BG Reads 10.13.2023

🗞️ BG Reads | News - October 13, 2023

October 13, 2023

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October 13, 2023

In today's BG Reads:

✅ Council members question Garza’s promotion of police oversight director

✅ FAA investigating third near-miss incident at Austin airport in the past year

✅ US readies forces, but plays down potential for troops in Gaza

Read on!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

  • On this episode the Bingham Group CEO A.J. Bingham welcomes returning guest, Ed Latson, CEO, Austin Regional Manufacturers Association (ARMA).

  • He and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss the Austin City Council's recent approval of Ch. 380 agreement with NXP, and its importance to Austin and Central Texas.

  • The BG Podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Council members question Garza’s promotion of police oversight director (Austin Monitor)

Interim City Manager Jesús Garza’s recent promotion of Gail McCant to director of the Office of Police Oversight has rankled City Council members, who say he backtracked on a prior commitment to conduct a national search and skirted transparency considerations. 

McCant previously served as interim director of the office and brings with her a long “career as a public servant (that) reflects her unwavering commitment to serving the public and upholding the highest standards of accountability and fairness,” Garza wrote in a Sept. 29 memo to Council announcing her appointment. 

In response, Council Members Zo Qadri, Chito Vela, José Velásquez, Vanessa Fuentes and Ryan Alter asked Garza to “further explain his thinking on this decision, not only for our own understanding but for the understanding of the public who we all serve,” in an Oct. 3 post to the City Council Message Board… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

US Rep. Greg Casar confronts fellow Democrat over comments about Israel-Hamas war (Austin American-Statesman)

U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, got in the face of a fellow Democratic lawmaker over an inflammatory outburst the New Jersey congressman made about Muslims during a discussion on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. 

“It was a sh— thing to say and it’s shameful,” Casar told Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., according to sources familiar with the exchange. 

The faceoff came in a very visible setting Wednesday at a Democratic Caucus members-only meeting in the U.S. Capitol after all House members had been briefed by Biden administration officials about the conflict in the Middle East. 

Gottheimer, who is Jewish, reacted when Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., spoke about a vigil in her district that she had attended virtually for Israeli victims. 

Wild, who is also Jewish, worried that Muslim clerics and leaders who normally come together at interfaith events had not attended this vigil after the horrific attacks by Hamas from Gaza into Israel, which killed over 1,000 people.

According to several sources, Gottheimer, who was in the back of the room, said loudly, “It’s because they’re guilty.” 

Casar and several other House members then stormed up to Gottheimer, and the representative from Austin confronted him about what he’d said. 

“It was a heated discussion,” said one congressional source who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the exchange. 

Casar’s office declined to comment to the American-Statesman… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin-area school districts want a Travis County judge to block changes to how Texas grades them (KUT)

A Travis County judge is considering whether to block the Texas Education Agency from making changes to the A-F accountability rating system, which evaluates school performance.

Seven school districts, including Del Valle ISD, sued Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath in August. Since then, more than 90 districts have joined the lawsuit as either plaintiffs or intervenors. Central Texas districts that are part of the suit include Pflugerville ISD, Hays CISD, Leander ISD, Bastrop ISD and Elgin ISD… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

FAA investigating third near-miss incident at Austin airport in the past year (FOX 7)

The FAA is investigating a "close call" incident that took place at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Sept. 23 between a Cessna Citation jet and an F-18 fighter jet.

"The pilot of a Cessna Citation jet took evasive action after receiving an onboard alert that the F-18 was nearby," an FAA spokesperson shared with FOX 7. "The F-18 also flew near Runway 18L while a Piper PA-28 was preparing for takeoff." 

The FAA will determine how close the two aircrafts got to each other as part of its ongoing investigation.

"One of the complications that a situation like this can create is that the military pilots use different frequencies than the civilian pilots," said Mike Slack, managing partner at Slack Davis Sanger. "So the civilian pilots don't necessarily hear what's taking place between the controller and the military jet."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

School choice plan for Texas poised to clear a divided state Senate (Dallas Morning News)

A proposal that would give students education savings accounts, which could be used to pay for private school, won tentative approval Thursday from a divided Senate. The bill would give parents $8,000 to use on a child’s private school tuition or other education-related expenses, such as uniforms or textbooks. In a late change approved 19-12, home-schooled students would be eligible for up to $1,000 a year for use on curriculum and transportation.

Previous proposals might have excluded families home schooling. The Senate also agreed to tweak the proposal to give a financial cushion to small school districts that may lose students to private schools. Lawmakers said they were concerned about rural communities, where the loss of even a handful of students could trigger funding shortages. After hours of debate — and almost two dozen attempts to amend the bill — the Senate tentatively approved the bill along party lines, 18-13. Final passage in the Republican-controlled chamber could come as early as Friday.

If the school-choice measure becomes law, Texas would become the 14th state to embrace education savings accounts, or ESAs. Gov. Greg Abbott has made it a political priority, threatening to call lawmakers back to Austin again if they don’t vote to create a program. A coalition of rural Republicans and Democrats in the House may still stand in its way.

The Senate’s plan, which would cap spending at $500 million on an ESA program through August 2025, would make low- and middle-income students as well as children with disabilities first in line to receive them. If money is left over, other families could be successful in winning stipends. Later Thursday night, the Senate was expected to lend bipartisan endorsement to a separate bill that would target public school funding. It would give a $75 boost to the basic allotment, increase the amount of money for security upgrades and pay for teachers to get a retention bonus. Conroe Republican Sen. Brandon Creighton, the school choice bill’s author, called the proposal “a transformative initiative to enrich the educational landscape of our state.” Next school year, a maximum of 57,500 students could benefit, Creighton’s office said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Whitmire leads in campaign spending for Houston mayor as Jackson Lee, Garcia make errors in filings (Houston Chronicle)

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and former Metro chair Gilbert Garcia both made mistakes in the latest round of campaign finance filings. Jackson Lee took four donations that exceeded Houston’s donation limits, while Garcia made several clerical errors in filling out his disclosure forms. Although both campaigns have vowed to examine their mistakes, there is a larger challenge highlighted in the latest filings. Neither candidate has anywhere close to the amount of funding that state Sen. John Whitmire, the mayoral front-runner, has on hand. As Election Day draws near, candidates are ramping up their ad and outreach spending. Whitmire has shelled out a hefty $5.8 million on his campaign this election cycle, according to his latest filing. His campaign reports having $6.9 million on hand for the remainder of the election cycle.

Garcia, who poured $3.4 million of his own money into the race, has spent over $2 million on his campaign and has $1.5 million remaining. Jackson Lee and attorney Lee Kaplan have spent more modestly – $900,000 and $1.2 million, respectively. Each has roughly $900,000 left. No other candidate in the crowded mayoral field has come close to breaking the million-dollar fundraising or spending mark. Since announcing his mayoral bid last year, Whitmire has outspent all others nearly threefold, including investing $1.1 million on advertising across TV, radio, digital and print mediums. While Jackson Lee, Garcia and Kaplan have all booked air time on KHOU, KPRC and KTRK – with several of their recent ads taking direct aim at Whitmire – the state senator’s ad purchases have far outpaced those of the others, the stations’ political filings show. In the first half of the year, Whitmire only had 11 days to accept donations due to legislative constraints.

During the past three months, however, he gained momentum, raking in another $1 million. He also infused his campaign with $2.8 million of cash during the last quarter, through a combination of stock sales and other investment returns… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

Steve Scalise drops speaker bid as House devolves into further turmoil (Washington Post)

Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) dropped out of the race for House speaker Thursday night, further throwing the House into chaos as Republicans openly ponder whether their fractured conference is capable of electing anyone as speaker. “This country is counting on us to come back together,” Scalise said after informing the conference of his decision.

“This House of Representatives needs a speaker, and we need to open up the House again. But clearly, not everybody is there and there’s still schisms that have to get resolved.” It was another stunning development in what has been a weeks-long devolution of the House Republican Conference that started with a brutal fight over spending. Republicans narrowly avoided a catastrophic government shutdown, but Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s reliance on Democratic votes to pass a short-term spending bill led to his ouster as House speaker days later — a historic first. The House has been without a leader for the ensuing nine days. Scalise made it as the speaker nominee for less than 36 hours.

When he bowed out, Scalise did not back another candidate for speaker. “I am sure there will be a lot of people that look at [running], but it’s got to be people that aren’t doing it for themselves and their own personal interests,” he said. The Republican conference plans to restart the nomination process Friday. House Republicans’ failure to coalesce around a speaker has not only exposed their deep ideological divisions, but also their inability to govern as the majority party. Since eight Republicans voted to oust McCarthy (Calif.) as speaker Oct. 3, the House has remained at a complete standstill. It cannot consider any legislation to aid Israel in its war against Hamas — something many lawmakers in both parties want to provide — nor pass any appropriations bills to avoid a potential government shutdown in mid-November.

“People looking for a perfect system should not be looking at the U.S. House right now,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) said Thursday night. Scalise’s struggle to gain sufficient support from members who backed Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) or neither candidate in the closed-door vote began to emerge late Wednesday evening, prompting some Republicans to begin laying the groundwork for an alternate candidate… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

US readies forces, but plays down potential for troops in Gaza (The Hill)

The United States is reportedly putting special operations forces on alert and moving major military assets in response to the Israel-Hamas war; however, both the Biden administration and experts this week played down the possibility that America could put boots on the ground in Gaza. Inserting American troops into the fight between Israel and Hamas would introduce new risk into an already volatile situation as Jerusalem weighs a ground invasion into the Gaza Strip. It’s a situation the American public and U.S. military has little appetite for, but one that President Biden should be prepared for nonetheless, experts say. “I have a hard time actually seeing the U.S. insert ground forces,” said Jon Alterman, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Middle East Program.

“I could imagine some circumstances in which you might want to use air assets — especially to send a deterrent signal, but … I don’t think anybody has much interest in jumping into this,” he added. As of Thursday, at least 27 Americans have been killed in the Hamas attacks on Israel that began over the weekend. Another 14 U.S. citizens remain unaccounted for, according to the White House. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters there are a “very small” number of Americans believed to be held as hostage by Hamas.

“Right now, we think the number that we know, or we believe are held hostage, is very small, very small, like less than a handful. But that could change over time,” Kirby told reporters Wednesday. Thousands of U.S. citizens live in Israel — a country that also counts Americans as one of its largest tourist groups. But many individuals seeking to flee the country due to fighting have found it difficult to leave given that several major airlines have suspended service in and out of the country…

Trump faults Netanyahu, calls Hezbollah ‘very smart’ amid Israel war (Washington Post)

Former president Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called Hezbollah terrorist attackers “very smart” as Israel recovers from the deadliest attack it has suffered in 50 years. “He has been hurt very badly because of what’s happened here,” Trump said of Netanyahu in an interview for Fox News Radio’s “Brian Kilmeade Show” that was excerpted on television Wednesday night. “He was not prepared. He was not prepared and Israel was not prepared.” Israel has declared a state of war and called up 360,000 reservists after a surprise attack by Hamas militants on Saturday killed at least 1,200 people and wounded more than 2,700.

In a speech later Wednesday, Trump, the clear polling leader in the Republican presidential race, complimented the intelligence of Hezbollah, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States. The Iranian-aligned group, based in Lebanon, exchanged fire with Israeli forces on the country’s northern border Wednesday.

“You know, Hezbollah is very smart,” Trump said. “They’re all very smart.” Trump’s remarks drew condemnations both domestically and abroad Wednesday and Thursday, including from his Republican presidential rivals. “[I]t is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, much less praise Hezbollah terrorists as ‘very smart,’” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Trump’s comments reflected his long-established pattern of slighting U.S. allies while complimenting adversaries such as Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un… (LINK TO FULL STORY

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