There’s no hiding the fact that Congressman Randy Neugebauer, of Texas’ 19^th District, was a Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac enabler who actively opposed the Bush White House’s attempts to reform the Government Sponsored Entities, or GSE’s, just before all financial-hell broke loose and put the nation in peril.

In 2007, Neugebauer wrote a letter to the Treasury Secretary criticizing him for not opening Fannie & Freddie up so that more of Wall Street’s toxic assets could be dumped onto taxpayers. Neugebauer wrote: “By refusing to lift the portfolio caps on the two GSEs, the [Bush] Administration continues to remain overly rigid…” Neugebauer continued with “Now is not the time to tie the hands of GSEs with insufficient portfolio cap flexibility or to micro-manage their portfolio activities…” History tells us that such is exactly what was needed.

The Bush White House had been trying to answer alarm bells about impending doom in the housing credit markets with reforms of the GSEs and Randy Neugebauer opposed those reforms.

The Wall Street Journal pointed out in 2010 that “These days, everyone—even Barney Frank—claims to want to reform Fannie and Freddie. Most Republicans now sound like these columns did for more than a decade, assailing the companies for their systemic risk to the financial system after taxpayers have had to put up $150 billion, and counting, to maintain them as the walking dead.”

“But as the debate over the mortgage giants resumes, the real threshold for GOP leadership ought to be who was right when it counted—that is, who was willing to take on the companies, their Wall Street allies and the housing lobby before the meltdown. The destructive duo [Fannie and Freddie] were long protected by a bipartisan phalanx of Members, and a core group of Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee were among the guardians. They include Gary Miller of California, Randy Neugebauer of Texas and Spencer Bachus of Alabama,” reported the Journal.

In the Neugebauer letters I’ve posted you see this two-faced position clearly. Before the crisis Neugebauer was pushing for allowing portfolio caps to be increased so that more junk debt could be piled into the GSEs by Wall Street’s bad actors. And then after the implosion became public a year later, Neugebauer writes a letter from an opposite position all worried about taxpayers’ exposure to the bad investments and demanding information – a pivot worthy of an Olympic gymnast.

I do not say this lightly as few worked harder to elect Neugebauer than did I but, send Randy Neugebauer and all of Congress a message: Vote for Chris Winn now in the GOP primary.

In addition to the battles for elected offices on the primary ballots, voters from both the Republican and Democratic parties will find several ballot propositions to vote on.  The parties decide on these separately, and put them forward to give voters a chance to weigh in on what may be legislative priorities for the parties after the November election.  This year, both parties put forward propositions dealing with education that really speak to their priorities.

Republican:  SCHOOL CHOICE:  The state should fund education by allowing dollars to follow the child instead of the bureaucracy, through a program which allows parents the freedom to choose their child’s school, public or private, while also saving significant taxpayer dollars. Yes or No.

Democratic:  Referendum 3: Should the Texas Legislature allow the people of Texas to vote to legalize casino gambling with all funds generated being used only for education? For or Against.

So, Republicans have a chance to send a message that they want parents to have control over their children’s education.  Meanwhile, Democrats are being asked whether they want to approve gambling to pay for education in Texas.  There has rarely been a clearer line of distinction in the education goals and policies of the major parties.  School choice that can empower parents and save the state (read: you, the taxpayer) money could be a vital component to fixing our state’s overall problem with education funding.  Meanwhile, legalizing casino gambling would increase the state’s financial burden, creating or expanding regulatory agencies and necessarily increasing local and state law enforcement.  One is about loosening government’s monopoly and the other is about spending more with a diminishing return.

These are hardly issues that fit into the neat box of political affiliation; there are Democrats in favor of school choice, especially in inner cities, and there are Republicans who have filed gambling expansion legislation as late as the last session in Austin.  That being said, the priorities of the parties have become crystal clear, and we don’t need to wait for election results on May 29 to see this.

Though many local elections were postponed to coincide with the November election to save counties money, there are still plenty of elections taking place across Texas on Saturday, May 12.  Turnout for these elections is always pitifully low, but it seems especially dismal this year, and that is a dangerous thing for taxpayers.

The majority of the taxes you pay in Texas are decided at the local level.  When you pay property taxes, they mostly pay for schools, and some services from your city and county and various other districts.  That has to be the most compelling reason to do your civic duty and vote in these most local of elections.  If it isn’t enough, consider that your city council and mayor are the elected officials who make decisions on things like police, fire, and other emergency services, on parks and other recreation, on mass transit like rail and buses, and on waste and water services.  Red light cameras are usually put in place by cities; parking fees and fines are decided on and collected for the city.

Voters are doing no one any favors by sitting out these elections.  Many do because the election is held on a Saturday in May – Mother’s Day weekend, when there are so many excuses to “forget” to vote.  This year in particular, with mass confusion over when the elections are being held and what’s on the ballot, voter apathy is at a wretched peak, meaning the diehard tax-and-spenders are more likely to get their way in non-partisan elections.  Incumbency carries weight in local elections, but a motivated base can easily push out an incumbent when the incumbent’s usual voters are inclined to stay home thinking they don’t “need” to get out and vote.  All the more reason for conservatives to do their homework and cast a vote – a little bit could go a long way.

If you didn’t vote early, you have all day on Saturday to cast your vote.  Not sure what’s on the ballot where you are?  Here’s a round-up of some lists from the major counties – if I didn’t list yours here, please check your county elections office (just search online for “—– county elections” if you’re not sure where to go).

Whatever you do, don’t let the status quo win just because you couldn’t be bothered to take ten minutes to go and vote.  As the wise man said, decisions are made by those who show up.

Dallas County list of entities holding elections

Travis County Sample Ballot (link fixed)

Harris County list of entities holding elections

Bexar County Sample Ballot

Collin County Polling Locations and Sample Ballots

Tarrant County Sample Ballots

Lubbock County Sample Ballots

McLennan County Polling Locations and Sample Ballots

Williamson County Ballot Information

A cease-and-desist letter was received today by fax at the office of State Rep. Vicki Truitt (R-Southlake), instructing her to immediately end her campaign’s defamatory public statements against Empower Texans, one of the state’s most recognized organizations working to promote sound fiscal stewardship in state government by engaging voters in the electoral process.

Vicki Truitt

Truitt has performed poorly on the ratings of many conservative groups’ legislative ratings, including the Fiscal Responsibility Index. Rather than address her own record, or explain her efforts to raise taxes and increase regulations, Truitt’s campaign has been distorting the positions and activities of Empower Texans, including a mail piece sent last week that asserted false information without any citation of public records.

“Unlike Vicki Truitt, Empower Texans has never advocated for the imposition of any new taxes, and certainly not imposing sales taxes on health care, groceries or medicines. Out of desperation to hide her tax-raising record, and no-bid contracts from taxing entities, Vicki has resorted to creating myths and spreading distortions,” said Empower Texans president Michael Quinn Sullivan. “Vicki conveniently forgets her own tax-hiking record. While she is welcome to try and distort her own voting record and positions, she is not welcome to distort ours.”

The letter, sent by respected ethics attorney Trey Trainor of Beirne, Maynard & Parsons, L.L.P., directs Truitt “to cease and desist any further mischaracterization of the organizational goals of Empower Texans or the employment status of its employees.”

In her campaign mailer, Truitt also fraudulently claims Empower Texans employs a lobbyist. Truitt, however, uses as a campaign consultant Fort Worth lobbyist Bryan Eppstein. Truitt barely won re-election in 2010 despite outspending her opponents 10-to-1.

The incumbent legislator has recently been found to have received no-bid contracts from the Tarrant County Hospital District starting shortly after being appointed to the House Committee on Public Health. Those contracts accelerated in 2009 after she entered the leadership circle of House Speaker Joe Straus, a fellow moderate from San Antonio. A company run by Truitt and her husband has received at least $350,000 in no-bid contracts from the hospital district.

Truitt has also spearheaded an effort to increase the state’s gasoline tax and various fees — an effort opposed by every conservative group in the state, thousands of voters and a bipartisan majority of the Legislature. However, Truitt vowed at a public rally on the steps of the state capitol to continue working to raise taxes.

“As a state representative, Vicki Truitt has engaged in a reckless pattern of misrepresentation both on the House floor and in her actions as a candidate,” said Sullivan. “Rather than engage in defamation, Vicki and her team should spend time addressing her pursuit of no-bid government contracts. Rather than hide behind distortions, Vicki should come clean about her failed record.”