By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

My wish list for the 2021 Texas Legislature is fairly modest, given the constraints the pandemic has placed before governing bodies all across the nation.

I want to offer this modest wish for our legislators: Do not let Empower Texans call the shots on your agenda.

Empower Texans, in my view, is a truly detestable political action committee. It is led by a guy named Michael Quinn Sullivan, a fellow I do not know but he is someone about whom I have heard plenty.

He stuck a shiv in former House Speaker Dennis Bonnen’s back in 2019, recording a meeting he and Bonnen had in which Bonnen gave him the names of 10 Republican legislators that Empower Texans could target for defeat. He recorded the event with Bonnen’s knowledge.

He and his PAC have meddled in GOP primaries throughout the state, including in the Texas Panhandle, where I lived for 23 years before moving to Dallas area two years ago. He has sought to defeat fine legislators, friends of mine … so perhaps my anger is a bit too personal. But it is what it is, you know?

I just want Empower Texans to be kept at arm’s length. The PAC is too rigid to suit me, as a taxpaying Texan. I do not want this outfit to “empower” me in any fashion.

My plea, then, goes directly to two men: Republican state Sen. Drew Springer and Republican state Rep. Scott Sanford. They represent me in the Legislature.

Stay away from Empower Texans. Got it? Good!