Tag Archives: Susan Combs

political news, State news

What’s with this agriculture commissioner?

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There must be something about serving as Texas commissioner of agriculture that brings out the weirdness in some of those who hold the office.

Sid Miller is the guy in the office at the moment. He’s a Republican who seems to look for ways to make himself look silly. He makes goofy pronouncements, goes off on state-paid junkets and then spends public money on matters that should be financed out of his own pocket.

In a strange way he reminds me of another agriculture commissioner. Do you remember Jim Hightower? He served a single term as head of the agriculture department in the late 1980s. Rick Perry got elected to the office in 1990 and he was succeeded by Susan Combs, who then was succeeded by Todd Staples. Those three individuals managed to serve with a degree of decorum and dignity.

Hightower, though, was a jokester. The Democrat was quick with the quip and managed to say things just to get a laugh out of those who heard him say them.

Miller, though, is presenting some unusual problems.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/04/22/sid-millers-tenure/

As the Texas Tribune reports, Miller is making a spectacle of himself:

“Miller’s conduct in office has ranged from the cartoonish — revamping inspection stickers for the state’s more than 170,000 fuel pumps to more prominently feature his name — to the potentially criminal — allegedly bankrolling two out-of-state trips with public funds to receive what’s known as a ‘Jesus Shot’ and to compete in a rodeo.”

Miller won the office partly by campaigning as a fiscal conservative. So what does he do? He boosts the pay of top staff jobs.

He seems to look for ways to make headlines, to get his name out there. Remember how he lifted the state ban on deep fryers and soda machines? Why does an elected agriculture do something like that?

I much prefer that these folks simply do their job quietly. There’s no need to create spectacles.

The agriculture commissioner has a big job. The state has a gigantic farm and ranch community — and much of it exists out here on the High Plains.

Can’t this guy just promote the value of Texas’s myriad agricultural produces without being such a buffoon?

 

State news

I'll miss Patterson most of all

I’ve given some thought to the Texas statewide officeholders who are leaving public life at the end of the year.

Who will I miss the most?

It’s a close call. Comptroller of Public Accounts Susan Combs can be an interesting and delightful interview subject. She’s full of one-liners and has put me in stitches on more than one occasion in the years I’ve known her, first when she was elected agriculture commissioner and then as comptroller.

Combs finishes second, though, to Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson.

Patterson burst onto the state’s public attention by being known as the “gun guy,” a state senator who authored the state’s concealed-carry bill in the mid-1990s. He wanted the state to make it legal for Texans to pack heat under their jacket, provided they pass a test that demonstrates they know how to handle a firearm.

He is proud of his Marine Corps service and the tour of duty he served in Vietnam. He campaigned actively on that service. Indeed, his job as land commissioner put him in charge of the state’s veterans home loan program, which he administered with great pride.

Patterson also has a tremendous self-deprecating streak. The first time I met him, he introduced himself to me as a guy who finished in the “top 75 percent of my class at Texas A&M University,” where he said he “managed to cram four years of college into six years.”

Texas doesn’t have quite the colorful cast of characters inhabiting public offices that it used to have. Too many of them have taken themselves more seriously than they take their responsibilities. Gov. Rick Perry is Exhibit A. I won’t miss Perry in the least.

Jerry Patterson, though, reminds me a bit of the old-school Texas pol who is unafraid to poke a little fun at himself. We need more — not fewer — like him in public life.

 

Uncategorized

Why vote for Merritt?

Tommy Merritt is facing a runoff for the Republican Party nomination for Texas agriculture commissioner; he’s facing Sid Miller on May 27.

Here’s the question: What has Merritt done to earn the job?

I am asking because in recent days I’ve gotten some campaign fliers at my house promoting Merritt’s candidacy to replace Todd Staples, who lost his bid to become the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor. The fliers, I hasten to add, have said nothing about what Merritt would do to promote Texas agriculture.

Instead, they talk about his commitment to the Second Amendment (the one that guarantees gun ownership), his belief that life begins at conception, his lengthy marriage, his “strong conservative values,” and some other stuff that has nothing to do with agriculture policy.

So, back to the question: Why does this guy deserve to be agriculture commissioner?

He’s not alone in promoting values and principles that have little or nothing to do with the nuts-and-bolts policy issues relating to his office.

Do you remember Jim Hightower, the goofy Democrat who held the office until losing in 1990 to Republican Rick Perry? He touted farmers’ markets as his answer to bolstering agriculture. I can’t remember what Perry bragged about. Republican Susan Combs argued for value-added product sales of commodities.

Now, we have Merritt — a former legislator — vowing to protect unborn children and fighting for Texans to keep their guns.

I haven’t gotten anything from Sid Miller in my mailbox. Maybe something will arrive in time for the runoff. If it does, it hope it says something — anything — about agriculture.

Uncategorized

Support for unborn?

OK, I’m going to need some help with this one.

State Rep. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, wants to become Texas bean counter in chief, aka, the comptroller of public accounts. He’s running in a crowded Republican field to succeed outgoing GOP Comptroller Susan Combs, who decided against seeking re-election in 2014.

Hegar has a TV ad running in which he promotes “Texas’s business climate and our unwavering support for the unborn.”

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/10/14/hegar-touts-support-for-unborn-in-comptroller-ad/

Where can I use the help? I need help understanding why a Texas comptroller candidate’s views on abortion should matter.

I get that Hegar opposes abortion. I get that it is his right to declare that view for voters to consider. I also get that abortion is an undeniably controversial matter in Texas; the mere mention of the word “abortion” stirs passion on both sides of the great divide.

However, the Texas Constitution gives the comptroller power to advise the Legislature on the state’s fiscal standing every biennium. The comptroller is tasked by the Constitution to report to the governor and lieutenant governor the amount of money the state is going to take in, which in turn gives lawmakers guidance on how the state can balance its budget, which also is required by the Texas Constitution.

I am unaware of any statutory requirement for the office that requires the comptroller to decide whether abortion should be legal in Texas.

I’ll admit I haven’t read every word of the Texas Constitution, which has been amended about a zillion times. However, what am I missing here? Does it matter one bit whether Rep. Hegar favors or opposes a woman’s right to end a pregnancy?

Uncategorized

Texas ballot just got hilarious

Texans will have no shortage of entertainment next year as the midterm election gets into full swing.

The latest bit of entertainment news to hit the Lone Star State is the pending announcement that Kinky Friedman will run next as a Democrat for state agriculture commissioner.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/10/12/kinky-friedman-ag-commissioner-democrat/

Is he a successful farmer and rancher? No. Does he have extensive agriculture business experience? Um, no. Does he sell livestock at auctions? Again, nope.

Friedman is a humorist, author, sometimes politician and philosopher. He’s run for Texas governor, as an independent and once sought the agriculture commissioner’s office as a Democrat just four years ago.

I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing him, back in 2006 when he ran for governor. He was so entertaining and engaging and, frankly, forthright with most of his answers that my boss suggested he might actually consider recommending him for the governor’s office. Kinky didn’t get our newspaper’s endorsement.

He says he’s running this time as a Democrat because of state Sen. Wendy Davis’s gubernatorial campaign. Friedman thinks Davis is going to breathe excitement in the party this coming election year and he wants to be a part of it.

It remains to be seen, of course, whether he’ll be able to articulate a serious and sensible agriculture policy for the state.

I will bet real money, however, that Kinky Friedman’s campaign promises will not be carbon copies of what we’ve heard from Todd Staples, Susan Combs or Rick Perry. I’m thinking he’ll sound more like the last true-blue character we’ve elected as agriculture commissioner, Jim Hightower.

Bring it, Kinky.

Uncategorized

Calling all bean counters

Roll this one around for a moment: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

Doesn’t sound like too sexy of a political office, correct? It can be. Several Republicans and perhaps one Democrat seem to think it’s an office worth seeking.

And why not? It can be a stepping stone to bigger things.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/08/22/crowded-race-comptroller-taking-shape/

Comptroller Susan Combs, a Republican (as if that’s a big surprise), decided not to seek another term as comptroller. Her absence from the 2014 GOP primary ballot has brought out a small and perhaps gathering crowd of potential successors.

The Texas Tribune reports that when Carole Keeton Rylander Strayhorn walked away in 2006 to run for governor, no such crowd of candidates emerged in her wake.

Combs’s departure is different.

Look at it this way, the office of comptroller — who, in effect, is the state’s bean counter in chief — has been a launching pad recently for a couple of notable Texas politicians. The late — and legendary — Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, served as comptroller before becoming state attorney general and then lieutenant governor; Texas A&M University Chancellor John Sharp served as comptroller before launching two unsuccessful bids to become lieutenant governor.

Strayhorn thought it would lead to a higher office for her as well, but by my reckoning she didn’t wear her political notoriety as gracefully as some others who preceded her in that office.

The comptroller’s main job is to ensure the state meets its budget requirements. The comptroller issues fiscal projections that enable the Legislature to budget state money for the next two years. It can be a hum-drum job, but it also can serve as a platform for budget policy ideas.

The race for comptroller might not get the blood pumping furiously. It’ll be worth waiting to see who emerges next year from the political battlefield and how that individual handles a really big job.