Good morning, 

It seems “None of the Above” is more popular than two of the three GOP candidates for Attorney General. And summer doesn’t officially start until Sunday, but Texas is already running out of electricity? Oh boy…

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Wednesday, June 16, 2021
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ZuckBucks Banned

• Texas is the latest state to enact a law prohibiting the use of private money to administer elections, keeping outside cash from influencing how future elections are run. But, as Erin Anderson reports, a left-leaning foundation has already rushed $1 million to Harris County’s elections administrator before the new law takes effect.

       
• The ban is considered a key election integrity reform, after millions in third-party funds from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (known as ZuckBucks or ZuckerBucks) was funneled to select local election offices last fall as part of a Democrat-led “shadow campaign” to influence the 2020 election.

Fiscal Ratings Released

• Texans for Fiscal Responsibility has now released their biennial Fiscal Responsibility Index, scoring state lawmakers on their adherence to fiscal responsibility in their voting records. Brandon Waltens has the details. The group’s ratings are based on 151 votes taken in the House, and 79 votes taken in the Senate.
        

• Republican scores ranged from a high of 98 down to a low of 28 with 10 lawmakers earning A’s, a total of 20 earning passing grades, and the remainder earning failing grades.
        

• “Lawmakers take a lot of votes each session on complicated issues, we cut through the clutter and give taxpayers information they can understand to make informed decisions and hold their lawmaker accountable,” said TFR President Cary Cheshire.

Lagging on Life

• Jacob Asmussen has the latest installment in Texas Scorecard’s series of Autopsy Reports from the recently concluded regular legislative session. He finds that despite new laws on the books to protect more children from being killed in the womb, Texas still lags behind other states in taking action to save pre-born babies. 
   
• Texas has commanding “pro-life” majorities in both legislative chambers, yet the Lone Star State trails other states on life issues…? Yep. It is all about priorities.

Hot and Powerless Summer?

• LAST WEEK… Gov. Greg Abbott boasted: “We promised not to leave session until we fixed these problems, and I am proud to say that we kept that promise."
     

• THIS WEEK… ERCOT, the embattled energy regulator that was chiefly responsible for the fatal winter power outages, announced Texas is running short of power – again – before summer even gets underway. 
     

• So, what was fixed?

     
• “It’s June, not August & it isn’t 105 degrees in Texas & they are already facing power supply issues. What did [Speaker Dade Phelan] and [Gov. Abbott] do during the legislature to fix this problem and address the [ERCOT] mess? Too many unreliable renewable sources. What a mess.” – Wade Miller of the Center for Renewing America
      
• To Mr. Miller’s point, Texas lawmakers have spent fortunes in taxpayers’ cash over the last decade subsidizing unreliable energy sources – funds that could have been used instead to shore up reliable energy. So here we are, in the early days of summer, already facing a power crisis.

Y’all Answered!

Justice Guzman’s place makes sense; despite being on the SCOTX she is virtually unknown to most people. But Mr. Bush… wow… How soon until he is asking, “Please clap?”

• “When national media reports that Texas did something positive in the conservative arena, credit generally seems to go to Abbott.  I believe more than likely, the credit belongs to Paxton.  That he is generally the target of attack indicates to me he is probably the driver.” – Lisa Buck
   
• “Read my lips: ‘No more Bushes.’” – David Peters
   
• “George P Bush has done Texans a disservice as Land Commissioner!

  As caretaker of our Alamo he has spent our tax dollars and we still don’t have a museum or repairs done!” – Maggie Wright
   

• “I'm hoping that REAL conservatives get the nominations and are elected to high-office in Texas!” – Keith Lindsey
     
• “I would definitely not vote for George P. Bush. I do not know enough about Eva Guzman, so I am leaning towards Ken Paxton. However, I'd be willing to vote for Eva Guzman if she has better policies than Ken Paxton.” – William Hill

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