Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, parroting President Donald Trump, has recently taken to calling news coverage he dislikes “fake news.” As a distraction, it works. When it comes to transparency, the Texas Senate’s recent moves to restrict media coverage are in line with Patrick’s order to the Legislative Budget Board to suppress staff reports – a […]
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Amid accusations of fake news, phony organizations help AG Paxton in felony case
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On restrooms, Patrick sides with Texas House foe Steve Hotze over business
Note: This story originally appeared in The Quorum Report. Join us there for daily coverage of Texas politics and government. Texas House Speaker Joe Straus has suggested Gov. Greg Abbott should articulate a clear position on one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s top priorities for the legislative session: Restrictions on bathroom access based on gender. […]
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Trump Victory Could Pressure Gov. Abbott to Lay Out an Agenda
It was a decade ago that then-Gov. Rick Perry stood on the banks of the Rio Grande in his Carhartt jacket, promising in a TV commercial that “If Washington won’t protect our border, Texas will.” At that time, Texas Republicans were treating President George W. Bush as an apostate who was weak on the issue […]
Group of TPPF board members spent heavily against Texas House GOP leadership
The Texas Public Policy Foundation promotes itself – and has been promoted in various media outlets – as merely a conservative free market think tank. The group, founded by “school choice” advocate James Leininger of San Antonio, says its “mission is to promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas and the […]
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Audio: A tragedy unfolds in Dallas
Mike Ward, the Austin Bureau Chief for the Houston Chronicle, and I recently started a weekly podcast to bring you all the latest news from the Texas Capitol. Click here to subscribe to the show and have it instantly delivered to you each week. This week we did our 7th show, in which we discussed the ambush […]
Flashback: TPPF revised estimate in Texas budget growth down to 9% from nearly 30%
Note: This story originally appeared in The Quorum Report in 2014 after the Texas Public Policy Foundation dramatically revised its analysis of the budget passed by the Legislature in 2013. The information here is worth considering after TPPF this week released its “Conservative Texas Budget.” Bottom line: Once the GOP primaries were concluded in 2014, […]
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Houston’s leadership on workforce can be a model for the nation
Business leaders in Houston seem well-positioned to set the tone for how the rest of the nation addresses workforce challenges, experts agree. During a town hall-style event hosted by the Greater Houston Partnership, health care leaders, construction executives and others discussed ways the private sector is taking the lead to ensure that a quality workforce […]
Worker misclassification debate starts anew at the Texas Capitol
The issue of worker misclassification promises to loom large once again during the next session of the Texas Legislature – and not just as it relates to the construction industry. Misclassification happens when businesses pretend their labor is being done on a subcontracting basis when by law the people doing the work should be compensated as […]
Texas Lt. Gov. asks schools to risk funding while laying groundwork to redirect their funds to vouchers
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Tuesday announced he is asking Attorney General Ken Paxton to weigh in with an official opinion on whether the Fort Worth ISD’s policy on protections for transgender students is legal under Texas law. My fellow former radio talk show host acknowledged that he is “not a lawyer,” so he’s asking […]
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The Trump Effect in Texas
During an election cycle in which it’s been repeatedly proven the political chattering class has the capacity to be quite wrong, it is no shock the ascendancy of Donald Trump has some prognosticators once again raising the question of whether Texas will be any color other than deep Republican red when voters make their choice […]
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About Scott
Scott Braddock is a journalist and political analyst based in Austin.
