Don’t get your hopes up about the new group taking the oath in Austin this month.
This year’s class of new legislators – more so than any other new class in our memory – brings with them divisive temperaments and rigid ideology.
The Lone Star Project has reviewed the records of most of the new members of the Texas Legislature. While many raise serious concerns, we’re featuring a few of the new members we think may be least suitable to competently or fairly address the concerns of their districts or our State.
Three new Senate Members on our list are detailed below. We’ll cover the new House members on Friday.
Senate District 2 – Bob Hall
In Texas Senate District 2, which includes parts of the east Dallas County suburbs, Rockwall County and several other counties to the East, Tea Party candidate, Bob Hall, waged a vicious primary campaign and defeated staunch conservative Republican incumbent – Sen. Bob Duell – who was widely considered one of the most conservative members of the Texas Senate.
Some details about Hall’s troubled past were revealed during the hotly contested primary. The Dallas Morning News reported that Bob Hall had a history of spousal abuse allegations. Hall’s former wife said: “During our twenty-three years of marriage, he was prone to furious rages. I was physically, sexually and verbally abused for most of our marriage”.
This alone would typically disqualify a candidate for office, but with Hall, there’s more.
In addition to accusations of spousal abuse, it was reported that Hall had failed to pay taxes on properties he owned in Florida – at one point owing the federal government $165,000.
Senate District 7 – Paul Bettencourt
Paul Bettencourt was elected in an open seat race in Harris County-based District 7. Bettencourt is a former Harris County Tax Assessor collector and is no stranger to extreme partisan politics and unethical, if not illegal, behavior.
Bettencourt has been a leader in GOP efforts to restrict and disqualify voting by Hispanic and African American Texans. As Harris County Tax Assessor, Bettencourt left office just weeks after being reelected to a four year term in 2008. His quick departure from office came as questions surrounded his use of official office for partisan efforts to prevent counting provisional ballots following the November 2008 election. Later, Bettencourt was sued for refusing to process thousands of Hispanic voter registration applications in time for the General Election, denying them the right to vote. Ultimately, Harris County was forced to settle the suit and reform the management and structure of the Voter Registrar office.
District 7, while strongly Republican, is diverse with a combined African American and Hispanic population of nearly forty percent. Paul Bettencourt’s hostility to basic voting rights raises real concerns as to whether he will be able to effectively represent such a broad-based constituency.
Senate District 10 – Konni Burton
Konni Burton, a former wedding planner from Tarrant County, has never served in public office yet made a name for herself as a campaign volunteer for Ted Cruz and as a board member of the North East Tarrant Tea Party. Burton comes into office unprepared and apparently uninformed on key issues.
At a recent Texas Tribune event, Burton was asked about her position on making college more affordable by regulating public university tuition and blankly answered: “I don’t have an answer on that one”.
During an April 2014 primary debate, Burton was asked about her position on a statewide fire code, and instead of advocating for increased safety standards, Burton was uncommitted and said she is “weary of additional mandates on businesses”. This came just days after a study into the West, TX fertilizer explosion found that a state fire code was needed to “hold industrial operators accountable for safe storage and handling of chemicals”. Others who are more informed have even gone as far to say that a state fire code could have helped prevent the explosion in West from happening.
