Texas Government

After vowing to create a "new Texas" in her inaugural address in January, Gov. Ann Richards wasted little time starting to make good on her promise. With her folksy charm and down-home humor, Richards has taken the capital by storm. And her hallmark has been an aggressively populist approach to government. In contrast to her Republican predecessor, the nearly invisible Bill Clements, Richards has been an accessible governor.

"So, Shaw, if you knew you were going to die tomorrow morning, what would you want for dinner tonight?" Friends who are alternately amused and appalled by my obsession with eating well have often asked that question, and I've never known how to answer. But some people do.

The original Goddess of Liberty statue, airlifted off the dome 2 1/2 years ago, was trucked back to the Capitol on Friday to mark the 100th anniversary of the home of Texas government. About 150 people applauded as a crane hoisted the 3,000-pound statue from a flatbed truck to its display stand next to the main south entrance to the Capitol. The 16-foot-tall statue had become so weathered that officials feared it was a safety hazard. A duplicate was cast from aluminum and put up in its place.

Republicans appeared to have kept their grip on both the governor's mansion and a key Senate seat Tuesday as the party fought to maintain its hold on Texas government -- and keep the president's home hospitable. Incumbent Republican Rick Perry, a plain-spoken cotton farmer from the Panhandle, was leading in his bid to stay in the governor's mansion. Fellow Republican John Cornyn was headed to Washington after beating out Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk for a Senate seat.

Republicans appeared to have kept their grip on both the governor's mansion and a key Senate seat Tuesday as the party fought to maintain its hold on Texas government -- and keep the president's home hospitable. Incumbent Republican Rick Perry, a plain-spoken cotton farmer from the Panhandle, was leading in his bid to stay in the governor's mansion. Fellow Republican John Cornyn was headed to Washington after beating out Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk for a Senate seat.

Compared to his contemporaries, Texas Gov. George W. Bush wields relatively little power over his giant state. He can't fire most agency heads. He doesn't regulate oil, one of the most important businesses. He can't even grant death penalty pardons. Most of that work in Texas is left to the Legislature and other independent state bodies.

Democrats deployed a team of angry Texans on Thursday to "speak the truth" about Gov. George W. Bush's record, launching a four-day bus tour through key battleground states to tell voters what life is like in Texas, at least from a Democratic perspective.

The hypocrisy of it all, that's what really burns George Green. A clock-punching, tax-paying, straight-and-narrow kind of Texan, he's been given a nasty little civics lesson by his beloved Lone Star State: The government that makes the rules doesn't always play by them, especially when its own power is at stake.

There's little appeal to surfacing in a lawsuit, especially one involving alleged influence peddling, harassment and faulty embalming. But when it comes to the whistle-blower case now embroiling Texas' funeral industry, it's hard to say who wants the publicity less: governor and presidential hopeful George W. Bush, who eluded testifying in the case last week, or Service Corporation International, the Houston funerary titan whose hallmark is tasteful discretion.

Powering across the country from Iowa to California, Texas Gov. George W. Bush has spent most of the last year touting his credentials as the Lone Star State's leader. Which begs a delicate question: Who's running Texas while Bush is elsewhere, explaining how mighty the task is? To varying degrees, Texans say, the answer includes the following: A. The lieutenant governor--by law and tradition, the state's strongest official; B. Texas' distinctive, influence-diffusing constitution and C.

Compared to his contemporaries, Texas Gov. George W. Bush wields relatively little power over his giant state. He can't fire most agency heads. He doesn't regulate oil, one of the most important businesses. He can't even grant death penalty pardons. Most of that work in Texas is left to the Legislature and other independent state bodies.

Democrats deployed a team of angry Texans on Thursday to "speak the truth" about Gov. George W. Bush's record, launching a four-day bus tour through key battleground states to tell voters what life is like in Texas, at least from a Democratic perspective.

Powering across the country from Iowa to California, Texas Gov. George W. Bush has spent most of the last year touting his credentials as the Lone Star State's leader. Which begs a delicate question: Who's running Texas while Bush is elsewhere, explaining how mighty the task is? To varying degrees, Texans say, the answer includes the following: A. The lieutenant governor--by law and tradition, the state's strongest official; B. Texas' distinctive, influence-diffusing constitution and C.

There's little appeal to surfacing in a lawsuit, especially one involving alleged influence peddling, harassment and faulty embalming. But when it comes to the whistle-blower case now embroiling Texas' funeral industry, it's hard to say who wants the publicity less: governor and presidential hopeful George W. Bush, who eluded testifying in the case last week, or Service Corporation International, the Houston funerary titan whose hallmark is tasteful discretion.

The hypocrisy of it all, that's what really burns George Green. A clock-punching, tax-paying, straight-and-narrow kind of Texan, he's been given a nasty little civics lesson by his beloved Lone Star State: The government that makes the rules doesn't always play by them, especially when its own power is at stake.

After vowing to create a "new Texas" in her inaugural address in January, Gov. Ann Richards wasted little time starting to make good on her promise. With her folksy charm and down-home humor, Richards has taken the capital by storm. And her hallmark has been an aggressively populist approach to government. In contrast to her Republican predecessor, the nearly invisible Bill Clements, Richards has been an accessible governor.

"So, Shaw, if you knew you were going to die tomorrow morning, what would you want for dinner tonight?" Friends who are alternately amused and appalled by my obsession with eating well have often asked that question, and I've never known how to answer. But some people do.

The government has provided $3.7 billion in the last decade to help victims of presidentially declared disasters, such as the recent flooding in Texas, government figures show. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said that in the last 10 years, presidents have formally declared disasters 273 times, making assistance to victims available from a special fund. About half of the $3.

The original Goddess of Liberty statue, airlifted off the dome 2 1/2 years ago, was trucked back to the Capitol on Friday to mark the 100th anniversary of the home of Texas government. About 150 people applauded as a crane hoisted the 3,000-pound statue from a flatbed truck to its display stand next to the main south entrance to the Capitol. The 16-foot-tall statue had become so weathered that officials feared it was a safety hazard. A duplicate was cast from aluminum and put up in its place.