There are now 12 House members who have stepped forward as declared candidates against incumbent Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland). That’s seven Republicans and five Democrats. We’ve put together an updated list of how they scored voting with Texas’ taxpayers, as measured by our Fiscal Responsibility Index.

They are ordered here by score, which reflects how often they voted with taxpayers (the higher the number, the better):

NAME SCORE   Byron Cook (R-Corsicana) 80%   Dan Gattis (R-Georgetown) 66.67%   Edmund Kuempel (R-Seguin) 64.29%   Allan Ritter (D-Nederland) 64.29%   Burt Solomons (R-Carrollton) 64.29%   Jim Keffer (R-Eastland) 62.5%   Below House Average of 53.4%     Delwin Jones (R-Lubbock) 46.15%   Tommy Merritt (R-Longview) 38.46%   Sylvester Turner (D-Houston) 35.71%   Pete Gallego (D-Alpine) 30.77%   Scott Hochberg (D-Houston) 28.57%   Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston)  26.67%             Tom Craddick (R-Midland)  Speaker*    * By tradition, the House Speaker generally doesn’t cast votes, so Craddick does not have a rating.

The average House score was 53.4%, with Republicans scoring a 75.01% and Democrats 31.74%.

So what does the Speaker of the House do?

With state agencies leaving nearly $1 billion in fees and fines uncollected, taxpayers are potentially on the hook for picking up those operating costs. TFR’s Michael Quinn Sullivan told the Associated Press it’s "incumbent on our state agencies to collect these fees." The El Paso Times editorial board agreed, noting, "Texas taxpayers are paying more than enough already without having to underwrite fines and fees that are going uncollected."

For years the debate over illegal immigration and its costs has been waged in the realm of anecdote and assumption; hardly the stuff of good public policy. State Rep. John Zerwas (R-Houston) is proposing a radical step: start collecting reliable data.

Zerwas’ H.B. 276 would require state agencies to annually report the cost of services and benefits provided to illegals. His legislation give guidelines as to the methods agencies may employ in gathering the data, up to and including asking if someone is actually in the country legally (“unless prohibited by other law”).

It’s easy (and generally correct) to say that tax dollars should not be used to provide services to illegal aliens. But the methods employed to ensure compliance depends on how pervasive the utilization really is, and in what areas.

Politically, a lack of reliable data has allowed all sides to demagogue the issue without serious effect. Opponents of illegal immigration can claim the illegals cost taxpayers almost any amount… and no one can dispute the claim. And those sympathetic to the illegals can claim the costs are minimal… without credible challenge.

Zerwas would have the state actually start collecting reliable, consistent information. That’s the right place to start when seriously seeking fiscally responsible solutions.

Of the 74 Democrats in the Texas House, 64 of them have been asked by 11 Republicans to pick the next Speaker of the Texas House. (That means 10 Democrats are joining with 65 Republicans in keeping Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick.) A liberal political gossip website last night quoted Rob Eissler (R-The Woodlands) as saying while he doesn’t “have a problem with Tom Craddick,” he was with the Democrats finding a new speaker because, “I don’t think (Craddick) has the votes.” He’s a Republican committee chairman… From mega-Republican Montgomery County… In power because of Craddick… Asking the Democrats to pick a speaker. ‘Tis the season for insanity.

Is Eissler crazy? If Craddick doesn’t have the votes to win, it is — simply looking at the math — simply because of Eissler! Yet he says he doesn’t have a problem with Craddick? Of course, Eissler doesn’t come out and directly say he is supporting a Democrat.

I know Sullivan and TFR aren’t taking a position on the speaker race, but it does annoy me that someone like Rob Eissler (who has done so well on the various conservative ratings) is joining with guys like my hometown’s incompetent state representative Delwin Jones (who wouldn’t know conservative principles if they bit him in the nose) in handing the Texas House over to the liberal Democrats.

And the Republicans wonder why more and more conservative voters just stay home. It’s because of these guys.

Cleburne ISD (mis)spent $367,000 of federal funds to, among other things, build a waterslide and rent an inflatable alligator. What, precisely, an inflatable alligator has to do with reading instruction is left unanswered. According to U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), this little gem was uncovered (pdf page 10) by the Texas Education Agency because local school officials failed to provide “lesson plans or other documentation” regarding the expenditure. Just goes to show, an alligator always gets you in the… wallet.

You have to admit it, Rick Perry is right about at least one thing: new taxes would “sour the Texas economy.” With the national economy in the tank, and Texas still comparatively well-off, legislators will have to work hard to keep the state out of California-like insolvency that occurs when legislators try to tax and spend themselves into prosperity.

While the rest of the nation lost 1.1 million jobs, Texas gained 250,000. But Texas’ unemployment numbers have risen, and the temptation from lawmakers will be to spend the budget surplus rather than leave those dollars in the rainy-day fund or return them to.

In an commentary in the Dallas Morning News earlier this week signed by Perry, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick, the three note "business owners are increasingly drawn to our state’s low taxes, sensible regulatory climate and a legal system that protects them from frivolous lawsuits."

Legislators yesterday called the Texas Department of Transportation “a mess” and “out of control.” The Sunset Advisory Commission, composed primarily of House and Senate members, have been reviewing TxDOT’s performance, or lack thereof. They voted to recommend their colleagues re-structure the agency. There has been growing bad blood between legislators and TxDOT, fueled over the public perceptions around the Trans Texas Corridor, taxpayer-funded advertising, a poor financial controls.

The Sunset Commission voted to recommend cutting the Transportation Commission from five members to just one commissioner. Of the Sunset members,, seven voted for the proposal, five against. The Dallas Morning News reports the lone commissioner would be forced to work much more closely with the Legislature:

Most important, he or she would answer to a new legislative oversight committee that would be granted sweeping powers to transform the transportation department, including reducing its nearly 15,000-member staff and streamlining the building of highways.

Even among those voting no, sentiment was clearly in favor of making big changes at an agency many lawmakers believe has all but ignored their frustrations over toll roads and the highly controversial Trans-Texas Corridor.

Taxpayer hero Carl Isett (R-Lubbock) was one of those voting against the single-commissioner proposal, but he told the newspaper “Our goal is to move this agency forward, to significantly change it.”

It’s abundantly clear that whether the rest of the Legislature goes along with the specific proposals, TxDOT bureaucrats need to be ready for some significant changes. For taxpayers, that’s the kind of turn-signal we’re looking for.

In honor of Bill of Rights day, I feel that it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of market restrictions on our right to keep and bear arms.

A recent study from professors at the University of Michigan and University of Maryland researched whether California’s stricter policies toward gun shows were more beneficial than Texas’ more hands off approach. This is important as many gun control advocates want to impose background checks on all sales at gun shows or totally eliminate gun sales between unlicensed citizens. This is what the media calls the “gun show loophole”. The study found that California’s regulations had no effect on gun-related deaths (homicides and suicides). In Texas, the number of gun-related deaths actually decreased in the nearby areas during the two weeks following gun shows, albeit only slightly. The study does not suggest that more gun shows would reduce crime, only that the regulation of gun shows is ineffective.

A summary of the study can be found here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081001184106.htm

The full text is available here:
http://www.closup.umich.edu/research/workingpapers/papers/gunshows-sept08-final.pdf

Currently, most Texans are only allowed to purchase rifles and shotguns from Texas and its neighboring states. Rep. Steve Bonnen (R-Angleton) has introduced HB 267, which would allow residents of our state to buy these weapons from any of the other states in the union where gun sales are legal. The federal Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits the interstate transfer of handguns, except between Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs). All handguns must be purchased in a citizen’s own state.

On the other hand, some people feel that self defense products are too easy to acquire. In the state senate, Leticia van de Putte (D-San Antonio) has introduced SB 94. This bill would require individuals who want to buy a stun gun to obtain an H-1 “stun gun license”. The license would be issued upon completion of a safety training course and application process “substantially similar to the standards and procedural requirements for obtaining a license to carry a concealed handgun”. This would also make it illegal to sell and repair stun guns. Failure to display the new license would be Class B misdemeanor offense. Law enforcement would not be required to obtain the license as they are already trained for stun guns in the workplace.

On a related note, Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles (D-Beeville) has introduced HB 140. This would allow somebody to present an expired concealed carry license to law enforcement so long as they had already applied to renew the license. A minor bureaucratic tweak, but helpful nonetheless.

Even ideas are known by the company they keep. Disgraced and indicted Illinois Gov. Rod “Show Me The Money” Blagojevich is hard at work today signing subsidies for the movie industry. While facing legal action for soliciting bribes in exchange for filling the Senate seat left open by Barack Obama, Blagovich is using taxpayer dollars to bribe moviemakers to come to Illinois. Says something about the morality of the entire scheme, doesn’t it?

Some argue it’s good government to take money from hard-working taxpayers and give it to billionaire moviemakers and millionaire movie stars.

Really? Redistribution of wealth (even if described as “tax credits” for a specific industry) only brings ruin. No industry — healthy or otherwise — should get taxpayer hand-outs, and no self-respecting businessman should take them if offered.

It is simply not the role of government to underwrite bad business models or subsidize private industry. The best way to make a state economically competitive, to attract business and grow jobs is to cut taxes and clear bureaucratic hurdles.

That Texas’ governor and lawmakers want to engage in bailouts and subsidies is misguided, economically and morally. We must put a stop the pay-to-play schemes, whether they are for U.S. Senate seats or movie-making enterprises.

It was 217 years ago today that our nation’s Bill of Rights went into effect, having been ratified by three-fourths of the states. These first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, authored primarily by James Madison, were designed to accomplish two ends: firmly limiting the powers of the new federal government and clearly defining the rights of individuals.

It’s hard, of course, to pick the most important of our rights. What good is freedom of speech without protection from warrantless search? How free is your practice of religion going to be if soldiers can quartered in your home? Can the people feel empowered to petition government for redress without also knowing they can keep arms? Does it matter that you can confront witnesses against you in court if you also don’t have the right to a jury trial?

The most ignored has been the 9th and 10th Amendments. With just 21 words, the 9th Amendment’s meaning is clear to even the most rudimentary of readers: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” That is followed by the 28 words of the 10th Amendment, reserving rights not delegated in the Constitution, including the amendments, to the states and the people.

It is safe to say that constitutional literacy is at an all-time low. Absent knowledge of our rights, it is all but impossible for us to know when they are being abridged.

In honor of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s ratification of the Bill of Rights on December 15, 1791, I hope you will take the opportunity today to re-read them, and perhaps even peruse the Constitution. Let us in so doing resolve to devote ourselves to the preservation of liberty on these shores.