The Dallas Morning News: Not Making One Bit Of Sense

First of all, isn’t it a little early to be rolling out endorsements in statewide races? Evidently the Dallas Morning News wants to make sure the candidates can use the endorsement in their TV ads, though, because they rolled out their endorsements late last week.
The DMN has shown not only little grasp of the issues in some of these races, but a lack of knowledge about the candidates.

Here are a few blatant examples:

On David Dewhurst, whom the DMN endorsed:

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst took over the tiller just as the Texas Senate plunged into nine stormy regular and special legislative sessions in just four years. Thus, his first term presiding over the Senate – some say the most powerful elective office in Texas – was a test of steadiness, resolve and consensus building.

Mr. Dewhurst, a Republican, has passed that test and earned a second term.

I’m sorry, but did you say he “passed the test?” Did someone forget the 2/3rds rule fiasco? Or redistricting, in which Dewhurst was totally complicit? Dewhurst has been a miserable failure.

Then, here’s what they have to say on Susan Combs:

Ask almost anyone about Republican Susan Combs’ eight years as agriculture commissioner, and you’ll hear one thing: The 61-year-old former legislator and lawyer has been competent and creative, whether in getting junk food out of schools or selling Texas’ products. That sort of thinking in the post of comptroller should produce a shop that hums with ideas about managing the state’s dollars and making government click.

Why doesn’t the DMN ask Susan how much money the Department of Agriculture has, under her watch, given in grants to companies owned by Dr. James Leininger? Susan Combs will be, if anything, a comptroller far more partisan than Carole Keeton Strayhorn.

Then, see how the DMN tries to lie about David Van Os:

Democrat David Van Os, 56, is a San Antonio labor lawyer who ran for the Supreme Court in 2004. His populist disdain for corporations and insurance companies probably resonates with some voters, but he seems to carry this sentiment to an extreme that could hijack the state’s economy if allowed to run loose in the attorney general’s office.

That is the biggest heap of bullshit I’ve ever seen outside a cow pasture. “Hijack the state’s economy?” That is the biggest lie I’ve ever seen. Holding companies accountable won’t hijack anything, but it might lower oil prices and prevent the next Enron.

Some of the worst was on the Staples/Gilbert race:

With 11 years in the Texas Legislature, GOP Sen. Todd Staples of Palestine knows Austin better than his Democratic opponent, Hank Gilbert, a knowledgeable and articulate rancher. Mr. Staples’ familiarity with Austin makes him the better voice for Texas’ farmers and ranchers. They deserve a commissioner who knows agriculture but can also navigate Austin.

First off, Todd Staples would have trouble navagating himself out of a paper bag. Second, he may “know Austin,” but whether or not he “knows ag issues,” remains to be seen. This, however, pissed me off the most:

Mr. Staples, 43, served on the Senate Natural Resources Committee, where he has helped set up groundwater districts to better manage aquifers. We’d like to see him actively overhaul the law that allows landowners to pump as much water as they like, but he’s versed enough in water issues that he can help the state balance its growing water demands. By contrast, Mr. Gilbert seemed more skeptical about developing reservoirs that would help big cities like Dallas.

First of all, I’m only aware of Staples helping set up groundwater districts for GWD’s within his own senate district. Second, these GWD’s do little except protect the people from large commercial interests, i.e. Ozarka, corporate conglomerates,etc. They are a tempest in the teapot of Texas’ aged water laws and do little to actually preserve water.

That the DMN would call on Staples—a Republican—to overrule the common law rule of capture doctrine that was set in stone by the Texas Supreme Court back in 1904 with
Houston & Texas Central Railway Co. v. East is laughable.

While I’ve advocated repeal of the doctrine for years (the state supreme court has consistently held that the Lege must do the changing), Staples won’t do it. Neither, I’d dare say, would any Ag Commissioner candidate who actually supports agriculture, because by and large farmers aren’t for a complete and total repeal.

That the DMN notes Gilbert is “more skeptical about developing reservoirs that would help big cities like Dallas” is typical DMN sham-speak: they’re looking out for number one (which to them is Dallas), not realizing that you can’t exactly build enough reservoirs to feed Dallas’ water needs in Dallas.  They have to be built in East Texas and, last time I checked, most people in non-metro areas  weren’t too happy about building more lakes and ceding more private property  to feed the water needs of urban areas.

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