GOP quiet, but state Dems condemn comments.
GOP quiet on tape revealing speaker wished 2019 session to be ‘worst’ for cities, counties
Houston-area Democratic elected officials were quick to condemn Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen’s secretly recorded comments that he wished the 2019 legislative session to be “the worst” for cities and counties.
The remarks, made by Bonnen in a June meeting with Empower Texans CEO Michael Quinn Sullivan, play directly into the hands of Democratic leaders, who repeatedly have accused the Republican-controlled Legislature of promoting policies that harm local governments.
“This is an outrageous yet unsurprising betrayal of Texas families that are caught in the crosshairs of state leadership’s relentless attacks on local control that, as Speaker Bonnen’s comments make clear, are done to score political points,” said Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, a Democrat.
Local Republicans mostly declined to comment or said they had yet to listen to the recording, which was released Tuesday.
Sullivan surreptitiously taped the hourlong conversation at Bonnen’s office in the Texas Capitol because he said he feared the speaker would lie about it. Among other things, Bonnen suggested he could secure Empower Texans media credentials to the House floor if the rightwing group helped fund primary challengers against 10 moderate Republicans. That offer, and Bonnen’s public denials he ever made such an offer, has cast the future of his speakership in doubt.
The speaker also made off-color comments about several lawmakers.
When the conversation turned to taxpayer-funded lobbying, the practice of local governments hiring professional influence peddlers to advocate on their behalf in Austin, Bonnen said he was “much closer” to banning the practice, a Republican priority.
“Any mayor, county judge who’s dumbass enough to come meet with me — I told them with great clarity, ‘My goal is for this to be the worst session in history of the Legislature for cities and counties,’ ” Bonnen said on the recording.
“I hope the next session’s even worse,” added Republican Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock, who also attended the meeting.
“And I’m all for that,” Bonnen replied.
Houston and Harris County leaders were upset with several of the Legislature’s actions this spring.
County Judge Lina Hidalgo, a Democrat, said the property tax reform bill signed by Gov. Greg Abbott was unfair because it places a 3.5 percent annual revenue growth cap on cities and counties, above which requires voter approval.
She said fast-growing counties such as Harris will struggle to provide services to residents. The two Republican Commissioners Court members scuttled a proposed property tax increase by Hidalgo and her Democratic colleagues to create a rainy day fund and boost flood control district and hospital district revenues before the cap takes effect.
In Houston, Mayor Sylvester Turner was irked when the Legislature forced the city to sell its water rights to the proposed Allens Creek Reservoir near Simonton. He also blasted a law legislators enacted to slash fees
telecommunication and cable companies pay cities to use municipal rights of way, which he said would cost Houston up to $27 million annually.
In response to Bonnen’s comments, Turner said Austin should work closely with local governments to solve the state’s vexing problems.
“The people of your community didn’t send you to Austin to ignore their local municipal and county governments,” Turner said. “In fact the opposite — they expect you to listen.”
K.P. George, the Democratic Fort Bend county judge, said local governments “know what our residents need because we live here. House Speaker Bonnen should know better than to gloat about his crusade
to concentrate power in Austin by attacking the closest form of government to the people, our cities and counties.”
The two Republican Harris County commissioners, Steve Radack and Jack Cagle, said they had yet to listen to Bonnen’s comments. Conservative City Councilmen Greg Travis and Mike Knox said the same. Republican Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough declined comment, while conservative Pasadena Mayor Jeff Wagner did not respond.
Galveston County Judge Mark Henry was one of the few local outspoken elected Republicans to comment on the recording. He said Bonnen’s offer to Empower Texans was a betrayal of the public trust and called on the speaker to resign.
Henry said he does not understand Bonnen’s antipathy toward local governments. He said he had low expectations for Galveston County’s legislative agenda, even though the speaker represents nearby Lake Jackson.
“We presented all our requests for the session, and very little got acted upon,” Henry said.
Henry cited a request for more magistrates to process defendants accused of crimes, which the Legislature failed to approve.
The Harris County Republican Party in September considered a resolution to “initiate the process to censure” Bonnen but did not pass it.