? Lubbock-based conservative radio host Robert Pratt says that is exactly what happened when his popular and long-running show was suddenly kicked off the air.
      
• Jacob Asmussen has the details surrounding the sudden move by New York-based Townsquare Media to cancel Pratt’s show, which had been heard on the company’s Lubbock, Abilene, and Wichita Falls stations. 
       

• Pratt says there was no scandal, financial issues or losses, sagging ratings, or any other business disputes that would have justified canceling his show after nearly 15 years on the air.
      

• “Such an immediate turnabout, with no explanation and such coldness, is shocking and undeserved. This is how Cancel Culture works, it is rooted in hate,” said Pratt.

• Only a few days into the 87th Legislative Session, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has announced committee assignments for the Texas Senate. Brandon Waltens reports that only one of the Senate’s 17 committees will be chaired by a Democrat in the 31-member body.

• Meanwhile, new State Rep. Bryan Slaton (R-Royse City) isn’t allowing his name or integrity to be challenged by a senior legislator. 
      
• Last week, Slaton offered various amendments to the Rules of the Texas House that would prioritize conservative and Republican priorities, and prohibit Democrats from chairing the chamber’s committees. None of his amendments were adopted.
      
• After getting questioned on social media, State Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R-Odessa) forcefully made the claim Slaton’s amendments were sprung on lawmakers at the last minute and without warning – denigrating them as publicity stunts.
     
• Slaton responded yesterday with a video, in which he laid out the weeks of notice he gave about his amendments... including specific notice given to Landgraf as a member of the committee putting together the House Rules.
       
• The only question now is if Rep. Landgraf has the integrity to apologize as loudly and as publicly as he (knowingly) made the false and scurrilous claims.

• Democrats are fighting in Dallas, with the city’s mayor – Eric Johnson – claiming the county judge – Clay Jenkins – kept him in the dark about changes in distributing vaccines for the Chinese coronavirus. Robert Montoya has the details.
       

• So even while local officials were publicly claiming to want to expedite vaccinations for minority populations, Dallas County Democrats essentially allowed white liberals to jump the line.
      

• Dallas Mayor Johnson publicly rebuked Dallas County Judge Jenkins for quietly telling “a select group of residents” they could forgo registering to receive a Chinese coronavirus vaccine even while telling the rest of the public registration was required.

• Please join us in welcoming Tera Collum to the Texas Scorecard team. A retired public school teacher, Tera will now serve as our education reporter. She will focus on highlighting the challenges classroom teachers face – such as the lack of support from administrators – expose the pitfalls of the statewide testing mandates, and look at the vendors and contractors profiting off of public education at the expense of students, teachers, and taxpayers.
     
• Tera grew up in Abilene, and received her bachelor’s degrees from the University of North Texas. She taught high school in Fort Worth ISD for 12 years.
      
• Tera’s work with Texas Scorecard will be focused on the frontlines of public education, not pie-in-the sky theory.... And she is eager to write about the experiences of parents, teachers, and taxpayers.
      
• For far too long, the public education bureaucracy has been more focused on employing adults than educating children. That must change.

ONE CLICK SURVEY

Should Democrats hold committee chairmanships in GOP-dominated legislative bodies?

Today In History

On Jan. 19, 1839, the village of Waterloo and surrounding area along the Colorado River was selected as the site of the capital of Texas. The area was later renamed “Austin.”