Pushing buttons and pulling punches

Governor Perry is pushing hot button issues (highly salient issues which elicit strong emotional responses from other leaders and the general public) during the special session (30 day period that called by the Governor at the end of the regular session).  He has indicated that he is ready to pull the trigger on abortion reform and that he’s ready to pull the plug on the Public Integrity Unit (the agency that investigates the state agencies the governor oversees).

The Governor has called the legislature into special session to ensure his policy priorities receive the attention he thinks each deserves.  Texas has a plural executive system which fragments power among multiple offices.   Known as a weak governor system—one where the chief executive officer has limited power because other departments (typically under the governor’s control) are under another state officer who is subject to election by Texas voters. Top positions like Lieutenant Governor or Attorney General are offices elected by the people rather than by gubernatorial appointment.  There are other ways the Governor’s powers are limited.  For example, the Governor cannot suspend a capital murder death penalty—he only makes recommendation, the Board of Pardons and Paroles ultimately decides.

It’s kind of difficult to think of Rick Perry as “weak”-this is the guy who shoots coyotes while he’s out on his morning run.

How to think about the power a governor has is a complicated matter, and the National Governor’s Association (the professional association to which all governors belong) has quite a few ways in which you measure a governor’s power. No matter what metric you put on Texas, we have a weak governor system—but nobody told Governor Perry that.

He’s used the special session to give broad authority to Republicans to pass restrictive abortion legislation. Rather than define exactly what he wants done, he has said that lawmakers should consider legislation “relating to the regulation of abortion procedures, providers, and facilities.”  The Governor is not pulling any punches–he wants a law that prohibits abortions after 20 weeks (late term abortions).  This year Senate Democrats stopped 3 controversial bills because regular sessions require support from 21 senators before most legislation can be voted on–but those rules do not apply in special session (Republicans control the Senate 19-12 making them unstoppable during special session).

The Governor’s not stopping there.  He has threatened to use his veto power—the ability to reject legislation passed by the Texas House and Senate—to eliminate $7.5 million in funding for the Public Integrity Unit in Austin headed by District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg.  She was arrested and pled guilty in April to having a blood alcohol level three times what is allowed under Texas law.  Perry’s critics saying he’s just looking for an excuse to eliminate the office which is investigating improper ties between Governor Perry and his cronies.

Look out abortion providers and Rosemary Lehmberg, the coyote killer is on your trail.

Business as usual, or maybe not so much

Now that the legislature is back in session, attention has focused on our citizen legislature (legislators have other jobs in addition to their role as representative).  In contrast, a professional legislature (where elected officials serve full-time, typically year round) is thought to be more like a job, so presumably officials put their own personal, economic well-being second.

Texas legislators are being criticized because they have to rely on other sources of income to support themselves (the annual salary is only $7200 per year), and some say that this leads legislators to engage unethical or even illegal spending of campaign monies, and additionally, it puts legislators in a position to find all sorts of financial incentives to make sure that their “real job” is turning a  profit.

The Texas Ethics Commission is getting ready to do a periodic legislative review which allows the office to examine key policies and revise, amend, or abolish provisions so government can work more effectively. The Commission may look more closely this time around to see if representatives are fulfilling their duties.  Political scientists typically view the role of a legislator as either that of a delegate (an official who ignores their own expert judgment about policies in favor of pursuing policies that are currently popular) or a trustee (someone who supports policies that may be unpopular, but which the official believes promotes the general welfare).  In the case of Texas, the concern is that legislator are doing neither, but taking actions based on personal interest doing ”bidness as usual”.

And speaking of where it has not been business as usual, take a look at Governor Rick Perry’s top level policy assignments. Perry has been slammed for his position on abortion and women’s health care, leading some to raise concern about support for women in the Governor’s Office, but that may be incorrect.

Even though Texas is a weak governor system (meaning that the Governor does not have extensive powers and authority), the governor’s office does hire a number of staff level positions—especially in areas where Governor is seeking top level advisors to work on policy initiatives. Through the appointment process (the mechanism by which the Governor can appoint the persons he wants to key positions), it seems Governor Perry can be considered rather progressive.  Both his chief of staff and deputy chief of staff (the two top advisers to the governor on policy issues) are women, over 60% of his office employees are female, and most importantly, about two-thirds of his senior policymaking personnel are women.  Contrast that with a recent report lambasting President Obama because his inner circle of advisers are disproportionately white and male.

Take that Washington—your gender gap is showing.

Judicious choices

Texas has a weak executive system—one where the governor’s formal powers are relatively limited because the office does not have expansive authority typical of other states. This plural executive arrangement means that the governor’s influence is fragmented across of different departments and that the governor shares his authority with other elected officials at the statewide level.  One important consequence is that key officials like Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and the Comptroller of the Public Accounts who typically would be chosen by the governor, run in statewide elections all on their own rather than relying on a gubernatorial appointment.

That being said, it’s still hard to think of Governor Rick Perry as a “weak” governor.  Maybe that’s because halfway into his unprecedented third term of office, he has just made his 224^th appointment to the state judiciary.   Governor Perry has appointed a new Texas Supreme Court Justice, Jeffrey  Boyd—Perry’s former chief of staff—to the highest civil court position in the state.  Judges in Texas must stand for election, but when there are vacancies because of retirement or death, the governor makes interim appointments—temporary replacements who can then develop a record in the office before running in an election.  Boyd replaces Dale Wainwright who resigned from the position amid speculation he will run for another statewide office in 2014. While Boyd has no judicial experience, he is considered a faithful Perry supporter and has 21 years of legal counsel experience, including service as deputy counsel for the Governor.

And speaking of choosing wisely, a new report out by the Texas Public Policy Foundation—a conservative think tank, an organization that studies public policy problems and proposes solutions—has criticized state criminal court judges for the choices they make.  The report questions whether judges are unnecessarily incarcerating persons into the Texas state jail system instead of giving convicted criminals rehabilitation terms which facilitate ending recidivism (a cycle of criminal behavior which results in repeat incarcerations) and lowering costs to the criminal justice system.  In Texas, persons convicted of relatively low level, non-violent crimes (typically financial or drug-related crimes) are being incarcerated at high rates. Frequently this incarceration means that inmates have little chance at being given a chance at reforming their lives including community supervision and service, treatment programs, and tough probationary terms.  The report points to the statistic that 30% of state jail inmates re-offend within the first three years of release.

Critics of the report point argue reform sounds all well and good, but the reality is that court-ordered supervision is something the system may not be ready for because personnel and programs are not in place to handle increased caseloads.  Moreover, such programs are expensive, and given the current budget constraints, reform of the criminal system cannot be a top priority.

Choices matter—whether judiciously made or not.

Railroaded?

This week the three Railroad Commissioners (heads of the agency) appointed Milton Rister as Executive Director to oversee the daily operations of the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC).  Rister’s appointment, a former Republican political adviser who serves on Gov. Rick Perry’s senior staff (until he takes office Oct. 1), is a big deal because of the status that the RRC has in Texas politics.

The RRC is one of the oldest (created 1891) and one of the most powerful agencies in the state because it oversees the regulatory framework for oil, gas, and mining companies, along with regulating natural energy resources. Don’t let the name fool you though. While at one time the commission regulated railroads, it does not do so any longer. Under the sunset legislation (laws passed to transfer authority or to eliminate departments or agency functions), the Texas legislature got rid of the last bit of railroad power the RRC had in 2005.

Today its emphasis on regulation and safety of energy resources is vital to the Texas economy. Our oil and gas industry supports 14.3 percent of the jobs in Texas and the industry is responsible for roughly 25% of our state’s economy. In recent years it has also had to deal with the health and safety issues surrounding “fracking” (hydraulic fracturing where water and sand are used to break up the earth to release natural gas).

What makes the RRC an even more politicized agency is that in Texas, with its plural executive system where power is fragmented at the top the top levels of government, the top three Railroad Commissioners are elected in statewide elections.  Most folks don’t know it, but Texas has a weak executive system (and you certainly wouldn’t think it based on the larger-than-life personalities we’ve had as governors!). That system means that executive authority (which in most states is concentrated in the hands of the governor) is divided among a plural executive system of officers (meaning that multiple people carry out the functions that typically are reserved to a governor in a state). Under the 1876 Constitution, our state founding fathers’ distrust of government led them to divide power into different elected offices.  So while governors in other states typically appoint heads of office, that’s not the case in Texas where we make them run for political offices with support and backing of the political parties.

In the case of the RRC, the three commissioners then have the power to appoint an Executive Director, and that’s how Rister got his job. He has been praised for his insight into working with the legislature. Prior to coming to the RRC, Rister had held another position on the Legislative Council which is a bipartisan group which works with the Texas legislature to draft laws, so Rister is keenly aware of how the system works.  Not everyone likes the guy, however, and he was called an “ideological hitman” in a Houston Chronicle editorial back in 2006 because of his shrewd political tactics.   It is also notable that he was a campaign adviser to Republican Clayton Williams who had a disastrous loss to Ann Richards in the 1990 gubernatorial election.

The RRC has a lot on its plate going forward especially given the safety concerns about fracking, so lots of folks are watching to see where the track leads us with Rister at the helm.