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Here are the top political headlines from Austin, Washington, the campaign trail and Dallas.
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Points from Austin
1. Rebekah Allen reports that Michael Quinn Sullivan has been the narrator of this year's splashiest Texas political firestorm. Sullivan broke news of the scandal involving the powerful and popular Speaker Dennis Bonnen, forcing the lawmaker to publicly apologize for trashing his colleagues in a secret meeting. Sullivan boasts that he's a watchdog, shedding light on politicians behaving badly. At the same time he refuses to release his exclusive recording of his meeting with Bonnen. She examines how Sullivan has been fighting to operate on this knife's edge -- one where he can freely continue his work influencing lawmakers and lavishing money on candidates, while labeling himself a member of the media.
2. Eva-Marie Ayala and Corbett Smith report that Texas is dead last when it comes to passing standards for measuring how well children are reading by the fourth grade, according to a federal analysis of states' standardized tests. And the passing standards weren't much better in math, with Texas lagging among the bottom of the pack. But comparing Texas to other states isn't easy because states have been setting higher standards for students over the past decade. Education commissioner Mike Morath said Texas appears to lag in the study because the information used for comparisons is based on the state's previous, lower standards.
3. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be the closing speaker at the 2019 Texas Tribune Festival next month. Pelosi will be featured in a one-on-one conversation with Evan Smith, co-founder and CEO of The Texas Tribune, at 7:15 p.m. on Sept. 28 at the Paramount Theatre in Austin. The full festival lineup and registration information are available at festival.texastribune.org.
Points from the trail
1. Julián Castro has qualified for the next Democratic presidential debate in Houston, providing what could be a make-or-break opportunity to showcase his campaign next month in his home state, Tom Benning reports. The former San Antonio mayor and U.S. housing secretary registered Tuesday at 2% in a CNN national poll of 2020 Democrats. That result allowed him to meet the polling standard set out by the Democratic National Committee to make the debate stage. He had already cleared the necessary fundraising threshold of receiving donations from 130,000 unique contributors. So with eight days left to qualify, Castro became the 10th Democrat to secure a spot.
Trail Soundcheck
Here's a little campaign trail fun. The New York Times on Monday analyzed 10 presidential candidates' rally playlists, including those of Texas' own Beto O'Rourke and Julián Castro, to see how well their song choices aligned with their core message. That got us thinking: If you were running for president, what Texas-rooted song would you put on your playlist? Tell us in this form, and your pick may be added to a future playlist.
Points from Washington
Todd's Take
Todd Gillman is the Washington bureau chief for The Dallas Morning News. He has covered government and politics for decades, from Dallas to D.C., and is a White House Correspondents' Association board member. Here, Todd offers his take from Washington.
WASHINGTON -- Was the Louisiana Purchase "absurd" in 1803?
Thomas Jefferson took some heat in Congress, though it was the seller, Napoleon, who caught the most grief. He needed the cash for France's war efforts but his own brother huffed that it was such a bad move, "if I were not your brother I would be your enemy."
What about when the United States bought Alaska in 1867?
Well, detractors did call that one "Seward's folly" after the secretary of state who agreed to pay Russia $7 million--2 cents an acre--for the vast and frigid territory.
Others called it President Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden."
So, so nasty.
But really, can any of that compare to the insolence of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen when she rebuffed Trump's overture to buy Greenland by calling the idea "absurd."
"It was nasty," Trump said Wednesday, after abruptly scrapping an overnight visit to Denmark over Labor Day weekend that was to include a dinner with Queen Margrethe II.
It's unclear how much Trump was willing to pay. Greenland has only about 58,000 people. But it has vast untapped ore deposits. And as the ice cap melts, it will become the gateway to the arctic and guardian of shipping lanes of untold value.
Africa is 15 times bigger, though you wouldn't know it from a Mercator Projection map. Still, Greenland is three times the size of Texas. Trump could have expanded the United States by 20%.
Take that, Jefferson.
"It was an inappropriate statement. ...All they had to do is say,
We'd rather not talk about it.' Don't say, 'What an absurd idea that is,'" Trump lamented to reporters on the South Lawn.
America will not be pushed around.
Not on his watch.
Points from Dallas
1. Uber Technologies will open an office of at least 3,000 employees in Deep Ellum, and it plans to turn Dallas into its largest hub outside of its San Francisco headquarters. Uber will hire or relocate about 400 employees to Dallas by the end of the year, said Chris Miller, senior manager of public policy in Texas. It will move into a tower on the edge of downtown Dallas in July 2020 and then into a taller tower on the same site about two years later. State, city and county leaders approved nearly $36 million in economic incentives to bring Uber to Dallas, and some of those include job creation targets. Uber's expected to pay at least an average annual salary of $100,000.
2. Robert Wilonsky writes that U.S. Attorney General William Barr and Sen. John Cornyn came to Dallas to shine a light on some successes in fighting crime and distribute some money to continue the fight. Barr announced Wednesday that The Better Block Foundation in North Oak Cliff will receive more than $115,000 from the Department of Justice plant pedestrian plazas in Lake Highlands and nearby Vickery Meadow, where, council member Jennifer Gates noted 2% percent of all of this city's violent crimes occur. The foundation will also get additional funds from a local bank.
3. Three members of the Dallas County Commissioners Court killed a measure to give themselves and other elected officials a raise, drawing criticism from their colleagues. Dana Branham reports that County Judge Clay Jenkins and Commissioners Elba Garcia and J.J. Koch voted against the 4% raise, while John Wiley Price and Theresa Daniel supported it. The sheriff, county treasurer, county clerk, district clerk, tax assessor-collector, justices of the peace and constables also would have received raises if the measure had passed. The opposition to increasing pay didn't sit well with several elected officials who attended the commissioners court meeting. "For you to basically tell me, 'The work that you've done doesn't deserve a raise or recognition,' that's very offensive to me," District Clerk Felicia Pitre told the court.
Points from DeSoto
1. DeSoto council member Candice Quarles met an organized call for her resignation Tuesday from residents alarmed by the City Council's silence after disclosures that she benefited from her husband's theft of tax dollars, Miles Moffeit reports. It was the third time residents have called for Quarles' ouster since mid-July and follows a new revelation: Her husband, Jeremiah, may have spent as much as $26,000 on personal expenses when he headed the town's economic development corporation several years ago. That figure, three times the amount he pleaded guilty to stealing, was revealed by town officials in a private meeting last week with a handful of residents, according to a recording of the gathering obtained by The Dallas Morning News.
Curious Texas, an ongoing project from The Dallas Morning News, invites you to join our reporting process. You can ask us questions about politics, the Texas Legislature or elections, and we'll have our reporters answer them. Submit your questions here.
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