Say what you want about the "newspaper of record", but Saturday's NY Times published this blockbuster article about HB 2127 (including this flier), the Texas "preemption" bill that sits on Governor Abbott's desk. (Yes, you can still sign this letter urging the Governor to veto HB 2127.)
What the Times leaves out is telling though not surprising. There's no mention of HB 2127's grab of Texans' only right to petition for a public vote, our citizen check and balance on the abuse of power by municipal government. Those petition rights are contained in the same Constitutional Amendment for Home Rule that cities and citizens have enjoyed since 1912!
What the newspaper of record also missed in the battle between preemption and populism is who got caught in the crossfire between Texas's "red" state and the "blue" cities. That would be us regular Texans, millions of whom are Texas independents.
LIV is working with folks and organizations that are doing all we can to protect our water, land, and small "d" democracy (a politically neutral and competitive voting system) in the face of the extreme special interest influence.
Read that last sentence again, please. Because therein may just be the makings of an across-the-board truly populist movement that brings together people regardless of ideology and party, the likes of which haven't been seen in over 100 years.
Join us tonight with Public Citizen's Adrian Shelley for a lively discussion about preemption and populism. Click here to sign in.
BTW, there are many postmortems written about what happened in the regular Texas legislative session. This one from the Texas Tribune is worthy of your time as well.