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Here are the top political headlines from Austin, Washington, the campaign trail and Dallas. If you’d like to receive this newsletter, Political Points, in your inbox, sign up here.
Points from Austin
1. A judge and plaintiffs’ lawyers in the Texas foster-care lawsuit say they were outraged to learn from court-appointed monitors this week that a private facility near Kerrville that houses maltreated children has a cinderblock “suicide watch” room.
Photos of the room at the Hill Country Youth Ranch in Ingram, which has a mural depicting an angel flying a toddler to heaven, were shown in federal court in Dallas last week at a hearing on sanctions for the state’s noncompliance with the judge’s orders.
2. Sid Miller didn’t like his hometown’s decision to limit a Confederate group’s presence in a Veterans Day parade. His response didn’t play too well, either.
The Texas agriculture commissioner, who isn’t afraid to stir the pot with controversial remarks, responded to a notice on Facebook that the Sons of Confederate Veterans group couldn’t fly its flags at Stephenville’s annual parade honoring U.S. military veterans.
“Get a rope,” he posted in the comments section.
Bob’s breakdown
Robert T. Garrett is the Austin bureau chief for The Dallas Morning News. A fifth-generation Texan, he has covered state government and politics for decades. Here, Bob offers his take from the Capitol.
The state GOP is still in turmoil, even if Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Monday tried to tamp down dissension. In a “longer than usual” blast from his campaign email account, Patrick sought to refocus attention on what lawmakers achieved in this year’s session.
- The background: As I wrote in August, a scandal over House Speaker Dennis Bonnen’s chat about targeting fellow Republicans with conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan distracted the GOP from a bragging effort about the session. Showing folks their party can govern well might help Republicans as a tough 2020 election looms. In September, though, Patrick’s fight with the National Rifle Association over gun-purchase background checks drew him into a Twitter fight with Sullivan, usually an ally. Referring to the Bonnen mess and a secret audio Sullivan made, Patrick told Sullivan, “You are destroying our party.”
- On Monday, Patrick sought to assure staunchly conservative activists who since summer have rallied around a “Lone Star Agenda,” and complained it should’ve been passed. Patrick noted that: a) the Senate passed most of the bills on the agenda; and b) Republicans need to unite, fast. “If we lose the Texas House, we will forever regret not coming together as one and putting aside the internal disagreements that cost us the majority,” he wrote.
Over in the Pink Dome’s center office, three recent emails from Gov. Greg Abbott’s press shop have had as the subject line “Announces Senior Staff Departure” or “Announces Senior Staff Retirement.” The departures:
- senior adviser and policy director John Colyandro, who launched a lobbying firm, Colyandro + Frank Public Affairs.
- special adviser and former acting Secretary of State David Whitley, who launched a similar lobbying and consulting firm, Gregory Strategies.
- senior adviser Tommy Williams. Williams, a 17-year lawmaker, didn’t return queries Monday about what’s next. He turns 63 next month.
Points from the trail
1. Why is Julián Castro, the only Latino candidate for president, struggling to catch on, even with Latinos? He's teetering on the edge of oblivion, shut out of the next televised debate, trimming staff and gasping for funds. The former mayor of San Antonio is even being eclipsed by the mayor of a city "that could fit in our Alamodome."
Running his first campaign outside his hometown, Castro hoped Latino support would provide a foundation for his White House bid even as he courted Democrats of all ethnicities, striking a tricky balance to avoid being marginalized. The gambit hasn’t paid off so far.
2. President Donald Trump might have short coattails. That’s the concern of Rep. Will Hurd, R-San Antonio, who worries that the national climate will cost Texas Republicans in 2020. In an interview with Gromer Jeffers Jr., he offers the local GOP this advice: Create your own message, and develop a brand independent of Trump.
3. Former Vice President Joe Biden has selected veteran Dallas consultant Jane Hamilton to lead his campaign’s effort to win the Texas presidential primary.
The move comes as Biden scored the endorsement of state Sen. Beverly Powell of Fort Worth, signaling his strength in a region critical for the March primary showdown. He is relying heavily on North Texas to help him win the lion’s share of Texas’ 262 delegates.
Points from Washington
1. Sandra Avalos marched for seven days through rain and cold weather with a group of immigration advocates. In some towns, locals responded positively. In other places, she said, the marchers were told to go back to the countries they came from.
The march, part of the Home is Here campaign, was an effort to bring attention to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and the legal efforts to end it.
DACA faces its biggest challenge today: a hearing before the Supreme Court that will test whether it was properly enacted and whether President Donald Trump has the authority to end a program that has been a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of immigrants across the country.
2. A trade skirmish is coming for Rich Rogers’ cheddar.
The owner of Scardello Artisan Cheese in Dallas is bracing for a financial hit — if not for him, then certainly for his customers — as 25% tariffs take hold on a wide array of cheese imported to the U.S. from Europe. His cheese does not stand alone. Everything from Scotch whiskey to Italian prosciutto to Bordeaux red wine is also covered by the levies, potentially putting purveyors in Texas and beyond in a tough spot ahead of the holiday season.
3. When impeachment hearings start Wednesday, Democrats aiming to expose abuse of power will have a number of audiences in mind — none more closely watched than the handful of Republicans who have questioned President Donald Trump’s actions in Ukraine.
While most Republicans in Congress have circled the wagons aggressively, a few have distanced themselves from Trump’s tactics, even as they also reject impeachment. Will the hearings sway any of them, including at least one Texan, to change their minds?
4. A former National Security Council official whose account is central to the impeachment probe against President Donald Trump said she “personally had no concerns” about Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s dealings over Ukraine.
To help catch you up on how Perry has become entangled in the scandal, we’ve created a timeline.
5. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sought to subvert President Donald Trump’s agenda as part of an effort to “save the country,” according to a new book by Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Tillerson, the former ExxonMobil chief executive, worked on that aim with former White House chief of Staff John Kelly and tried unsuccessfully to recruit Haley to the cause, she said.
6. A conservative Christian legal group seeking to expel all transgender women from female prisons has ended its efforts while the Supreme Court mulls the broader question of trans rights.
“We are no longer actively litigating. All of our clients have left the prison system,” Gary McCaleb, the recently retired attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom, or ADF, told The Dallas Morning News on Friday. “We’re also closely watching what the Supreme Court is going to do.”
7. The women behind America’s success during the space race were recognized Friday when President Donald Trump signed the Hidden Figures Act into law.The act, introduced by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, awards the Congressional Gold Medal to the women who contributed to NASA and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics between 1930 and 1970.
Points from Dallas
1. Ahead of anticipated freezing temperatures this week, Dallas officials scrambled before they decided to open the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center to shelter those living on the streets.
But the city continues to struggle with long-term fixes. And a ban that prevents faith-based organizations from offering emergency shelters to the homeless in inclement weather won’t make it to the Dallas City Council for a vote until spring — nearly a year after a draft ordinance was first proposed.
2. A divided Dallas County Commissioners Court is once again tangling over its future with TechShare, a multi-county technology project that has already cost taxpayers here tens of millions of dollars with little return. Nic Garcia explains the the latest glitch.
3. Children with severe disabilities often don’t have the ability to speak up when they are hurt at school, so determining what happened can be difficult. That’s why one Dallas ISD trustee wants to require each special education classroom in the district to have video cameras.
4. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson has carried out an inaugural promise to pick an ethics czar to rewrite the city’s ethics code. Johnson announced that Tim Powers, a managing partner at major law firm Haynes and Boone LLP who has been chairman of the Ethics Advisory Commission for a few months, will lead a working group that would scrutinize the ethics code and recommend changes.
5. Border patrol officers were at W.H. Adamson High School last week to promote careers in the law enforcement agency, not to investigate families, Dallas school officials say. But some students were upset by their presence and began texting parents and community members concerned that authorities were at Adamson to investigate immigration status.
Tell us
Curious Texas, an ongoing project from The Dallas Morning News, invites you to join our reporting process. You can ask us questions about politics, the Texas Legislature or elections, and we’ll have our reporters answer them. Submit your questions here.
Recommended reading
Fort Worth Rep. Kay Granger is the most senior Republican woman in the U.S. House. But her reelection could turn into an intra-GOP battle, The Texas Tribune reports.
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