Op Ed

The standards for political leadership in Texas have dwindled to depressing levels recently. Faced with an economic downturn and a historically large budget deficit, our statewide elected officials seem more concerned with their political careers than steering the state through a difficult period. Gov. Rick Perry has been so furiously pandering to right-wing voters, he’s making George W. Bush look statesman-like. Not that Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who’s eyeing a run for U.S. Senate, has been any better.

So Susan Combs’ actions of late have been refreshing. Combs, a Republican elected Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts in 2006, has gotten into a very public fight with the online retailer Amazon. Combs contends the company owes the state $269 million in back sales taxes. Amazon claims it’s not obligated to pay because, though it has a distribution center in Irving, the company doesn’t have a storefront in Texas.

Combs has a fair reading of the law, which states that any company with a nexus of operations in Texas owes sales taxes. But rather than pay its share, Amazon threw a fit. It has threatened to close its Irving distribution center, depriving the state of much-needed jobs. And no sooner had Amazon announced its intention to leave than Perry threw Combs under his 2012 campaign bus. “The comptroller made that decision independently,” Perry told the Washington Examiner. “I would tell you from my perspective that’s not the decision I would have made.” He went on to dispute Combs’ interpretation of the law—though sales-tax collection isn’t in the governor’s purview—and pledged to keep Amazon in Texas.
It would have been easy for Combs to give in. She has ambitions for higher office. But to her credit, she has held strong. She’s pushed back on the governor, insisting that her take on tax law is correct.

Trying to force a major employer to pay taxes—even taking the company before an administrative law judge—was gutsy. But it was the right move. A state facing a $27 billion budget deficit cannot let huge companies get away with not paying taxes. And it’s unfair to small Texas retailers to allow their large Internet-based competitor to go tax-free.

Combs’ push-back against Perry was a rare moment of honest-to-God leadership, when an ambitious elected official refused to take the politically expedient path and did what was best for the state. If only it weren’t so unusual.

When corporate executives needed a political favor, they always went running to Congress. Now they can also run to the courthouse.

Over the years, corporate chieftains and their political henchmen have ensconced reliable, laissez-faire ideologues in hundreds of federal judgeships, creating a corporate-friendly path for moving their litigation from the district level to the Supreme Court. For example, in its effort to scuttle Obama’s health care reform, the right wing has gone court-shopping. They’ve filed their cases in the courts of judges who are known to be ideologically hostile to government regulation of  health care.

Take U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in Virginia. On Dec. 13, he ruled that a key provision of the new law is unconstitutional, a ruling at odds with 14 other federal judges who dismissed similar challenges. He had to resort to twisted reasoning to reach his decision. But, hey, you can’t let legal niceties get in the way of ideology.

Peek under Hudson’s judicial robe, and you’ll find a naked partisan with a long career in hard-right Republican politics. A protégé of Ronald Reagan and his detestable attorney general, Ed Meese, Hudson ran unsuccessfully for a Virginia congressional seat in 1991, then was given two GOP political appointments in the state before George W. lifted him onto the federal bench in 2002.

Even today, as he sits in judgment of politically motivated cases, Hudson continues to draw annual income as an owner of a Republican political consulting firm. One of the firm’s successful clients in 2009 was Ken Cuccinelli, elected as Virginia’s attorney general. Cuccinelli just happens to be the official who filed the right-wing’s case against Obama’s health care reform in Hudson’s court.

 

Find more information on Jim Hightower’s work—and subscribe to his award-winning monthly newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown—at www.jimhightower.com

There are some stories that keep getting stranger and stranger the more time passes. This is the case with the tangled piece I reported for This American Life a couple years ago about an Austin activist turned FBI informant named Brandon Darby, who turned in two young men, Brad Crowder and David McKay, for building Molotov cocktails at the 2008 Republican National Convention.

Now DPS is saying that whoever firebombed the Governor’s Mansion is “directly connected” to the “Austin-based anarchist group” that “planned” the attempted firebombing of the RNC. They say that one of the members of the group who was arrested at the RNC was in a car taking photos of the mansion four days before the fire, apparently doing surveillance for the arson.

As someone who spent the better part of six months investigating this case, the news is surprising, to say the least. I interviewed several of the activists who drove together to the RNC from Austin, and it would be a stretch to say they were a “group.” In fact, many of the people were meeting each other for the first time—essentially it was more an activist carpool than an “anarchist group.”

Now, DPS says this group “planned” to firebomb the RNC. In fact, there is no dispute that most of the people in the van strenuously disagreed with the plan to build Molotov cocktails. In fact, one member inadvertently turned in their fellow activists by calling Brandon Darby (who was undercover at the time) and telling him how furious they all were at Crowder and McKay for putting them at risk. So there wasn’t a “group” that planned to make firebombs. There were a couple of young guys who decided to do it on the spur of the moment, and the rest of these “anarchists,” (some described themselves that way, but not all) thought it was a stupid idea.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Crowder or McKay couldn’t have been involved in the plan to bomb the mansion. Perhaps that’s even where they got the idea. But that wasn’t my impression of McKay, who I interviewed for two hours in 2009. He was a young guy from Midland whose first taste of politics was being tased by the Midland police while protesting a KKK rally. He seemed anti-authoritarian, but hardly an “anarchist” or even someone with well-formed political positions. He seemed like a guy who got caught up in the idea of doing street battle with the cops and built Molotov cocktails, which were found in the basement of the home he was staying at in St. Paul. When law enforcement swooped in, McKay was asleep in bed, just a couple hours before his flight left for Austin. The timing made it seem very unlikely that he was on the verge of using the firebombs. (Or perhaps he was going to throw them on the way to the airport, but that never seemed too likely. By then, the days of rage had passed.)

I consider myself a decent judge of character, but perhaps McKay had me fooled. Perhaps he was a seasoned arsonist playing the role of regretful naif for a reporter. But I’ll remain skeptical until DPS provides more than the circumstantial evidence that someone took pictures from a car four days earlier that has been connected to an “Austin-based anarchist group.”

The health care reform law may yet become a historic achievement for President Obama and the Democrats. But that appears less likely all the time.

Democrats had been trying to pass universal health insurance (or something close to it) since at least Harry Truman’s administration. In 2009, with Obama in the White House and a 60-vote Senate majority, Democrats had a chance to provide health care coverage for tens of millions of uninsured Americans, including some six million uninsured Texans. It was the kind of opportunity that comes around once every few decades. And they may well have blown it.

Two federal judges, both Republican appointees, recently declared parts of the law unconstitutional. On Jan. 31, Judge Roger Vinson sided with 26 states, including Texas, that challenged the law’s constitutionality. The key point of contention is the law’s so-called “individual mandate,” the provision that requires every American to have health insurance or face penalties. Conservative legal scholars contend that Congress overstepped its authority by passing the individual mandate because it punishes Americans for simply doing nothing. Vinson agreed with that interpretation and, as a consequence, struck down the entire law. Two other federal judges—appointed by Democrats—have upheld the statute. Ultimately, the law’s fate will likely be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

We’re not constitutional scholars. We don’t presume to know whether the health-care law will survive its legal challenges. But we do find the individual mandate troubling. It represents the first time the federal government has ever required all its citizens to purchase a product from a private company.

There were better, more progressive ways to reform the health care system. We hoped the bill would include a public option or government-run plan that would offer an alternative to insurance companies. The GOP would have thrown a fit, of course, but there would have been no question about its constitutionality. Instead, Democratic leaders foolishly sacrificed the public option in an effort to make the bill more moderate and to appeal to Republicans. And what did it get them? A legal fight that may scuttle the entire legislation. 

If the federal courts overturn the reform law, Democrats will be to blame. They should have followed their progressive ideals. By not doing so, they may have wasted a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

Wrap-up – The Brand New Texas Observer Rabble Rouser!

The 10th annual Rabble Rouser Round-Up and Fat Cat Schmoozefest shook the halls of the Emma Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center on 2/2/11.  It was a true community celebration with outstanding contributions from many. We’d like to thank a few of those who made it all possible:

Our dedicated sponsors: Community Leader Lisa Blue Baron Agitators Alec Rhodes, Sharron Rush and Ron Hicks  Rabble Rousers Gilberto Ocañas, Jesse Oliver, Planet K Gifts; Legislative Sponsors Nancy Alliegro, Lloyd Doggett, Deece Eckstein, Melissa Jones, Susan Longley, Eve MacArthur, Jim Marston, Mary Nell Mathis, Jim Thatcher and Diana Seidel, Kelly White. Venue sponsors Austin City Council members Mike Martinez, Laura Morrison and Randi Shade

Program participants
Genevieve Van Cleve was an outstanding emcee who delivered a program that was lively, insightful, and fun!  Senator Barrientos struck a high note to start the evening with his welcome message.  Jim Hightower was at his Rabble Rousing best, leading the progressive pep rally that lived up to the event name. Austin’s own Representative Naishtat introduced Representative Sylvester Turner who inspired us all with his eloquent look to the future of our state and the challenges facing the Next Generation of Leaders.

The People’s Friend Recognition and Award
The Rabble Rouser recognized the 2011 Tyrant’s Foes and presented the $1000 People’s Friend award. Tyrant’s Foes Eddie Aldrete, Ted & Betty Dotts, Nedezhda & Anayanse Garza, Tarsha Jackson, Hilton Kelly, Adan Muñoz, Jr., John Jordan Otte, Israel Reyna, Jamie Schanbaum, Calvin Tillman, and Diane Wilson The 2010 People’s Friend Nedezhda & Anayanse Garza (more at www.texasobserver.org/tyrants-foe)

The 2011 Texas Democracy Foundation Next Generation Leaders
The Rabble Rouser introduced the first class of Next Gen Leaders: Carlos Calle, Sean Chitty, Jennifer Cooper, Brian Dupre, Vanessa Fuentes, Christina Gomez, Anita Grabowski, Trevor Lovell, Angela, Jo Medina, Amaury Nora, Weston Norton, Michael Stapp, Tanya Tarr, Matthew Tejada, Mykle Tomlinson, Glynn Wilcox, Andy Wilson, Alex Winslow, and Curt Yowell. (more at www.texasobserver.org/next-gen)

Rep. Sylvester Turner introduces our 2011 Next Gen Leaders.

Food catered by
CinnaMan Desserts, Creative Creations Catering, and Hoover’s. Coffee courtesy of Central Market.

Invitation, program and poster artwork
The incomparable Libby Farris.

Photographer
Outstanding photographer Alan Pogue.

Rabble Rouser committee
These outstanding supporters were tireless and we are tremendously grateful for their extraordinary effort.  Hats off to event chair Sharron Rush, silent auction chair Cherry Kugel, registration chair Kate Fain and the entire committee: Nancy Alliegro, Carlton Carl, Rachel Farris, Molly Moore, Susan Morris, Laurie Payne, Abby Rapoport, Sharron Rush, Eric Scott, Luba Sinclair, Betsy Thaggard, Viviane Tondeur and Nancy Williams.

Our fabulous auction donors
The ACLU of Texas, All Things Considered, Jeanne Arquel, Austin Film Festival, Brenda Berstis, Sarah Bird, Carlton Carl, Cinnaman Villa, Candace Duval, Alison Eden, Face the Nation, Ty & Kate Fain, George Farris, Gordon Fowler, Fresh Air, Barry George, Ellen Gibbs, Malcolm Greenstein, Ann Hartley, Ann Herbage, Jim Hightower, Allan & Louise Hirst, Jim Holland, Inn Above Onion Creek, D’Ann Johnson, Janet Eager Krueger, Cherry Kugel, Dick Lavine, Dick Leverich, Laura Maclay, Vivian Mahlab, Phil Mathis, Glen Maxey, Davis McLarty, The Melancholy Ramblers, Miles of Chocolate, Betsy Moon, Elliott Naishtat, The Natural Gardener, Nancy Neavel, Paula’s Texas Spirits, Alan Pogue, Amie Rodnick, Ben Sargent, Diana Seidel, Barbara Schlief, Sleeping Dogs Studio, Paul Stekler, Sarah Stevens, Ellen Sweets, Taylor-Made Tutoring, Tesoros Trading Co., Texas A&M University Press, Texas Healing Arts Institute, University of Texas Press, C.D. Weaver, Witliff Galleries, and Doug Zabel.

Until next year, keep Rabble Rousing and fighting to fix the world…and have fun doing it!