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The big news for LIV today is seen in House Speaker Dade Phelan’s recently released Interim Charges – the Speaker's directives to Texas House Committees for work in the 2022 interim session. Eureka, there it is! Vista Ridge finally gets a look under the hood! And so does one of the biggest groundwater contamination threats – orphan oil and gas wells! Check out No. 5 in the Natural Resources Committee charges -- see page 23 : “Examine the state’s groundwater management policy and regulatory framework. Include a review of large-scale water transfers and their impact on groundwater resources. Make appropriate recommendations for legislation or state agency action to: · promote the achievement of planning goals under Chapter 36, Water Code, including those involving desired future conditions; · provide adequate transparency to the permit application process; · further the state's groundwater quality protection efforts, including an assessment of the risks posed to groundwater by abandoned and deteriorated water wells and orphan oil and gas wells; and · promote conservation and waste prevention.” What can you do to help? Join LIV, come to our monthly forums (the next one is April 11th) and get ready to attend legislative hearings throughout the interim -- we'll keep you informed. ABOUT CHICKEN LITTLE'S LAWYER Last week, Austin attorney, lobbyist and water marketer litigator Ed McCarthy filed a 600-page federal lawsuit against the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District. The suit also sued Lost Pines Board members, in their official capacity, along with some directors individually. McCarthy’s client, Gatehouse Water, LLC., purchased the Forestar Real Estate Group permit for wells in the area north of Lexington in Lee County. (What became the Forestar project actually started leasing up local water rights [alleged by Gatehouse to comprise 10,000 acres now in Lee and Milam counties] in the early 2000’s. Over five years ago, Lost Pines granted Forestar a “stair-stepped” 28,500 acre-feet (about half the size of Vista Ridge) after Forestar sued the District and individual board members to compel the issuance of a 45,000 acre-feet/year permit. Ultimately, the lawsuit was settled with the issuance of the reduced permit. In 2021, Lost Pines determined that Gatehouse had failed to meet the terms of the permit and reduced the allowed production to zero. Last November, on the heels of having lost the Gatehouse permit, McCarthy proceeded to bully and insult the Board and the public at a Lost Pines board meeting by making them sit through a 3-minute video of "Chicken Little." McCarthy was apparently mocking the District and all others who worry about our aquifers, especially landowners in northeastern Lee County who have watched their wells go dry shortly after Vista Ridge began its aggressive pumping for its pipeline to San Antonio, aka the”San Antone Hose”. Note that some of the most significant well damage has been in the vicinity of the planned Gatehouse well field. In direct response to the McCarthy-style of lawsuit seeking personal liability for individual board members who serve as volunteers on a GCD board, LIV worked alongside Rep. John Cyrier to pass HB 3163 in 2015 to address the potential for such lawsuits to intimidate board members in their permitting decisions. The law provided immunity to groundwater district board members for actions taken on behalf of the board in the course of fulfilling their duties. Whether McCarthy’s federal, rather than state court, lawsuit is challenging the bounds of the law or worming its way around it, we cannot yet say. We’ll be watching! Linda Curtis , a spokesperson for the League of Independent Voters said, "There is no doubt that landowner wells in two groundwater conservation districts are failing, so it's hard to call them hysterical Chicken Littles. On the other hand, investors in a speculative groundwater project that hasn't found a real customer in over 20 years, might wonder if Gatehouse and Mr. McCarthy's sky is falling." A 600-page lawsuit, the second in a series of such lawsuits, indicates Gatehouse’s willingness to punish Lost Pines and individual directors with legal fees and the personal toll of litigation. What does that tell you about how valuable the water is underneath us and how strong our volunteer groundwater district board members must be to simply do their jobs? Read all about the hearings and this important water update here at Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund (SAWDF).

Independents call former Governor Rick Perry "Governor 39%". That was Perry's reelection percentage in 2006 when two independents -- Carole Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman -- were running against him and Democrat Chris Bell. Perry shot himself in the foot pushing a foreign mega-corporation "deal of the century" -- the Trans-Texas Corridor, aka the "NAFTA Highway", a public-private partnership that leveraged our public highways for his donor pals. Today, the same thing is happening with the "Trans-Texas water highway," aka Vista Ridge, "the San Antone Hose." Why is Perry stumping for his water boy in a local Texas House District (HD-17), home of Vista Ridge? Perry is stumping for a young guy who wants to become the State Representative for Caldwell, Bastrop, Lee, Milam, and Burleson counties -- House District 17 . Neither Perry nor his candidate, Stan Gerdes, mention a word about the wealth transfer -- precious groundwater -- flowing to San Antonio for buildout into the Hill Country that the Vista Ridge pipeline involves. The pipeline threatens landowner wells and their wealth and the wealth of local rural economies in HD-17. Then there are 1.8 million San Antonio Water System ratepayers paying exorbitant water rates to help subsidize development into the Hill Country. (See our water page -- the Big Squeeze - water -- if you doubt us.) Stan Gerdes moved into the small town of Smithville (Bastrop County) just two years ago. He has yet to serve a full year on the Smithville City Council, a position Perry helped secure for Gerdes. Smithville locals tell us he's also making few friends without the listening skills it takes to move into a community to lead it. This expensive 11 x 17 mailer puffs up Stan Gerdes's "Top-Secret Clearance," likely given to him because it appears he was Perry's scheduler. It also implies he's got Donald Trump's backing. Trump might call that a bit of fake news. The Gerdes campaign is flush with cash, much from outside the district and likely Perry's profiteering cohorts involved in the energy sector and some well known "growth machine" lobbyists. See the Texas Ethics Commission Report here and the very recent report here . Rick's up to his old tricks in the Texas Political Swamp! In January 2020, shortly after Perry left the Trump Administration, he showed up on the Board of Directors of Energy Transfer . Energy Transfer was the largest profiteer of the Texas grid failure last year, walking away with $2.4 billion of the $54 billion profits. Energy Transfer CEO, Kelcy Warren, gave $1 million to Greg Abbott. Energy Transfer's PAC gave Gerdes $1000. Energy Transfer was shamefully in the news again this week , threatening to cut off power to Vistra Corp's 400,000 customers. If Perry's water boy is elected, hide your water and wallets, folks. Visit LIV's "The Big Squeeze" water page for just part of our long and winding story to protect Texans' most precious resource. Linda for a Little Less Corruption is Linda Curtis, a long time political independent and a founder of the League of Independent Voters. Bio here .

Travis County Commissioner Pct. 4 candidate, Susanna Ledesma-Woody, running in the Democratic primary, had an Election Day shenanigan that takes the cake. According to the Austin Chronicle, Susanna's opponent, longtime Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gomez, mass emailed and texted just 4 days before Election Day, the false claim that Susanna had pulled out of the race. Susanna appears to be only 219 votes behind Gomez with the race yet to be called. Susanna is raising money for a full recount that will cost $6600. Donate here . Here's what the Chronicle wrote about it:

There's lots of primary news we'll be discussing at the LIV Forum -- moved from this coming Monday to Wednesday, March 9, 7 to 8 pm. Please RSVP here! Special guest: Joe Jaworski, Democratic runoff candidate for Attorney General and others TBA. Breaking News! Joe Jaworski is in the Democratic runoff for Attorney General! Joe received a 5-star rating from LIV for a reason. Joe's 5-minute video here will start the conversation for us on Wednesday night. The runoff is on May 23. Voters received this mailing on Thursday, March 4th two days after Election Day, likely costing big bucks for Don Huffines, "an actual Republican." Nuff said about the divisions in the Republican Party that might be the best thing that ever happened to Attorney General Ken Paxton who had to claw his way through a 4-way primary with big Republican names -- Eva Guzman , Louie Gohmert and George P. Bush . Paxton is now in a runoff with Bush. More here in The Texas Tribune . We congratulate LIV's independent positive Republicans and Democrats who won their primaries. They are Republican Clara Beckett (Bastrop Co. Commissioner, Pct. 2), Democrat Loyd Richeson (Medina Co. Commissioner, Pct. 4) and Republican Bobby Seiferman , Matagorda County Judge who is unchallenged in November. Regretfully, LIV's 5-star rated candidate, Tom Glass , running a crowded five-way Republican primary for House District 17 (Bastrop, Burleson, Caldwell, Lee and Milam counties), ran a strong third place short by only about 400 votes. There’s now a runoff for the Texas House District 17 Republican nomination between Paul Pape and Stan Gerdes. Madeline "Maddie" Eden , running uncontested for the Democratic nomination will be the Democratic nominee in HD-17. {Update on Glass campaign 3/7/22. Tom is working on raising the funds for a recount. As a cyber- security expert, he is well qualified to verify this election. No one is being accused of "stealing this election" but any candidate has the right to a recount so long as they pay the costs.] Also, regretfully, LIV 4.5 star rated candidate, progressive Democrat, Chris Leal of Dallas, was also running in a five-way contest and came up just short of 3rd place. We would only add that it became clear during this first primary involvement for LIV that both Tom Glass and Chris Leal are leaders. Humbly, LIV needs to grow the independent, cross-partisan movement to become a more effective voice for collaboration and less confrontation. More soon, y'all!

Have you noticed that candidates running in either party primary sound alike? They are too often the flip sides of the same coin, ignoring the issues slapping us in the face right where we live. The "water war" in House District 17 -- Bastrop, Burleson, Caldwell, Lee and Milam counties is a great example. Only Tom Glass, one of a few candidates who received LIV's five star-rating, talks about it. Glass, along with hundreds of landowners whose wells are plummeting, are talking plenty about it. They know the water beneath them is the most valuable resource on the planet and scurrilous profiteers -- public and private -- are wasting it. In San Antonio, most progressives talk about climate change but fail to mention that San Antonio ratepayers are paying through the nose for the hose to move water into Hill Country for buildout over their own precious Edwards Aquifer! Folks, Vista Ridge was always for buildout of high end homes in the Hill Country! Progressives and conservatives talk a good game. But does anyone believe the fairy tale that you can ignore the two-party machines and be taken seriously? We at LIV still encourage you to vote in the primary unless you Vistare a dedicated follower of a minor party -- the Libertarian or Green parties -- OR you want to sign a petition for an independent candidate. The tools to find out who is running in your area, what districts you're in, and with maps are listed on our Survey page: Go here and scroll down the page. Please share this post, won't you, and become a dues-paying member of LIV to keep us going. Thank y'all! Recommended Readings: Texas Monthly on the Railroad Commission race here . San Antonio Report on SAWS Service into Edwards Recharge Zone here .

LIV proudly announces our five star-ratings for candidates running in either major party primary! Three Republicans and three Democrats! We know. We're not supposed to choose both sides, but that's what we independent voters do. Call it the Texas Swing! Early voting starts on Valentine's Day -- tomorrow -- a day to love your right to vote by voting. Statewide -- Joe Jaworski, Attorney General, Democrat House District 17 -- Tom Glass, Republican (Caldwell, Bastrop, Lee, Milam & Burleson counties) House District 114 -- Chris Leal, Democrat (Dallas) Bastrop County Commissioner, Pct. 2 -- Clara Beckett, Republican ( polls here ) Matagorda County Judge -- Bobby Seiferman, Republican ( polls here ) Medina County Commissioner, Pct. 4: Loyd Richeson, Democrat ( voting info here ) Note: These ratings are for CONTESTED races only. We will visit the candidates after the March 1 primary running on any party line and independent.. Learn more and watch a few short LIV videos with the candidates. Remember, you will have to choose either a Republican or Democratic ballot. Though you cannot split your vote in the primary, you can split your ticket in November. We didn't make it easy for the candidates. Our survey is a 17 question in-depth "bread and butter, hold the red meat" survey. We also went beyond the survey to vet candidates. Take the survey yourself here . Our survey page also explains how we made additional efforts to vet the candidates. Early voting is Monday, February 14, through Friday, February 25. (No voting on Feb. 21, a state holiday.) Election Day is March 1. Step up to volunteer for LIV at the polls. Please consider becoming a dues-paying member or making a donation today here. PS Don't forget the Interim Legislative Session coming soon as we await the interim charges from the Speaker of the Texas House, Date Phelan and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.

Join us on Monday night, February 7, 7 pm for LIV's "First Monday Forum." We'll give you a sneak peak of the candidates who received stellar ratings from LIV running in Republican and Democratic contested primaries. Early voting starts on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14. LIV recently sent our "Independent Texan 2022 Survey" to a wide array of VOTERS and CANDIDATES from all parties. We're getting some great responses! Results coming next week. Click here to access the survey. Ask your favorite candidates for county and state office -- and your voting friends -- to do the survey too. Then, join us for our Monday Forum. Do you know what district you're in? Redistricting has confused us all. Click here to find out, courtesy of The Texas Tribun e. LIV News Picks • Linda for A Little Less Corruption is back on her high-horse after Governor 39%, aka Tricky Rick. " What's Rick Perry up to in House District 17, home of the Texas water wars ? " You'll love the pix. :) Maverick Republican, Texas State Senator Kel Seliger, joined the legal challenge to gerrymandered redistricting forged by Republican leadership. It's making its way through an El Paso court. We love this! More here . Geez Louise, it's nice to know that the recent $300M Austin luxury subsidy deal had a setback. Check out the commentary in the Austin Chronicle from the three intrepid attorneys -- Aleshire, Bunch, and Lewis, " Who pays $278 million: Austin taxpayers or developers? " P S: It's the same developer desperados who forced Austin taxpayers to subsidize their luxury shopping mall. Wanna bet on whether Williamson County and Taylor officials, not to mention King Greg himself, knew about Samsung's water pollution last May when they gave Samsung 100s of millions in 20-30 year 90% property tax abatements last November? Then there's TCEQ's pathetic cronyism: See KXAN report , " Samsung Austin facility’s January wastewater spill was second within a year ." Don't you hate it when someone says, "I told you so? " Sorry, but it needs to be said to some leading aquifer protectors and fiscal conservatives who laid back and continue to lay back on challenging the greedy bastards at SAWS for an independent audit of Vista Ridge ("The San Antone Hose") already! The San Antonio Report tell us: " SAWS approves service for 3,000 homes upstream of Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone ." Two of LIV's favorite non-partisan, nonprofits working on our bread and butter, sparing us the red meat! Follow them, join them and share them with your friends! There's not much more important than fixing the Texas grid and getting the Railroad Commission in chec k. Start following Commission Shift , the new nonprofit is making some waves. More at Commission Shift . Are you, like LIV, a fan of Texas independent small farms? Check out Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance's news, including their endorsements . Then, m a rk your calendar for their annual conference, Aug. 7 - 9, Texas State University, San Marcos. Have you joined LIV? Great, if you have. If you haven't, what's stopping you? Dues start as low as $10 for the year. Join here and hop on Monday's forum.

LIV recently released our "Independent Texan Survey" to 1000 candidates running for State Legislature and County offices. Below is the letter we sent to candidates: Dear Candidate for Texas State and County Office: The League of Independent Voters of Texas (LIV) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501c4 organization founded in 2013. Though LIV does not endorse candidates, we will issue a star rating to candidates of any party for County and State offices in 2022. You might want to use our rating to reach out to independent Texas voters. There are millions of us "swing voters"! We only ask you to fill out our Independent Texan voter survey online. It is due to us by Thursday, January 27th at midnight . If you have time constraints, do let us know. Please reply to this message or give us a call with any questions you have. Please make sure to leave your email, website and phone number at the end of the survey so we may contact you. We would greatly appreciate a reply to this message that you intend to participate by doing this survey. TAKE THE LIV SURVEY HERE! Thank you for putting yourself through the arduous process of running for political office. Trust that we feel your pain! LIV seeks to represent independent and minor party voters in Texas, just as we work across all parties and ideologies to educate and unite voters. In short, LIV seeks: 1. More electoral choices. 2. Ending partisan warfare between the two parties. 3. Making growth pay for itself while protecting our water and land resources. We hope to hear from you and good luck!

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, premiere independent in American history, the League of Independent Voters (LIV) launches our 2022 Voter and Candidate Survey. Like Dr. King, we seek to unite voters across all parties and persuasions for: More choices at the ballot box. Ending partisan warfare between two parties with the American people in the crossfire. Making growth pay for itself while protecting water and land resources. TAKE THE SURVEY HERE! How did King change the world? He remained nonpartisan, never endorsing candidates or parties. When he was asked to run as an independent for President with Benjamin Spock, to unite the anti-war and civil rights movement, after due consideration, he declined. Did King, in fact, have something bigger in mind? We think so. He pursued his mission to change the hearts and minds of the American people, uniting a movement across race and economics. What we do today with Dr. King's legacy is, as we see it at LIV, the task of the independent political movement in America. Take the VOTER and CANDIDATE Survey for 2022 . Please share it with others across Texas. Would you like to know NOW, so you can plan ahead on who you will vote for "down ballot" -- for TX House & Senate and County officers: Check out this list we've been building for you ! Early voting in the Republican and Democratic Primaries starts on February 14th, Valentine's Day. Election Day is Tuesday, March 1. Texans enjoy the open primary, so we can vote in either party primary every two years. OR, we can participate in a minor party convention. Note: Texas is the only state that does not allow voters to sign a petition for an independent candidate if they vote in the primaries. This is one of many issues being litigated by the Center for Competitive Democracy. See this LIV News article for more. Got questions or want to get involved? Talk to us! Email us at: contact@LIVTX.org or call us at 512.213.4511.

Didn't we all think Betty White was going to live forever? It's a sad way to end the year, but we don't think she would have supported us crying in our beer. She had one heck of a life entertaining the world! Click here for Betty White's outstanding performance on Saturday Night Live when she was "88 1/2" -- the joke about Facebook is priceless. Farewell, Betty and Happy New Year to those of us still blowing kisses or just learning how. ••••••••••• LIV is delaying our Monday Forum to the following Monday, January 10th. We hope to have our survey for voters and candidates -- the 2022 Independent Texan Agenda -- to share with you on the call before it goes live. Remember, this forum is for members only, so pony up your dues to help LIV grow in 2022. Thank you, have fun and be safe!

Way to go, Austin intrepid attorneys for the public interest -- Bill Aleshire, Bill Bunch & Fred Lewis!. We just love this story by The Austin Bulldog, the best of Texas non-profit investigative journalism in the public interest! The Austin Bulldog rides again: Luxury real estate to get special tax status under 'blight' statute . From LIV to extend the discussion : In the article's fifth paragraph, there is a reference to the battle to stop the city of Austin from subsidizing The Domain luxury shopping mall back in the mid-2000s . The Domain deal is a 20-year 380 Incentive Agreement . The Domain deal was given a week's public notice before rammed through the City Council in 2003. The purveyors of the deal falsely claimed it was "just" $25 million. In fact, it was more like $57 million, verified by the Statesman newspaper. ( See Wikipedia page here. ) In 2008, a citizens' petition drive and public vote to reverse the subsidies lost at a narrow 48%. The proponents of the "Stop Domain Subsidies" measure argued that the city should refrain from subsidizing retail facilities, therefore "picking winners and losers" in a competitive market. Endeavor Real Estate Development, Simon Malls, and various "upstanding" members of the Austin business community primarily involved in real estate development worked together with their minions in public office to snooker the voters. Back then, a sitting Mayor, Mayor Will Wynn (yes, that's his real name), was the face and voice in a $400,000 ad buy urging, "Austin Keep Its Word." Blech! Though the Domain subsidies were, and still are, stinky, they are but one of the many thousands of cuts to a local economy and resource protection in a region. Let's not pretend that "progressive" Austin hasn't led the way in runaway pro-growth, pro-subsidy policies. By the way, Wynn was last seen in Bastrop trying to help push a mega-permit demand (EndOp, now Recharge LLP) on the aquifers already under siege by SAWS and Vista Ridge. The "San Antone Hose" is already drawing down private wells. The Recharge permit is still pending with no pumping yet under way . The locals like me wonder if there will ever be state or local government action to prevent the "water grabs" in the counties east of Austin (Bastrop, Lee, Milam and Burleson) from harming the aquifers. No one, including the real estate industry itself, can afford this. We share this for a purpose. Take a look at the backdrop of the film, " The Wendell Baker Story ." It was released in 2005 before the affordable and cool city, the "Music Capital of the World," was forced off the cliff. Austin was always destined to grow, of course, but not a the pace demanded by these fine upstanding members of the business community, Molly Ivins called "bidness community." Did your tax appraisal hit the roof this year? And are you considering robbing a bank to pay your rent, or are you trying to figure out where t is the safest place to live outdoors? I'm serious as a heart attack, folks. The flood of people arriving in Texas has a an upside. If we welcome them (and we do), they can be part of the solution. That solution is a genuine voter and taxpayer revolt -- inside and outside both major parties. The question at LIV is how to bring about that task as we enter the Interim Legislative Session and the mid-term election in 2022. LIV has a Legislative Agenda we call "The Independent Texan Agenda." We invite all LIV members to our First Monday Forum on January 3rd to see the full draft. Go to our Events Page to RSVP. Please become a member of LIV today and join the cause! Please note: We encourage you to vote in either party primary unless you're active in one of our minor parties in Texas, Libertarian or Green, or wish to sign a petition for an independent candidate. Read our other post today, " What's the Big Secret About Your Choices in 2022 ."

Why the heck would the chief election officer of the State of Texas – the Secretary of State who the Governor appoints -- make anyone file an open records request for clearly public records? We refer to the application for nomination forms by Libertarians and Greens, and declarations of intent to run by independents (candidates not aligned with any party). The answer is simple. The Secretary of State is doing what the two parties set into motion beginning in 1967 – shoring up a two-party duopoly on the Texas ballot. How the two-party duopoly came about is laid out in the complaint filed in federal court by the Center for Competitive Democracy in 2019 – Miller v. Doe . Thankfully the suit has finally begun to move through the federal courts, stalled by COVID. Only five statewide independent candidates have achieved ballot access in Texas since 1968: Eugene McCarthy for President (1972, by court order), Ross Perot for President (1992 and 1996), Pat Buchanan for President (2000) and Carole Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman for Governor (2006). (Ralph Nader failed a valiant attempt and Ron Paul and Lenora Fulani ran on minor party tickets.) The Legislature has historically used minor parties – the Libertarian and Green Parties – to improve their electoral chances against the other major party, caring not at all for true electoral competition . Again, read the complaint. It's complicated and, like all duopolies, downright sinister. The good news about the lawsuit is this. I t enjoys the pro-bono participation of a prestigious international law firm, Shearman & Sterling, and backed by none other than one of our most famous independents – Mark Cuban. Clearly, Cuban could afford the $1+ million price tag for statewide independent ballot access. We think it’s way cool that he cares about the rest of us regular independent folks. LIV's name contains the word "independent" because we hope to earn your trust to be the voice for Texas independent voters – who are a wild bunch not to be branded or controlled. That said, the day has come for us to deliberate amongst ourselves to determine what we think being an independent Texan means. LIV will not be endorsing candidates in this election. BUT, we ask for your support to help LIV engage the candidates in this election. We care not about their label (conservative, progressive, etc.) or their party. We care greatly about the following: Who is funding their campaign? Are they running a clean campaign or simply engaging in casting aspersions about their opponents? Are they addressing bread and butter issues relevant to their district? Are they using "red-meat" (the issues that most divide us like guns, abortion, and the border) to distract us, revving up their party core while leaving most voters wondering about their affordability, energy, and water? Are they backed by the incumbents. If so, are you happy with your incumbents? You can expect the same from the ones they endorsed. If anything, folks, we're going to have some fun for once in this election. That's because it is time, long overdue, for the voters to have the last laugh at all the games played by politicians of all stripes. Do you agree? We invite you to join LIV before our next First Monday Forum, January 3, 7 pm. Go to the menu item above "Join LIV" and if you have questions, call us at 512.213.4511. Thank you! We will be seeking input on our independent agenda. The forum will be for members only. Remember, peace begins at home. Have a safe and happy holiday season, y'all!