Picking Texas' worst state officeholder

Also, Early Voting has started out the right way

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is far from being the worst Republican state officeholder in Texas. He may not even be the worst official with the most power.

I mention only Republicans because Democratic state officeholders simply don’t exist here and have not for decades.

The Texas Constitution sets out the powers of the governor that classify Texas as having a “weak” governor. When the 1876 State Constitution was written, Texans wanted to give as little power as possible to the central government.

Thus, the Republican official with the most power — who also happens to be worse than Abbott — is Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Patrick has spent a lot of his two terms in office trying to make sure transsexuals use his bathroom of choice. He has championed just about every nutty idea that has come before the legislature.

Patrick is being challenged for a second time by Democrat Mike Collier. Collier is a moderate Democrat who talks a lot of sense and should appeal to those Republicans who aren’t a part of the Patrick Posse. Yes, there are some of those.

So far, Collier has picked up some unusual Republican endorsements, including one from Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley. If Whitley’s word carries any weight, this is an important endorsement, as Tarrant County is trending Democratic.

(An aside: As a young man I knew Whitely well and he always impressed me as a sharp guy back then. I’m glad to see he hasn’t changed.)

Six other Republican elected officials — none of whom are running for re-election — have also endorsed Collier.

The Texas Lieutenant Governor sets the agenda for the Texas Senate and wields enormous power over what gets passed through the legislature. He also is a major player in the budget process.

The race is supposedly reasonably close but voters don’t rush to the polls to vote for lieutenant governor. Turnout, specifically turnout for people aiming to vote for Beto O’Rourke for governor is key in this race.

But wait, there’s more ineptitude in Texas’ state government.

Could anyone really be worse than Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton? How this man continues to be re-elected I cannot imagine. Charged with federal crimes, he wasted a great deal of taxpayer money as Donald Trump’s shill, filing lawsuits that were both frivolous and had nothing to do with anything that happened in Texas.

One could say that he, too, is more powerful than Abbott because he doesn’t have to get the governor’s permission to do anything. He is practically unimpeded by anyone with his opinions that essentially have the force of law.

Paxton is being opposed by Democrat Rochelle Garza. Most other places, this would not even be a race and Garza would win. In Texas, and especially East Texas, Paxton will be difficult to beat to our everlasting shame.

Down the list is Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller. Miller doesn’t have the same political stroke as any of the above players, a fact for which we can all be thankful. He is being opposed by Democrat Susan Hays, an Alpine attorney who has worked for the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Legislature.

Miller’s former consultant, Todd Smith, has been indicted for selling hemp licenses for $150,000, which can be bought for $100 from the Agriculture Department. In a sweetheart deal, Miller also hired Smith’s wife for a $180,000 a year job.

Nothing good is going to grow from this bad seed.

There are other bad Republicans but it is difficult to say they are any worse than Abbott. Those listed above, though, surely take the prize.

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Early voting is going full bore and, no matter who you happen to vote for, you should take advantage of the opportunity. To put all your chances into the 12 hours of the official Election Day is to risk that your vote won’t count.

My perfect vision would be for every single last qualified voter to cast a ballot then we would truly know what the people of the state preferred.

I don’t want to force anyone to vote, of course. It would be nice if everyone just wanted to vote without having to be cajoled every election cycle.

Having said that, early voting in East Texas does seem to be going well so far. Who knows what that means in terms of outcomes, but it can’t be a bad thing for Texas.

Those who don’t take the time to vote are just kidding themselves when they think their vote doesn’t count. The only way it doesn’t count is if you don’t do it.

One bit of good news is that I haven’t heard of any shenanigans at the polls, like armed goons showing up to “patrol.” If you see something like that you should report it to someone, a local voting official, the media, all of the above.

No form of voter intimidation should be allowed and must be called out, even if it doesn’t violate the letter of the law, it is still wrong.

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