Can Will Hurd Save America? Does he Want to?

Last week the New York Times published an op-ed by Representative Will Hurd who represents the Texas 23rd congressional district spanning from San Antonio almost to El Paso. Hurd wrote of his concerns that Russia’s interference in U.S. elections weren’t being addressed by the Trump administration. Hurd is a former C.I.A. undercover officer so he has deeper knowledge of spying, disinformation and politics than many of his colleagues.

Hurd called out Trump for actively participating in the misinformation campaign to cover up Russia’s actions and at the same time weaken the credibility of and confidence in the United States government at home and abroad. Hurd points out that Russia is working to “sow chaos in our electoral system”. He also reminds us that the United States isn’t Russia’s only target and in fact is just one of many including Great Britain, France, Montenegro, Georgia and Ukraine.

Hurd also refers to comments by director national intelligence Dan Coats continued cyber-attacks by Russia as well as other adversaries on our digital infrastructure involving elections systems as well as electric power grids, water treatment facilities, and oil and gas pipelines.

I am not a fan of Will Hurd, but he deserves credit for calling out Trump and making it clear to Republicans around the country that Russia and Putin are not our friends. I hope that Hurd will follow-up on his concerns by standing up to Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes should he continue to try to cover up Russian interference. Hurd also needs to speak out in support of the work being done by Robert Mueller to expose any conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, especially Paul Manafort whose trial starts Tuesday next week.

A few months ago the White House cybersecurity advisors all resigned response to Trump’s inattention to their concerns about the same kinds of attacks that Hurd and Coats spoke of. Last week Trump eliminated the cybersecurity coordinator position which makes it quite clear that the advisors were right and he isn’t paying attention to the threat.

Does Trump just not get it that the strength and stability of our government is at risk? Is he simply willing to take advantage of Russian interference for the sake of winning elections? Or is he an active participant in a conspiracy to disrupt our nation for his own ends? Given that during the campaign Trump publicly called on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s computers and within hours they did so one is left wondering just how cozy he is with Putin.

It’s important the Hurd not follow the example of Senator Jeff Flake who calls out Trump at every opportunity and then votes for whatever Trump wants. It’s time that Republican leaders put country over party and stand on the brakes so that our nation has a chance to recover from the damage already done and not continue to crumble under attacks that we have the power to stop or at least mitigate.

I hope we’ll see other Republicans recognize that the integrity of our democracy is at risk and there is no excuse for partisan acts in this critical moment.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - July 27, 2018

Impeach Trump - Don't Hold Your Breath

If you’re a Democrat expecting Republicans either in Congress or on the street to turn against Trump anytime soon you should go back to the lessons of Nixon and Watergate. There you’ll find that accusations of wrong doing by the press and Democrats only serve to strengthen their commitment to their guy. We’ve got a long hard road ahead before there’s the slightest chance that Republicans in Congress will turn on Trump and it may never happen if Robert Mueller’s investigation is shutdown as various Republican leaders have repeatedly called for.

Trump like Nixon before him wasn’t loved by leading Republicans, they didn’t trust him to be conservative enough after having been the liberal Republican Dwight Eisenhower’s Vice President. It was the beginning of the Watergate investigation that solidified Nixon’s support among the conservative media and leadership. The more the New York Times, the Washington Post and other media outlets reported on his criminal actions the more strongly Republicans supported Nixon.

We can see this in play today with Trump, Republican leadership held their collective noses when Trump won the nomination and backed tepidly through the general election. As repeated Trump administration scandals have been reported such as former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s use of private charters and military aircraft for travel, today’s more powerful conservative media have defended Trump. Congress has generally ignored the unethical behavior including Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin who also used private charters and military aircraft for personal travel at the taxpayer’s expense. The same holds true for recently departed Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt who mis-used taxpayer funds for unnecessary security details, construction of a soundproof phone booth in his office and other violations of agency rules.

Even this week’s outrageous Helsinki Summit remarks in which Trump took the side of former KGB agent and current Russian President Vladimir Putin over every American intelligence agency and his own staff in stating that he had no reason to believe that the Russians had interfered with the 2016 election has only briefly ruffled the feathers of a few Republican Senators and media figures. Only a day later everything was back to normal, none of those Senators said they’ll vote against Trump appointees or support Democrats calls to allow congress to review Trump’s tax returns. By the time you read this I expect that Republicans will be talking about how Trump’s two hour private meeting with Putin was a good thing and somehow improved national security.

Even the revelation that Russian secret agent Maria Butina was arrested and indicted on charges of conspiring against the United States hasn’t affected Trump supporters in his party. Of course that might be because she helped funnel Russian government funds to the National Rifle Association which enabled them to spend millions of dollars on the 2016 election.

I’m sorry to tell you that until there’s not only a dead body, a smoking gun, video recordings and eye witness testimony from Mike Pence we’re going to be stuck with Trump. It’s not enough to just vote in November, you’re going to need to get your parents to vote, your children to vote and your siblings to vote. If you really want to stop this train wreck you’re going to have to commit to donating a few dollars to Beto O’Rourke’s senate campaign or Mike Collier for Lt. Governor. You’re going to have to volunteer for John Rodgers who is running for Texas House in Guadalupe County or Steve Kling for Texas Senate in our area. Nothing will change if we wait for Republicans to do it.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - July 20, 2018

Republicans Know How to Exercise Power

I have to compliment Senator Mitch McConnell, he knows how to use power. When there was a Democrat as president and a vacancy on the Supreme Court 9 months before a presidential election and 11 months before a new president would take office McConnell used his power as Senate Majority Leader to stop even the consideration of the President Obama’s nominee. His argument was that the people should be allowed to speak. It didn’t matter that his action was unprecedented. The people spoke and nearly 3 million more voted for the Democrat. Nevertheless a Republican won due to the anti-democratic Electoral College votes and it didn’t matter that it was hypocritical to still prevent even a hearing let alone a vote.

Now only 5 months from an election in one third of the senators who will vote on the new president’s Supreme Court nominee will stand for election he’s pushing hard to assure that a vote is taken before the people have an opportunity to speak again. Democrats just don’t have the idea that when you have power you’re supposed to exercise it. Obama had overwhelming majorities in both the House and Senate and failed to use his power to push through a robust Affordable Care Act. Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi allowed the Republicans to amend and twist the bill into a pretzel without ever committing to vote for it. That’s one of the reasons Republicans and Trump have been able to whittle away parts of it in an attempt kill it without taking blame for breaking the parts that even Republican voters like.

Obama and the Democratic congressional leadership failed to use the power of their offices to twist arms that needed twisting and it was just the Affordable Care Act. We didn’t get the forceful stimulus bill we needed, nor the environmental protection bill that would have put a real dent in climate change, or an immigration bill that might have prevented the tragedy we’re seeing at our southern border today. In fact I would argue that Obama’s failure to use the power inherent in the office is the very reason we have Trump as president today. I believe that if he had used his power in concert with the congressional leadership Democratic voters wouldn’t have sat on their hands in 2010 and Republicans wouldn’t have taken control of both houses of Congress. If he’d been the strong leader we needed voters in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida would have turned out to vote for another Democrat in 2016 and the winner of the most votes would have also won the Electoral College vote.

It’s important that Democrats get out and vote in November so we can take back the Senate and the state legislature. It’s also important that our Democratic leaders use their power to do the people’s will. Failure to use your power is a lot like failure to use your muscles. Democrats have allowed their power to atrophy unlike Mitch McConnell who doesn’t even blink at his own hypocrisy. McConnell uses his power to get anything and everything he can accomplished.

Neither Franklin Delano Roosevelt nor Lyndon Johnson were perfect, but they did great things for this country because they understood both the need and the method for exerting power. As we now know winning elections isn’t enough if you aren’t going to use your power to get things done. Understanding the use of power is one of the key attributes I will look for in every candidate in future primary elections.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - July 13, 2018

Why are they working so hard to suppress your vote if it doesn't matter?

As this is the week of the 242nd anniversary of the Declaration of Independence it seems appropriate to consider that document in the context of today. In particular I find a phrase from the preamble to be of import; “…Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”. This is one of several concepts related to the founding of this nation which set it apart from most other countries of the time. Sadly the concept of consent of the governed is under attack today and has been for some years.

Texas and other Republican controlled states have been using a variety of methods to prevent voters from getting the governance they would choose. Racial and partisan gerrymandering have received much attention from the courts and had been getting attention of the Department of Justice until the Republican controlled Supreme Court overturned important parts of the Voting Rights Act. Rulings this term have both given hope and caused despair to those advocating for fair districts. In some states the Republican party only gets about 40% of the votes but controls 60% of the state legislature. In Texas 55% of the votes allows control of 65% of the seats.

Gerrymandering isn’t the only method used to prevent the people from getting the government of their choice. The passage of the 15th Amendment, which gave freed slaves the right to vote shortly after the Civil War, and which required the passage in 1965 of the Voting Rights Act to enforce is again being undermined by numerous states. Instead of using outright voter intimidation Republican controlled legislatures like that of Texas have passed draconian voter identification regulations. Republicans in Florida and Houston use control of elections departments to purge voter roles in ways that unfairly target minority and low income voters. A Supreme Court ruling a few years ago voiding parts of the Voting Rights Act has made it difficult to prevent such heavy handed attacks on the right to vote. Now with Republican control of the Department of Justice the federal government has gotten out of the business of even attempting to enforce voting rights.

The Republican Party of Texas 2018 platform specifically calls for the repeal of the Voting Rights Act. Conversely the Texas Democratic Party calls for restoration and aggressive enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.

What is consent if not choice? How can you give consent if your right to choose is suppressed?

It’s unfortunate that too many Texans don’t even bother to vote which just makes the job of those seeking to suppress their votes easier. It’s been said many times that Texas isn’t a Republican state it’s non-voting state. I will be the first to admit that Democrats aren’t all angels and that far too many have not lived up to their promises or the values of the party they claim. On the other hand that’s why we have elections and in fact why we have primaries. I believe that if everyone voted in primaries we’d get better Democrats in office when we do elect them. For that matter if more Republicans voted in their primaries we’d probably seen fewer extremist Republicans in office.

So I ask those who think their vote doesn’t matter or that elections aren’t important to their daily lives to consider this; if their votes aren’t important why are Republicans working so hard to prevent people like you from voting?

Published in the Seguin Gazette - July 6, 2018