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Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, January 27, 2022
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Recording Contradicts Texas Military PR Push

• Amid a rash of bad news plaguing the Texas Military Department – ranging from suicides to pay issues – the state agency is pushing heavily to dismiss reporting by active duty soldiers about low morale in the Texas National Guard and Texas Air Guard. Robert Montoya has the full details.
   
• Texas Scorecard has obtained a recording of a TMD town hall meeting in which the pay issues and troop morale were actively discussed, in direct contradiction to the agency's public relations push in recent days.
   

• The well-being of Texas soldiers has become a key concern as the TMD and Gov. Greg Abbott have come under increasing scrutiny for alleged mishandling of Operation Lone Star, the governor's military mission on the border.
     

• As OLS approaches its one-year anniversary, issues continue with soldiers’ paychecks. Texas Scorecard first heard about these issues in October, as additional troops were being onboarded. The pay issues were known by top officials in the state, including Comptroller Glenn Hegar and Abbott’s office. 
   

•  “While there have been administrative pay challenges, currently every service member assigned to Operation Lone Star is being paid,” said a statement from the Texas Military Department.
   

• These “challenges” are paycheck hardships Texas soldiers assigned to OLS continue to have. Ongoing pay issues were referenced in a recording of a January 14 internal town hall of the 36th Infantry Division.
   

• From the start of Texas Scorecard’s investigation, initiated by tips from active-duty and reserve personnel, multiple requests for comment and information from the Texas Military Department have gone unanswered. The TMD has also sought to withhold public records. This month, they appealed to Attorney General Ken Paxton our requests for communications with the Texas Comptroller and Gov. Abbott regarding TMD payroll. This contradicts TMD’s suggestion that they’re “setting the record straight” and have worked to ensure accurate reporting.
   

• Meanwhile, Abbott’s office has also appealed to Paxton our open records request for their communications about Texas soldiers’ paycheck hardships and deployment of TNG forces as part of OLS. 
   

• Were it not for anonymous soldiers reaching out to Texas Scorecard, it’s unlikely these issues would have been uncovered.

To California, And Back Again

• Social media star and grassroots activist Kambree Nelson made a name for herself while living in California describing the conditions she saw every day. Katy Drollinger has the story, based on a conversation Nelson had on the Luke Macias Show.
   
• “It was a culture shock a little bit, going to California and witnessing what I was witnessing. I knew the taxes were high. I knew the gas prices were high. But it was very hard for me to fathom,” said Nelson. “Seeing people sleeping on the streets, Americans sleeping on the streets. Seeing the overflow of people coming from across the border and nothing being done.”
   
• But the biggest shock for Nelson was moving back to her home state of Texas.  "I’m starting to see it in Texas," she said. "I’m starting to see a power grab that I saw in California. That scares me the most."

Activists Unimpressed With 'Parental Bill of Rights'

• Gov. Greg Abbott’s new parental bill of rights is being met with skepticism by a family rights advocacy organization. Sydnie Henry reports that the state's foremost advocacy organization for parental rights, the Texas Home School Coalition, is "skeptical."
   

• “Every significant parental rights reform to pass the legislature since 2017 has done so without the support of Governor Abbott. Every parental rights legislative reform that has died has done so without his comment," – Jeramy Newman, director of public policy for the Texas Home School Coalition
   
• In announcing his "parental bill of rights," the governor ironically claimed to have prohibited mask mandates in Texas schools – even as large, mid-sized, and small districts around the state are explicitly mandating masks for students.

Bovard: Republicans Plan To Win Back the Senate, Then Do Nothing

• In a new commentary, Rachel Bovard chastises the Republican leadership in Washington, D.C., for not having a discernible action plan once they take over the U.S. Senate – as is predicted – in the November elections.
   
• "Republicans cannot, in other words, do what they have largely always done with a Senate majority: set it on a shelf, polish it, and admire it from afar while checking off a Beltway-driven agenda designed solely to protect incumbents." – Rachel Bovard

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