HB 4 passes the House and is now in the Education Committee in the Senate.

                                                

Pro-liberty House Member Jonathan Stickland writes about his position on House Bill 4.

"This weeks worst bill of the week didn't quite start out that way, but by the time the liberals in the Texas house were done with it, it earned the ‪#‎WBOTW‬ award.
HB 4 by GOP Rep. Dan Huberty sought to establish a "High Quality" pre-k program in the state of Texas. The first obvious question is, "Why would we be spending money on our other pre-k programs if they aren't "high quality"?
After an amendment offered by conservative Rep. Jodie Laubenberg to put a ceiling on the amount of money spent on this pilot program was gutted by progressive liberal Trey Martinez-Fischer, it was effectively opened up to unlimited spending. Things only got worse from there. The measure initially limiting it to a half day program was also stripped allowing, for full day programs for 4 year olds. New requirements and testing of our teachers and children also found their way on to the legislation.
The final end product in my opinion was nothing but a first step for the state of Texas requiring an unlimited, full day, mandatory pre-k program.
I wish that value was placed in fostering an environment of stronger family units instead of government daycare. How can we on one hand complain when parents are not as involved in their children's education as needed, and then promote handing them over to government at a younger age?"

House Bill 4 has a companion bill in the Senate; SB 801 and it is in committee now.  Here is a link to find all of the committee members.  Click here to find the names of the members.

We need to stop the intrusion of the government into the family unit.  Call the Senate Education Committee Members to tell them to kill this bill.

Rodney Ellis' Omnibus Elections Bill Shuttles Texas Voters Back In Time

We all talk about protecting the constitution and holding our elected officials accountable.  However, unless we work to protect our elections, then the rest is for naught,  Unfortunately, the liberal left is always working to perfect the theft of our elections, not just on election day, but through other avenues like voter registration fraud.  They also try to steal elections by pushing through legislation that rolls back the safeguards that photo ID and other requirements provide.  With the 84th Texas Legislature in full swing, this session proves to be no different than others in the pursuit of the vote.

The state of Texas has come so far with the progress it has made to ensure elections are not stolen.  Photo Voter ID was a huge step in the right direction as well as upgrades that were made to the electronic equipment that is used for elections.  However, Democrat Rodney Ellis wants to bring all of the progress on election integrity to a screeching halt with Senate Bill 990, as he calls it, "a far-reaching and omnibus bill to improve and protect voting rights in Texas."

Senator Ellis claims that these are "common sense election reforms", but what I think he meant was, that these are 'nonsense election reforms' because the things that he is suggesting that we do as a state in this bill are absolute nonsense.

Let's touch on the first bit of nonsense:

• Same-day Voter Registration-Allows qualified citizens to register to vote at a polling place on election day.  This will allow otherwise eligible voters to register and vote on election day.

I'll tell you what this same-day voter registration will allow, it will allow voters to register in all 900 precincts in Harris County and vote in every one of them.   There's also no time to check residency or signatures on a same day registration, both of which are key.  In the Wisconsin recall election for Governor Scott Walker, there were forty-five counts and convictions of voter fraud and they all came from same day voter registration.

• Section 34 of SB 990 states that "a qualified voter is eligible to vote a late ballot as provided by this chapter if the voter has a sickness or physical condition that prevents the voter from appearing at the polls on election day..."

Give me a break!  As if two weeks of early voting isn't enough to get yourself to the polls!  Oh, and let's just forget about the likelihood of the Democrats getting the vote totals and then figuring out how many 'sick' people they need to show up to vote in order to keep their freebies rolling in!  This, again, shows what nonsense this bill really is.

• Youth Preregistration for Voting-Allows a person to preregister to vote on or after the person's 16th birthday.  Mr. Ellis also would like year old children to be allowed to register to vote.  

Mr. Ellis would have you believe that by doing this, we would be "engaging young people to vote".  I have no doubt that there is truth to that, however, we have enough trouble keeping up with the voters we have now, much less adding a bunch more names of people who aren't even allowed to vote yet.  More potential for voter fraud!!  More confusion at the polls!  This could overwhelm the system and cause chaos, actually allowing 16 year olds to vote at the busiest precincts when election workers are rushed and can't properly take the time to check their status.  Something that we definitely do not need.     

Friends,the game to steal elections is ALWAYS afoot.  We must remain vigilant.  As  Noah Webster once said, "If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted.... If a republic form of government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws." 

Points System And The Projects

MORE low income housing for the Cy-Fair/Bear Creek area, you say?  Yes, it's true.  Hard to believe?  Well believe it!

I recently wrote an article titled, "Plutocracy and the Projects" in which I briefly outlined the process by which low income housing makes its way stealthily into the burbs.  It's a pretty involved process, but I thought I would try to break it down for you, maybe get a little more in-depth on the subject this time.

I'm reporting primarily about the Cypress, Texas area, but I'm sure that much of the targeted areas get close to the same amount of money.  Right now, the federal government had dangled $9,704,613 for the Cypress area.  Each developer seeks $1.5 million.  Only the top six developers with the highest points are awarded funds.    The developers need 118 points to qualify to receive the funds.  What I'd like to do is show where the points come from to show you how important it is for the state representatives to maintain their negative point capabilities.

Last year, the highest points achieved were 133.  By contrast, the lowest points awarded were 125.  The developers were funded or lost on a single point.

There are several entities that can award or subtract points to the developers.  They are:
-School District
-MUD 61 JF-Hofman
281-469-9405
JFHofman@District61.org
-Fire Department
-EMS
-Law Enforcement
-Local Businesses
-Elected Officials
The only other quantifiable community participation is with a coalition, which, thanks to James and Barbara Hardin, Cy-Fair has now; The Cypress Coalition.  It first came to the Cypress Coalition's attention last year and I wrote an article about the first town hall meeting titled, "The Texas House-Representing Voters or Subsidized Developers?"

State Representatives still have eight points, which can have a HUGE impact, as you see that developers were funded or lost on a single point.  As of the current legislative session, State Representatives are proposing to give up their points that serve their constituents.  County commissioners also have the ability to add or take away points; they've been allotted three points.

To further prove the need for the reps to keep their points, especially those that represent Cy-Fair as we have several vulnerabilities as an area.  We live in an unincorporated area, which means we don't have a city council or a mayor to represent us.   That leaves us with, you guessed it, relying on the State Reps and the County Commissioners to be our voice.

Stay tuned as there's a town hall being planned to oppose the two new proposed developments.  If you're concerned, please contact State Representative Dwayne Bohac at:

(512) 463-0727   Austin Office

(713) 460-2800   District Office

I'm sure there's more to come since the 84th legislation is far from over. 

Plutocracy and the Projects

Plutocracy is defined as government by the wealthy, or an elite or ruling class of people whose power derives from their wealth.  I can't think of a better word to describe the government of the state of Texas.  Now, I hear you, you're saying, Texas, right?  Yes, I'm talking about our great state of Texas, and while the government of Texas hasn't done EVERYTHING wrong, there is definitely room for improvement.

I'll start off with one good thing; Texas' decision to refuse the use of Common Core Standards for our public school system.  Not just the standards, but the money that the feds dangled in front of the state.  Let's face it, the government doesn't give anything away for nothing.  They always want something in return-there are always strings attached.  Common Core was no different.  However, the reason that the state turned down the money wasn't just because they were trying to be honorable, and 'do the right thing'.  It was simply a case of not being able to profit from the implementation of Common Core statewide.

Next topic, low income housing.  Yep, I hear you groaning.  Once again, the feds are at the ready to offer up money to the state, in the form of tax credits, but guess what kids, there are strings attached.  The state has an agency set up called Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA), and they hand out the tax credits to the developers who score the most points in order to build the low income housing I mentioned.

Low income housing usually lowers property values, increases crime rates and overcrowds the system; fire departments, schools, EMS services, etc.  However, that's of no concern to the developers who only see dollar signs when they come into the neighborhood they are trying to 'bust'. That's a real term, 'neighborhood busting' and it's a term and an action that has trickled down from liberal Washington, D.C.  Surprise!

So, back to these points that the developers try to accumulate in order to build; you may be asking, who can award those points?  I'm so glad you asked. The state legislators of the designated development area have points to award, as do county commissioners, school districts, water districts and community coalitions, which brings me to my main point.  The state does NOT have to accept this money from the feds!!  If they had courage of conviction, the state would tell the feds to get the hell out of our state, similar to the courage, ahem, they exhibited when they shunned Common Core.  There is one glaring difference here, though.

If you guessed the potential for capital gain on the part of the legislators, then you guessed correctly.  Hmmm, let's see, the developers just might sidle up to the legislator whose district they want to build in, and oh, maybe make a campaign contribution.  Gee, I can't imagine why the legislators wouldn't want these developers to keep coming back.

To another point that has my pants in a bunch is that during the last legislative session, the Senate voted to do away with their points.  Now they have no say in what comes into their districts.  The House is planning on doing the same thing this session.  This can only lead the voter to one conclusion; that the representatives WANT the campaign contributions to continue to flow without having any accountability to those they represent.

This issue isn't over.  I'll be following it and sharing with all of you to keep you informed.     

Time Rewind: A Look Back at My First Year With Texas GOP Vote

We're gonna party like it's 1999...Wait, not really.  As radio stations and music video shows do year end countdowns, I thought I would do a play on a countdown, sort of a look back, at my time as a blogger at Texas GOP Vote.  It's a fun look back at what I've done and which posts got the most attention and which ones, although they may have been my favorites, did not get quite as much attention as I thought they would.

I'll mix it up and start off with some of the not so popularly viewed ones beginning with my personal blog, "Politics and Motherhood: Making It All Work" which was a post about my decision not to run for a party elected position.  It wasn't an easy decision, but as I said in that one particular blog, "Politics will always be there, however, the youth of my family will not."  It only had about twenty page views total.

My very first blog for Texas GOP Vote was titled, "Everything's Bigger In Texas-Including Government" and that had 300 page views.  If you don't remember what that was about, I wrote it about the medical directives and end of life care and the changes that the state was trying to make to laws regulation patient choices when it came to care of their loved ones.  Some argued the new bill would make things better, but I disagreed, and still do.  Thankfully, the bill didn't make it out of committee, so nothing to worry about.  Until the upcoming session starts, that is.

Think back again to the 83rd legislative session, the sweeping pro-life bill that got held off until the very end and caused quite the stir at the capitol building in Austin.  Yep, SB 5 as it was referred to then, was something that I wrote about and that article had almost 1900 page views!  If I remember correctly, after "Will SB5 Have a Fairy Tale Ending" was published, the article made it to the top of Google news.  Needless to say, I was stoked!

Fast forward a bit to the special session that was called as a result of the failure to pass the pro life bill I referred to in the paragraph above, I wrote yet another article titled, "While Texas Senate Talks About Abortion Bill (HB2), Let's Talk About Sex "  Yeah, I did.  I wrote about how abstaining from sex takes abortion out of the equation.  Save yourself for marriage and no need to worry about perceived overreach of the government.  Heh.  That one got over 5200 views and nearly broke the server at Texas GOP Vote.  That was a home run blog that only took thirty minutes to write.  Hey, when you're hot, you're hot!

 If you haven't already figured out that I'm an advocate for citizens to get involved in their local government, then you haven't been reading my stuff!  To back up that claim, my article titled "March 2014 Texas Primary: Why Local Elections Matter" got almost 1300 page views!  Surprised me a little that so many people were interested in that same topic.  Glad I was able to write it and share!


A few more blogs I'd like to highlight that are recent additions to my repertoire are all about Common Core and the Glenn Beck event.  I was fortunate enough to be chosen, along with four other bloggers, to be present during the Make Common Core History Event put together jointly by Glenn Beck and FreedomWorks.  I did some preparatory work for myself and my readers before the event and the article titled, "Common Core FAQ's: Your Questions Answered" had over 1900 page views. Sweet!

I've had some more additions since I got the stats from Texas GOP Vote, mostly centered around the Texas House Speakers Race; Scott Turner vs. Joe Straus.  I am firmly on Team Turner, and win or lose, I'm proud to say that Ive been a part of their team and all of the hard work we've done together.  My first article titled, "Turner vs. Straus: Who Will Emerge Victorious?" had almost 250 page views, followed by "Is It Murphy's Law To Support Joe Straus" had almost 200 page views.

My work here within the conservative political movement is far from over, however.  This is my first year and a half with Texas GOP Vote and I didn't share all of my blogs.  Thanks to all of you out there who have read and shared and 'liked' my articles.  Thanks to those who have even disagreed with me and shared their views. No such thing as bad publicity, right?   Head on over to www.texasgopvote.com/users/kelly-horsley and check out the rest of my work.  Hope you like!

The Grassroots Have Spoken: Scott Turner for Texas Speaker

"When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing; when you see that money is flowing to those who deal not in goods, but in favors; when you see that men get rich more easily by graft than by work, and your laws no longer protect you against them, but protect them against you … you may know that your society is doomed."  Ayn Rand

Texas, we're there.  Need proof?  Look no further than the race for the Speaker of the House.  "The money is flowing to those who deal not in goods, but in favors" has never been more prevalent than in the dynamics of the Speaker of the House race.  Folks, we're in a battle for control of the agenda for the 84th legislative session and the stakes couldn't be higher.

Texas is known as a bastion of conservatism.  It's a Republican 'red' state, but far from conservative, by my standards anyway.  If we want to make it truly conservative, then we the people of Texas have got to keep our eyes on ALL of our elected officials to ensure that they are voting correctly and really and truly taking a stand to protect our freedom to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  The Texas Speaker of the House plays a big part in all of these facets of liberty and if you are a friend of liberty, then you are no friend of Joe Straus.

I have written several articles about the speakers race and have discussed how important it is for us to have a say in who is elected speaker.  The handwriting is on the wall, folks.  County Republican parties all over the state of Texas have endorsed Scott Turner for Speaker of the House.  Not only that, but the body of delegates at the Republican State Convention held in June of 2014 voted to pass a resolution in which the vote for Speaker should be a vote cast by none other than the voters of Texas!

To pile onto the sentiment of unrest over the decision for Speaker of the House, on Monday night, the largest county in the state of Texas endorsed Scott Turner for Speaker.   I'm happy to say that I'm a member of the Executive Committee of the Harris County GOP by way of being a precinct chair.  The resolution was written and introduced by precinct chairman David Wilson with three speakers for the resolution and three against.  After some heated debate, the vote was taken and it passed. 

I'm not sure what more proof that the representatives need that we want a change in the Speaker of the House!  We all know the old saying, "Follow the money."  All of the representatives' support for Joe Straus has been bought and paid for.  I included a link in my previous blog, called, "Is the Republican Delegation of the state of Texas For Sale?" of all the different reps who have received  money from Straus.  We need to make a change.  I don't know about you, but I for one am tired of our representation being bought and paid for.  Scott Turner for Speaker!

Is the Republican Delegation of the State of Texas for Sale?

"You were bought with a price." 1 Corinthians 6:20

We all were, if you are a Christian.  Jesus paid the ransom for our sin with his own blood so that we could have eternal life.  Pretty hefty price, if you ask me.

One could say that our delegation of Texas State Representatives have been bought with a price, too.   Not one as noble as the price that Christ paid for our sins.  What I'm talking about here is their vote for the Texas Speaker of the House, bought and paid for by current Speaker of the House, Joe Straus. Follow the money, especially all the lobbyist money Straus distributes with strong strings attached.  See the article just written by a contributor to Raging Elephants Radio with a complete list of state reps who have received contributions from Speaker Straus.

Now, you might accuse me of being extreme here with the parallel I've drawn, but I don't think so.  See, the state of Texas and it's future rests squarely in the hands of the Speaker of the House, which is a position that needs to be held by a true conservative member of the house.  My choice?  Scott Turner, that's who.

Scott Turner understands the responsibility he has as a legislator and where our priorities should be.  From a fellow blogger, Adam Cahnman's most recent blog post he relays some of Scott's legislative priorities:

"...As a candidate for the Office of Speaker of the House, I have spent the last several months traveling across our great state and have heard the voice of the people calling for their representatives to help promote and protect our shared values of faith, family, and free enterprise. It is important that we focus on the future of Texas and not rest on the perceived victories of the past.

As the next Speaker of the House, I want us to focus on securing our borders, fully implementing E-verify, and completely ending the practice of sanctuary cites. Moreover, we can no longer put off giving parents and families a choice to provide the best educational environment for their children. Additionally, we must provide a solid financial environment for our state by repealing the Gross Margins Tax and implementing a fiscally conservative budget that exemplifies responsible stewardship of the taxpayers’ money.

I look forward to working with my fellow members to seize the opportunities set before us, work on the passage of the critical legislation the people are calling for, and move forward in a bipartisan effort to ensure true freedom and prosperity for Texas.”

As someone who's been working with the Scott Turner team, I've been privileged to hear him speak more than a few times.  One of the quotes I gathered from him that I found rather inspiring myself was this one, "Status quo and complacency rob you."  This quote can definitely be applied to the upcoming legislative session.

Sadly, as I mentioned earlier, it seems that the Straus camp has already sent out their talking points to his delegation, and their little army of 'lemmings' has all but regurgitated the information on all of their Facebook walls and at speeches around the state.  Lots of them reflect Scott's perceived inexperience as a legislator.  Another quote from Scott that refutes that claim, "I'm no stranger to scrutiny and accountability."

I believe it is that same scrutiny and accountability that he speaks of that will make him a great speaker.  Win or lose, Scott will take the vote to the floor, because in his own words, once again, "It's time."

Is it Murphy's Law to Support Joe Straus?

"If you aren't willing to fight for what you believe, do not cry about what you will lose."
I have no idea who this quote is from, but I love it.  I think it's fitting of the upcoming Speaker's race for the Texas House.  What do I mean?  I mean that if you aren't willing to fight for a new, conservative Speaker of the House, then don't cry about what you will lose.  What will we lose?  The conservative stronghold that we have maintained here in Texas, despite the current speaker's liberal influence.


Let's introduce the players, shall we?  We have incumbent Joe Straus, with known ties to Democrats and a history of stalling conservative legislation.  We now thankfully also have Scott Turner, a staunch conservative who has vowed to his family and his supporters to see this race through to the bitter end.   Not only that, he has promised to make the vote for speaker an 'on the record' vote for all of the state representatives so that their constituents can see.  No more closed door, back room deals on Speaker of the House.

This race also has a history of pitting conservative activists against each other about whether or not to even 'pick this fight'.  Some say it's not worth the time and energy to help one candidate for speaker over another.  Some say that it doesn't matter who the speaker is, followed by those who say that we're wasting our time because our voice won't be heard with our representatives on this issue.  I used to be in one or a few of those camps, but I've changed my mind, and I hope after reading this, you might decide to get involved, too.

What I hear you saying is, how can we make a difference in this particular race, seeing as how it's perceived as such inside baseball, if you will.  Here's my answer: talk to your representatives.  Call their offices and chat with them about making Scott Turner their choice for Speaker.  Send them a note via e-mail or snail mail asking them to vote for Scott Turner.  Better yet, find out when they might be having a town hall meeting and show up to let them know how important their choice is for Speaker and how much you would like for them to vote for Scott Turner.  

Not being one to ask others to do something I wouldn't do, I thought I'd start us off with a town hall that one of the state representatives was holding here in Houston, Texas.  State representative Jim Murphy hosted a town hall this past weekend to a crowd of about seventy-five people.  He took us through the past session and what he sees on the horizon for the upcoming 84th legislative session, but that's another blog for another day.

Lo and behold, it was time for the question and answer session.  Oooh, pick me!  Pick me!  I raised my hand and after a few questions, he got to me.  With video camera rolling, I asked him about the speaker's race.  I wanted to know if I could get a commitment from him on whether or not he would be supporting Scott Turner for Speaker of the House.  He did the typical political song and dance and never really committed to make a decision.  You can watch the video here.  

So, that wasn't a total loss.  This just proves my point that we need to keep the pressure on our representatives to ensure that Scott Turner is elected our new Speaker of the House.  As Ronald Reagan once said, "When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat."

Turner vs. Straus: Who Will Emerge Victorious?

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."  -Teddy Roosevelt 

This quote provides an appropriate introduction to the beginning of the Texas House Speaker's race; Scott Turner vs. Joe Straus, a race that's actually been a long time coming.  This speaker's race is one with a REAL flesh and blood opponent to Strauss, not a ghost of a man or men who plan to withdraw at the last moment so that we the people of Texas feel that there has been some valiant effort put forth on the part of the so called opponent.  A tactic that's been tried before so as to keep the status quo so that the same house speaker remains in place.

Who may make it a different race this time, you ask?  Scott Turner, that's who.  You're saying, who?  SCOTT TURNER!  A little background on Scott from his website, "Representative Scott Turner, a businessman, national motivational speaker and former NFL player, was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in November 2012.  He represents House District 33 which encompasses all of Rockwall County and portions of Collin County in North Texas."

The mood is different with this speakers race, and I'll tell you why.  As of the most recent Texas Republican Convention held in June, the delegates adopted a new party platform with this change under the section of "Election Integrity" as it pertains to the Speaker of the House Race: "We support an amendment to the Texas Constitution to make the Texas Speaker of the House a statewide election."  Translation: the activists in Texas have had enough of Speaker Strauss and his games when it comes to passing any conservative legislation AND his bullying tactics when it comes to committee chair selections.

Not only has this gained attention from news and media outlets statewide, it's gaining national attention.  Freedomworks, led by President Matt Kibbe have decided it's time to get involved.  From their announcement of their endorsement of Scott for Speaker of the House, "When I met Scott last month he blew me away with his passion for conservative principles, and with his passion for the state of Texas. I don't say this lightly - Scott is the real deal.  But  it’s his leadership that impresses me most. Scott is the type of guy that will bring Texas together. He will unite conservatives against Barack Obama and his Democrat allies in Texas, and keep this state free. Scott will keep Texas red!"-Matt Kibbe  Freedomworks even has a webpage set up for activists to visit and take action at standwithturner.com.

After all, that's the point, right?  Texas is a conservative state and has been a conservative state for quite a while and as long as we keep electing conservatives to represent us, we will remain a 'red' state.  However, there are groups out there, like Battleground Texas and others who aren't content to let Texas go to the conservatives who have called it home for the past few decades.  That's one of the many reasons why this race for Speaker is so important.  Joe Straus has known ties to Democrats.  How else can you explain why he was elected Speaker by 65 Democrats and only 11 Republicans?

Texas is one of the last bastions of conservatism and the Democrats know this.  They are coming after us hard and fast and unless we hold the line by keeping conservatives elected to the state legislature AND make sure we only pass conservative legislation, the Democrats will have their way here.  To do both of those things, we have to crown a new Speaker.  The Speaker has to be someone who isn't going to kill legislation by letting it die in Calendars committee by putting if off to a later date or who isn't going to fall back on the good ole boy system of appointing his buddies, or should I say, cronies to powerful committee positions.  Scott Turner is that man.  He is a man of integrity, he stands on his own; he doesn't owe anyone anything. Like the "man in the arena", he'll strive valiantly for a greater Texas.

Spotlight on HD 132: Interview with Michael Schofield

As long as I've been of age to vote, I took my choices seriously and did the research that was needed to help select the best and most qualified candidate.  Pffffft!  If you believe that, then I've got some ocean front property in Arizona to sell.  I hate to admit it, but it hasn't been until recently that I have been doing any sort of research or homework on candidates.

Since I've entered a more mature and responsible phase of my life, ahem, I do actually think about who would be the best candidate for the job and if you've been reading any of my posts recently, you'll know that I'm referring to one race in particular; the race for Texas House District 132.  The run-off is in full swing (early voting has started) and the two candidates that are contenders for Bill Callegari's seat at the table in HD 132 are Ann Hodge, Katy Chamber President and Mike Schofield, former adviser to Governor Perry.  I already published my interview for Ann Hodges, so here is my interview with Mike Schofield for your information.  I wanted to get a feel for both candidates and see where the interview led, and I started out with some basic questions.  Here they are in some particular order:

Kelly Horsley: Why did you decide to run for office?
Mike Schofield: Back in 2003 I got hired by the governor to work on tort reform.  It's the first time I'd ever worked with the legislature and it didn't take long to realize that this is where I could actually do my service.  This is where I could help my community most and make my mark.  Some people teach adults to read, other people can coach little league and what I could do was public policy and particularly in the house.  I realized pretty early on that I have the facility for legislating and also for figuring out how to get stuff done up there which is very different.  It's great to have an idea, it's another thing to get stuff done.  The more the governor added to my portfolio, the broader array of issues I got to work on, the more I realized that what my calling was, to serve in the legislature.  By the time I'm done, I hope I'm able to provide a service to the community.

KH: How long would you serve if elected?
MS: I have no idea.  This district will cease to exist in eight years, so if you were planning on serving for more than eight years, you have no knowledge of that.
KH:What makes you say that the district will cease to exist?
MS:The district is growing so fast, at best, it will be cut in half.  It might get decimated depending on the demographics of the county and of the area.  They may take pieces from all over the place.  They may do any number of things, but at best, it will get cut in half.  Which can change everything from not only the size of the district, but the demographics and everything else.  I've heard people say they think it will be sliced north and south of 529.

KH:Tell me a little more about your job with the Governor because I'd like to find out more about it myself and to be able to share it with the readers.
MS: I was originally hired to work on the big tort reform bill of 2003.  We were losing Dr.'s left and right.  Women in the Valley with problem pregnancies had drive all the way to Corpus or San Antonio because doctors were leaving, even doctors who had never been sued were seeing 10% and 15% increases in their malpractice insurance every year to the point where they threw in the towel.  So I went up to work on that bill and that was my first assignment that's what I started with.  The Governor liked my work and they were in the middle of redistricting so he added election law to my portfolio.  Then he added gaming to my portfolio and then for a little while part of insurance although we have a separate person to do that.  The more I went along, the more he added. Every time he'd assign me to something, I became 'the guy' for that issue.
 By the time I was done, I had those issues, plus anything to do with property rights because I'd worked the eminent domain bill.  Plus, as I got more senior, I would be brought in on issues that weren't my responsibility originally as sort of an adviser.
I would get brought in on a number of issues over the course of time, to the point where my last session that I worked for the Governor in 2013, I had 500 bills that I was responsible for.  I was responsible for every word of them.. You're not responsible in general, you have to know if something has been added to that bill on a Thursday in April that might make it unpalatable, whether somebody snuck something in in committee OR whether somebody took a part of your bill and put it on somebody else's bill that they might not be aware of.  So, it was great training for being a legislator because you have to keep track of where everything is at all times.  You have to know how to get things off of your bill, you have to know how to go persuade people to leave your stuff alone, you have to be able to fight to maintain the things that you're trying to pass, and fight to keep bad things from happening.  That's essentially the function of a legislator.

KH: What work are you most proud of while you were there in Austin, working for the Governor?
MS: I think I'm most proud of two things; I'm most proud of my work on tort reform over the years, not any one particular bill.  I'm proud of being the guy who was responsible for seeing any problems developing anywhere in any legislation and snuffing them out so we don't lose what we've gained in Texas by preventing frivilous lawsuits and by preventing the damage to our economy that happens when you allow the lawyers to run rampant and hold everybody up.  The second thing I'm most proud of is my work on the voter ID Bill.  It took three sessions of working with legislators, working with stakeholders from around the country about their experiences with their voter ID Bills to get that bill passed.  I'm proud of my work on a lot of the text of the bill, making sure that we had free voter ID's  so that we couldn't be challenged for violating the poll tax cases.  Making sure that we had a strong Photo ID bill that didn't back down to allowing two forms of non-photo ID.  The other provisions that we had to work with over the course of the bill to make sure that we not only passed it, but we had a bill that would hold up in court and that would work.  Sometimes you see politicians just want to  pass a bill so that they get credit for it; it doesn't really matter to them what's underneath the caption.  This was really important to us that we got this bill right and it would actually serve to avoid some of the fraud and some of the problems we've seen in elections over the years.

KH: Tell me a little about the work you've done with True the Vote
MS: As the governor's election law adviser I've learned a lot about the way our election system works, so we met with stakeholders, anybody who wanted to meet with us, to let us know what they were seeing in the field and to give them the benefit of our expertise on what the law is and how things are supposed to work.  The True the Vote people, particularly Catherine Englebrecht have worked really hard to ensure fair elections.  They sent people into places where they weren't welcome to make sure the elections were being run fairly.  They took an awful lot of really vicious and inaccurate statements about what they were doing.  Politicians wanted to chill their right to go and participate in the process and ensure free elections, and they stayed with it anyway.  That's kind of going above and beyond the call but it's also what we need from citizens if we are going to maintain a free society.  You can't sit on the sidelines and hope that somebody else does that kind of work, and I really appreciate that they got off the ground and did their due diligence and got out there and learned what they needed to learn about how the system worked and trained everybody at what they were supposed to do when they got to the polling place and recruited enough volunteers to make sure the polling got done.

KH:If something gets passed, any bill, and the public says, "I hate this bill!  Call the Governor and ask him to veto it!"  Or, let's say something doesn't get passed and the public says, "Hey, what happened here?"  How much power or input do the people really have when they call and do that sort of thing?
MS: People can have as much impact on the Texas Legislature as they want.  And what I mean by that is, I've had numerous people at their doorstep tell me, "Well, I want to talk to my legislator but I just don't think it matters or people are paying attention."   Over the last decade I have spent a lot of time in legislators offices and I can tell you from experience that two or three calls on any one issue lights their entire office on fire.  You'll be in there and you'll here, you now, two or three calls about some water issue and suddenly the legislator's saying why is everybody in my district worried about this water issue?
 Remember, state legislative districts are fairly small compared to other political districts and legislators also know that they are not that famous or well known, so their name recognition isn't going to carry them through.  They can't afford to have people in the district angry at them, so I think that tends to spur people to really pay a lot closer attention to what happens in their district.  Particularly during a session when you're not home as much as you are the rest of the time, you rely on the people who speak up.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease because you are the conduit to what's going on in the neighborhood.
So, but my short answer to your short question, is that people can have a lot of impact, but it's incumbent on the people to be paying enough attention to contact their legislator before the action is taken rather than after the vote.  If you come to your legislator in July and say why did this pass in May, you can't do much good.  If you talk to your legislator when a bill is set for a hearing or when it's  had it's hearing and maybe there's been a news story about it, you can reach your legislator before he has to vote on it and that's when they can realize that people in the district have a different way of viewing this issue than I thought they did.

KH:That leads me to my next question, how do we keep track of all of the things that are happening in the State Legislature?  You get bits and pieces from the news.  If I want to keep up with the State Legislature I'm looking at Texas Tribune, or some of the local type things.  If a regular citizen says, they see that the state is proposing, xyz, how do we follow those bills?
MS: I never rely on the mainstream media for news about anything about public policy, not just because of their views, but because they tend to report on something after it happens, which is of no use to you.  Instead, I would go to whatever source I'm comfortable with learn about the issues I care about.  If your interested in general, you go to the Texas Tribune or the Quorum Report or any number of other frees sources where you can learn about what's about to happen.  They all have lists of hearings that are coming up.  They have discussions about bills that are in the process that haven't had any action yet.  Then, I would go to capitol.state.tx.us, which is a great resource, if you play with it for about twenty minutes, you start to learn that you look for things that you care about in any number of ways.   You can look up all the bills Schofield has filed.  You can say, I want to see all of the things in the State Affairs Committee, because that committee tends to carry the things that I care about.  You can also look up the bill by bill number.  So if you know representative Schofield has filed bill 123, you can go on and track what's happening with that bill.  Once you've got the bill, now you're good.  You can follow every step of the process.  I cannot emphasize enough, you want to get to a bill, if it's going to have a hearing, you want to get to it before the hearing, so maybe you can testify.  Maybe you can talk to the author and you can have a say in what the committee substitutes going to be.  If it's about to go to the floor, you don't want to wait until after they voted on it.  When it's going to go to the Governor's office, you don't want to wait until after he has signed it or vetoed it, you want to weigh in while he's holding on to it.

KH:What is something you wish more voters knew about the legislative process?
MS:The main thing I wish people knew was how to track the things they care about, because your interests may be different than your neighbors.  Each of you should be able to find what it is you care about, where that is in the process so that you can have an impact. That's the number one thing.  The number two thing I used to go around to different Republican groups and give a lecture on the state budget, because more people should be able to understand how to find things in that budget, understand how their money's being spent, because it is actually fairly accessible, if you know what you're looking for.  It's like learning a language, once you know what you're looking for, you never have to ask me again.  You don't have to be dependent on any state rep or any staffer or anybody else because you'll be able to look it up from now on.  An educated and an informed electorate is the best possible source of maintaining democracy.  It's so easy now.

I listened to this interview and Michael had such great answers and I really enjoyed our time during the interview.  He is a wealth of information about the legislative process and what I really liked is that he seemed passionate about making sure the electorate in HD 132 is informed and kept up to speed about things that are happening in the legislature.  That's something he and I both agree on, an informed electorate is key. 

So, HD 132, we have a great problem on our hands, we have two outstanding candidates to choose from.  Please feel free to share this and other blogs of mine or others here on Texas GOP Vote to help make an informed decision on who to best represent you. Early voting started this week and election day is May 27th.  Please get out and make your voices heard!
 

Spotlight on HD 132 Runoff: Interview With Ann Hodge Part 2

As you know, Republican State Representative Bill Callegari resigned his seat at the close of the last legislative session; you know the one with a record three special sessions?  That left the opportunity for, well, anybody and everybody to throw their name into the ring to take his place.  Four candidates emerged and after the primary held in March, we are down to two.  The runoff election is around the corner and the two candidates facing off are Michael Schofield and Ann Hodge.  Hey, HD 132, we have two fantastic candidates and we have a choice to make.  As a resident of Texas House District 132 and an activist for my community, I want an informed electorate to be able to make the best choice possible; sue me.  I was very appreciative that Ann Hodge, candidate for HD 132 took time out of her day to answer my questions.  I have already shared with you the first half of our interview, and now, I'm proud to share with you the long awaited sequel.  Here goes!


KH: What piece of legislation did you want to see passed last session that failed?
AH: I wanted to see more on HB 5.  I am very concerned about end of semester testing.  I have had the pleasure of working with HCC and Katy ISD and I do not understand the disconnect.  We are testing at a certain level, but yet I continue to be told when they reach college or the community college level or the university, a lot of our students are in remedial classes.  How can you be in a remedial class?  I'm seeing employees that can't spell.  I really am struggling with what we are  testing and teaching to the test.  I am a huge proponent of accountability, but I'm not sure we are measuring it the right way.

KH: What would you like to see brought back?  Would you like to see HB 5 brought back?
AH:  It's interesting, at the candidate forum the other night, at the school board candidate forum, they were all like, our wish is the legislature will leave alone what they've already done and not touch anything.  I mean, really?  There's not some things you would have tweaked a little?  The other thing is, I haven't had the chance to run the analysis yet, but I did log onto HCAD and I was pretty shocked to see the dramatic increase in my husband's and my home.  What I'm looking at is it seems to me like  that we've got a pretty big windfall coming in Harris County and our respective school districts.  Now, I have not seen what that looks like for Ft. Bend and Waller County, which is part of Katy ISD, but I would really like to entertain some dialogue as to how we are going to be using that increase in the tax rolls that we are going to see from the appraised value versus the market value.  I recognize that there's a cap, but it still is a pretty significant amount if our little piece of the world is indicative.  I'm told right now that homes are staying on MLS for eight days in this corridor and they're going for full ask, if not with a kicker from the realtors that I'm working with on a daily basis, so I've got to believe some of that appraisal is pretty close to being accurate.  That's some significant money and we're not talking about it.  I'm the one bringing it up going, um guys, what's going to happen?

The other piece that I"m troubled by is I serve on two hospital boards and I'm not convinced that we've made any progress with the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  As a result, I've asked both administrators of the two hospitals, have you seen a decrease in the load of indigent and uninsured that we are serving walking through the doors.  No, quite the opposite, we've seen an increase.  Yet, you and I pay Harris County Hospital taxes and I would really like to have a dialog about that line item on our property tax that we are paying.  I understand how Zerwas' bill for a waiver on the Medicaid went down in the last session, but if there is a way that we can find to draw down some of the dollars from the federal government without increasing our tax burden, I'm all for trying to get that from Washington, D.C.  Now what form that looks like; I was told there were opportunities for block grants and waivers without any increases but drawing back some of those dollars, which takes the burden off of those of us that own property, then I'd like to have that discussion.  I'd like to have it, hopefully, without all the rhetoric, I mean, you know that it has to be draped in party lines.  I mean, why aren't we fighting for everything we can get back from Washington, D.C.?  I want our share.

KH: What legislation would you most like to see repealed?
AH:  I think we need to look at every agency and what their function is and I'm convinced that there is duplication of effort.  I'm also disturbed because I keep hearing from professional organizations who have licensing or regulatory fees that they pay, that those dollars are not going to support that agency that is to oversee that profession; they are being diverted.  I think that we need to just say that is an indirect tax and be honest about some of this.  I think that's where government loses the respect of citizens as well as business owners because what they see is that they are basically speaking out of both sides of their mouth.  If I had to tell you something that I would repeal, sitting here today, I don't know if I could tell you one thing I would repeal as much as I would really like to tear apart the structures and take a hard look at what each of the agencies is responsible for, what their income sources are and are they delivering the services or is it really just a front for revenue for the state of Texas, in which case, let's be honest about it.  I mean, if you look at where our fuel taxes are going and so forth.  If you look at what happened with the Lottery, I would just say we have really been mislead on a number of things that I find unfortunate.  It's that behavior, and you know as a business owner, you're not going to succeed.

In closing, Ann had this to say about serving the community as a state representative and being a member of the community: "I think that constituent services; lets face it, your there day in and day out.  You're only up in Austin for six months every two years and it's what you do in the district that really counts and that's where the model of the chamber pays huge dividends, in my opinion; that customer service is essential.  I would just suggest that customer service, as you well know, that's job one and it will be job one for me."

*Don't miss tonight's candidate forum!*

What: Katy Libertea is hosting with Bob Price moderating 

When: May 8th 

Time: 6:30 PM

Where: 1773 Westborough Drive, Katy 77449 

Spotlight on HD 132 Runoff: Interview With Ann Hodge

Last week, I was able to sit down with one of the candidates in the runoff for the House District 132 seat, Ann Hodge.  Ann has been a resident of District 132 for a while now and her name is synonymous with the Katy Chamber, of which she has been the president since 1999.  With the primary over and the runoff in full swing, it's like hitting the reset button on vetting candidates and trying to sway voters to support each respective candidate.  We discussed that and other issues related to the election; from families to committees, nothing was off limits.

Kelly Horsley: Ann, what made you decide to run for office?

Ann Hodge: People in the community came to me and asked me to run, because it was clear that they felt like we needed someone who was more grounded in the community, had lived the issues and they felt like someone needed name identification, and they needed to be able to raise the money and they needed to be able to go the distance; and not a career politician.

Kelly Horsley: How long do you think that you would serve in the state house, if you were elected?

Ann Hodge: My guess is it would probably be eight to twelve years just depending on what happens.  You know, it's not that I want to make it a career, by any stretch of the imagination.  I think it would closely mirror what Bill Callegari did and I think that he was able to achieve most of his agenda, during that tenure.  I think two to four years is probably a little short, but I would say that would be my best guess.  
Kelly Horsley: I know that's kind of subjective and that you might say, I'll go back to Austin as many times as the voters send me back, but I was just curious.
AH: It's certainly not a stepping stone for me.

K H: I know that there are a lot of tough issues that we're facing as a nation, nationally, locally, etc.  What do you think is the biggest issue facing Texas?
AH: I actually think there's three, and I think infrastructure is huge.  Matter of fact, I just saw where Congress is taking a look at a one time funding for mobility.  I'm very, very concerned about the lack of funding for mobility, particularly in the high growth areas.  I'm extremely concerned that Texas is  having to protect our borders, that the feds are not doing that and that it's falling to us as taxpayers.  And last but not least, I'm passionate about local control, I do not feel that the people in Austin much less in Washington D.C. know what's best for my children or my grandchildren.

KH: What house members, if you were to get elected, would you see yourself working closely with?
AH: I think the delegation that we have.  Of course we don't know what will happen with Glenn Heger's seat, we don't know a couple of seats.  We know that Paul Bettencourt will be probably our next Senator for district 7.  We have been very, very blessed, in my opinion to have Bill Callegari, John Zerwas, Dan Patick, and Joan Huffman and all of the folks including Glenn Heger that have done a great job.  I think the biggest thing is we work together; they've listened to the community, they've tried.  One of the things that concerns me is being in three counties; the Katy area, you can't just vote from our legislative boundaries.  And people say to me, you hosted a fundraiser for John Zerwas a couple years ago, yeah, and John's got part of Katy.  I may not get to vote for John, and I don't get to vote for Dan Patrick anymore for that seat, but I think we are all in this together.  So, you align with the people that I think can most closely mirror what you're trying to do. That's probably going to be more of your urban legislators than it is your rural, although we certainly have some issues in Cypress as well as Katy with some of your existing farms that need a lot of assistance too to maintain their stablity.

KH: What committees do you see yourself working on, if elected?
AH: Well, State Affairs, of course, the plum is always appropriations.  I would be remiss to not say education; the holy grail.

KH: What are your thoughts on home schooling?
AH: Oh, I applaud it.  I have five grandchildren and I can tell you they all have five different gifts. My first granddaughter  I told my husband that I would get down and kiss the ground if she walked across the stage at the Merrell Center and she did, bless her heart; and I did, I kissed the ground.  The next one that graduated from Katy High is at Uof H in the Bauer program so, the one that graduated first, though, attended some private schools, and definitely been in one charter school, and just trying to find that niche.  So, I'm very sensitive to that that. one size doesn't fit all and I don't think they develop their gifts and their talents at the same rate and I think we've got to figure out a better way to address that.  I'm very concerned that by eighth grade they're being asked to decide a career path.  I'm not convinced that everybody in the eighth grade has the ability to do that.

KH: You are known as the 'chamber lady'.  I wouldn't normally equate the chamber with 'grassroots'.  How do you bridge that gap to the voters who might have that same thought?
AH: When HCC decided that they were going to force annexation on Spring Branch, Katy ISD and NorthForest and Alief to bring them into the taxing district.
KH: When was that?
AH: I believe that it was in 2006.  I am positive that they thought that we would never rise up.  So, they were going to get our tax base.  Whereas, Cy-Fair has said, no-no; we will make our own determination for our community college district.  The head of the Cy-Fair chamber at the time, what used to be North Harris County Montgomery Community College, which is now Lone Star, and to HCC, you may make formal presentations and then our community will decide.  We were being forced into the annexation and they held a vote, at the Houstonian to call the election.  Now, I called my fellow chamber execs, there wasn't really one for NorthForest, with all due respect, I mean, you know what happened to North Forest, but Spring Branch and Alief said, 'no'.  I said,  'no', we're not going to sit back and take this.  Our community deserves better, we should have a say. If we are going to be in the taxing district, we need to have a say.

So we launched a massive grassroots campaign on absolutely a shoestring and stopped them dead in their tracks.  We then went to Callegari and Heger and Patrick and all of our delegation and got that loophole in the law closed in the next session.  The loophole basically said, if you want to annex an existing school district that is not part of your tax base, it's a majority vote of your existing tax base, plus the to-be annexed.  So, if everyone at NorthForest, Spring Branch, Alief and Katy ISD, had voted against it, they would have still outnumbered us and why wouldn't they want us in their tax base?  Look at what the tax rolls were that we would bring in and we would have no say.  We stopped them; grassroots, because we flooded them. 

KH: There was a recent effort chamber of the chamber to take out the Tea Party..
AH: The US Chamber; We're not a member, we are not affiliated with that.
KH:  Well, how do you feel about that?
AH: We absolutely oppose it.  And, our board has never voted in favor of that.  There are a lot of initiatives by TAB as well as the US Chamber that our board will not go for.  Bill Hammond went to all of the chambers and asked them to support a guest worker program.  I told him, I'm not taking that back to Katy!  Are you kidding me?  So, it's a great sound bite.  People say, well, you are an affiliate of (the US Chamber) and I'm like, oh, no, we're not.  You need to look at the Secretary of States filing.  We were incorporated in 1962 and we are a stand alone non-profit.  We have a stand alone board who answers to no one but our members.  They don't answer to Washington, D.C., or Austin, but it's being used against me.
KH: I'm glad I got the opportunity to ask the question.
AH: I appreciate the opportunity to answer.  You would be surprised how many true believers in the tea party philosophy you have in the business community.  The challenge is sometimes, there are activities that are frightening to business leaders.  No business owner or executive that I work with and have worked with either at BFI or in the Chamber, want more taxes or more regulations; they get it.
Sometimes, they're concerned about confrontation, so they are very passionate about lower taxes and lower regulations and that's why you see the support for me because they know that I've fought for that.  You know, do I think that the business tax is the perfect tax in this state?  No, I don't, not at all.  I think that we are hurting ourselves, I mean, I worked for fifteen years at BFI and I was told the other day, someone wanted to know when was the last time the state of Texas cited a landfill?  It's been four years.
 Now with the growth we are experiencing, let me just say, I understand nobody wants them in their backyard, but I spent enough years in that arena to know that we better be preparing for how we are going to deal with it.  You and I don't have any problem putting it out on the curb, but we divorce ourselves from it once we put it out on the curb.  I'm being flooded right now with letters on recycling batteries and stuff.  I don't know who started this campaign, but if I've gotten one letter, I've gotten 150 letters about this.  So environmental issues are still something that people are very passionate about and somebody's definitely launching a bit effort.  I think that the business community has more passion around a lot of the philosophy

I had such a great interview with Ann, and there is more to share.  Stay tuned for part two of Spotlight on HD 132.  Thanks for reading!