Category Archives: Politics

Events of a political nature.

Texas House Republican Supermajority [UPDATED]

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The Republicans will have a “supermajority” in the Texas House when the new session starts January 11, 2011 (01/11/11).

The new Republican House members are expected to give the GOP 101 seats in the lower chamber in the 2011 Legislature, a number that will allow the party to exercise power not seen in the House since the early 1980s, when the Democrats had more than 100 of the 150 seats.

With a supermajority, House Republicans will be able to conduct business and approve constitutional amendments without Democratic support.

Soruce: Dallas Morning News | Second Democrat in Texas House announces switch to GOP.

What does this mean for the Texas Constitution or the bi-annual, balanced budget in Texas? It means the Republicans have carte blanche to amend the Constitution, raise taxes and slash the budget.

This is a perfect storm. The Democrats lost the majority of the U.S. Congress which means few things will change in the next two years. (Although the Senate just pasted legislation extending tax-cuts and unemployment benefits.) I expect Texas taxes will go up and the budget (jobs) to be cut. Then, in 2013, the trend will continue at the federal level.

I just wrote about La Niña and the drought Texas faces from that. Now it appears we are headed for an economic drought as well. I wonder if there is a connection?

UPDATE:

How will the federal tax cuts affect you? As promised the next 24 months (or two tax seasons) will remain at current levels. This may sound like an early Christmas present or simply a good thing, but look closer, it reads like the fine print of a credit-card offer: no interest ’till 2013. By then we may be out of the “economic ENSO cycle”, but be prepared to pay more for this tax cut than we would have originally. On the flip side, Obama probably doesn’t care too much because in 24 months he’ll be packing his things.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Now that Congress has passed the Tax Hike Prevention Act of 2010, it will be sent to President Obama for his signature. And taxpayers will have some certainty about their tax situation, if only for the next 24 months. Source: CNN.com | Tax cut deal: How it affects you

Bill Flores Holds Double Digit Lead Over Chet Edwards

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A poll conducted by the Penn Schoen Berland firm for The Hill newspaper out of Washington shows Republican Bill Flores holds a 12-point lead over incumbent Democrat Chet Edwards in the race to represent the 17th District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives. Polls done for the publication show potentially huge gains for the Republican Party come next Tuesday’s election. Source: KBTX.com Poll: Flores Holds Double Digit Lead Over Edwards.

The two had a debate on October 25, that was published on Twitter by theeagle.com, a local news paper. They used the hashtag #tx17debate. Chet Edwards is on Twitter at @chetedwards. Bill Flores is on Twitter at @Flores4Congress.

With less than a week to go this doesn’t bode well for Edwards or other Democrats around the country. Even Democrats who voted for Obama might switch to elect Republican Representatives, thus putting the breaks on Obama’s run-away spending train. A lame-duck session – in his first term – has huge implications and looks really bad for President Obama, Democrats and the country. All the past 2 years have served to do is increase debt and taxes. The economy is in shambles, housing may not recovery, people can’t afford to get sick or injured, and there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.

2010 (Mid-Term) Election in Central Texas

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The mid-term election is drawing near – one week to go – and the field of candidates has changed since I wrote about them in February. There is a new web site done by the Texas Secretary of State, votexas.org, that gives “simplified” information on the who, what, when, where, and how for this election. In particular it gives a list of candidates.

Aside from the facts, there sure is a lot of mud-slinging ads on TV for this election. I’ll be glad when November 2 is past.

UPS vs FedEx (again)

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UPDATE 9/24/2010: See Hutchison’s reply letter.

In 1997, the Teamsters strike crippled UPS. This time FedEx is using the buzzword “brown bailout”, and they’ve launched a massive (viral) campaign aimed at stopping legislation that would affect them. UPS has a counterstrike called “FedEx drivers aren’t pilots.”

It appears that UPS wants Congress to amend the Railway Labor Act (RLA) which limits unions from striking and crippling interstate commerce. FedEx thinks this will severely affect their business thereby giving UPS an edge – the bailout.

In contrast, National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) allows unions to form more easily. The Teamsters have used the NLRA to unionize the majority of UPS workers.

FedEx along with UPS and the Post Office (USPS) probably control 90 – 95% of package delivery in America. Both FedEx and UPS utilize airplanes to transport packages, and both use trucks to transport packages. FedEx is about 80% airline while UPS is about 20% airline. The USPS uses both of them; they are FedEx’s biggest customer. Needless to say, neither FedEx nor UPS are hurting for business. Looks like an oligopoly to me.

The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009 has already passed the House and is waiting for a vote in the Senate. A similar bill died in the Senate two years ago.

Like most things involving Congress there’s more to this bill and meets the eye. It was originally meant to improve the infrastructure of our aging air transportation and control systems, but then non-aviation groups (Teamsters) got involved.

It’s complicated for an outsider like me looking at this situation, but the yeas and nays will tell the story.

Supporters
United Postal Service
National Air Traffic Controllers Association
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
National Business Aviation Association
Air Line Pilots Association
Regional Airline Association
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
Airports Council International
Air Transport Association of America
Transport Workers Union of America
General Aviation Manufacturers Association
Rockwell Collins

Opponents
 FedEx

These two have been fighting for years. FedEx has always dominated the air – they are an airline – and UPS rules the ground. Every so often one will venture to closely to the other’s turf and a battle erupts. The fine line this time is airline personnel versus non-airline personnel. UPS (more so the Teamsters) wants non-airline personnel covered by the NLRA.

This time – if the bill passes – there will be a ripple effect in our (weak) economy. FedEx will probably lay people off (before they unionize and can’t be laid off ), and they will buy fewer airplanes. That equates to billions of dollars taken out of the US economy all because a union wants the right to strike.

Personally, I agree with the original RLA. I think if you are part of an oligopoly you should be subject to the RLA; neither UPS nor FedEx (nor the USPS) should have a union that can stop deliveries. On the other hand I don’t like unions because they hurt the many for the sake of the few. For example, the UAW, along with foreign competition and oil prises in the 1970′s, doomed auto makers and all of their ancillary businesses. American auto makers never really recovered, and America makes fewer quality cars today then any time since Ford rolled out the first Model-T.

Letters to Congress

What follows are letters that brownbailout.com will email on your behalf. It chose my representatives based on zip code.

Subject: Opposition to the “Brown Bailout”

Required text to House (Chet Edwards):

As one of your constituents, I’m writing to ask you to oppose legislation that could harm our nation’s express delivery system by increasing costs, lowering reliability and threatening jobs in the industry and all businesses that depend on overnight delivery.

Language inserted into the House version of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009, which passed in the House last May, will dramatically change how FedEx Express is regulated. The language favors only one company, UPS, and was designed to bail them out of a tough business situation.

Unlike the bailouts to shore up the nation’s financial system, paid for by tax dollars, this “Brown Bailout” will force us all to pay more in order to get less, while putting jobs at risk. This is not what our government should be doing to lower unemployment and put Americans back to work.

I also object to the secretive manner in which this bailout is being pushed through Congress without hearings or public debate on this particular issue. UPS, the only company that benefits, has been forcing its employees to write letters in support of the bailout, according to the Washington Post (“UPS Employees Say They Were Forced to Lobby against FedEx,” Aug. 7, 2009), and that just isn’t fair.

Businesses and individuals across America rely on an express delivery system that is dependable and affordable for medicines, equipment and other essential goods. Prices have never been lower, service has never been better, and access to global markets has never been greater. Congress should not put jobs at risk trying to fix something that isn’t broken.

The House of Representatives passed its version of the FAA Reauthorization bill last year. Please oppose the “Brown Bailout” if the FAA bill comes back to the House for a vote this year.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Required text to Senate (John Cornyn, Kay Bailey Hutchison):

As one of your constituents, I’m writing to ask you to oppose legislation that could harm our nation’s express delivery system by increasing costs, lowering reliability and threatening jobs in the industry and in all businesses that depend on overnight delivery.

While I support the FAA Reauthorization bill that will modernize our air traffic control system and bring much-needed funding for airport improvement projects across the country, it should not pass with an extraneous labor provision that puts one company’s interest ahead of public interest.

Language inserted into the House version of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009, which passed the House last May, would dramatically change how FedEx Express is regulated. The language favors only one company, UPS, at the expense of FedEx and its customers, and was designed to bail UPS out of a tough business situation. The Senate version of the bill, which passed 93-0, does not include this provision.

Unlike the bailouts to shore up the nation’s financial system, this “Brown Bailout” will force us all to pay more in order to get less, while putting jobs at risk. The government should be doing exactly the opposite to help lower unemployment and put Americans back to work.

Businesses and individuals across America rely on an express delivery system that is dependable and affordable for medicines, equipment and other essential goods. Prices have never been lower, service has never been better, and access to global markets has never been greater. Congress should not put jobs at risk trying to fix something that isn’t broken.

The current competitive environment is good for our economy. Please preserve our competitive shipping industry by rejecting the House version of the FAA bill when it comes up for a vote in the Senate. Instead, pass a final bill without this anti-competitive bailout.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Hutchison’s Reply

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting me regarding FedEx Corp.’s labor regulations. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

When the Railway Labor Act (RLA) was originally enacted in 1926, “express companies” such as the Federal Express airline were considered a vital part of the nation’s transportation system, and their employees were included in the bill’s coverage. The RLA was amended in 1936 to include all air carriers. Federal Express later expanded its operations to integrate a full service cargo operation, and is now known as FedEx Express. Only FedEx Express, the highly integrated air and ground operations that began as “Federal Express,” is subject to the RLA. The other ground-based FedEx Corp. subsidiaries, including FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight, are covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). A provision was included in the house-passed version of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization bill to require FedEx to be fully governed by the NLRA rather than the Railway Labor Act

The Railway Labor Act was designed to prevent strikes from disrupting transportation services. Unlike other industries where the right of employees to strike is guaranteed by statute, uninterrupted services provided by air and rail carriers are essential to the health and the economy of the nation. For that reason, the RLA includes a highly regulated collective bargaining process with numerous safeguards that must be exhausted before a strike can legally occur.

Collective bargaining agreements do not expire under the RLA, but instead become amendable and continue in effect while bargaining is underway. The parties must engage in direct negotiations, followed by mediation conducted by the National Mediation Board. If no agreement can be reached, the Board gives the parties the opportunity to resolve the dispute through arbitration, and, if arbitration is rejected, a 30-day cooling off period begins. At the conclusion of the 30-day cooling off period, the President is authorized, when an important interest is at stake, to create an Emergency Board to consider the dispute and recommend an appropriate resolution. Only if all of these procedures fail to produce an agreement are options such as strikes and lock-outs available to the parties.

Proponents of the House FAA Reauthorization language contend the NLRA would better serve FedEx Express employees by providing greater opportunity to organize, engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in support of their demands. However, FedEx Express contends that if it were subject to the NLRA process, multiple unions would be able to represent different groups of workers by location and by function, even in the same cities. FedEx would be required to navigate multiple sets of rules trying to connect its local truck drivers to its aviation operation, potentially disrupting airline operations in the very way the RLA seeks to avoid.

As Conferencing of the House and Senate passed FAA Reauthorization bills moves forward, I will keep your views on this issue in mind. I appreciate hearing from you, and I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue that is important to you.

Sincerely,
Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senator

284 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5922 (tel)
202-224-0776 (fax)

http://hutchison.senate.gov

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY to this message as this mailbox is only for the delivery of outbound messages, and is not monitored for replies. Due to the volume of mail Senator Hutchison receives, she requests that all email messages be sent through the contact form found on her website at http://hutchison.senate.gov/contact.cfm .

If you would like more information about issues pending before the Senate, please visit the Senator’s website at http://hutchison.senate.gov . You will find articles, floor statements, and press releases, along with her weekly column and monthly television show on current events. You can also sign up to receive Senator Hutchison’s weekly e-newsletter.

Thank you.

Performance Rights Act and Radio Freedom Act

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I heard about this today. From the http://www.noperformancetax.org/ website:

There are currently two bills pending in Congress that would levy a performance tax on local radio – H.R.848, sponsored by Rep. John Conyers (MI-14) and S.379, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (VT). Your members of Congress need to hear that you strongly oppose these bills.

Additionally, anti-performance tax resolutions have been introduced in the House and Senate in support of local radio. In the Senate, Sens. Blanche Lincoln (AR) and John Barrasso (WY) introduced S. Con. Res. 14, and in the House, Reps. Gene Green (TX-29) and Mike Conaway (TX-11) introduced H. Con. Res. 49. Both are known as the Local Radio Freedom Act. Many members of Congress already support local radio and resolutions against the performance tax. Others still need to hear your voice.

Take action now!

Neither Texas senator supports S. Con. Res. 14, the Local Radio Freedom Act. Tell them how you feel.

The following Texas representatives support H. Con. Res. 49, the Local Radio Freedom Act:

  • Brady, Kevin
  • Burgess, Michael
  • Conaway, Mike
  • Carter, John
  • Culberson, John
  • Cuellar, Henry
  • Edwards, Chet
  • Granger, Kay
  • Green, Al
  • Green, Gene
  • Hinojosa, Rubén
  • Hall, Ralph
  • Marchant, Kenny
  • McCaul, Michael
  • Neugebauer, Randy
  • Olson, Pete
  • Ortiz, Solomon
  • Paul, Ron
  • Poe, Ted
  • Reyes, Silvestre
  • Sessions, Pete
  • Thornberry, Mac

Social Media Bursting Bubbles

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From Business Insider, an online news site, an article titled “This Guy Represents The Biggest Bubble Yet” talks about how Keith McCullough, CEO of Hedgeye, thinks politics is the next bubble.

The story is really shallow, but it made me think of the bigger picture. If there is a bubble it’s actually part of a transparency bubble that exists in every private and public sector. If it bursts it will be because the sector didn’t share the truth with their customers or constituents. This is a growing concept in social media and it pervades the latest generation(s) of workers/voters. Basically the concept says, “if you can’t converse with me and be honest then I don’t want to be your friend and you can’t follow me.”

Doing a Google search for this topic I found a note-page on Facebook that was written by Keith McCullough that talks about the bubble of U.S. politics.

2010 Election Information for Central Texas

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Since today, February 15, is the start of early voting in the Texas Primary, I thought I would list the candidates so I know who is running and who to vote for. The following is the most current information I could find as of January 30, 2010.

Texas Secretary of State website lists Important Dates for 2010 Elections in Texas:

  • Primary election day: March 2, 2010
  • Primary runoff day: April 13, 2010
  • May uniform election date: May 8, 2010
  • November uniform election date: November 2, 2010

The Secretary’s website also lists What is on the ballot.

U.S. Congress:

First, look at the congressional district map for Texas. I live in the 17th congressional district for the U. S. House of Representatives; south central Texas including Waco and Bryan.

Senators:

Representatives (District 17):

Election Candidates:

Texas Legislature:

I live in the Senate’s 5th district and House’s 14th district.

Texas Senate (District 5):

Election Candidates:

Texas House (District 14):

Election Candidates:

Texas Governor:

Rick Perry (R) Next Election: 2010

Election Candidates:

Here is some interesting news. Texas Senator Steve Ogden (R-District 5) is Chair of the Senate Finance Committee. This position has an automatic seat on the Legislative Budget Board (LBB). The LBB decides, among other things, the State’s support to public universities. So, one of the people that lowered property taxes (temporarily) and raised cigarette taxes (permanently) in the name of education* will help decide how that money is spent. It’s good to be in Finance.

* From Steve Ogden’s website, I’m Proud of What We Accomplished in the Special Session: ”Other tax changes included revising the calculation of sales tax on used cars and raising the cigarette tax by $1 per pack effective January 1, 2007.At the end of the day,this means state tax revenues will now fund about half of public education, up from approximately 38 percent today.”

Obama a lame duck in less than a year

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Tomorrow, January 21, is Obama’s first anniversary as president. Last night Massachusetts elected a Republican senator to replace Democrat Ted Kennedy after he left office in August for health reasons. This gives Republicans the necessary 41 votes to kill any legislation in the Senate. In one quick and decisive move the GOP has rendered Obama a lame duck less than one year after he took office.

Who would have thought that Teddy Kennedy would be succeeded in the U.S. Senate by a Republican? The GOP now has the necessary 41 votes to block anything that the Democratic Senate majority wants to do, from passing legislation to confirming judges. The White House has been very slow to fill judicial and U.S. attorney slots and have squandered that opportunity. The Democrats have achieved NOTHING, and now they can’t do anything without Republican votes. George W. Bush became a lame duck with two years to go when the Republicans lost control of Congress in the 2006 midterms. Obama may have become a lame duck for the remainder of his term. Source: Unhappy anniversary | BurkaBlog.

The health care bill that was before the senate seems all but doomed to fail in light of this election. Time will tell, but I don’t expect any helpful legislation coming from Washington any time soon.

Budget cuts for Texas’ universities

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In 2009 I said the recession isn’t over. I guess it needs to be said again – for future reference: history repeats itself! This is the third time I’ve gone through a recession or slow-down or bubble-burst in the 15 years that I’ve lived in Texas. In the public sector, especially higher education, I think the recession doesn’t really hit until 2 years after the worst of it hits the rest of the world. If we say the recession started in 2008, it was at its worst in 2009, then higher education can expect the worst (at least in Texas) in 2010-11. It’s no coincidence that the Texas legislature is deciding the biennial budget for 2010-11, and universities are facing huge budget cuts – some as much as $14 Million each year. The worst is still to come.

Texas A&M may have to cut $28 million out of its budget over two years. Source: Texas A&M looking for funds to cut after state mandate | The Eagle.

What does it mean to be the worst for an institute of higher education? It means the legislature cuts state monies going to the university systems. In Texas there are at least 6 major university systems: University of Houston System, University of North Texas System, University of Texas System, Texas A&M University System, Texas State University System, Texas Tech University System.

Texas A&M-College Station is in the early stages of identifying potential cuts. Officials have asked departments to prioritize projects in case the state doesn’t provide all the requested funding. Source: Texas universities to cut back after endowments hit | Dallas Morning News.

Second verse same as the first

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Back before Thanksgiving I said Texas gubernatorial race is like musical chairs. Well, here’s the second (or third or fourth) verse. It’s the same as the first. On November 23, Houston Mayor, Bill White held a press conference to announce he will announce his decision to run for governor by December 4. As promised he announced yesterday that he will run for governor. After he made that announcement, Hank Gilbert dropped out of the race and endorsed Farouk Shami.

Meanwhile, Governor Rick Perry, the longest serving governor, made his announcement for an unprecedented third term.

Like Paul Burka says, “Perry is now fighting a two-front war.” One with Democrats in the general election and one with the Republicans in the primary. While most people think the primary will be a joke, Perry still has to be careful. The issues Perry raises in the primary wont be the same as the issues in the general election.

If you’re keeping a score card:

Republicans: Rick Perry, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Larry Kilgore, Debra Medina

Democrats: Bill White, Kinky Friedman, Farouk Shami, Felix Alvarado