Let me start by saying that he is my Texas house rep, that he was given Somervell County in the last district change, that I do not vote for anyone from the Republican party, but that nevertheless makes him my rep anyway. And, although I consider myself an independent voter where Democratic values more closely match mine, there is no one to vote for in competition with Burns. Have written before that I strongly agree with him voting for public education, and am grossly offended by Greg Abbott who sneers at the constitution and is going after Burns and some others who didn’t vote for Abbott’s school vouchers-Wah!
That does NOT mean that the steady stream of almost daily paper ads coming here in the mail can’t be examined and, in some cases, made fun of.
First one that came from some group called Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, which I believe is an offshoot of a goofy group Empower Texas, that is making complete baloney claims about Burns. This group apparently believes that Republicans are dumb as dirt and will not even look at video clips that prove TFR is lying AND that 70 Republicans in the txlege voted for this too BillKingblog
Ironically, the subject of the ads is a bill that never passed. Early in the session, a bi-partisan bill (HB438) was introduced which would have indexed judges’ salaries to the Consumer Price Index.
As the bill moved through the House, an issue was raised about whether this indexing would raise legislators’ pensions because retired Texas legislators receive a pension that is based on what a district judge is paid. The argument by some was, therefore, that by raising judicial salaries, the legislators were indirectly voting to raise their own pensions.
When the issue was raised, the sponsors of the bill requested an opinion from the Texas Employee Retirement System, as to whether the bill would affect legislative retirements and were told that because the provisions were in different sections, the indexing would not affect their pensions.
NOT to increase their pensions. The bill didn’t ultimate pass anyway- Texas Voice . Also, can’t these people come up with a new boogeyman to scare people with? What, is TNR full of old and feeble people who can lie but can’t keep up with the fact that Nancy Pelosi isn’t even speaker anymore.(I suspect it’s because Pelosi was a powerful speaker who stood up to Trump, which Republicans can’t seem to do for whatever reasons) Or maybe it is full of people who support Bryan Slaton, who was expelled from the Texas House last year for “gross misconduct” reasons. Well, lying about things that can be easily proven are false also seems like misconduct to me.
Andrew McVeigh, the current President and CEO of Texas for Fiscal Responsibility, previously worked as Chief of Staff for disgraced former State Representative Bryan Slaton.
Slaton was expelled from the Texas House on a unanimous vote last year after it was discovered that Slaton had provided alcohol at his apartment to a 19-year-old intern who worked in his office and then took her virginity. The Texas House Committee on General Investigating released a report on its investigation into the allegations against Slaton that resulted in his expulsion. This report determined the male employees in Slaton’s office obstructed the Committee’s investigation and engaged in “gross misconduct” under the Texas House of Representatives Housekeeping Resolution.
In its report, the Committee noted that the five male employees of Slaton’s office “refused to meet with the independent investigator for an interview, even after being informed that a person must cooperate with an investigation in accordance with the Committee Rules.” The committee report also found that “all five male employees of Slaton obstructed the committee’s investigation by refusing to meet with the independent investigator for an interview at her requests.”
