Good morning,

Too many politicians want credit for what they say, not what they do. Citizens must be less focused on words, and more focused on results.

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, January 29, 2021
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• As property taxes continue to rise, State Sen. Kelly Hancock (R–North Richland Hills) filed legislation seeking to help citizens deal with appraisal review boards not following proper procedure when citizens protest their appraisals. Robert Montoya has the details.
     
• “Texas taxpayers are already fighting an uphill battle in protest hearings and deserve an enforcement mechanism, some real teeth to the law, when they see a review board or appraisal district breaking protocol.” – State Sen. Kelly Hancock
      
• According to Hancock’s office, examples of procedural violations by appraisal districts includes board members sleeping during a hearing, rescheduling hearings without the property owner’s request, denial of an owner’s or agent’s use of technology to support their appeal presentation, and the Texas Comptroller’s hearings procedures not being followed.

• Taxpayers would be paying for abortion under legislation proposed by two Austin Democrats – State Rep. Sheryl Cole and State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt. Jacob Asmussen reports the law would fund abortions through the state’s Medicaid health insurance program.
     
• Just in Texas, nearly 56,000 children were killed by abortion in 2019 – making the procedure the leading cause of death in the state.
     
• “While incredible, it is not surprising that the abortion industry is not simply content with murdering tens of thousands of innocent preborn children each year, but they are advocating for Texans to pay for the murder through tax dollars and insurance premiums. The majority of Texans do not simply oppose this abortion funding bill, but are demanding that their elected officials pass bold pro-life legislation that bans elective abortions and saves innocent human lives this session.” – John Seago, legislative director of Texas Right to Life

• Meanwhile, as the world’s largest tech and internet companies purge and ban conservative voices, Texans are wondering what – if anything – state lawmakers will do to stop the assault on free speech.
    
• Republican legislators in Florida and North Dakota have moved quickly to address censorship by Big Tech, but so far Texas’ lawmakers have done little more than issue statements.

• The ongoing legislative session has already proven to be unique when compared to previous cycles. Adding to this oddity was the announcement that Gov. Greg Abbott will give his biennial State of the State Address in front of television cameras next week, as opposed to a joint session of the legislature as it has traditionally been given.
     

• This year there exists a great amount of uncertainty over which issues Gov. Abbott will prioritize. Jeramy Kitchen previews the upcoming speech, which will be given Monday night at 7pm.
     

• Later today, though, Kitchen will join Brandon Waltens on The Headline to preview the governor’s address. You can watch The Headline live at 11 a.m., with the video and podcast archive available shortly after.

• In the latest installment of Texas Scorecard’s review of the highest-paid lobbyists in the Lone Star State, Joshua Pierce looks at the background and clientele of Robert D. Miller – the 10th highest-paid lobbyist in Austin, bringing in $4.1 million.
   
• According to a study by Transparency USA, taxpayer-funded clients make up 19 percent of Miller’s lobbying contracts. Those clients include the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System, the Houston Police Officers’ Pension System, University of Houston, the Port of Houston Authority, and the City of Galveston Employees’ Retirement Plan for Police. 

• After failed runs for the U.S. Senate and the White House, former U.S. Rep. Robert “Beto” O’Rourke is now publicly mulling a run for the governorship of Texas. Michael Swirsky reports on the El Paso Democrat’s attempts to stay in the political spotlight.

Friday Reflection

George Washington rarely made speeches. Abraham Lincoln’s most famous address ran just 271 words. Teddy Roosevelt famously said you should talk softly but carry a big stick. Whatever else one thinks of them, they were men who let their actions speak louder than their words.

Unfortunately, too many politicians in the modern era rank talk ahead of action. They want applause for their words, without having to suffer the indignity of working to make them real. Too many in elected office want to be judged by what they have said, rather than what they have substantively accomplished.

Modern politicians seem to have an almost pathological compulsion to resist delivering on campaign promises.

Our republic could do with a little less talking and a lot more doing. Citizens and taxpayers have been demanding important reforms for years. Politicians pay lip service to the ideas when campaigning, but don’t seem to find the time to actually get them done.

As an aside, that might be why Donald Trump was so hated by so many in the political establishment. Yes, he talked a lot. Yes, his words were sometimes poorly considered or ill-timed. And yet, he got a lot done.

A lot of Republicans are talking tough now that a Democrat has moved into the White House, which is all fine and good, but what does it actually mean for the citizens in our republic. Will their work live up to their rhetoric? 

The Apostle James wrote, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” 

James, of course, was writing about a faith that isn’t backed up by matching actions. I once had a pastor, in discussing James’ words, tell our congregation that he could hear what someone says they believe, or he could look at their calendar and checkbook to know for certain what they believed.

His point, of course, was that talk is cheap, but how we spend our time and money – our actions – tend to show our real heart.

The same is true in politics. What good are politicians’ promises to do good, when they don’t actually do it?

Citizens in our self-governing republic should be less interested in what our public servants say and more focused on what they do... or fail to do. A politician can tickle our ears all day long with promises to do our bidding, but the proof of their commitment to liberty is found in what actually gets done.