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Carona makes peace with Patrick, Van de Putte pulls more Planned Parenthood help

Sen. John Carona talks with a supporter in Dallas on primary night in March. (Kye R. Lee/Staff photographer)

Update at 3:25 p.m.: Have corrected date of Paul Reyes’ and Helen Carona’s contributions to Patrick: They gave on the same day in 2013, not this year.

Original item at 12:43 p.m.: Dallas state Sen. John Carona has continued to make peace with fellow Republican and lieutenant governor candidate Dan Patrick.

The political action committee at Carona’s business Associa Inc., which manages homeowners’ assocations across the country, gave Patrick $5,000 earlier this week, according to telegram reports to the Texas Ethics Commission.

As my colleague Terrence Stutz reported here nearly 2 1/2 years ago, Carona called Patrick a “snake oil salesman” and a “narcissist that would say anything to draw attention to himself.”

Patrick, R-Houston, said in an email to all senators that Carona had spread a false rumor that Patrick and his wife, Jan, were divorcing. Carona, R-Dallas, replied that Patrick should have first checked with him regarding the allegations before contacting their colleagues. Carona also raised the ante, mentioning rumors about Patrick’s sexual orientation as well. Patrick dismissed as “a lie” suggestions he is gay and demanded Carona apologize.

At the time, Carona didn’t. Late last year, though, the Associa PAC gave $30,000 to Patrick, even as Carona didn’t personally endorse him in the GOP lieutenant governor primary.

In March, Carona lost his Senate seat to tea party-backed Republican Don Huffines in a GOP primary. Since then, he has endorsed Patrick.

Dan Patrick and Leticia Van de Putte shake hands at their televised debate last month. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

As I reported in a story in Wednesday’s newspaper, Associa executive Paul Reyes, a former Carona Senate staff aide, contributed $20,000 to Patrick. That was on top of $5,000 Reyes gave to Patrick in August 2013 — the same day Carona’s wife, Helen, chipped in $2,500 to the Patrick cause.

It appears that Associa may have some legislative irons in the fire.

Meanwhile, Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, Patrick’s Democratic colleague and opponent for lieutenant governor, reported more than three times as many late contributions as did Patrick.

This week, she took in more than $82,000, to about $23,500 for Patrick.

Just more than half of the contributions on Van de Putte’s telegram reports came from groups supporting abortion rights. Planned Parenthood’s PACs in New York City and Austin donated nearly $30,000 of staff time, phone calls and postage. Annie’s List gave the San Antonio lawmaker a $13,000 check.

As I noted in Wednesday’s story, Patrick strategist Allen Blakemore belittled Van de Putte’s matching Patrick’s fundraising haul of $2 million between Sept. 26 and Saturday. Blakemore noted that one-third of her money was in-kind donations from Planned Parenthood, the liberal group Texas Organizing Project and voter-organizing Battleground Texas.

On Thursday morning, Logan Spence, a long-time Patrick aide, seized on the late assists from Planned Parenthood PACs as a sign Van de Putte would try to lead the Senate in a very different direction on abortion than Patrick would. But then we knew that, didn’t we?

Here’s Spence’s tweet on the subject:

Dallas developer Don Huffines to challenge John Carona for Texas Senate seat

John Carona

Don Huffines

Dallas real estate developer Don Huffines said Monday that he’s running against incumbent John Carona for the Texas Senate.

Carona has represented the Dallas-based Senate District 16 since 1996. He is already a candidate for re-election in the March GOP primary.

In a news release, Huffines said his campaign would focus on term limits, fixing Texas’ illegal immigration problems, transportation and economic development.

“We have to halt government excess, increased taxes, and career politicians who find it more beneficial to vote for special interest groups than to vote for their constituents,” Huffines said. “Texans deserve leaders who are looking to the future for solutions to transportation, immigration, education, and cut taxes so our economy moves forward.”

Huffines, whose politics have a libertarian twinge, is making his first run for major public office. He’ll likely try to run to the right of Carona, who is viewed by many as a moderate Republican, at least by today’s standard.

The developer is the grandson of famed local car dealer J.L. Huffines Sr. The automobile business, which began in 1924, is operated by Don Huffines brother.

Carona is chairman of the Senate Business and Commerce committee and has been a leader in transportation issues.

Texas Sen. John Carona running for re-election

As expected, Republican John Carona is running for re-election to the Texas Senate.

“As Texas continues to lead our nation in growth and opportunity, now more than ever it is important to have experience, thoughtful leadership guiding the important decisions on infrastructure, schools and the governments’s role in the lives of our citizens,” Carona said in a prepared statement.

Carona has served Senate District 16 for nearly two decades.

He’s been mentioned as a potential candidate for Dallas mayor. Tuesday’s announcement, perhaps, means he won’t run for mayor in 2015, even if incumbent Mike Rawlings decides against another term.

Read Carona’s full news release below.

Continue reading →

Pay day lending bill hopes for revival

John Carona

Key lawmakers, with time running out in the session, are pushing for a compromise bill that would put some limits on pay day loans, which have rates that can balloon to 1,000 percent annually.

The latest proposal reverts to what Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, proposed last month on the Senate floor, before the bill was loaded with pro-consumer amendments aimed at clipping the wings of the lending industry.

Texas is the only state in the nation that allows short-term lending that puts no restrictions on interest rates, rollovers, fees and term limits.

The industry has grown into a multi-billion business in Texas and has become the only loan outlet for many low income Texans. The lenders point out most customers repay the loans in a timely way and are repeat customers.

The companies have also spent millions for lobbyists and in campaign donations, giving them formidable clout in the Legislature, lawmakers said.

But in committee testimony, customers explained how a $200 loan could mushroom into thousands owed in a very short time, and how it is almost impossible to climb out of the debt cycle. In Texas last year, for example, 35,000 cars were repossessed by car title loan companies.

Mike Villareal

Negotiations between the lenders and lawmakers have continued and Tuesday, Carona said they are close to moving a bill forward.

“Conservatively, it will save consumers $200 million a year or more,” Carona said.

“While it’s not a perfect product – particularly given the overall interest rates and other charges of these products – it’s the very best bill we could hope to advance this session,” he said.

The bill as tentatively drawn up would limit any person to one payday and one auto title loan at a time. The size of the loans would be limited by a customer’s monthly income. The loan could only be renewed four times.

In exchange, the state would hold in abeyance and place a moratorium on city ordinances seeking to control payday storefronts.

Don Baylor of the progressive think-tank Center for Public Policy Priorities said consumer groups are largely in support of the proposed bill.

City ordinances, even with their greater restrictions than the proposed state law, are limited because the loan companies are moving beyond city boundaries, Baylor said.

“So much of this business is moving off-shore, out-of-state and on-line. That’s a big victory for us. We’re able to say these laws apply to you,” Baylor said.

Carona said the bill is not perfect, but is better than what is happening now.

“Any progress on an issue as contentious as this one…should be one that’s embraced,” Carona said.

A press conference to promote the bill is scheduled Wednesday by Carona, the Republican chairman of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Mike Villareal, the Democratic chairman of the House Investment and Financial Services Committee.

House OKs bill to allow mosquito eradication at empty lots

A sign encouraging Dallas residents to drain standing water to kill mosquitoes and fight West Nile Virus is placed on Ann Arbor Ave. in Dallas last September. (Tom Fox/Staff photographer)

The Texas House on Friday tentatively approved a bill that would give local governments a new tool in combating mosquito-borne West Nile virus.

The bill would let city, county or local health authority employees enter abandoned or uninhabited, foreclosed properties and treat standing pools of water with larvicide.

The measure advanced on a voice vote. If it wins final House approval by a two-thirds vote and Gov. Rick Perry signs it, it would take effect immediately. Bills clearing both chambers by two-thirds majorities go immediately into effect. Otherwise, they take effect Sept. 1. The Senate passed the bill, 28-3.

Under the bill, local government employees wouldn’t have to obtain owners’ permission or a court order. But they would be required to post on the front door a notice about the treatment, such as information on the insecticide that was used.

According to the bipartisan House Research Organization, the larvicide used by Dallas County Health and Human Services is not a pesticide, but a growth inhibitor and bacterium that prevents mosquito larvae from fully maturing.

West Nile virus is spread by mosquitoes. Last year, it killed 36 people in a four-county area of North Texas, including Dallas. About 1,000 people suffered moderate to severe symptoms.

Rep. Helen Giddings, D-DeSoto, sponsored the bill in the House. Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, authored the Senate version.

Senate passes tough payday loan bill, making passage doubtful

The Texas Senate passed a payday lending regulation bill authored by Dallas Republican John Carona, but amendments to the original bill make it unlikely to pass in the House.

The Texas Senate passed a payday lending regulation bill authored by Dallas Republican John Carona, but amendments to the original bill make it unlikely to pass in the House. (File 2010/Staff Photo)

On rare occasions, a bill becomes a runaway train.

State Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas)

That’s what happened on Sen. John Carona’s bill limiting the payday loan industry that has sprouted in the unregulated soil of Texas. More than 3,500 storefronts have mushroomed — more than the state has McDonald’s and Whataburgers, according to Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth.

Payday lenders give loans to low-income and fixed-income residents with little or no credit. It’s a risky business. But through loopholes in state law, the lenders have managed to pile up fees, rollovers and interest rates that can amount to 1,000 percent annually.

Davis has worked for years to cap and limit payday lenders. Carona wants to regulate them, but with less drastic measures.

He also was wary of how politically powerful the billion-dollar industry has become. He worked out a carefully balanced bill — it took small steps toward limiting the loans to a percentage of the borrower’s income. It wasn’t the best, he said, but it could pass the Legislature and the industry and its small army of lobbyists wouldn’t try and kill it.

State Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth)

But then the train started moving out of the station. Democrats like Davis started piling on amendments. The bill gained muscle. It put on stringent interest rates (36 percent) — low enough, said Davis, to probably kill the industry.

And thus doom the bill. It passed the Senate 26-4, but the House is a different train station.

Recognizing the bill had gotten away from him, Carona told his colleagues, with a defeatist comic flare, to go ahead and work their will: “I just want to go home and feed my cat.”

In rare move, Senate recalls political disclosure bill

After feisty debate, the full Senate recalled a bill they passed that would have forced third party groups that play heavily in politics and campaigns to disclose their donors.

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said he had voted for the bill but then realized it was a mistake and asked his colleagues to pull the bill back that had been sent to the House.

He cited concerns that donors were protected under the First Amendment and shouldn’t have their names made public. He suggested some donors give to a group thinking it will help pay their rent, but under the bill could find their name associated with a candidate or cause with which the group got involved.

Senators said privately that they heard from groups that might have fallen under the bill and raised strident objections.

The author of the bill, Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, said in disgust that politicians talk about transparency but then protect donors who play politics anonymously.

He asked Patrick if he bothered to read the bill he voted for before the vote.

“I’m not going to stand here and be insulted by you,” Patrick responded.

Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, who voted to recall the bill said nevertheleess it was such a drastic, rarely used move that he encouraged Patrick to work to change the bill once it hit the House or to put out a statement in opposition.

But Patrick said he wanted to right a mistake he had made by supporting the bill.

It was recalled on a vote 21-10.

Carona a ‘probably not’ on tax cuts: ‘You have to pay for it’

State Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas

Stateline, an online news service of the Pew Charitable Trusts, disseminated a story Thursday on Texas’ budget picture.

It mentions Gov. Rick Perry’s push for $1.8 billion of tax cuts or revenue rebates over the next two years, saying that proposal could be a tough sell, even in Perry’s GOP.

“There’s a point at which even a good conservative has to say, ‘Wait, I do believe limited government has a role, and in that limited role you have to pay for it,’” Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, told Stateline.

Last week, House budget chief Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, appeared to throw cold water on the Perry idea.

Pitts stressed that his budget panel doesn’t handle tax bills in the House but left no doubt he opposes taking $1.8 billion off budget writers’ table. Pitts said he remembers too vividly the pain of making some $12 billion in spending cuts to help bridge a $27 billion, two-year budget shortfall last session.

On Wednesday, Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, was more polite.

At a TribLive event sponsored by the Texas Tribune, Straus said that he didn’t know if lawmakers would be able to deliver $1.8 billion in tax relief this session. However, he added:

“It’s a good goal.”