After a brutal year for Austin's troubled Formula One franchise,
state and local officials in Austin must wean F1 from the public teat or
subsidize the track's wealthy owners with even more millions of tax
dollars. If Austin's latest F1 race was ruined by a downpour and a competing race in Mexico are Texas taxpayers to blame?
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Showing posts with label Subsidies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Subsidies. Show all posts
Thursday, October 16, 2014
$2.6 Million in Contributions Leads to F1
'Oral' Application for $250 Million Taxpayer Handout
Following the skid marks, Lobby Watch identifies $2.6 million in F1-related political contributions. Major F1 beneficiaries include Governor Rick Perry, Greg Abbott and Comptroller Susan Combs.
Read the racy F1 Lobby Watch.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Lobby Watch:
Combs Reaps Thousands from Event Fund Grantees
Contributors tied to $57 million in grants from the state's Events Trust Funds gave $421,000 to fund overseer Susan Combs since the 2006 cycle, when she won her first Comptroller race. Formula 1 related donors chip in $116,000.
Read the new Lobby Watch.
Read the new Lobby Watch.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
TPJ: Let's Cut Coporate Welfare First
In the face of an historic budget shortfall, TPJ encourages lawmakers to cut the Governor's corporate welfare programs.
Read Andrew Wheat's opinion piece in the Austin American-Statesman.
Read Andrew Wheat's opinion piece in the Austin American-Statesman.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Report: Texas Earns "C-minus" for Disclosure of Tax Break Deals
A report ranking the 50 states on their online disclosure of information on companies receiving state and local tax breaks, grants and other subsidies for job creation found that Texas ranked 10th among the states and earned a disclosure grade of “C-minus.” The Show Us the Subsidies report published today by Good Jobs First rated the disclosure practices of 245 major economic development programs around the country.
The report from Good Jobs First is located here.Type rest of the post here
The report from Good Jobs First is located here.Type rest of the post here
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Phantom Jobs: Governor Perry's Enterprise Fund Falls Further Behind On Its Promises
Two-thirds of the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) projects that faced job-creation targets for 2009 failed to deliver the jobs that they originally promised in exchange for $368 million in public funding, a new Texans for Public Justice study finds. This marks a sharp increase from the 42 percent of TEF projects that were so compromised just one year earlier.
Read a one-page summary of the report.
Read the full TPJ report -
Phantom Jobs: The Texas Enterprise Fund's Broken Promises.
Download PDF of TEF recipient compliance reports covering 2009. (Large File)
Friday, March 12, 2010
SLUSH FUN: Texas Observer digs into Perry's Enterprise Fund
Dave Mann at the Texas Observer has been following the campaign money trail from Enterprise Fund grantees into the coffers of Governor Perry and the Republican Governor's Association.
Read the story at the Texas Observer.
Read the story at the Texas Observer.
Monday, February 1, 2010
AAS on the Governor's Enterprise Fund:
"Quick to tout, slow to level with us"
Below is an editorial from the Austin American-Statesman on TPJ's report on the failures of Governor Perry's Enterprise Fund.
Read "Quick to tout, slow to level," at the Statesman.
Read "Quick to tout, slow to level," at the Statesman.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Texas Enterprise Fund - Media Coverage
TPJ's report on the failings of Governor Perry's Enterprise Fund has received widespread media attention. Below is a sampling of the coverage.
Associated Press:
Perry changes Enterprise Fund contracts
Dallas Morning News:
Report says Enterprise fund not created promised jobs
Austin American-Statesman:
Report criticizes Enterprise fund
Associated Press:
Countrywide scrapped Texas pact in December
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram:
Watchdog group says job creation figures exagerated
Houston Chronicle:
Hutchison attacks Perry over Enterprise Fund
Associated Press:
Perry changes Enterprise Fund contracts
Dallas Morning News:
Report says Enterprise fund not created promised jobs
Austin American-Statesman:
Report criticizes Enterprise fund
Associated Press:
Countrywide scrapped Texas pact in December
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram:
Watchdog group says job creation figures exagerated
Houston Chronicle:
Hutchison attacks Perry over Enterprise Fund
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Governor Perry’s Pet Jobs Program
Suffers Its Own Recession
Many projects receiving millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies through Governor Rick Perry's high-profile Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) failed to meet their contractual job-creation targets as the recession took hold in 2008.An analysis of 45 TEF projects that received a total of $363 million in tax subsidies finds that a growing number of TEF recipients defaulted on their job-creation pledges in 2008, with even more defaults expected for 2009.
Key findings of TPJ's analysis reveal:
* The Governor's Office has awarded $363 million to 45 TEF recipients to create or maintain 47,735 jobs. These projects claimed 31,319 jobs in compliance reports covering 2008.
* Just 13 of the 45 job-related projects reviewed were performing well.
*As of October 2009 the Governor has penalized 11 TEF grantees for defaulting on their job creation commitments. These penalties, totaling $647,100, amount to just 1 percent of the $64 million in TEF funding that they received.
* The Governor has imposed the "death penalty" on just two TEF projects despite the fact that many other TEF recipients have qualified for termination.
* In February 2009, Perry declared that the TEF program had created 54,000 jobs since 2003. More than one-third of these jobs are pledges that have yet to materialize.
Read the full Watch Your Assets report.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Lobby Watch:
Defendant Mozilo Built Second Home in Texas
Yesterday federal securities regulators filed civil charges against Angelo Mozilo, who headed California mortgage giant Countrywide Financial. In 2004 Texas' top leaders awarded $20 million in taxpayer funds to induce Countrywide to expand its Texas workforce. After the troubled company laid off one-fifth of its workforce, Governor Perry now refuses to release the compliance reports that Countrywide files to verify if it is has met the jobs requirements of its state grant. Read the Lobby Watch
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Austin American-Statesman: More of American Housing Foundation’s public money
This weekend I wrote about the suicide of Amarillo’s Steve Sterquell and how his now-troubled non-profit company, American Housing Foundation, built an affordable housing empire using public subsidies such as tax-exempt bonds and property tax exemptions. But I didn’t mention a third taxpayer-supported program that Sterquell has been able to use to leverage his projects. Read the article at the Austin American-Statesman
Austin American-Statesman
This weekend I wrote about the suicide of Amarillo’s Steve Sterquell and how his now-troubled non-profit company, American Housing Foundation, built an affordable housing empire using public subsidies such as tax-exempt bonds and property tax exemptions. But I didn’t mention a third taxpayer-supported program that Sterquell has been able to use to leverage his projects.
About one-sixth of the foundation’s 14,000 units across the country were built or renovated using money from the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program. Taken together, over the years that public subsidy has come to just under $53 million.
The 23-year-old program was designed as a way to convince private companies to invest in affordable housing. Every year the federal government gives state housing agencies tax credits to promote affordable housing. The amount of the credits is based on the state’s population. To those who have them, the credits offer a dollar for dollar reduction of their tax bill: A person who owes $1,000 in income tax and possesses $1,000 in tax credits has a net bill of $0.
In Texas, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs divvies up the tax credits based (in theory) on the merits of competing projects — the type of affordable housing offered, location, cost and so on. (For a brief history of how other factors may have influenced the allocation of the credits in the past, check out this fine 2007 report from Texans for Public Justice.) Each award generally is good for 10 years of credits.
Once the affordable housing developer receives tax credits through TDHCA, it sells them on the open market, usually to large corporations seeking to defray their tax bills. The first company that purchased American Housing’s tax credits was Chevron, the giant oil company. (It has continued to partner with the Amarillo developer on several projects.) The developer then uses the proceeds from that sale to pay for housing construction or rehabilitation. By law, it is also allowed to take 15 percent off the top for “developer’s fees.”
How much money the developers raise depends on what the corporations will pay for the credits. Generally, the better the economy and the more profitable corporations are, the more they are willing to pay for credits to offset their large income tax bills. In times of plenty, affordable housing developers have been able to sell a dollar’s-worth of credits for upwards of 95 cents. Conversely, a lousy economy — such as today’s — means less profit, with tax credits fetching closer to 70 cents on the dollar.
According to figures put together for me by TDHCA, American Housing received publicly subsidized tax-credit financing on 16 different projects in seven Texas cities between 1996 and 2006. Amarillo, it’s home base, had the most, with eight separate affordable housing developments containing a combined apartment 980 units.
The total value of the tax credits for the Amarillo-based developments was $2.84 million. But remember: each award is good for 10 years. So the total value of tax credits for the Amarillo projects is really $28.4 million.
Austin has two of American Housing Foundation’s tax-credit financed affordable housing projects — Fairway Village, near Montopolis Drive, and Santa Maria Village, off North Lamar Boulevard — paying a total of $3.8 million over the 10-year life of the credits.
More of American Housing Foundation’s public money
By Eric Dexheimer Thursday, May 28, 2009Austin American-Statesman
This weekend I wrote about the suicide of Amarillo’s Steve Sterquell and how his now-troubled non-profit company, American Housing Foundation, built an affordable housing empire using public subsidies such as tax-exempt bonds and property tax exemptions. But I didn’t mention a third taxpayer-supported program that Sterquell has been able to use to leverage his projects.
About one-sixth of the foundation’s 14,000 units across the country were built or renovated using money from the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program. Taken together, over the years that public subsidy has come to just under $53 million.
The 23-year-old program was designed as a way to convince private companies to invest in affordable housing. Every year the federal government gives state housing agencies tax credits to promote affordable housing. The amount of the credits is based on the state’s population. To those who have them, the credits offer a dollar for dollar reduction of their tax bill: A person who owes $1,000 in income tax and possesses $1,000 in tax credits has a net bill of $0.
In Texas, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs divvies up the tax credits based (in theory) on the merits of competing projects — the type of affordable housing offered, location, cost and so on. (For a brief history of how other factors may have influenced the allocation of the credits in the past, check out this fine 2007 report from Texans for Public Justice.) Each award generally is good for 10 years of credits.
Once the affordable housing developer receives tax credits through TDHCA, it sells them on the open market, usually to large corporations seeking to defray their tax bills. The first company that purchased American Housing’s tax credits was Chevron, the giant oil company. (It has continued to partner with the Amarillo developer on several projects.) The developer then uses the proceeds from that sale to pay for housing construction or rehabilitation. By law, it is also allowed to take 15 percent off the top for “developer’s fees.”
How much money the developers raise depends on what the corporations will pay for the credits. Generally, the better the economy and the more profitable corporations are, the more they are willing to pay for credits to offset their large income tax bills. In times of plenty, affordable housing developers have been able to sell a dollar’s-worth of credits for upwards of 95 cents. Conversely, a lousy economy — such as today’s — means less profit, with tax credits fetching closer to 70 cents on the dollar.
According to figures put together for me by TDHCA, American Housing received publicly subsidized tax-credit financing on 16 different projects in seven Texas cities between 1996 and 2006. Amarillo, it’s home base, had the most, with eight separate affordable housing developments containing a combined apartment 980 units.
The total value of the tax credits for the Amarillo-based developments was $2.84 million. But remember: each award is good for 10 years. So the total value of tax credits for the Amarillo projects is really $28.4 million.
Austin has two of American Housing Foundation’s tax-credit financed affordable housing projects — Fairway Village, near Montopolis Drive, and Santa Maria Village, off North Lamar Boulevard — paying a total of $3.8 million over the 10-year life of the credits.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wal-Mart Deep Discounts the DFW and Houston Areas
Slashing prices on the way to becoming the planet's biggest corporation, Wal-Mart has not skimped on everything. The company is the retail industry's top spender on Washington and Austin lobbyists, who seek to minimize Wal-Mart's taxes even as they hustle Wal-Mart subsidies that come courtesy of other taxpayers. The latest "Watch Your Assets" report analyzes Wal-Mart subsidies in Texas' major metropolitan areas, uncovering $33 million in taxpayer transfers to the retail king.Read the report
Friday, January 2, 2009
Dallas Morning News: Texas Legislature to consider larger incentives for filmmakers
Are financial incentives for filmmakers a good idea, and can they save the Texas film scene? Texans for Public Justice, in a recently released report, says multinational corporations are the true beneficiaries, particularly of rebates given to television commercial shoots.Read the article at the Dallas Morning News
Joe O'Connell filmnewsbyjoe@yahoo.com
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
Friday, January 2, 2009
Are financial incentives for filmmakers a good idea, and can they save the Texas film scene?
Those are the operative questions as the Texas Legislature revs up this month with a proposal from Gov. Rick Perry to nearly triple the state's fledgling incentives program.
Hard figures won't be out for a week or two, but 2008 generally is seen as a down year for the state's film industry.
"They stayed away in droves," says Bob Hudgins, head of the Texas Film Commission. They being Hollywood studios that have bypassed Texas and its 5 percent rebate on spending in favor of states such as Michigan that offer up to 42 percent incentives through tax rebates or direct cash returns.
North Texas' saving graces were television commercials, reality television, video games, small independent films and longtime heroes such as the PBS show Barney and Friends.
"Truthfully, it could have been a whole lot worse," says Janis Burklund of the Dallas Film Commission. That's despite the loss of Prison Break, which moved production to Los Angeles after two seasons (the second one truncated by the writers strike) in Dallas.
Look for the Texas Motion Picture Alliance to push to increase the state's incentives to 15 percent, a number not so quietly touted as the point of equilibrium given Texas' established crew base and varied shooting locations, particularly in the filming hubs around Dallas and Austin. Perry is proposing boosting the two-year incentives budget to $62 million, a $40 million increase over the 2007-08 authorization.
But the watchdog group Texans for Public Justice, in a recently released report (see www.tpj.org/watch yourassets/film), says multinational corporations are the true beneficiaries, particularly of rebates given to television commercial shoots. Hudgins says that's dead wrong and that the group's study was biased. "For the most part, Texas-based production companies benefit," he says. "That's a fact."
Meanwhile, some bigger-spending states also are taking second looks at film incentives. In New Mexico, which offers 25 percent tax rebates, the Legislative Finance Committee commissioned a study that found each dollar of rebates returned only 14.4 cents in tax revenue; some there have suggested a $30 million yearly incentives cap (roughly what Perry is proposing in Texas).
In Louisiana, which also offers a 25 percent tax rebate, critics have balked at the $27 million – including part of Brad Pitt's salary – owed for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
In Texas, the $22 million total approved for the first two years of the incentives program in 2007 didn't get many takers outside of commercials and the television series Friday Night Lights and Prison Break. (The latter stands to get just more than $1 million back from $17.4 million spent before closing shop in North Texas.) Prison Break also employed more than 1,000 people, which the state calculates as the equivalent of 200 full-time jobs.
With little interest from Hollywood, $8 million of the $22 million could end up unspent, Hudgins says.
In its current state, Texas' program brings in $27 for every incentives dollar spent, he says. Under an expanded program, the big return still probably would come from commercials and video games, while feature films incentives may have a hard time breaking even.
Then why increase incentives? Hudgins is guessing at a $400 million increase in filming activity in the state, including feature films and network television series work, as a result of greater incentives.
Plus, he sees creative vision losing out to the cold, hard bottom line. Even stalwart Texas filmmakers such as Robert Rodriguez, who has built a film studio near Austin, are facing studio pressure to shoot where incentives funds flow deeper.
With increased Texas incentives, Burklund says, she sees "no reason we can't blow the socks off of other states, and they know that."
Texas Legislature to consider larger incentives for filmmakers
Joe O'Connell filmnewsbyjoe@yahoo.com
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
Friday, January 2, 2009
Are financial incentives for filmmakers a good idea, and can they save the Texas film scene?
Those are the operative questions as the Texas Legislature revs up this month with a proposal from Gov. Rick Perry to nearly triple the state's fledgling incentives program.
Hard figures won't be out for a week or two, but 2008 generally is seen as a down year for the state's film industry.
"They stayed away in droves," says Bob Hudgins, head of the Texas Film Commission. They being Hollywood studios that have bypassed Texas and its 5 percent rebate on spending in favor of states such as Michigan that offer up to 42 percent incentives through tax rebates or direct cash returns.
North Texas' saving graces were television commercials, reality television, video games, small independent films and longtime heroes such as the PBS show Barney and Friends.
"Truthfully, it could have been a whole lot worse," says Janis Burklund of the Dallas Film Commission. That's despite the loss of Prison Break, which moved production to Los Angeles after two seasons (the second one truncated by the writers strike) in Dallas.
Look for the Texas Motion Picture Alliance to push to increase the state's incentives to 15 percent, a number not so quietly touted as the point of equilibrium given Texas' established crew base and varied shooting locations, particularly in the filming hubs around Dallas and Austin. Perry is proposing boosting the two-year incentives budget to $62 million, a $40 million increase over the 2007-08 authorization.
But the watchdog group Texans for Public Justice, in a recently released report (see www.tpj.org/watch yourassets/film), says multinational corporations are the true beneficiaries, particularly of rebates given to television commercial shoots. Hudgins says that's dead wrong and that the group's study was biased. "For the most part, Texas-based production companies benefit," he says. "That's a fact."
Meanwhile, some bigger-spending states also are taking second looks at film incentives. In New Mexico, which offers 25 percent tax rebates, the Legislative Finance Committee commissioned a study that found each dollar of rebates returned only 14.4 cents in tax revenue; some there have suggested a $30 million yearly incentives cap (roughly what Perry is proposing in Texas).
In Louisiana, which also offers a 25 percent tax rebate, critics have balked at the $27 million – including part of Brad Pitt's salary – owed for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
In Texas, the $22 million total approved for the first two years of the incentives program in 2007 didn't get many takers outside of commercials and the television series Friday Night Lights and Prison Break. (The latter stands to get just more than $1 million back from $17.4 million spent before closing shop in North Texas.) Prison Break also employed more than 1,000 people, which the state calculates as the equivalent of 200 full-time jobs.
With little interest from Hollywood, $8 million of the $22 million could end up unspent, Hudgins says.
In its current state, Texas' program brings in $27 for every incentives dollar spent, he says. Under an expanded program, the big return still probably would come from commercials and video games, while feature films incentives may have a hard time breaking even.
Then why increase incentives? Hudgins is guessing at a $400 million increase in filming activity in the state, including feature films and network television series work, as a result of greater incentives.
Plus, he sees creative vision losing out to the cold, hard bottom line. Even stalwart Texas filmmakers such as Robert Rodriguez, who has built a film studio near Austin, are facing studio pressure to shoot where incentives funds flow deeper.
With increased Texas incentives, Burklund says, she sees "no reason we can't blow the socks off of other states, and they know that."
Monday, December 15, 2008
Associated Press: Movie industry hires veteran lobbyists
Texans for Public Justice released its report last week in which it criticizes the existing Texas film incentive program. It began circulating an opinion article based on the report in which it says Texas can't afford to offer movie incentives. It asks why film industry lobbyists are "demanding an even bigger handout." "With so many human needs requiring state assistance, what entitles movie producers to cut to the front of the soup line?" the TPJ article states.
Read the article at El Paso Times
By KELLEY SHANNON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN—Texas movie and video producers have spent up to $300,000 on lobby contracts as they gear up to press for expanded state financial incentives for the film industry in the 2009 legislative session, a new report says.
The Texas Motion Picture Alliance, in disclosing its lobby contracts for 2007 and 2008, said it spent between $100,000 and $300,000 to hire several state government veterans, according to the nonprofit Texans for Public Justice, which tracks money in politics. Lobby contracts are reported to the state ethics commission only in ranges.
Texans for Public Justice released its report last week in which it also criticizes the existing Texas film incentive program. It began circulating an opinion article based on the report in which it says Texas can't afford to offer movie incentives. It asks why film industry lobbyists are "demanding an even bigger handout."
"With so many human needs requiring state assistance, what entitles movie producers to cut to the front of the soup line?" the TPJ article states.
Movie industry advocates say they are trying to keep jobs and money in Texas, where a number of movie crews are based and the diverse terrain offers filmmakers an assortment of location options. Republican Gov. Rick Perry has said luring movie, television and video game producers to the state is part of his effort to create jobs in Texas.
The alliance, formed in 2006, states that it seeks to educate legislators and the public on all forms of media production and its economic impact in the state. Producers lately have been flocking to other states that offer larger financial incentives, so Perry and film industry leaders are trying to re-ignite the industry in Texas.
In 2007, the Legislature set aside $24 million for film, television and video industry incentives. Producers can get payments from the state—a rebate of sorts—totaling up to 5 percent of their in-state spending. Perry is requesting another $40 million for the coming two years on top of the existing allocation, potentially upping to the total pool to $64 million, said his spokeswoman, Allison Castle.
Under Texas law, production companies also can seek exemptions from state and local sales taxes for what they rent and purchase on most projects in the state.
As of Oct. 15, the state had awarded more than $10 million to 160 projects, with the biggest grants going to expensive feature films and television programs, according to the TPJ report. The group also pointed out that 75 percent of the media-subsidy applications that Texas has approved are for TV commercials, many promoting national retailers and multinational corporations such as Wal-Mart.
The organization's report said even if Texas tripled its subsidies to the movie and television industries, Texas would still not be competitive with more aggressive states.
Texas Film Commission director Bob Hudgins, who wants to increase the percentage of the state grants up to 15 percent of a movie company's spending, has said some states' unusually large incentive programs may begin to subside. He said Texas' aim is to have a sustainable, long-term movie incentive plan.
Read the article at El Paso Times
Report: Movie industry hires veteran lobbyists
By KELLEY SHANNON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN—Texas movie and video producers have spent up to $300,000 on lobby contracts as they gear up to press for expanded state financial incentives for the film industry in the 2009 legislative session, a new report says.
The Texas Motion Picture Alliance, in disclosing its lobby contracts for 2007 and 2008, said it spent between $100,000 and $300,000 to hire several state government veterans, according to the nonprofit Texans for Public Justice, which tracks money in politics. Lobby contracts are reported to the state ethics commission only in ranges.
Texans for Public Justice released its report last week in which it also criticizes the existing Texas film incentive program. It began circulating an opinion article based on the report in which it says Texas can't afford to offer movie incentives. It asks why film industry lobbyists are "demanding an even bigger handout."
"With so many human needs requiring state assistance, what entitles movie producers to cut to the front of the soup line?" the TPJ article states.
Movie industry advocates say they are trying to keep jobs and money in Texas, where a number of movie crews are based and the diverse terrain offers filmmakers an assortment of location options. Republican Gov. Rick Perry has said luring movie, television and video game producers to the state is part of his effort to create jobs in Texas.
The alliance, formed in 2006, states that it seeks to educate legislators and the public on all forms of media production and its economic impact in the state. Producers lately have been flocking to other states that offer larger financial incentives, so Perry and film industry leaders are trying to re-ignite the industry in Texas.
In 2007, the Legislature set aside $24 million for film, television and video industry incentives. Producers can get payments from the state—a rebate of sorts—totaling up to 5 percent of their in-state spending. Perry is requesting another $40 million for the coming two years on top of the existing allocation, potentially upping to the total pool to $64 million, said his spokeswoman, Allison Castle.
Under Texas law, production companies also can seek exemptions from state and local sales taxes for what they rent and purchase on most projects in the state.
As of Oct. 15, the state had awarded more than $10 million to 160 projects, with the biggest grants going to expensive feature films and television programs, according to the TPJ report. The group also pointed out that 75 percent of the media-subsidy applications that Texas has approved are for TV commercials, many promoting national retailers and multinational corporations such as Wal-Mart.
The organization's report said even if Texas tripled its subsidies to the movie and television industries, Texas would still not be competitive with more aggressive states.
Texas Film Commission director Bob Hudgins, who wants to increase the percentage of the state grants up to 15 percent of a movie company's spending, has said some states' unusually large incentive programs may begin to subside. He said Texas' aim is to have a sustainable, long-term movie incentive plan.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Race to Subsidize Movie Industry Sucks in Miscast Texas Taxpayers
Texas taxpayers are being conscripted into an epic battle to see which state treasury will give movie producers the fattest subsidies. Film lobbyists now are preparing to press state lawmakers to triple Texas' current subsidies in an effort to compete with states that pay up to 40 percent of a film's budget. In addition, few Texas taxpayers realize that they underwrite television programs and even pick up the tab for TV commercials promoting Fortune 500 companies!Read the report
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Houston Chronicle: Perry's jabs at feds may have second target as well
Perry issued a written statement opposing the use of tax dollars to finance a bailout, putting himself at odds with the only piece of legislation being discussed, the plan to spend $700 billion to buy mortgage-backed securities. Texans for Public Justice, in an Oct. 13 report, said Perry had awarded $35 million in taxpayer funds to two companies involved in the financial meltdown — mortgage lender Countrywide Financial and failed bank Washington Mutual, which was seized by federal regulators and sold to JPMorgan Chase.Read the article at the Houston Chronicle
By JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN — From the Wall Street bailout bill to helping the Gulf Coast recover from Hurricane Ike, it seems the federal government can do nothing right in the eyes of Gov. Rick Perry.
The latest shot came Tuesday, when Perry accused federal environmental protection officials of "actively working to do more economic harm" to the state through potential regulation of carbon emissions linked to climate change.
"Washington has Texas in its sights," he said.
Many political observers believe Perry's harsh rhetoric is designed to position the governor in his bid for an unprecedented, third four-year term in 2010. The target is his likely challenger in the Republican primary, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is more popular than Perry in some polls.
Hutchison in late September told her Senate colleagues that she wouldn't seek re-election to a leadership post and is planning to form an exploratory committee for the governor's race.
"I guess it's a pretty good shot to take on the federal government if you're running against someone who is an agent of the federal government," said Greg Thielemann, director of the Center for the Study of Texas Politics at the University of Texas at Dallas.
"I think his criticisms are his attempt to raise his profile, and if it slows down Sen. Hutchison, that's a good thing," said Bill Miller, an Austin political consultant.
Miller also said that he thinks Perry's comments reflect the "passing of the torch up in Washington" and that he now feels more free to criticize the Bush administration.
Perry said in an interview that he has a long pattern of blasting federal government policies dating to his time as agriculture commissioner in the 1990s. Perry was lieutenant governor when George W. Bush became president in January 2001, and automatically became governor. He won elections in 2002 and 2006.
Perry has not been shy about speaking out against federal immigration policies, and most recently engaged in a back-and-forth with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff over federal failures to deport illegal immigrants booked into the Harris County Jail.
The governor acknowledges he has stepped-up his critiques in recent weeks, but said the reason has nothing to do with politics.
"We have more at stake right now than we've ever had before," Perry said. "We have been hit by the largest storm that's hit Texas in a century. We have counties in Texas that are suffering greatly."
Sparring over bailout
The initial sally, however, was not about hurricanes.
At the same time the U.S. Senate was debating a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Perry, who at the time was the head of the Republican Governor's Association, joined the Democratic governor of West Virginia in a bipartisan plea to Congress to "pass an economic recovery package."
Later that October day, Perry issued a written statement opposing the use of tax dollars to finance a bailout, putting himself at odds with the only piece of legislation being discussed, the plan to spend $700 billion to buy mortgage-backed securities that Hutchison and fellow Republican Sen. John Cornyn voted to pass under heavy lobbying from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Perry's press secretary, Mark Miner, referred to Hutchison as "Kay Bailout" in an Oct. 25 story about a poll done for the Houston Chronicle that showed Harris County voters favored Hutchison over Perry 46 percent to 30 percent. (The same poll showed Houston Mayor Bill White beating both Hutchison and Perry.)
Marc Short, a spokesman for Hutchison, said Perry flip-flopped on the bailout bill.
"Being for the bill before being against the bill is how you get 39 percent of the vote after six years in office," Short said, referring to Perry's share of the vote in 2006 when a Democrat and two independent candidates were on the ballot.
A liberal interest group jumped on Perry's statements as evidence he was kicking off his 2010 re-election campaign. Texans for Public Justice, in an Oct. 13 report, said Perry had awarded $35 million in taxpayer funds to two companies involved in the financial meltdown — mortgage lender Countrywide Financial and failed bank Washington Mutual, which was seized by federal regulators and sold to JPMorgan Chase.
Job creation claimed
Both companies met their requirements to create a specific number of jobs after receiving the Texas Enterprise Fund grants in 2004 and 2005, Perry said. The fund, which Perry asked the Legislature to create in 2003, has awarded $365 million to 48 projects, and created 52,099 new jobs and nearly $14 billion in capital investment, the governor's office said.
"The fact is if the federal government had that type of track record I wouldn't have a problem in the world," Perry said. "The fact is we've thrown $700 billion at mismanaged companies, at greedy Wall Streeters, and the result has been a stock market that has continued to go down."
Tension between Hutchison and Perry has been evident since right after Hurricane Ike ripped through Galveston and southeast Texas in the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 13. The following day, the two made separate tours of the devastation and spoke to reporters in separate briefings.
State lawmakers initially lashed out at Federal Emergency Management Agency officials about a month after the storm, saying they were failing to get mobile homes to people, and were instead handing out motel vouchers when no rooms were available in the hardest-hit communities such as Bridge City.
On Nov. 20, Perry held a news conference in Houston and called the federal government's efforts "pretty underwhelming."
He questioned how Washington could "shower $700 billion on mismanaged Wall Street firms but can't spare the funds to help Broadway Street in Galveston."
"Thanks to congressional inactivity, if you will, Texans are unlikely to receive assistance until next summer," he said at the event.
Last week, Perry said his jabs at Congress were not aimed at the Texas delegation as much as the Democratic-controlled Congress.
However, he also has been highly critical of Chertoff, a Bush appointee, for saying Texas should use more of its own funds to help with debris removal. He said it is "incomprehensible" that federal officials would treat Texas differently than it did Louisiana after 2005's Hurricane Katrina.
"I will fight back vigorously to that type of discrimination," Perry said.
Block grants delivered
Hutchison helped secure $6.1 billion in community development block grant funding for weather-related disasters in an emergency supplemental spending bill passed about one week after Ike came ashore. She and Cornyn announced Wednesday that Texas would receive $1.3 billion for repairs to homes and businesses in the first round of funding.
"Being part of the solution by employing state resources would be more helpful than flailing criticism of the federal delegation which continues to secure billions of dollars in aid for hurricane victims," Short said. "The constant carping is counterproductive."
janet.elliott@chron.com
Perry's jabs at feds may have second target as well
From bailouts to Ike aid, some see positioning against Hutchison in 2010 governor raceBy JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN — From the Wall Street bailout bill to helping the Gulf Coast recover from Hurricane Ike, it seems the federal government can do nothing right in the eyes of Gov. Rick Perry.
The latest shot came Tuesday, when Perry accused federal environmental protection officials of "actively working to do more economic harm" to the state through potential regulation of carbon emissions linked to climate change.
"Washington has Texas in its sights," he said.
Many political observers believe Perry's harsh rhetoric is designed to position the governor in his bid for an unprecedented, third four-year term in 2010. The target is his likely challenger in the Republican primary, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is more popular than Perry in some polls.
Hutchison in late September told her Senate colleagues that she wouldn't seek re-election to a leadership post and is planning to form an exploratory committee for the governor's race.
"I guess it's a pretty good shot to take on the federal government if you're running against someone who is an agent of the federal government," said Greg Thielemann, director of the Center for the Study of Texas Politics at the University of Texas at Dallas.
"I think his criticisms are his attempt to raise his profile, and if it slows down Sen. Hutchison, that's a good thing," said Bill Miller, an Austin political consultant.
Miller also said that he thinks Perry's comments reflect the "passing of the torch up in Washington" and that he now feels more free to criticize the Bush administration.
Perry said in an interview that he has a long pattern of blasting federal government policies dating to his time as agriculture commissioner in the 1990s. Perry was lieutenant governor when George W. Bush became president in January 2001, and automatically became governor. He won elections in 2002 and 2006.
Perry has not been shy about speaking out against federal immigration policies, and most recently engaged in a back-and-forth with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff over federal failures to deport illegal immigrants booked into the Harris County Jail.
The governor acknowledges he has stepped-up his critiques in recent weeks, but said the reason has nothing to do with politics.
"We have more at stake right now than we've ever had before," Perry said. "We have been hit by the largest storm that's hit Texas in a century. We have counties in Texas that are suffering greatly."
Sparring over bailout
The initial sally, however, was not about hurricanes.
At the same time the U.S. Senate was debating a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Perry, who at the time was the head of the Republican Governor's Association, joined the Democratic governor of West Virginia in a bipartisan plea to Congress to "pass an economic recovery package."
Later that October day, Perry issued a written statement opposing the use of tax dollars to finance a bailout, putting himself at odds with the only piece of legislation being discussed, the plan to spend $700 billion to buy mortgage-backed securities that Hutchison and fellow Republican Sen. John Cornyn voted to pass under heavy lobbying from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Perry's press secretary, Mark Miner, referred to Hutchison as "Kay Bailout" in an Oct. 25 story about a poll done for the Houston Chronicle that showed Harris County voters favored Hutchison over Perry 46 percent to 30 percent. (The same poll showed Houston Mayor Bill White beating both Hutchison and Perry.)
Marc Short, a spokesman for Hutchison, said Perry flip-flopped on the bailout bill.
"Being for the bill before being against the bill is how you get 39 percent of the vote after six years in office," Short said, referring to Perry's share of the vote in 2006 when a Democrat and two independent candidates were on the ballot.
A liberal interest group jumped on Perry's statements as evidence he was kicking off his 2010 re-election campaign. Texans for Public Justice, in an Oct. 13 report, said Perry had awarded $35 million in taxpayer funds to two companies involved in the financial meltdown — mortgage lender Countrywide Financial and failed bank Washington Mutual, which was seized by federal regulators and sold to JPMorgan Chase.
Job creation claimed
Both companies met their requirements to create a specific number of jobs after receiving the Texas Enterprise Fund grants in 2004 and 2005, Perry said. The fund, which Perry asked the Legislature to create in 2003, has awarded $365 million to 48 projects, and created 52,099 new jobs and nearly $14 billion in capital investment, the governor's office said.
"The fact is if the federal government had that type of track record I wouldn't have a problem in the world," Perry said. "The fact is we've thrown $700 billion at mismanaged companies, at greedy Wall Streeters, and the result has been a stock market that has continued to go down."
Tension between Hutchison and Perry has been evident since right after Hurricane Ike ripped through Galveston and southeast Texas in the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 13. The following day, the two made separate tours of the devastation and spoke to reporters in separate briefings.
State lawmakers initially lashed out at Federal Emergency Management Agency officials about a month after the storm, saying they were failing to get mobile homes to people, and were instead handing out motel vouchers when no rooms were available in the hardest-hit communities such as Bridge City.
On Nov. 20, Perry held a news conference in Houston and called the federal government's efforts "pretty underwhelming."
He questioned how Washington could "shower $700 billion on mismanaged Wall Street firms but can't spare the funds to help Broadway Street in Galveston."
"Thanks to congressional inactivity, if you will, Texans are unlikely to receive assistance until next summer," he said at the event.
Last week, Perry said his jabs at Congress were not aimed at the Texas delegation as much as the Democratic-controlled Congress.
However, he also has been highly critical of Chertoff, a Bush appointee, for saying Texas should use more of its own funds to help with debris removal. He said it is "incomprehensible" that federal officials would treat Texas differently than it did Louisiana after 2005's Hurricane Katrina.
"I will fight back vigorously to that type of discrimination," Perry said.
Block grants delivered
Hutchison helped secure $6.1 billion in community development block grant funding for weather-related disasters in an emergency supplemental spending bill passed about one week after Ike came ashore. She and Cornyn announced Wednesday that Texas would receive $1.3 billion for repairs to homes and businesses in the first round of funding.
"Being part of the solution by employing state resources would be more helpful than flailing criticism of the federal delegation which continues to secure billions of dollars in aid for hurricane victims," Short said. "The constant carping is counterproductive."
janet.elliott@chron.com
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Imminent Domain: Will Austin Voters End Retail Subsidies?
In 2003, the City approved $57 to $65 million in publicly-funded subsidies to the Domain "lifestyle" mall in north Austin, operated by mall behemoth Simon Properties. The Stop Domain Subsidies coalition is asking voters to approve the ban on retail subsidies, which let the city funnel taxpayer money to retailers that are competing with local businesses instead of investing the funds in public services that have recently faced budget cuts.Read the report
Monday, October 13, 2008
'Governor Handout' Trashes the Bailout
Texas Governor Rick Perry has sown confusion with recent contradictory statements about the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. His populist aversion to "using taxpayer dollars to bail out corporate America" is surprising--given the hundreds of millions of tax dollars that his administration has doled out to private businesses that include subprime mortgage giants.Read the report
Thursday, June 12, 2008
How Midland Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Corporate Dole
In 2001 Midland's conservative voters swallowed concerns about government economic planning to approve a tax to promote economic development and diversification. The Midland Development Corp. has awarded millions of tax dollars to handpicked companies to diversify Midland's dependence on oil, however, these big-ticket investments have been spectacular flops. Now the agency increasingly invests in the booming oil industry--which needs no government aid.Read the report
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