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Independent voters are horses of a different color. We don't drink partisan poison. Monday, January 20th, is a celebration of one of America's most iconic uniters for peace -- Dr. Martin Luther King -- and it's the inauguration day for one of America's most iconic partisan disruptors, Donald J. Trump . If the incoming President can lead the world to end the carnage (not a war) of the Palestinian people. he is to be congratulated. See our lead article, " From King to Trump" and check out this entire LIV News. We hope this edition of LIV News entices you to join us online on Monday, January 27 at 7 pm to discuss the following : If failure is our best teacher, the forty years of failure to empower independent voters even as our numbers continue to rise, indicate there is a way out of our partisan poisoning and political madness. But, we need to figure this out together turning to a new chapter of civic engagement. Sign in here to join us at this important forum. More on why LIV Reorganization is underway: Those who engaged in partisan poisoning, aka "RINO hunting", to ram their chosen new Texas House Speaker, were warned that it would boomerang. It did and they lost. Now we must deal with a new Speaker, Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock), who led the attacks on municipal home rule powers in 2023 -- local control. ( See our "RINO Hunting is so 1800s " article.) The internecine political knife fighting is not reserved for Republicans . It can be seen in one-party ruled cities like Austin with all Democrats on the city council, despite that Austin has changed to a parity city. And, the incumbency addicted 4-term with 4-year terms, Mayor Kirk Watson . started way back in 1997, making one of his signature issues petition signatures. All these years, Watson has tried to harm the rights of Texans to petition in 350+ Texas home-rule cities, where the vast majority of Texans live. (Visit our " Homegrown Petitions " page.) Partisan poison is filtering into small cities . The small city Bastrop is a big mess created by an unruly 3 to 5 majority aided by its unhinged City Manager, Sylvia Carrillo. who made up a story over a year ago to justify sitting city council members using recall petitions to oust Nelson. Lyle hung in there, but resigned on Tuesday, a decision we support. For now, LIV News is the only place for you to get all the complicated facts that have been confused by a pack of innuendo and story-telling hounds. It's also a great story. See the latest: " The Silencing of Chery Lee ," and, " Bastrop Mayor Lyle Nelson Resigns ." On that note, don't miss open government attorney, Bill Aleshire's 2-minute video take just after Lyle's resignation here ! Bill Aleshire, open government and fiscal accountability sleuth, names the name. LIV News is getting its mojo on through a reorganization. We want to talk with you about how you can help. Join us on Monday, January 27 at 7 p.m., all you beautiful horses of a different color! Sign in here . *The city of Bastrop sits in the county with the same name, now famously associated with Elon Musk-related industries. The connection is related to the handling of wastewater, something local water wonks are tracking. Additional News in This Edition LIV Originals: • T he TX Lege is in Session : Half-assed economic policy and nutty water plan. Is Gridzilla on steroids? • Bastrop Mayor Lyle Nelson Resigned : Community Distract News Rides Again! • In celebration of MLK : Farewell Jimmy, hello independent voters and civic duty • Posted on Dec. 23: ' Twas the week before Christmas and throughout City Hall , City Manager Sylvia made sure to appall: The silencing of Cheryl Lee Additional Reads: > The latest 60 Minutes Report about the US role in Israel's war on Gaza. > Independent journalist, Lee Fang , on MAHA realignment from food diyes . > When a Mayor =/ Not a Mayor : Carol Spencer , about Bastrop Mayor Lyle Nelson's resignation > ICYMI: " This is My Chernobyl ," News Nation. about the permanent contamination of the Coleman's of Johnson County heritage ranch by "forever chemicals" from fertilizers. Texas A&M has confirmed the contamination. Calendar of Events: Monday, January 27, 7 pm , LIV Online forum at 8 pm. If failure is our best teacher, how do independent voters proceed beyond the madness of partisan poisoning brought to us by the two-party system? Sign in to join us! January 27-29, Contested Case Hearing: Corix Utilities McKinney Roughs WWTP:  Further upstream at LCRA’s McKinney Rough Park,  Corix Utilities is undergoing a 10-fold expansion of its wastewater facility inside the park. Environmental Stewardship has taken the lead in contesting that permit, asking that the permit be delayed until TCEQ collects more current data on the river’s health.  With this hearing looming, Environmental Stewardship is now actively involved in the pre-hearing legal process including initial disclosures ,   discovery , initial disclosures regarding expert witnesses and their materials, that will lead to testimony and exhibits used to make our case at the hearing on merits. The hearing is on the merits in this case is scheduled to be held before the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH). Looking to watch the TCEQ contested case hearing with Corix and Environmental Stewardship? Here ya go: SOAH's YouTube page The broadcast will start on Monday 9:00 AM  and each day until ending as late as Wednesday.  Here is a direct link to the SOAH hearing:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7OYiTzUqZQ

Kinda scary when made-up characters are our only salvation from partisan poisoning of water policy. The 89th Legislative Session opened on Tuesday, January 14, 2025.  Today, Lt . Gov. Dan Patrick   released his appointments  for Senate Committees. Patrick is famous in Texas as a partisan of all partisans who forced the state legislature into repeated special sessions on the "burning" issue of transgender bathrooms! Perhaps the good news is the widespread admission by top Texas officials that our state is running out of water. Be sure to tell everyone, ya hear! This includes Patrick's right-hand man who was unsurprisingly reappointed chair of the Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Senator Charles Perry , another Lubbock boy and the new Speaker of the Texas House, Rep. Dustin Burrows . West Texas is the scene of at least two crimes against nature : the draining of the mighty but barely recharging Ogallala Aquifer (by multiple states) and the poisoning of groundwater in the Permian Basin related to uncapped oil and gas wells. We applaud the work of Sarah Stogner and this November 1st Houston Chronicle article, " Leaked memo details $100M emergency request to address Texas oil well blowouts, contamination ." Quoting Sen. Perry from his commentary published in the December issue of the Texas Water Journal : "For Texas to sustain the rates of population and economic growth our state has enjoyed the last few decades, we must take action to secure additional water supplies." Impact Fees Chart We respect that Senator Perry knows a great deal about water, but herein perhaps lies the problem with his premise. Ultra-fast-paced growth is not all good, especially in a state that has let industry (including big real estate) off the hook for sharing in the costs of growth. The costs of infrastructure demanded to serve more and more people and more and more mass-industrial projects can be way better shared in Texas. But our Legislature and state officials have left our local governments without the ability to even come close to keeping up with the costs of growth. Take impact fees, as one example. These are one-time fees paid by developers to help pay for some of the costs of infrastructure (roads, water lines, etc.) needed to serve new residents. Texas only allows cities to impose impact fees and they're very limited. Check out the impact fee chart to the right. Florida allows city and county governments to impose impact fees and in far more categories than Texas, including the big ones - public safety and schools. These are not allowed in Texas. T hough we're happy to see Senator Perry pushing desalination (brackish and ocean), and produced water treatment in West Texas oil fields geared towards "new water supply," we have a hard time believing we can do it all . The "all" now includes data centers, Bitcoin, and chip manufacturers that are placing excessive demands on our energy supply and probably water, though these facilities are not yet publicly required to report their water use. In the case of chip plants, we have excessive water demands AND contamination to worry about . And, with data centers, we are seeing significant incentives accompanied by little disclosure. (See this LA Times article.) To top it all off, there appears to be a nutty water plan by Governor Greg Abbott and Houston Mayor John Whitmire to consider piping Houston's "excess" water to West Texas! Oh well, at least this Gridzilla isn't about mass exports of precious groundwater as is continuing today through the "San Antone Hose" aka Vista Ridge. We would be remiss without mentioning this News Nation story that went viral about this "Chernobyl" for the ranchers in Johnson County and lord knows where else. It's hard to watch this, but you can also just read it. The Coleman's Heritage Ranch disaster in Johnson County is in litigation. We hope to see it front and center in this Legislative Session. The Colemans have been walloped by mass contamination due to the highly toxic fertilizers the EPA allowed to be marketed as safe. It appears that forever chemicals (PFAS and PFOS) have forever poisoned their land as they watched their cows and horses go belly up, after the fish in their pond. The contamination was confirmed at Texas A&M. J oin us at LIV to end the poisoning of our politics and our water and land so we can protect our lives from nutty plans driven by partisan poisoning. For the next LIV News: We ask what could happen if/when the new Trump Administraion rounds up and deports the masses by heeling to what David Stockman  calls "invasion propagandists"? The economist (formerly Ronald Reagan's "whiz kid,") David Stockman here  calls the plan disastrous "half-assed economics". Stockman, who is thankfully bird-dogging DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), warns that if the mass deportations happen, the second Trump term will arrive as "stillborn."

MLK tried to lead a peaceful revolution, ending two-partyism I just turned 74. I'm still dreaming the same dream inspired in me by Martin Luther King . At age 12, I was living in one of the most segregated cities in America, Miami, Florida. I acted out my MLK dream to question authority, to question orthodoxy, and to take a risk. The risk was a life's work to get America out of the two-party stranglehold on electoral competition. Dr. King's greatest risk is barely remembered or even known by most Americans . He risked losing his stature as our country's most important civil rights leader as he considered an independent presidential run with Ben Spock. This would have united two mass movements underway: the civil rights movement and the movement to end the Vietnam War. It was a revolutionary break with two-partyism . And, it died with Dr. King. It was replaced with a reform movement for civil, women's, and gay rights, environmentalism, and consumer protection that was coopted into the Democratic Party and a long era of identity politics. Fast forward to 1992 when a most unlikely revolutionary stepped forward to run as an independent for President . Ross Perot rose up from the mass movement for the most popular voter initiative in U.S. history -- term limits. He sent a shock wave across the political and media establishment, showing 45% in the polls. That's right. Perot could have won the presidency.* His issue was prescient -- the federal deficit was the ticking time bomb on the American economy's decline. What if Donald Trump ran in 2000 on the Reform Party line, as suggested by then Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura? Fast forward again to this extraordinary 1999 press conference with the then newly elected Governor of Minnesota , Jesse Ventura together with Donald Trump . It was not long after Ventura's stunning victory on the Perot-founded Reform Party line that was just 3 years old. Donald Trump came to Ventura looking for a way around the "swamp" to run for president in 2000. But in February 2000, the Reform Party fractured into pieces as the cameras rolled at a national press conference. The party died at this embarrassing event in front of the national media, as several fought over the microphone. See " Reform Party Ousts Chairman at Raucous Meeting ." In short four years, the Reform Party died. What did we learn that's relevant today as Donald Trump steps back in for a second term? What if Donald Trump ran in 2000 as an independent in a three-way race ? Might that have helped shape him as a political moderate, a so-called RINO in today's world of hyper-partisan poisoning? I don't regret a moment of the last 45 years of my life having taken the risk of failure to help get America out of its two-party monopolistic bind. B ut if you believe, like I do, that failure is our best teacher, we should be able to figure this out. In Texas, we have been to the courts and the Legislature -- many times -- to ease ballot access requirements and to ease restrictions on parties and petitions. We have repeatedly failed , yet the numbers of Texas independents keep growing. What else can we -- independents not aligned with a party or ideology -- do to break through? I have some ideas that we've been working on to share with you. This is why I want to see you at our first online forum for 2025 -- on Monday, January 27 at 7 pm . Sign up at our Events page here and feel free to email us at contact@livtx.org . Linda Curtis was the state organizer for the Reform Party of Texas and served on the national committee of the Reform Party USA. In 2000 she co-founded Independent Texans PAC. In 2013, she co-founded the nonpartisan, nonprofit 501c4 League of Independent Voters of Texas. ________________ * You may not know or remember, that Perot blew through the ballot access petition requirements with thousands of activated volunteers, but abruptly dropped out for a few months. His volunteers kept petitioning and pulled him back into the race. This morning, January 20, MLK & Inauguration Day, I added this clarification : In 2019, political scientist, historian, ahd Democrat, Lee Drutman , in his book, "Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop," argued that since the 1980s the U.S. party system has become a "doom loop."* He said, " America is divided over two competing visions of national identity. Politics is now all about winning and losing. Government is breaking down.” Furthermore, Drutman wrote, "When loyalty is absolute, parties can mislead voters they supposedly represent into supporting policies that in fact, make their lives worse off. “ Is anyone in the two-party establishment or in the factions that exist today, capable of being more than tone-deaf about party and ideology? For more, see Rich Winger's (Ballot Access News) book review at LIV of , "Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop," and join us discuss the organizing problems that need addressing to get to Drutman's main thesis for a multi-party system in America. * LIV Note: 1980 is when Congressman John Anderson bolted from the GOP to run as an independent for President, receiving 6.6%. Anderson's ballot access litigation, to this day, was important to the continued efforts to open up the ballot.

Bastrop City Councilwoman Cheryl Lee knows her job is to oversee City management. Update, January 11, 2025: Be sure to read our latest about the Texas Legislative Session starting on Tuesday, January 14th. This is the backdrop that explains how a city of 12,000 residents, Bastrop, Texas, is losing it...its mind that is to mind the store. Read, "LIV's independent take on the Texas House Speaker Race." Alert : We just learned that the City of Bastrop is seeking an Attorney General opinion in hopes of denying our open records request mentioned in our l ast post about the resignation of City Attorney Alan Bojorquez. The AG has up to 45 days to respond. Our request is for: “Communications between Council Member John Kirkland and City Attorney Alan Bojorquez regarding Bojorquez's employment status with the City.” Overview If you live in a fast-growing city in Texas, let the story of the City of Bastrop, a small city of 12,000 people, be a cautionary tale. The City Manager has the power to make things happen -- good and bad. This is why it is so important to elect officials who understand their job is to -- both trust and verify city management -- and to make sure that officials abide by the spirit and intent of the Texas Open Meetings Act. Bastrop City Council Member Cheryl Lee gets it. In this article: The Bastrop Backstory Put it in Context The three most glaring takeaways from the suppressed Lee Report Harassment and Suppression of Lee, Nelson and Open Government Violations of Public Trust at Three Meetings LIV Addendum on Community Impact News Poor Coverage The Bastrop Backstory Bastrop’s City Manager, Sylvia Carrillo-Trevino , and three of the five voting members of the City Council (Kirkland, Plunkett and Meyer) have, for well over a year, engaged in concerted and clumsy shenanigans to disrupt and dislodge those in the minority at City Hall. This came to a head at a Special Meeting called by the City Manager on November 21st, with Cheryl Lee being shouted down and where repeated requests for decorum by Mayor Lyle Nelson were ignored.   LIV painstakingly wrote about it in this detailed article . If you haven't yet read it, please do. Then come back to this article for this important update.   Put it in Context   Click on this interactive Texas Growth Map from Newsweek Since the November 21st fiasco, nearly 900 people have viewed the video of the meeting, and as many or more have read the Lee Report. In contrast, nearly 4000 people have viewed the Bastrop Economic Development Corporation’s most recent meetings. America now knows about the little fragile heaven of “Bastrop charm” because Elon Musk-related industries have put Bastrop -- the county and the city -- on the map . Bastrop County is undergoing a 12-13% growth boom. It could be worse. Check out the 26% growth rate of Kaufman County. The problem for Bastrop and much of Texas is the infrastructure needs that are driven by fast-paced growth -- water (quality and quantity), wastewater, public safety, roads, energy, schools, etc, -- can't keep up. The Texas Legislature has failed to give cities and counties the tools to make growth pay for itself. A concerted attack on local government occurred in the 2023 legislative session with the passage of the "Death Star" bill, HB 2127 ( see LIV article here ). One of the leading contenders for the new speaker of the Texas House, is Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock), the author of HB 2127. These are the real questions for municipal officials in Texas. The antics of the Bastrop City Council majority and City Manager are providing a distraction when residents and local government urgently need answers to these questions about growth and open government: What are the costs in taxes and fees to the residents and how will our quality of life be affected related to water (quality and quantity), land, transportation, and air quality? Will businesses seeking development contracts and infrastructure projects involving hundreds of millions of dollars of investment be treated fairly? Or will they be subjected to pay-to-play politics by a local fiefdom? Will our governing bodies operate transparently, follow open meetings law, and commit to fiscal accountability?   The three most glaring takeaways from the   suppressed Lee Report are:   1.     The repeated attempt by City Manager Sylvia Carrillo to get the Council to approve paying an engineering firm twice ($371,118 x 2 = $742,236).  The firm had already been paid $371,118, but Carrillo insisted they be paid again. Lee kept asking why. The only response to date by Carrillo is, “I forgot about it”.  Carrillo signed the invoice for payment. How does one forget about writing a check for $371,118 of taxpayer money?  2.     The City Manager is expected to maintain neutrality on political or contentious matters serving as an impartial administrator for the city , yet appears to have violated ethical standards of the Texas City Management Association  ( laid out in the Lee Report pages 1-4, and 42-43, especially Tenet 7 ). Carrillo participated in and used city resources and her position to influence the outcome of a 12-month investigation costing the city more than $137,080 ( see page 24 , Lee Report ) .  This does not include additional expenditures underway to legally defend a private petition  for the Kirkland-led Council majority to recall Mayor Lyle Nelson for no legal reason at all . Still, Kirkland has city management seeking vengeance to put the recall on the May ballot at the January 14th meeting. 3.     The promise to thwart the law  -- the Bastrop City Charter -- by Carrillo  who announced at the November 21st meeting that she would defy the requirement clearly stated in her contract  (see top of pg 5)  to reside in the City of Bastrop. This longstanding city charter provision  (see bottom of pg. 15) had just been reaffirmed by the voters by 63% on November 5th.   Harassment and Suppression of Lee, Nelson and Open Government. The fight over open government and transparency comes on the heels of Bastrop voters passing Prop K -- the open government amendment  -- by 73% on November 5th. Prop K amended the quorum requirement that appeared to allow for a quorum of 3 to meet in private, as Meyer admitted she was regularly doing with Plunkett and Kirkland. We assume they have stopped their private meetings, but it appears that they could be doing a "walking quorum" aka a "daisy chain"? If they are, know that there are criminal violations involved. See this section of the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA). See: Sec. 551.143. CONSPIRACY TO CIRCUMVENT CHAPTER; OFFENSE; PENALTY .* Violations of Public Trust at Three Meetings Sylvia Carrillo-Trevino, November 21st Special Meeting, Photo credit: Community Impact News On November 21st Lee’s report was besmirched by Carrillo and some of the City Manager's most disorderly fans in the audience. They repeatedly shouted at and heckled Lee and refused to heed the Mayor’s repeated calls for decorum. Yes, maybe Nelson should have cleared the hall. But we understand why he didn’t, having been harassed for over a year with false claims to justify a recall campaign led from the dais by 3 of the 5 voting members of the City Council with help from the City Manager. See LIV News, " Breaking: Nelson finally filed suit on recall: Sylvia Carrillo's Inside Job ".   On December 10th, Kirkland and Meyer on Item 11D , engaged in a heavy-handed parliamentary maneuver to deny Cheryl Lee's right to speak on the item, despite that she is named -- and blamed -- in the posting for supposedly making city staffer's names public on November 21st. Lee attempted to simply explain that those staffers' names were made public by Carrillo when she made the Report public on November 21st without bothering to redact staffers' names. You can't make this stuff up! This is Lee's Statement on 11D , the one she was stopped from making. For the video: Scroll to 2:05:20 in the video  for the 11D .  On December 17th, at a Special Meeting called by City Manager Carrillo herself, Lee received this “lovely” Christmas present of   Item 6B . Carrillo requested "Council Approval or Denial" of Lee’s travel expenses to cover travel and room expenses to attend the board meeting of the Texas Association of Black City Council Members  (TABCCM) an Affiliate organization of the Texas Municipal League . Folks, this was pure harassment of Lee by the City Manager . This $348 reimbursement request by Lee was approved in previous years by the City Secretary without objection from guess who? The City Manager -- Sylvia Carrillo. The City manager has the authority to approve expenditures under $50,000, yet she placed Lee’s expense on the Agenda for public discussion. Why? Retaliation pure and simple.   Sylvia Carrillo and the Council majority will giveth and taketh away at their whim for now. But if their whims are predicated on the silencing of Cheryl Lee, it's a very bad bet.   Please note: The voters have a chance to settle all of this at the next election in May when Kirkland and Lee will be up for reelection. _______________________ LIV Addendum: For over the year, Community Impact News (CIN) has repeatedly failed to tell the public the most important facts in the story of what is happening to the city’s governance related to the attempt to recall Mayor Lyle Nelson, to silence Cheryl Lee and the recent resignation of City Attorney, Alan Bojorquez . CIN's coverage of the November 21st “mobbed” meeting failed to report that Lee was shouted down and the repeated calls by the Mayor for decorum were ignored . Unbelievably, CIN did not link to the Cheryl Lee Report despite that it was the main subject of the meeting! CIN’s December 4th report  of City Attorney Bojorquez’s resignation also failed to provide readers with a copy of Bojorquez’s resignation letter obtained by CIN in an open records request that is even referenced in the article. Thankfully, the Statesman did disclose Bojorquez's resignation letter  that LIV had obtained and gladly released to the Statesman.  *In 2011, Austin-based independent news outlet, The Austin Bulldog  (through its attorney, Bill Aleshire ), caught all members of the Austin City Council , including Mayor Kirk Watson , involved in widespread walking quorums -- criminal violations of TOMA.

The rights of the minority were trampled on November 21st in the city of Bastrop. It won't stop unless some in the majority put a stop to it. I have had nightmares trying to write this article. I cut my organizing teeth in the South Bronx over 40 years ago when thugs wielding lead pipes threatened us poll workers for a reform leader on the New York City Council. Ten years later, half of the corrupt Bronx Democratic machine including a Congressman, wound up in prison. Reform takes time.   I wouldn’t say Bastrop is yet like the South Bronx in the early 80s. But unless the leaders of the Bastrop community step up for open government and fair deliberation, it could happen.   My Take on the November 21st Bastrop City Council Special Meeting.   The good news is that nearly 600 people have watched the November 21st meeting video . Hundreds have likely read City Councilwoman Cheryl Lee’s Report . The Lee Report is 42 pages that raise legitimate and complex questions about City Manager Sylvia Carrillo ’s job performance. A review and investigation of the Lee Report was voted down 4 to 1 at a meeting called by Carrillo on November 21st.   The Fixers Carrillo and her allies on Council and in the community, including Mel Cooper ’s PAC, Bastrop Conservatives, and Dock Jackson , Bastrop Democrats, helped set the stage with urgent calls on NextDoor and via email the day of the meeting. The meeting was stacked with people standing in the back who bullied, heckled, and sought to humiliate Lee, the Mayor, and their supporters like me.   November 21st, the day of the meeting, Cooper's "urgent call to action" email stated: “Tonight, at 6:30 pm, the Bastrop City Manager, Sylvia Carrillo, will be under attack by a small but vocal political faction seeking her removal [LIV emphasis added], led by Mayor Lyle Nelson and City Council member Cheryl Lee. This group has made allegations, which Sylvia will address and refute with clarity and conviction.” There was no “seeking her removal,” in the Agenda Item, but that's what people were told was the "urgency". Here's the Agenda item to read for yourself: 4A. City Council shall convene into closed executive session pursuant to Texas Government Code Sections 551.071 and 551.074 to seek the advice of legal counsel regarding Resolution No. R-2024-XX of the City Council of the City of Bastrop, Texas, initiating an investigation by the City Council into the conduct of the City Manager. What was the “attack” on Carrillo? Carrillo was up for her job performance review by her bosses, the City Council. Council Member Lee’s Report raised serious concerns about Carrillo and submitted her Report in Executive Session on November 12th. (It is customary for personnel matters to remain in Executive Session as protection for staff members.) Lee and Mayor Lyle Nelson placed the Report and possible actions on the Executive Session agenda for the November 21st meeting, a week after Council Members had a chance to review it. Unless the Report was leaked, Cooper nor Jackson had read it. But by calling it an “attack,” pleading that it was "urgent” and claiming it was about "removing" Carrillo, they set the stage for the many people to show up who do business with or depend on the City Manager’s fair treatment and purse. She has the sole power to execute contracts for less than $50,000. But the bullies who attended the meeting were integral to making it a genuine "doo-doo" show.   Reminder of the South Bronx.   The loudest voice was a menacing guy who stalked up and down the aisle shouting down anyone who didn’t support Carrillo. He was finally ejected. That was the guy I kept yelling at to “shut up.” Yes, I confess and I was wrong for yelling at him, not to mention foolish. I knew no one had been screened for a weapon. Austin City Council uses a metal detector, but not yet the City of Bastrop.   Kirkland, Plunkett, and Meyer scored, but this is not a game.   Carrillo had an uninterrupted 50 minutes to demean Lee’s report. To explain her report, Lee got 5 interrupted minutes. Even Councilwoman Kerry Fossler was heckled for suggesting that people get to know one another. Perish the thought!     Carrillo herself made the best case for why she should be thoroughly reviewed, have a pay cut, be put on probation, or even fired. Perhaps too excited by her adoring audience, she went off the rails by detailing how she could “legally” circumvent the city charter that she is bound to follow. The provision that has long required the City Manager to live in the city had just been re-affirmed on November 5th, by 2770 voters (63%) against Proposition L.   There was also Johnny Sanders who in the past has served on the City Council, Commissioners Court, and is a former President of the BISD. He is also Councilwoman Cynthia Meyer ’s brother. His testimony was cheered by the mob in the back of the room when declaring Lee’s Report was “BULLSHIT.” Did he get the report and read it or not, I asked when I called him on it as the mob jeered at me. My biggest disappointment was seeing decent people who let this happen. This included a current local official (an attorney who knows better), several ex-officials, a respected pastor, and a major business owner. Even a supporter of Lee’s said she was afraid she would “lose it,” if she said something. I get it and I think this is normal behavior in a dirty fight.   I want to thank Cecilia Serna who stood up to the bullies. She called them out for, "acting like children" and "playground bullies." She read from the agenda itself that explains what decorum is at City Hall meetings. It gave pause to many.   The Aftermath   Within days of this meeting, the stellar City of Bastrop Attorney Alan Bojorquez resigned. I have a pending open records request to get his letter of resignation and communications between Kirkland and Bojorguez for the several days following the November 21st meeting. I believe we are all about to see why we needed Bojorquez more than he needed us.   A week following this meeting, John Kirkland was lighting the Christmas Tree, not the Mayor as is tradition. Why? In a word, bullies. At the next meeting, December 10, this is on the agenda, despite the pending litigation on whether the petition is even valid. What’s the big hurry? Answer: To quash the minority: 11C.Consider and act on first reading of Ordinance No. 2024-51; An Ordinance Ordering a Special Election to be held on Saturday, May 3, 2025 for the Recall of Mayor Lyle Nelson According to the Bastrop Home Rule Charter; Designating Polling Places with the City; Establishing other Procedures for the Conduct of the Special Election, Including Providing that the Election is to be held as a Joint Election in Conjunction with Bastrop County; Providing a Severability Clause; and Providing an Effective Date.    So far, the majority and their leaders, Carrillo and John Kirkland, rule without regard to the majority that should count the most. That’s the 3006 (73%) voters who, on November 5th, passed the open government amendment, Proposition K. This entire fiasco was a middle-finger given by the majority to the voters of Bastrop. Get ready for a city election in May when Kirkland will likely choose to run again. This time, we hope he faces opposition. The first time, he ran, he ran unopposed. Dear Santa: Please send me some open government and nip mob rule in the bud. Here  is Cheryl Lee's Report. Here  is the video of November 21st Feel free to leave a comment or to contact us. We love you, Bastrop!   See Community Impact News’ recent article here .

Bastrop Mayor Lyle Nelson resigned at City Hall Tuesday, January 14, 1:30 pm, Bastrop, TX : Today, we stood with Bastrop Mayor Lyle Nelson , open government attorney, Bill Aleshire , former Bastrop city attorney, longtime Bastrop community leader, David Bragg , former County Commissioner Mel Hamner , veteran activist, Carl Rees, and others, as Lyle Nelson resigned as Mayor. Click on the video to watch Lyle's statement or read it here . The resignation came after well over a year of concerted harassment by three members of the City Council led by John Kirkland , with the help of City Manager Sylvia Carrillo , to recall Nelson for made-up reasons. It was a story, a story spread by Community Impact News despite having repeatedly been given well-established facts. We will be writing more about this soon. The inimitable open government lawyer, Bill Aleshire Now, watch what Bill Aleshire had to say today about how the obsession to recall Lyle Nelson was based on a lie, a lie by Mayor Pro-Tem John Kirkland ===> Folks, the filing period to run in the May election is January 15 through February 15. There are now three seats on the City Council up for election in May: the Mayor's seat, the seat currently held by John Kirkland and the seat currently held by Cheryl Lee . Though we accept that Bastrop Mayor Lyle Nelson resigned today, we thank him for his many years of public service and look forward to continued joint work with Lyle to make Bastrop better.

Is A Meltdown In Tech Stocks Nearing As Doubts Of A.I.'s Impact Mount? | Fred Hickey on Thoughtful Money, Adam Taggart Show " Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one. " go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one ." Charles Mackay In September, we published this original article raising concerns about the " Tale that Wags the Texas Energy Dog ." The low-regulation state of Texas has quickly hung out its shingle for Bitcoin and A.I. data centers that are well known for their power and, in some cases, water demands. However, it appears that getting the information from these private operations, even as they seek tax incentives ( Chapter 312 here in Texas) like EdgeConneX just did in Bastrop County, does not result in the disclosure of this information. We suggest you watch this show to grasp the skepticism of Fred Hickey (The High Tech Strategist newsletter) about the massive investments in Gen AI. Thanks to this Adam Taggart 's Thoughtful Money show, for the enlightenment. This show has real meaning to us in Texas as data centers are setting up shop across the state with big incentive packages and scant information available upon public information requests. If this article interests you, please contact us to get involved in tracking this issue in the 2025 Legislative Session. You can also join us at upcoming forums in our Events section. Of course, we also welcome your comments below this article. _____________________ Additional Information: See the Austin Business Journal article about the EdgeConneX incentive here  and here  after the subsidy documents were executed and THEN made public. See LA Times article  here about how firms are withholding information across the country.

Scott Braddock, Quorum Report 1/9/25 If the RINO hunters weren't screwing this up, our choice is Cook. Update, January 13, 2025: We reprint with permission Harvey Kronberg of Quorum Report's article, " Whatever happens Tuesday the House will be weaker ". Update, January 11, 2025 : The TX Lege opens on Tuesday, January 14. The Speaker's race is still in a dead heat between Cook and Burrows. What all this means is discussed by Quorum Report's Scott Braddock on the "Texas Take" Mark Davis Show. Enjoy ===> If you're too busy to listen, you can read this letter by Rep. Gary Gates . A third option could emerge. Two names are floating around: Ryan Guillan and Todd Hunter . Regardless, independents want the Lege to get their priorities in order. Hey, remember us, the people who are just trying to live here? Original Article, December 14, 2025 : The election of the Texas House Speaker seems to be reinvented every time it happens. Perhaps that's because it is a true insider game. Therefore, what we have to say about it is said with no expectation that it will change the outcome one iota. We just want you to know how we're thinking about it at the League of Independent Voters (LIV). At the time of this blog post, it appears the race is between Rep. Dustin Burrows  and Rep. David Cook . The vote will be taken on January 14th, the first day of the legislative session.   It should be no surprise to you that we have a problem with Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) who led the attack on local control -- HB 2127 -- in the regular session of 2023. It's been in court since then because Burrows knew he couldn't work it out in the Legislature. So wrong! (We wrote about it in “ How the Texas GOP lit its hair – and every Texans’ local control – on fire. Gov. signs HB 2127 .”   As for Rep. David Cook  (R-Mansfield), though we haven't worked with him, we know he is liked and respected. We also appreciate that he is a former Mayor of a fast-growing city, Mansfield. Therefore, he knows the hassles faced by local officials and our local communities besieged by the costs of growth and the challenges to property rights, our resources, and quality of life. This is important to us at LIV. The problem for Cook is this. He appears to have been hog-tied by the partisans in the GOP who want to extract blood from Democrats by denying them any committee chair appointments regardless of their abilities. It's like an extension of reverse affirmative action based on party affiliation aka "RINO hunting”.   This places a conservative Republican -- David Cook -- the one with the support of the Republican Caucus mind you, between a rock and a hard place as he may need at least some Democratic lawmakers' support to overcome Burrows.   Don't be surprised if a third candidate emerges who is not the RINO hunters' first choice. Who might that be? No clue. In the words of Davy Crockett , we independents "wear no man's collar". This includes partisans of any party, as we work with people of all parties who want to get some real work done. How's your water? How are your roads? How is your government transparency and accountability? These issues have nothing to do with party affiliation other than bringing different solutions to the table to work out. It's called consensus building, a principle of representative government.   For a more seasoned and informative understanding of Texas House Speaker politics, see this recent  Quorum Report article by Scott Braddock . Please consider being part of LIV, regardless of your party, ideology, or where you live in Texas.

Andrew Young delivers the homily at President Jimmy Carter's funeral January 9, 2025. President Jimmy Carter 's lasting legacy was, for us at LIV, expressed best in the touching homily delivered yesterday by civil rights political icon, Andrew Young . Watch, enjoy, reflect, and learn the true character of a President who only got better after losing his second term in 1980. Yesterday, we also read Carter's most famous speech known as " The Crisis of Confidence ." This struck a chord with us: "Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose." Let us also not forget the real (independent) history of 1980. Carter's race for a second term was also when Congressman John Anderson (R-Illinois) left the GOP to run as an independent for President. Anderson advocated for a 50-cent gas tax hike that would build the funds for our transportation infrastructure (including mass transit) while allowing a 50% reduction in social security taxes. He was included in the first debate with only Ronald Reagan . Carter declined this debate, believing Anderson would hurt his chances for reelection. The second debate was with Reagan and Carter only. What if Carter joined that first debate and embraced Anderson's plan? We will never know, of course. Our reflections as independents as to Carter's greatest contribution is this. Jimmy Carter, after he left the Oval Office, modeled for the world and proved that you don't have to be President to find and give meaning to your life and the lives of millions of others. Hello, independent voters and civic duty in remembering Jimmy Carter. Join us at LIV to find and give meaning to our own lives by creating what it means in 2025 to be engaged in the civic life of our communities.

City Council Member Meyer at the "mob ruled" November 21st Meeting interrogates City Attorney at 32 minute mark. Update, Dec. 13, 2024: We neglected to tell you in our rush to get this information out to you that we have an open records request pending on email communications between Council Member John Kirkland and City Attorney Alan Bojorquez regarding Bojorquez's employment status with the City. Stay tuned, buttercups! At the last Bastrop City Council Meeting held on Tuesday night, December 10, renowned city attorney, Alan Bojorquez , announced his resignation as Bastrop City Attorney. LIV obtained his letter of resignation from a public information request. We posted it here , and pulled these quotes from it: "Given the current climate at City Hall, I have determined our present relationship is not sustainable.” "With our ethical obligations in mind, our firm is proud of our ability thus far to competently, consistently, and objectively serve the configuration of fragmented relationships that have yielded a house divided. However, the time has come to acknowledge that the irreconcilable differences among the city’s leaders have placed me and my team in an untenable position." We have not spoken with Bojorquez. But he is a human being and a very decent one. Bojorguez was interrogated by Council Members Cynthia Meye r and John Kirkland at approximately 32 minutes  into the "mobbed" meeting on November 21st we wrote about here . Fast forward to the City Council Meeting on December 10th. Ever the optimists, it appeared to us that everyone was settling down and being nice. However, when Bojorquez kindly gave his resignation comments (scroll to 1:58:02 minutes in the video ), only Mayor Nelson , Cheryl Lee , and Kerry Fossler thanked him for seven years of steady and stellar service.   The silence of Council Members John Kirkland , Cynthia Meyer , and Kevin Plunket was deafening, City Manager Carrillo's half-second of perfunctory "thanks", included. It spoke volumes to us. They wanted him gone. We in the Bastrop community are about to see what it means to have Bastrop City Attorney Alan Bojorquez out of the way. In the next article, we’ll be covering the outrageous maneuver employed by Council Members Kirkland and Meyer at the next meeting on December 10th to, once again, silence Council Member Cheryl Lee . Share this article from our Facebook page here . _______________ Other articles on this topic: Aaron Sullivan, Austin American-Statesman here . Carol Spencer ,"Turmoil in the City" blog here . Amanda Cutshall & Sierra Martin, Community Impact News   here .

You have no time to waste posting a complaint to the TCEQ if you live anywhere in Texas. Do so before Jan. 2. Please take action online by BY FILING A PUBLIC COMMENT with the TCEQ, no matter where you live in Texas, or your community could be next if it isn't already. (Click on the link at the end of this paragraph for all details and how to FILE A PUBLIC COMMENT.) And read more details from LIV below. Projects are too often rammed on rural communities without regard to their health, peace, homes, and property values. If you are facing similar problems with TCEQ’s ability to regulate, we also want to hear from you. See more below and/or simply visit the Stop TCEQ Permit 47084 website HERE . Lee County seems to be the target of bad projects. This needs to stop. If you live in Lee County, please attend a special meeting of the Lee County Commissioners  Court on Monday, December 16 at 10 am in the District Clerk Courtroom in the District Clerk Office Building, 289 South Main Street, Giddings. The Commissioners Court will consider a resolution that opposes Sandow Lakes Energy’s plan to locate a massive natural gas power plant in the pristine rural Blue community, a community already fighting to keep its groundwater from depletion by urban areas as far away as San Antonio. The community is not opposed to the plant, but they want it moved to Milam County where land has already been contaminated by the old ALCOA stripmine. Important details are HERE at Move the Gas Plant . Read On! At  a meeting we attended last night in the community of Lincoln in Lee County just 60 miles east of downtown Austin, hundreds of residents from Lee and surrounding counties packed into a church. We were there feeling threatened by some of Austin’s plans to “go green”.   What should have been a good thing -- diverting methane (CH4)-producing waste from the City’s landfill in favor of recycling it --- backfired. Break it Down LLC, the private company that stepped into aerobically “compost” that waste stream in an Austin facility was fined by TCEQ for nuisance odor violations and apparently agreed to stop composting that waste stream in outdoor windrows in their East Austin neighborhood. See news coverage here . After settling with TCEQ in 2022, the company’s owner has apparently shut down in Austin, formed a new “Break it Down Ranch Road LLC”, and notified TCEQ that the new LLC intends to resume composting in outdoor windrows in rural Lee County.   Residents expect the new plant to threaten Lee and surrounding counties' air, water, and homes with unbearable odors, health effects, water contamination, increased vermin and predator populations, and property value decline. To boot, no one in local government was asked about the placement of the plant, much less we "peons," who happen to live there. And, don't forget that Lee County and its neighboring counties, Burleson and Milam, are at the center of the "water grabs" going on for years to incentivize growth from Williamson County to Bexar County, for its " San Antone Hose ."   We are sure that Austin residents would not approve of this plan if they knew about it. There is obviously a concern that a company with a troubled environmental history may not clean up its act. Rural residents are concerned the company’s application to operate will now be rubberstamped by our "reluctant regulator," the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, to the detriment of Lee and surrounding counties. We used to call the TCEQ, previously the TNRCC, "train wreck" for a reason. They've been a captured agency for a long time. Special Note! Texas Senate heavyweight Lois Kolkhorst, third-term State Rep. Stan Gerdes, and first-term Lee County Judge Frank Malinak are united to keep this plant out of Lee County. They are joined by LIV’s friend, former and beloved Lee County Judge Paul Fischer, who had the foresight to lay the regulatory groundwork to manage the disposal of solid waste in the county. What You Can Do: No matter where you live in Texas, projects are barreling down on Texans! Your community could be next. If it already is, we want to hear from you as well. Read this easy-to-understand posting of Stop TCEQ Permit 42084 HERE . Then, post your opposition to this project as directed on the website above in the paragraph entitled, "Submit a Public Comment ." Do it before you hit the holidays as public comments, which are critical  in this case, are  due on January 2 . The TCEQ will be counting the numbers of how many people have weighed in and must respond to all of them. Opponents have also requested a public meeting where TCEQ and Break it Down will hear from them and must answer their questions in public . LIV is the only voter association (not a political party) for the millions of Texans who do not party salute. We are working to bring Texans together to focus on basic needs and priorities for all citizens and local governments regardless of party or ideology, rural or urban. Thanks for reading this post about the crucial Texas captured agency TCEQ. Now, please share it, especially on your local NextDoor and/or from our Facebook page here . And please consider joining LIV and getting involved. Yes, we need donations too!

I have written an extensive piece about a meeting of the Bastrop City Council on November 21st. My post of the article was removed from NextDoor a few days later. As of today, so far as we know, it was the original picture that moderators could have been responding to. We are not complaining to NextDoor but we have asked about it. We are clear, however, that have a right to moderate their content. We hope our reposting, "for puppies, not politicos" will work for NextDoor, but if not, there are other options they make available and we appreciate that. Things got out of hand at the November 21st meeting which is why it's important to us to tell our side of the story. Here is the full article. Feel free to post a comment at the end, at the bottom of the post page . Got questions? Email us at contact@livtx.org . Thank you and thank you, NextDoor.