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GOP Big Government “Bait & Switch”

Huffines/Abbott approach takes aim at local leaders
This past weekend, freshman State Senator Don Huffines (SD16 – Dallas) appeared on WFAA Channel 8’s Inside Texas Politics and quickly found himself on the defensive.

Program host, Jason Whitely, and regular commentator, Bud Kennedy, pressed Huffines to explain why he is authoring a bill (SB343) to strip authority from local voters and shift it to state lawmakers in Austin.  The non-partisan Texas Municipal League has called the Huffines bill a “centralization and consolidation of government power.”

Huffines tried to dodge the questions but ultimately acknowledged that under his bill “what the state says goes”.  Here’s the clip:

Under Huffines’ bill, authority on a wide range of matters typically left to the judgment of local officials elected by local voters – from tree removal to pawn shop interest rates to local tax matters – could be removed and centralized in the hands of state officials in Austin.

Huffines ignores concerns from local GOP leaders

Some of the loudest criticism about the attempt to gut local control has come from local elected officials like the Republican mayor of Fort Worth, Betsy Price. When Huffines was asked to respond to  Mayor Price’s criticism, he refused to give a straight answer saying only “I would just like to focus on other issues really too.”

Don’t look to Greg Abbott or Dan Patrick for help

Local officials shouldn’t expect any support from Governor Abbott or Lt. Governor Patrick either. In fact, just days before being sworn into office, Greg Abbott laid out his intention to shift local control to Austin.

 

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