Herman: Abbott’s remark about a staff shakeup says a lot,
It was a moment. A fleeting one, yes. And probably not the kind that, 20 years from now, you’re going to remember where you were when it happened. That kind of moment is reserved for huge moments, like remembering where you were when you got married.
The event was Gov. Greg Abbott’s Monday announcement of what he called “probably the worst-kept secret in Austin, Texas,” the wholesale shakeup (less serious than a retail shakeup) of his top staff. No hint of scandal or turmoil here.
Gubernatorial staffs often get shaken when governors think shaking is indicated or when gubernatorial staffers figure they can leverage their Capitol experience to shake out some hefty fees from clients in the private sector.
“They may not remain here in person,” Abbott said of the dearly departed staffers, “but they will never be far away. They will be launching successful careers down different pathways where they will always remain connected with us.”
Yes, their future clients are counting on and paying for that. Actually, former Abbott staffers who become lobbyists have to be careful.
The “revolving door” section in the governor’s office employee handbook says former senior staff employees can’t lobby the gov’s office “on any matter” for one “full regular session of the Legislature.”
After that, it’s OK. Ethics, shmethics. And thank you for your service.
On Monday, as we waited for Abbott and the rejiggered Team Abbott to arrive, John Wittman, the governor’s press secretary, acknowledged reality by conceding to the gathered journalists that they might have one question for Abbott about the staff stuff before meandering into questions on other topics of the day.
The press secretary proved prescient. Question one, related to the staffing announcement, came from the Houston Chronicle’s Mike Ward and doubled back to an Abbott comment about “some big ideas I plan to tackle in the upcoming session.”
“Generally,” Ward asked, “what are they?”
Specifically, Abbott isn’t saying. So that deadended right there.
Next we heard from Fox 7’s ever-present, ever-inquisitive Rudy Koski, who asked whether Abbott is concerned that President Donald Trump seems to have, as Koski put it, put the border wall on the “back burner.”
Abbott talked about “the challenges of navigating the halls of Congress.”
“It’s up to the president to find out solutions,” he said, and “I think (there’s) one thing most Texans agree with and that is we need to secure the border” and “we need to have a better immigration system” and “I think the president is working to achieve both of these.”
So that was semi-responsive.
And then Wittman performed one of a press secretary’s priority functions: “One more,” he said, as in one more question.
I figured “one more” might be well-expended with one about Trump’s recent across-the-aisle dalliance that showed us his campaign-trail toughguy talk about ending the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals was just campaign-trail tough-guy talk. (Trump, August 2016: “We will immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties.”)
I asked a two-part question, adding Part Two because about 70 percent through Part One, while my mouth was saying stuff about Trump and DACA, the Voice in My Head was reminding me that I wasn’t really clear on where Trump is on DACA. Hence, Part Two.
Here, for the enlightenment of all person-kind, is a full transcript of my conversation with Abbott about Trump and DACA:
Me: “Governor, are you comfortable with where the president is on DACA now and do you feel like you know where he is on DACA now?” Him: “No.” And with that he unfolded his hands, nodded once, smiled broadly, said “Thank you all very much,” spun his wheelchair to the right and rolled away. If you’re reading this in the print paper (which remains an age-appropriate activity for people of a certain age), I encourage you to go to mystatesman.com to watch the video.
(The tech folks are working on it, but, to date, have been unable to figure out how to get videos into the print paper, an upgrade that would improve what the grownups in the building refer to as the all-important “user experience.”)
As Abbott left the table, others in the room chuckled at his answer about DACA. I’m not sure with or at whom we were laughing. And it’s quite possible Abbott’s broad smile was proof he had pleased himself with an answer that invited interpretation.
I believe by saying “no” to something or both things about Trump and DACA, the bigly-ness of the moment is it was the first time since Trump took office that Abbott has publicly disagreed with something Trump.
I surmise Abbott is like lots of GOP politicians concerned their party has given the nation an amateur in a job best held by a professional. But, also like lots of GOPers, it behooves Abbott to remain on board with Trump until given reason to do otherwise.
In his one-word answer to my two-part question, it sure sounded like Abbott found reason to put some daylight between himself and his president on a major, hot-button issue. He sounded like a guy left perplexed by Trump.
Welcome, governor, to America 2017, land of confusion.