The Texan Podcast - Weekly Roundup - December 15, 2023

Episode Date: December 15, 2023

Show off your Lone Star spirit with a free Gonzales Flag t-shirt with an annual subscription to The Texan: https://thetexan.news/subscribe/The Texan’s Weekly Roundup brings you the latest news in Texas politics, breaking down the top stories of the week with our team of reporters who give you the facts so you can form your own opinion. Enjoy what you hear? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Got questions for the reporting team? Email [e-mail] — they just might be answered on a future podcast. This week, the team discusses:A Texas House Democrat running to primary Democratic Sen. Nathan Johnson in 2024A Texas woman fleeing the state after the Supreme Court stayed her medical restraining order to Texas’ laws against abortionThe Texas Secretary of State arguing that legal challenges to the November constitutional amendment election are mootOne renewable company’s challenge to a new state electricity pricing order before the Texas Supreme CourtThe plaintiff seeking to oust Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza revealed as having a prior felony charge for methA Dallas councilwoman’s proposed changes to the city charter, including lifetime term limitsUniversity of Texas faculty members signing a letter expressing “deep concern” for the free speech of pro-Palestine studentsConservative megadonor Tim Dunn selling his shale company CrownRock for $12 billionTech billionaire Elon Musk looking to start his own university in AustinA billboard in El Paso promoting San Francisco as a “sanctuary city”

Happy Friday, folks. Senior Editor Mackenzie DeLulo here, and welcome back to the Texans Weekly Roundup podcast. This week, the team discusses a Texas House Democrat running to primary Democratic Senator Nathan Johnson in 2024. A Texas woman fleeing the state after the Supreme Court stayed her medical restraining order to Texas' laws against abortion. The Secretary of State arguing that legal challenges to the November constitutional amendment election are moot. One renewable companies challenged to a new state electric pricing order before the Texas Supreme Court. The plaintiff seeking to oust Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza revealed as having a prior felony charge for meth. A Dallas Councilman's proposed changes to the city charter, including lifetime term limits,

University of Texas faculty members signing a letter expressing deep concern for the free speech of pro-Palestine students, conservative mega-donor Tim Dunn selling his shale company Crown Rock for $12 billion, tech billionaire Elon Musk looking to start his own university in Austin, and a billboard in El Paso promoting San Francisco as a sanctuary city. Thanks for listening and enjoy this episode. Okay, howdy folks. We're back. We have Brad, we have Rob, we have Hayden, we have Matt. Everyone's back. Good to be here. It's only 11 days till Christmas. Only 11 days till Christmas. I'm so excited. I keep thinking about it. It's just, we're going to be in Nashville for Christmas this year, which is a very Christmassy town.

So I'm very excited about that. What makes it especially Christmassy? Well, it's colder than Austin. Let's start there. You can actually wear Christmas attire instead of, I don't know, jeans and a T-shirt or whatever you or shorts and a T-shirt. Yeah. There have been Christmases in Texas where it is warm enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt on Christmas day, which is wild. Absolutely wild. Hey, it is 56 degrees. That's practically below freezing. It is like everybody in Texas.

What's a snowplow? It's so, so true. And Rob, you're covering for Cameron today. I am indeed covering for Cameron. Deathly ill. So bless. And Matt is not feeling well either. But Matt is joining us from the remote recesses of West Texas. So I feel bad for Cameron because he already got sick. I know. And relapsed, basically. Relapsed. I don't even know.

But it feels like I feel guilty because I have not been sick this year at all. So, well, knock on wood and let's keep it going. Hayden, we're going to go ahead and start with you for our news today. Hayden, who is the Democrat challenging Senator Nathan Johnson? We've got a lot of interesting political developments in North Texas. There has been a lot of turnover, but the Democrats will have a heated primary in a Dallas County Senate district. State Representative Victoria Niave-Criado represents a bright blue house district in Dallas County. However, she announced she would challenge State Senator Nathan Johnson, who was elected just two years ago, reelected just two years ago,

then drew the short straw, if you will, for redistricting. After the redistricting process, the Senate always decides by lottery who will serve a two-year term and who will serve a four-year term. Nathan Johnson drew the two-year term, so he is up for re-election again in 2024. Victoria Nyave Criado will be his Democratic challenger. Johnson originally won his Senate District 16 by unseating State Senator Don Huffines in the 2018 election. Johnson pitched himself as a moderate alternative to Huffines. Huffines would go on to mount an unsuccessful bid for governor in the 2022 election. Niave Criado's current district includes Garland, Dallas, and Mesquite, but the Senate district that she and Johnson are running for includes parts of Irving, Balch Springs, Dallas, Mesquite, and Richardson. It's more of a U-shaped district that extends from the eastern side of Dallas County up in the northern side and then the western side of Dallas County, but it leaves out

places like Garland and the central part of Dallas, Highland Park, University Park. But it is a solidly Democratic district. It tilts heavily toward the Democrats. It's no longer a toss up like it was a few years ago. So this will be an interesting race between Victoria Niave Criado and Nathan Johnson. Absolutely. So what is the political contrast that she's setting up between herself and Johnson? Niave Criado is billing herself as a more staunch progressive. Johnson voted for a bill to set mandatory minimum sentences for human smuggling, which was a priority of Governor Greg Abbott. In fact, in the Senate, 29 other senators voted for that bill. Only two Democrats voted against it, Senator Roland Gutierrez and Senator Sarah Eckhart.

Niave Criado suggested that Johnson is lukewarm on progressive issues and that she will be a stronger advocate for progressive causes in the Senate. I will note that there was stronger opposition in the House for that human smuggling bill. There was more substantial opposition to the concept of setting a mandatory minimum sentence for human smuggling charges. The House passed the bill by a vote of 92 ayes to 54 nays. oppose that bill for reasons similar to other objections to it, that it would over-criminalize the issue and it could lead to unintended consequences of people being arrested for conduct that would otherwise be harmless just because it involved someone who does not have documentation to be in the country. Yeah. So has Niave Curado been at the center of any controversies in the past? She has. Going along with her identity as a staunch progressive, she was the chairwoman

of the County Affairs Committee this session, appointed by Speaker Dade Phelan. Niave Criado once tried to prohibit the use of the term illegal immigrant during the proceedings of her committee. There was a fracas between her and State Representative Tony Tenderholt. He was asking a state demographer about whether her numbers included the population of illegal immigrants in the state of Texas. Neave Criado bristled at that term, said that it was too political and that it should not be used during proceedings. That prompted Tenderholt to say that he had the freedom to use whatever term he chose. And she, quote, called order, end quote, in the meeting. So that was a dust up over her belief that that is too politicized

of a term. She is, of course, a progressive on immigration issues. So that illustrates the way that she has held the line on her beliefs on this issue. However, Niave Criado has also had personal legal troubles as well. In 2017, she drunkenly crashed her car into a tree in the Lakewood neighborhood of Dallas. I happened to live near there just a few years ago. It's a very densely populated area. There are lots of people taking walks outside, that type of thing. She would ultimately plead no contest to the charge. It was shown that her blood alcohol content was well over the legal limit. She publicly took responsibility for the crime at the time and said that her driver's license would be suspended and she would serve probation in addition to fines. And it appears that she has since put that DWI behind her.

Monday was the deadline to file for a place on the ballot. Author Linda Garcia filed to replace Niabe Criado in the House. It is notable that Niabe Criado did not announce her intention to run for the seat until the deadline to file for a place on the ballot. One other candidate appears on the filings for the Democratic primary in that district, but it appears that her application to be on the ballot has been rejected. And notable in your talking about the deadline in that, if Niave Carrado made that announcement the day the filing ended and folks in her district may not have known about it, they weren't ready to line up to take her seat and run for her spot, right? So there's not much of a runway there. Hayden, thank you so much for your coverage,

and it will certainly be a fascinating Senate race that we did not anticipate earlier this week. Rob, we're coming to you on behalf of Cameron. Indeed, I will try to do the best I can to deliberate as Cameron would. I love it. This week, we saw a very controversial abortion case make its way to the Supreme Court of Texas here in the state? How did that happen? So the Center for Reproductive Rights revealed on December 5th that it had helped file a lawsuit on behalf of Kate Cox, a pregnant Texas woman whose fetus has a condition known as trisomy 18 that causes developmental disabilities and is often fatal. Cox was seeking a medical exception to Texas pro-life laws in order to receive

an abortion. Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Travis County granted her a temporary restraining order against those laws, but that order was later stayed by the Supreme Court of Texas while it reviewed the case. The court did later rule that Cox did not meet the medical exception requirements. The Center for Reproductive Rights then revealed this week that Cox did not meet the medical exception requirements. The Center for Reproductive Rights then revealed this week that Cox has actually left the state in order to have the abortion procedure. This is a nationwide story right now. Folks all over the country are zeroed in on Katie Cox and her case. Has this involved anyone else in the Texas government? So before the Supreme Court made its final decision saying that Kate Cox did not meet

the medical exception requirements, the Office of the Attorney General under Ken Paxton sent a letter to three major Texas hospitals telling them that the restraining order would, quote, expire long before the statute of limitations for violating Texas abortion laws expires. So he's trying to say, you know, if you go ahead with this, we're still going to go after you. We're still going to prosecute you for doing this because in his eyes, it did not meet the requirement of the law. The OIG also criticized Cox's physician, Dr. Damla Carson, for not seeking a second opinion on whether or not the abortion was, whether or not it's necessary, and for stating that she had a good faith belief that Cox's health

or life was in danger rather than the, quote, reasonable medical judgment that is required by the law. So it's a little bit of, you know, arguing over specific legal terms here because Texas tries to keep, you know, a very sort of tight definition on those medical exemptions to the anti-abortion law. Federal Judge Robert Pittman has ruled in the past that Texas' Human Life Protection Act, which is also known as the trigger ban because it was set to go into effect 30 days after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its judgment in the case Dobbs v. Jackson, Pittman has ruled that the trigger ban cannot be used to prosecute abortions that take place outside of Texas. Although he has said it is possible but unlikely that it could prosecute those who, quote, furnish the means for a woman to have an abortion outside of Texas. So it remains to be seen what's going to happen here at the end.

We're still sort of waiting to see what happens next. The twists and turns are plentiful with this story. So we'll continue to keep an eye on it. And Rob, thanks for covering Cameron's coverage. We appreciate it. Matt, we're coming to you. The state's highest election authority says a simple flaw in the legal challenges to the constitutional amendment election have made the lawsuits moot

and the amendments have been ratified. Give us the rundown. The state's highest election authority says a simple flaw in the legal challenges to the constitutional amendment election have made the lawsuits moot and now the amendments have been ratified as part of Texas's state constitution. On background of this case, several activists filed self-represented lawsuits challenging the November constitutional amendment election, arguing in detail that the electronic voting machines were not properly inspected by certifying laboratories, that one type of machine was illegally connected to the internet, and a whole section of the election code pertaining to secret ballots is unconstitutional.

While some lawmakers were worried initially that these lawsuits would drag on and prevent the constitutional amendments from becoming part of the state constitution, such as property tax relief and teacher pay raises, the Secretary of State's latest filing in response to the lawsuit says that these amendments are officially part of the Constitution. Giving a simple but nuanced explanation, the Secretary of State says the plaintiffs failed to properly serve them with notice of the lawsuit as required by the election code. And in a window of time, the opportunity was taken by Governor Greg Abbott to certify the election, making the challenges moot. Now, a judge has set a hearing to consider dismissing the case on January 3rd, considering the Secretary of State's motion that pleads to the jurisdiction saying the courts no longer

have jurisdiction because there's no longer a case in controversy. So we'll keep an eye on this case and see what happens at that January 3rd hearing. Thank you, Matthew. Bradley, coming to you, the Texas Supreme Court agreed to hear another lawsuit concerning the 2021 blackouts. What are the details? So the court agreed to hear the PUC's appeal of a suit filed by RWE Renewables. RWE sued the PUC did not go through public notice requirements and the required rulemaking process before setting this. It was kind of a haphazardly put together document with a memo. Now the PC argues that, A, they have the right to do this.

It's not an official rule. B, it's just reflecting what the process should already look like when there are shortages, when scarcity is at its highest, the price on the wholesale market should reflect that and be at its highest. And that's the argument from the PUC. Originally, that's why they passed this directive. was more just a formal requirement or formal action in order to ensure the intended purpose as actually remains the same it's related but not exactly

the same to another suit that is coming up in January in front of the court over the same electricity pricing issue except during the blackouts the PUC ordered the price to the cap in order to, quote, accurately reflect scarcity at the time. become a big issue is because it resulted in allegedly overpayment from one side of the electricity ledger to the other at prices that were artificially kept at the max by the PUC, which they shouldn't have done. And so that one's in January. This one was set for March.

They're related, not exactly the same, but the industry itself is in a tizzy over this this issue can the puc they have the the authority to claw back um uh money that's already exchanged hands do they have the authority to order something to the to the cap in the first place without the uh the algorithm that sets the price doing it organically a lot of of questions in this very interesting set of disputes. But finally, after kind of kicking the can down the road a bit, the court is going to take this up. Absolutely. Bradley, thank you for your coverage. Matt, an attempt by an Austin resident to oust Travis County D.A. Jose Garza from office may fail after the D.A. says he lied about not being currently charged with a crime which disqualifies him from filing a removal petition. Give us the rundown.

That's right, Mackenzie. We reported on this suit whenever it was initially filed by Austin resident Jason Salazar. Our research showed Salazar has been a previous candidate in the past in the Republican primaries for offices such as Travis County Sheriff and Travis County Judge. He filed the lawsuit in State District Court of Travis County, representing himself pro se, arguing that the Travis County District Attorney, Jose Garza, committed several acts that triggered a new state law that allows people to seek the ouster of, air quote, rogue prosecutors. Specifically, the grievances cited in the original suit included Garza's position in the past not to enforce certain drug possession charges, his position not to enforce state abortion laws, and his policies

providing discriminatory treatment against local police officers, such as presenting cases of abuse against them to the grand jury without probable cause, or keeping a blacklist of officers who won't be allowed to testify as witnesses in certain criminal cases. Now, Garza filed a response to this suit, and rather than responding to each of these individual allegations, he responded to a very simple procedural defect in the suit, and that was under the law to qualify to file one of these removal petitions, a citizen may not be charged with a criminal offense within the jurisdiction of the so-called rogue prosecutor.

In Salazar's original petition, he swore that he wasn't presently charged with the crime. However, Garza presented a considerable amount of evidence showing where within the month prior to filing the petition, Garza had attempted to enter the Travis County Courthouse, and a backpack was searched by security that revealed a pill bottle containing 3.9 grams of methamphetamine, and he was charged on felony drug possession charges, charges that are still pending. According to Garza, this moots the entire case, citing that state law that says you can't be under current criminal penalties. And it also raises questions with regard to whether or not if Salazar lied, whether or not he'll actually face perjury charges for that claims in that initial petition. So the case will go before hearing, before state district court, where if these counterclaims by the Garza are proved to be true, it'll likely be dismissed. There you go. Matt, thank you so much for covering that for us.

Hayden, we're coming back to you with some more local news here. Let's talk about Dallas. What were some of the policy suggestions recently made by a Dallas City Councilwoman? Dallas City Councilwoman Kara Mendelson, who represents the North Dallas area, recently said that she submitted policy proposals to the city's Charter Review Board. Mendelson suggested a series of changes to government in Dallas, including term limits that would be for a lifetime. Currently, members of the Dallas City Council are allowed to serve non-consecutive terms. She proposed, however, that there be a final term limit instituted to ensure that people who are interested in serving on the council have the ability to do so and they aren't blocked by

incumbents who keep running for re-election. She also stated that there should be more transparency in the city's budgetary process, including a direction to the city manager to use the actuarially determined contribution when crafting appropriations for the city's pension payments. Mendelsohn noted that this is, in her opinion, quote, responsible governance and fiscal management, end quote. She stated that Dallas has $4.2 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. She also said that bond committees should be set up as task forces as opposed to commissions so that there would be more transparency and openness in the process. Mendelsohn said, quote, the 2024 bond committee was set up as a task force,

not a commission, and staff argued that it was not subject to the Texas Open Meetings Act when discussions, decisions, and recommendations are being made about $1 billion plus in debt, end quote. It seems that her intention is to say if these committees are going to be considering fiscal policy that impacts the whole city, then they should be subjected to the same types of sunshine laws and other procedures that virtually all government bodies are to follow. Finally, she suggested that the mayor pro tem and the deputy mayor pro tem should be appointed by the mayor effective after the next mayoral election. What is the political backdrop of many of these proposals? Well, Mendelsohn is certainly a more conservative member of the Dallas City Council on fiscal issues. She has advocated for more budgetary transparency and

more budgetary restraint and lower taxes. The city council recently haggled over the possibility of a lower tax rate. They opted not to adopt a lower tax rate and instead finalized a rate of 73.57 cents for every $100 of valuation. Mayor Eric Johnson and Mendelsohn joined council members Paul Ridley, Kathy Stewart, and Gay Donald Willis to vote against the proposed budget with that tax rate. The opposition argued that the tax rate would lead to a decrease in home values and that less revenue for the city means poorer city services and that that would create a vicious cycle of home values decreasing and contributing to even more budgetary decline and poorer quality city services. So that was the opposition to the lower tax rate. However, Mayor Eric Johnson has contended in the past that government salaries should be cut and that that is the approach the city council should take to cut funding. But of course, Mayor Eric Johnson recently switched parties and he will be a Republican until his term expires in 2027. So let's talk about that political dynamic for a second. Did the mayor get along with other Democrats before he switched parties?

Johnson was ruffling feathers in the Democratic Party long before he made the decision to switch. He is a popular mayor in Dallas. He was elected without opposition in the most recent mayoral election this year in 2023. Mendelsohn was also elected without opposition. Eric Johnson was a staunch opponent of the defund the police movement and, as I mentioned, suggested covering cutting down on government salaries instead. Johnson left the Democratic Party. He suggested that Democrats are engaging in way too much virtue signaling and that the Democrats are always proffering government programs as the solution to societal problems. And take a tough on crime approach. And he has pointed to Dallas decreasing crime rate over the years as evidence that that approach works when it is applied. When Johnson left the Democrats, the state party said good riddance more or less. And the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party even suggested that Johnson was not an authentic Democrat in the first

place. Dallas voters have lots of time to think about whether they want to continue down the conservative fiscal path that Johnson has laid before the city or if Dallas should go in a more progressive direction. But the next mayoral election will not happen until 2027. Yeah. And the mayor position, obviously nonpartisan here in Texas, but when a sitting mayor takes that kind of political position and says, my party affiliation is this party and it's no longer the party that I was a part of when I was a state representative, it's very notable. So not like when voters go to the ballot, they'll be seeing a letter next to any candidate's name for that race. But it's a

fascinating one regardless. There can't be any question where he stands at this point. Yeah. People know. People know. Exactly. Well, Hayden, thank you for your coverage. Rob, we're coming back to you. The Israel-Hamas war has sparked a lot of political fire in the U.S. How is it affecting UT here in Austin? So there have been reports from all over the country about clashes in universities over the conflict, accusations of anti-Semitism from pro-Palestinian protesters, as in the pro-Palestinian protesters being accused of anti-Semitism and pro-Israeli protesters being accused of Islamophobia. It's a very high tension issue.

But after the October 7th terrorist attack that started the war from Hamas, UT Austin President Jay Hartzell released a statement declaring that he had, quote, zero tolerance for hatred on campus towards either Jews or Palestinians, and that he was committed to protecting free speech and free discourse of ideas. In November, more than a thousand students staged a walkout to protest Israel's treatment of Palestinians and over 50 student groups signed a letter declaring that UT Austin, quote, made it clear that they do not care for the loss of Palestinian life with the Palestinians on the streets of downtown Austin. And Cameron wrote a really interesting article about that when he went there and he saw the protest, he saw the flags waving, he saw people setting off little smoke bombs. So he has a really good article on the subject of that protest. Yeah, some firsthand photos and all sorts of

great information. Definitely go check that out at the texan.news folks. Rob, what prompted this letter from the professors in the first place? Yeah, so the two graduate teaching assistants at UT were dismissed from their positions in a class called Women and Madness, according to the letter, for sending students in the class a letter that included mental health resources for those affected by the Israel-Hamas conflict, and the letter also stated the TAs' firm support for the rights and autonomy of Palestinians. According to the letter that dismissed the two TAs, the information was unrelated to the course, and they unprofessionally misused official university classroom communication platform in sending the message to students in the class. Over 100 faculty members at UT have signed an open letter to the university administration stating that they are deeply concerned about the repression of free speech for those expressing pro-Palestine positions. And they have called it

part of a broader movement across the US to silence all criticism of Israel and to silence all support for Palestine. So it's definitely a very hot button issue. Tensions are very high, but it's complicated. It's very complicated. Absolutely. And certainly worth going and checking out that story in full, reading the letter. All of it's very fascinating and I think worth getting a firsthand account of. So make sure to go to texan.news, folks. Bradley, coming to you, there was a big shakeup in the oil and gas industry this week and it has major political ramifications for our state.

What happened? The most well-known political donor in Texas GOP politics, Midlands Tim Dunn, just became substantially wealthier as his shale company, Crown Rock LP, was purchased by Houston's Occidental for a deal worth roughly $12 billion. Total is broken down to three tranches. $9.1 billion in new debt financed through loans with Bank of America. $1.7 billion in new issued stock. $1.2 billion in assumed Crown Rock debt. The deal will go through by the end of 2024's first quarter. and positioning us to drive value creation for shareholders with immediate free flow cash accretion. The purchase will increase Occidental's output by like 170,000 barrels per day.

Quite a big shakeup in the oil and gas industry. And the industry is watching. We'll see if there are any other big purchases. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is a story that kind of taps into so many of your different beats here. So let's talk about what this means for Texas politics. We hear the name Tim Dunn so often run us through his involvement in the political sphere and what this move and potentially this more, you know, even more liquid cash could mean for the political scene. Well, it's unclear how much he's going to, of this, he's going to decide to put towards,

you know, his political giving. He's already been quite prolific in that. But Dunn is a conservative donor, definitely on the right wing side of the Texas GOP. Donates to candidates all across the country, though. It's not just Texas, but this is where he lives. So this is where he focuses a lot on. He is the main or one of the main donors behind Defend Texas Liberty, the PAC we've talked about quite a bit. And I'm sure we'll continue to talk about as we get into primaries.

They're backing a lot of challengers to incumbents. They sided with Paxton on the impeachment. So that revenge tour, they're going to be on that. Dunn's money will go there. He gave a lot of money to Dunn Huffines in the challenge against Abbott last year. Just a very prolific donor. And I don't think the win rate is really that good over the last, you know, eight years or so, but he continues to go after it.

And they're especially targeting the Texas house. They want to flip that, that body more towards their favor as they see it. And so, yeah, he's he's a big figure. And this really not only rocked the energy industry, but the Texas political one, absolutely. Well, Brad, thank you for your coverage there. Certainly something to keep an eye on. And fascinating, too, going into the primary scene, all these folks that may have been foes at one point, you know, Tim Dunn v. Abbott. And then all of a sudden, school choice is kind of knitting some folks together who previously would have, you know, been enemies. Yeah, a lot of shifting along the what we previously thought were the fault lines and now new fault lines. Yeah, we'll talk about that for the next six months, the next year and a half until we get to the next session and the chips are reshuffled. But Brad, thank you so much. Hayden, let's come to you. What do we know about the university that Elon Musk might be starting here in Austin? Bloomberg News reviewed some of the filings of Musk's charitable foundation, which is called, I kid you not,

the foundation, and discovered that it intends to start a university in Austin, which will begin as a primary school and a secondary school centered on science, technology, engineering, and math. The STEM education program will be funded by a $100 million endowment by Musk, according to the filings that Bloomberg discovered. Musk recently transferred $2.2 billion of his personal fortune to his charitable foundation in 2022. Some years ago, Musk also started a school for his own children and the children of other employees, SpaceX, when he was in California. Of course, Musk moved to Texas recently in 2020. Bloomberg noted that when Musk moved to Texas, he moved the school with him. So this predated when he purchased X, formerly known as

Twitter, which I think we're still calling it Twitter around this outfit. But he also announced in the fall of 2021 that he would move Tesla's headquarters to Austin. And so he's been very busy with all of his projects here in Austin. Did you say $2 billion was transferred to the foundation? $2.2 billion was transferred to the foundation? $2.2 billion transferred to his charitable foundation. And of course, he's worth almost a quarter trillion dollars. I was just looking at that and trying to see how much that it's like a drop in the bucket. That's like 1% of his net worth. That's like him buying a biscuit, honestly.

$243.1 billion is his estimated net worth. I don't know why biscuit is the benchmark I chose but We talk about biscuits quite a bit Yeah we do but Bloomberg said that he is considered the wealthiest person on the planet so lots of cash. Are there other

projects in the works for higher education in Austin? The University of Austin is slated to start its first class of students in the fall of 2024. This is, of course, a university that was started by people in higher education. Journalist Barry Weiss is also involved in this. It is concerned about what is viewed as a lack of intellectual diversity on college campuses and the lack of ability to engage in an honest discussions um i think there's a little bit of concern about cancel culture

with this university but this project is set to to go live in late 2024 when its first students will start classes on campus. Yeah. This is just an aside, but the city of Austin, I think, is so fascinating in that it is one of the more progressive cities in the country. And yet you also have folks like Elon Musk and Joe Rogan and the University of Austin and different things being founded here that are so diametrically opposed to the direction of this city, at least in governance and in voting trends. But it has become kind of a haven for these folks who are actively opposing those things. And by the way, just to be totally clear, this is separate from the university that Musk is reportedly starting.

I think I kind of see it. Right. The University austin is separate i jumped right into talking about that but to just to highlight that there is already a similar project underway but those are that is separate from what musk is doing i realize that might be confusing the way i kind of sandwich those two together but um that is absolutely correct and it also is fascinating to me that there's not already an institution called the University of Austin. You would think that in such an old city with so many with is known for being a place where college students go. I mean, I guess, you know, UT Austin is pretty much as the corner market. But it just, it was fascinating when I first heard about it

that an institution called the University of Austin does not already exist in some form or fashion. But that's why you kind of got to find a name for an org that sounds like it already exists like the Texan.

Yeah. I'm surprised it's not called X University or something. X University. Or the boring university. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.

Well, Hayden, thank you so much for your coverage. Rob, coming to you, some billboard news. There's a new billboard in El Paso promoting an entirely of the golden gate bridge with smaller words on the bottom that read san francisco welcomes immigrants the billboard was paid for by sanctuarycities.com which spoke with the texan and told us that they are quote working on behalf of a group of concerned americans who want to get the word out about sanctuary cities cameron also found the interesting fact in this piece that San Francisco first passed its city of refuge resolution or ordinance. Oh, yeah, resolution in 1985 for asylum seekers from El Salvador and Guatemala, which was then later extended to all in 1989.

There you go. So what is the Texas government's take on sanctuary cities? So this is actually something that is a little bit divisive in some Texas conservative and Republican circles because Governor Greg Abbott has created a busing program to transport illegal aliens and non-citizens in Texas to cities that describe themselves as sanctuary cities. So he has sent them to New York City and Chicago, and I think some in California as well, announcing in October that over, I believe, yeah, 58,000 non-citizens have been removed to cities outside Texas. But

it's controversial to some because some people say that it is allowing people who cross the border illegally between ports of entry to stay in the country by going to a sanctuary city rather than simply being removed to a port of entry. And Hayden, correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I believe that it was just this past. It might have been the third or it might have been the second special session where they passed the bill allowing Texas to formally remove non-citizens to ports of entry. Is that right? I don't think that was part. Are you talking about the human smuggling bill that was just passed? I think so.

Yeah, the one where they could remove them to a port of entry. They could take them back and enforce immigration law on their own hands. Or did that one fail no that was part of hb20 which was the bill that was lost on a point of order um in the regular session years ago yeah that's why i had to ask i was like hayden i cannot remember because no this year has had way too much going on already so and i will i will say you are correct the operation lone star has, um, escorting illegal immigrants to federal authorities or back to the border, but where, where Texas authorities were trying to, um, be a little bit more bold was, um, pass a law that they could take them, basically expel them across the border.

So right now, operational Lone Star and the current efforts are very cooperative with federal authorities. But the proposal that was lost earlier this year would have been a little bit more, would have been a lot more confrontational. Yeah, absolutely. Um, well, I appreciate Hayden. I'm sorry for putting it on the spot there, but I didn't Yeah,000. I believe crowdfunded $15,000 to put up a billboard that read, mind your wigs, not our gigs, Greg, in reference to Governor Greg Abbott. In protest of Senate Bill 12, which banned sexually oriented performances, including drag shows that had children or minors in attendance. So Texas is certainly no stranger to, you know, what Cameron, I think, called it a billboard battleground city, which I like that, or not city, state. He also in his piece, which you should definitely go

check out and read, includes other examples of other states that have put up billboards trying to attract Texans who might be dissatisfied with the state's conservative Republican leadership to more self-described progressive states like, I believe, California and Massachusetts. Yeah, absolutely. Rob, thank you so much for your coverage. Gentlemen, we also want to really quick talk about the war room and the filing deadline that passed this week. The stage is set for primaries coming up in March, and we have an awesome, if I do say so myself, resource at the Texan called the war room. You can find it under the elections tab on our homepage. And essentially what this gives you is just a firsthand look at the hottest races in the state. We have fundraising numbers. We have, even for the presidential, we got all the polling numbers. We have the Texas Partisan Index ratings for each of the districts that are found on this page and all sorts of different resources

and articles for folks to access as we head into this election cycle with a lot of really crazy primaries to be considered. So look at the congressional races, state Senate, state board of education, Texas house, all across the board, we have races up and information available to you all in one place. We even got maps. So you can kind of check out where each district is located in the state, find out where you land, who your representatives are. So make sure to go check that. And one of my favorite features, which is down at the very bottom, is an open seat tracker, which keeps all of the information about

who is retiring or who is running for other office and which seats are open. So we can keep an eye on these particularly spicy races that don't have an incumbent at the helm of the campaign. So make sure to go check that out at the texan.news. But gentlemen, I want to real fast since filing deadline was Monday and now all the races are set, candidates have filed and nobody else is eligible to enter any of the races. I want to know what you thought were the most surprising filings. I think, you know, Hayden talking about Victoria Niave-Criotto jumping into Nathan Johnson's Senate race was very surprising. That turned into a very spicy Democratic primary that we weren't,

you know, privy to a week before. Were there any other surprising filings that caught your eye as the filing deadline came and went. Well, Niave Criado is especially interesting because she is putting Johnson, who won, running to the left of Huffines in the position of having to run to the right of Niave Criado because he's not going to be able to run to the left of her yeah she is just too too progressive for him to be able to say well i'm more progressive than you he's because then that's not his personal style either his style as well let's come to the table and hash out our differences and see if we can find common ground i mean he is liberal but he um he's willing to sit down with Republicans and work, work, work with the other side of the aisle, whereas Niave Criado is more confrontational in her style.

She will go to the back microphone and in the House and certainly confront Republicans on policies that she believes will be harmful. Which is also the nature of the House, too, right? I mean, we've seen a lot of folks go to the Senate and all of a sudden that tactic is no longer in their back pocket. But as far as who we're going against here, you're exactly right. She's much more confrontational on those issues. She is. And I think that's illustrated with what she attempted to do in that committee hearing, although that was bound to be

confrontational when you put somebody who's a staunch conservative like Tony Tenderholt up against somebody like Victoria and Yave Criado, who has a clear progressive record. But another race that interested me is a possible rematch in one of Dallas County's only Republican House District between Morgan Meyer and Barry Wernick. Barry Wernick was a candidate for city council, and he is now running against Meyer. And when I say rematch, Meyer barely defeated Elizabeth Ginsburg, who was the Democratic nominee in either 2020 or 2022. I can't remember which year, but that could also be a little bit safer for Republicans. But Barry Wernick will be challenging Meyer, who was a supporter of the impeachment of Ken Paxton and sought to remove Paxton in the Senate contest. But that is one race that did catch my eye. There will also be a contested election in Janie Lopez's district.

She is in a district that's perilous for Republicans, and she will be facing a few or the Democrats will have a few opponents in their primary. And then she will face a Democrat in a district that is not at all to be taken for granted by Republicans. So that is a fascinating race for me as well. Absolutely. Matt, what about you? After the filing deadline passed, are there any big surprises or notable things that you'll be watching going into primary season? One of the things that I just think is interesting is I've been covering some of these top appellate court races. One of the things that we're seeing heating up is the Court of Criminal Appeals races, but specifically two of the judges on there, the incumbents, they're about age 70. And under the Texas Constitution, there's a mandatory retirement age for judges at 75. Now, the way it's worded,

there's an exception where if they turn 75 in the last two years of their term, they can go ahead and finish out that term. But I think it'll just be interesting. Both of them have challengers, so it'll be interesting to see whether or not their age and their inability to run again after this term will play 75 to 79 and plus allow them to run again. It very much relaxed the retirement standards. And almost all the time you see constitutional amendments just overwhelmingly be accepted by Texas voters. And this was the one rare exception that for the first time in a long time, voters overwhelmingly rejected allowing judges to serve in their later years. So it'll be interesting to see if that issue comes up for Republican primary voters and what that translates into as far as these particular races. Two of those judges that are also running, they've run for state Supreme Court

before, they've run for court of criminal appeals before, so they're not strangers to the Texas GOP primary. It'll be interesting to see how that race shapes up. Absolutely. Thank you, Matt. Brad, what about you? Any surprises, notable things that happened finally on deadline day? Dan Patrick doing all but endorsing Phelan's opponent was pretty interesting. I think one thing that really caught me off guard that I wasn't expecting, it makes sense given the reasoning,

but Governor Abbott endorsing Mike Alcott in HD60 against Glenn Rogers, whom Abbott supported last year in his run against Alcott. There were very clear reasons why Abbott supported Rodgers that year, even though Rodgers has always been an opponent of school choice. This time around, Abbott has turned the tables

and is now endorsing Alcott, giving him quite a bit of momentum and potentially some money, depending on how much Abbott wants to put out there but um almost every um republican house member that you'd expect got a primary challenge so that's not really surprising yep um but the other interesting thing is how many races abbott and pason are on opposite sides of at least so far in their endorsements. Um,

you know, close to 20, it looks like at this moment, but, uh, that's an interesting dynamic to watch as well. Absolutely. Agreed on all fronts real fast.

I want to highlight a couple of pieces from our team, not on the pod today. Kim Roberts wrote a story. Dallas to Houston high-speed rail receiving a $500,000 federal grant with more money to come. Definitely worth checking out at the texan.news. High-speed rail is Kim's bread and butter. She watches that issue like nobody else in the state. So definitely check out her reporting.

Holly Hansen from Harris County wrote Harris County Democratic Precinct Chairs admonish District Attorney Kim Ogg more interparty difficulty and conflict in Harris County among the Democrats. A fascinating story with lots of local leaders at odds. Definitely go check that one out as well. And we mentioned this last week, but the Woolly Mammoth story is officially up from Seth Moorhead. He spoke with the CEO of the company at the forefront of this development. And definitely fascinating and very technical stuff to check out there at the texan.news. Gentlemen, let's go ahead and move on to our tweeter-y section.

Rob, we're going to come to you. What did you see this week that caught your eye? Something I saw this week that caught my eye. You know I love the history stuff. Well, on December 13th, 2000 was a pivotal day when Vice President Al Gore conceded the presidential election to Texas Governor George W. Bush. You know, it was very controversial back then, and it's still controversial today. But, you know, it's really incredible. It's one of those things I sort of wish I would have, you know, it's really incredible. It's one of those things I sort of wish I would have – I mean I was around, but I wasn't really conscious of what was happening. I wasn't following politics as much.

How old were you? How old was I? December 13, 2000. I was less than a year old. Yeah. Yeah. So – Let's just put some perspective. I wasn't following politics as much back then.

Yeah. You say as much like you were following them some. I know. A little bit. Sitting in his crib reading the times. But yeah, I mean, it's crazy to think that for over a month, you know, that this was so up in the air because it's crazy also how Florida has completely changed now ever since then how it handles elections is Florida. That stuff is in instantly now. I don't know if you all remember, but I think Florida had the results the day of, or at least maybe the next day. Um, it's hard to election nights are always such a blur.

It's hard to remember. No, it's true. It's definitely more of a blur now, but you know, Florida has really changed how they handle that. But now it's, of course, it's the other states that always have this, you know, this election stuff up in the air. It's just interesting. You know, it's one of those things that it's still a poignant issue today. Yeah. And election integrity will probably be a poignant issue for a long, long time. For a very long time.

It will probably be relevant forever. Yeah, that's very true. Election integrity or election denying, however you want to frame it, whichever direction you're coming at the issue from. It will never stop being. It will never stop. Whatever it is, it will never stop. It will never, ever stop.

It goes back to the 19th century, you know? Yeah, there you go. Hayden, what about you? I'm excited about yours here. Well, shock of shocks, I'm telling you about somebody who got arrested earlier about three months ago. I wrote a story about the police department in Coffee City, Texas, being disbanded because they had this is just I said on Slack earlier. Tell me your city is corrupt without telling me your city is corrupt. They had one officer for every five residents. This is a town of 250 some odd people. And the police department had 50 officers.

This is the city council disbanded the police department because there was so much alleged corruption that the simplest option was just to shut the whole thing down. And that's what they did. But it was reported by KHOU News in Houston that the former Coffee City police chief is now facing felony, a second degree felony charge of tampering with government records because he lied about having a DWI accusation on his record. I say accusation because I'm not sure if it's a conviction. I'll need to double check. But on account of this alleged mendacity on his application to be a police chief, and there's a warning on that form that says not to lie on it because it's chargeable. He is now charged with a crime and he is a candidate for constable in Harris County running on a platform of integrity. So all of this is just very interesting. And his name's John J. Portillo. And I'm looking at his mugshot

from the Henderson County Jail and it just encapsulates all the drama that has gone on in Coffee City, Texas, which is now under the care of the sheriff's department there because the police department was in such disarray that the city council decided enough. And Coffee City sounds like such a benign, charming, and quaint town, like the name. It sounds like a Gilmore Girls episode. I used to live a few miles from there so i just don't know these small town things are just so amusing how on earth do you have so

much going on in a town where almost nobody lives that just it's just that's the answer right it's just a lakeside town and yet they had had this full blown this full blown saga over their police department. And I I am just I never cease to be amazed by some of this stuff. Yeah. No kidding. Matt, what do you what do you have for us today from your your twey escapades? Well, I noticed that on December 9th, 1965, a Charlie Brown Christmas debuted on CBS 58 years ago. And while it was nice to see a mention on Twitter about that great moment in American history. It was also sad to see that this is the first year that CBS won't run the Charlie Brown Christmas special.

So a little bit of fun history, a little bit of sad news. Yeah. Well, there you go i definitely have not watched uh charlie brown christmas yet and i need to are you joking this year oh man i was like you've never seen a charlie brown christmas every single year and i have not seen it it's the best that's an important qualification i didn't say that i left that off i was i was pretty nervous about that i'm gonna be honest with you. That worried me. I don't mean to worry you. I can bring us a video at our Christmas party.

I hadn't seen Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation. That's another classic. I'm going to bring up here something that's fascinating to me. Ken Paxton today endorsed Dallas GOP chair. I'm going to really do my best to say her name. So please correct me where I'm wrong. Jennifer Stoddard had you over challenger Alan West today. So that's pretty wild.

And specifically wild considering West has been on his email blast lately going to bat for some House challengers who have been very supportive of the Attorney General. So fascinating stuff there and definitely something that I'm going to keep an eye on. The political dynamics there are a little bit unclear to me right now. So fascinating stuff. Bradley, did you find anything on Twitter this week that was notable? One of the candidates, arguably the frontrunner because of the endorsements he's gotten, Brett Hagenbush, his residency in the district is being contested by all three of his challengers. Cody Clark, Kerry DeMoore, and J.C. Arborough, they all filed petitions alleg registration residency address to a commercial property in the district and he lives outside of it. They also alleged in that that he didn't do that in time. And so he didn't live in the district a year from the election and therefore his candidacy for the seat is ineligible.

I don't know how this is going to shake out in court. Hagenbutch, his team says this is ridiculous. He lives in the district and that's that. Discovery on this is going to be pretty interesting if it gets there because I saw Dallas radio

host Mark Davis say pretty succinctly this should be solved in a day and then that's that and it should be um show records that you were living in the in the district seems pretty simple right he's kind of skirting around the issue a bit um i don't think that bodes well for him but also these things are usually dismissed out of hand. This one seems like it has some legs. I don't know if it's going to go anywhere. I guess we'll see. Because there's really not room for interpretation or like it's not subjective.

Either you lived in the district or you didn't. Right. Give us an address. Right. Yeah. Historically, residency election challenges are difficult because a lot of the time it comes down to what the mental state of the person actually was. And it's difficult to prove their mental state. But then whenever you have, you know, mental state, paperwork and filings, et cetera, showing that he failed to move within the specific deadline, like, you know, voter registration and all that sort of stuff. It'll, it'll, it'll be interesting to see how this one plays out. This, this, this is one of the rare

ones that I think, um, will be an interesting court process. Yeah. Matt explain mental state. What do you mean by that? Do you mean like in terms of what home he viewed his homestead as? Because people have multiple homes. The existing court precedent in the state of Texas to define residency. And let me see here because it's been a while since I've read it, but to quote it as closely as possible, that it doesn't matter how long you have been at a particular place. The only thing that constitutes your residency is that if you were physically there, and while you were physically there at that moment, you manifested the mental state to make that place your domicile. So it doesn't matter if he only spent a minute at that spot and spends the rest of his time at a house outside of

the district, all of that sort of stuff, because he was there and he made the mental intent to make that his domicile. That's what Texas courts have considered residency. So maybe it's not as black and white as I portrayed it. Yeah. Yeah. And that's why it's because of that precedent, it makes these things extremely difficult to challenge in the courts. You know, you have to show enough evidence that that he wasn't file his voter registration

before the deadline or other things, placed him at the house outside the district where they have a homestead residency that they still claim, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So you have to just have a mountain of evidence like that to overcome his claim of mental state. And, oh, I was there, regardless of however brief it was. Yeah. There you go. That's the 10,000 foot view. Definitely something we'll continue to keep an eye on as the story progresses.

And it's going to be a big one. So definitely a lot of attention on all of this. Gentlemen, we're almost to Christmas. 11 days till Christmas, like Hayden said. And it's incredibly exciting. We had our Christmas party, our office Christmas party at the Burton's home last weekend and it was so fun. We had the best time.

I think the highlight for Hayden was watching Holly get all riled up over Phil's rules during... What game were we playing salad bowl we were playing it was fishbowl fishbowl which has it's like charades and pictionary combined like it's a i i'm explaining it poorly and catchphrase but i think what made that so funny was was how phil just brazenly cheated and then just kept going like he was supposed to act something out and he was just talking yeah and he was he was trying to act

out Alaska and he just under his breath he was like bigger than Texas so everyone said Alaska and then he kept going and Holly said no no you're disqualified slapped the paper out of his hand that was the highlight of the game that That was so funny.

Climbing over chairs trying to get Phil to get disqualified. That was awesome. We had so much fun. We played Cornhole. Phil was on my team. Phil completely carried me in Cornhole. I failed horribly. I was late to the party, so I wasn't there for Cornhole.

It was a poor showing. Phil and I also beat Cameron and Brad, I recall correctly at cornhole Phil seems to be the common denominator yeah he's really good yeah he's very good yeah anyways it was delightful well folks Merry Christmas we're so close we will be all remote next week, coming at you remote. And the following week, we'll have a great end of year wrap up podcast that will be coming out. So keep an eye on that. Merry Christmas, and we will catch you next week. Thank you to everyone for listening. If you enjoy our show, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you want more of our stories, subscribe to The Texan at thetexan.news.

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