Activist urges release of Bonnen tapes, O’Rourke slams Trump, new prez race poll, Marchant bows out – Dallas News

Activist urges release of Bonnen tapes, O’Rourke slams Trump, new prez race poll, Marchant bows out  Dallas News

Good morning! Here are the top political headlines from Austin, Washington, the campaign trail and Dallas.

Good morning!

Here are the top political headlines from Austin, Washington, the campaign trail and Dallas.

1. After the deadly shooting in El Paso on Saturday, some Democrats say the state GOP needs to tone down its anti-immigrant rhetoric. It’s worth noting, Hispanic activists say, that Texas Republican lawmakers were once at the forefront of proposing policies that had a compassionate approach to immigration. Now, the stream of legislation from Republican lawmakers includes anti-sanctuary city laws and voter ID laws that some feel are aimed at the undocumented population.

Domingo Garcia, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens said from El Paso, “It’s clear that President Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric and race-baiting has created a dangerous environment. Combined with Republican leaders in Texas making immigrants and Latin residents political piñatas, their policies have created a toxic environment in our political discourse.”

2. Republicans continue to grapple with fallout from the controversy swirling around House Speaker Dennis Bonnen. Conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan started the ruckus when he claimed he was at a meeting where Bonnen openly taking about working against members of his own party. The speaker flatly denied the claim.

Then Sullivan revealed he had the speaker on tape discussing a “target list” of GOP lawmakers to go after ahead of the March primary.

Some lawmakers who have listened to the tapes want them to be made public. But others say Bonnen’s words went beyond naming 10 politicians to target in the primary, and they worry that releasing the tapes could allow the ugliness to spread.

3. A bill signed into law in May means a North Texas woman won’t face criminal charges for carrying a kitty key chain, Denton police said.

4. Rep. John Zerwas, who announced his retirement from the Texas House last week, has a new job in the UT system.

Bob’s breakdown

Bob Garrett is the Austin bureau chief for The Dallas Morning News. A fifth-generation Texan, he has covered state government and politics for decades. Here, Bob offers his take from the Capitol.

  • Speaker Dennis Bonnen is mired in a mess over whether he improperly offered to give a conservative activist’s GOP-purging organization a House media credential in return for no further attacks – and help in defeating 10 incumbent House Republicans in next March’s primary. Bonnen has denied doing so.

  • This week, the speaker, who has declined to speak with the news media about his hourlong June huddle with Michael Quinn Sullivan, is attending the summer meeting of the bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures in Nashville, Tenn. So are a number of Bonnen’s House colleagues, including fellow Republicans. Wouldn’t it be fun to eavesdrop on their conversations?

  • Among Tuesday’s featured sessions is this: “Disrupting Incivility: Today’s lawmakers deal with a barrage of negativity, including sometimes poisonous personal attacks. Hear how colleagues across the country are fighting off the rising tide of incivility and using safeguards to protect themselves and the legislative institution.” Maybe Bonnen will drop by?

Points from the trail

1. Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke canceled campaign events and rushed back to hometown of El Paso on Saturday after receiving word of the shootings that left 22 dead at a Walmart. He said he was “crushed” when he heard the news and didn’t want to believe it.

O’Rourke, who represented the city in Congress and is also a former city council member, participated in vigils over the weekend and had strong words for President Donald Trump. Both he and Julian Castro, the other Texan in the race for the Democratic nomination, said the president’s rhetoric around immigration directly contributed the the tragedy.

2. A new poll of Texas voters has former Vice President Joe Biden leading O’Rourke in the Texas presidential primary and toppling Donald Trump in a head-to-head showdown.

The survey, conducted by Emerson College for The Dallas Morning News, signals that even with two favorite sons in race, Lone Star State voters want a familiar face as their nominee.

The poll also projects a wide-open Democratic primary race for the Senate seat held by longtime incumbent John Cornyn. Gromer Jeffers Jr. breaks down the results here.

Points from Washington

In this May 17, 2013 file photo, Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Charles Dharapak/AP)

In this May 17, 2013 file photo, Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. 

(Charles Dharapak/AP)

1. Kenny Marchant, the eight-term congressman from Coppell, announced that he is retiring, making him the fourth Republican in the delegation to decide not to seek reelection.

Democrats, who gleefully refer to the spate of retirements as a “Texodus,” are looking to flip seats in the state in 2020. Several challengers, some familiar names, have lined up to run in Marchant’s district, which he won by a razor-thin margin last fall.

2. Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz sent messages of solidarity with the people of El Paso. But Cornyn resisted calls for stricter gun control. He visited with law enforcement officers Sunday at the shopping complex where the mass shooting occurred.

3. Trump is scheduled to be in El Paso on Wednesday in a show of support following the mass shooting. It also may be a chance for the city to collect a debt. El Paso was the site of a rally in February in which Trump highlighted the need for a border wall. His campaign still owes the city $500,000 for security at the rally.

Points from Dallas

Michael Gonzalez, of the Democratic Socialists of America, helps unload a truckload of boxes as a coalition of labor and faith groups and political activists delivers petitions to at City Hall calling for a city ordinance mandating paid sick time to be placed on the November ballot on Monday, June 11, 2018, in Dallas.(Smiley N. Pool/Staff Photographer)

Michael Gonzalez, of the Democratic Socialists of America, helps unload a truckload of boxes as a coalition of labor and faith groups and political activists delivers petitions to at City Hall calling for a city ordinance mandating paid sick time to be placed on the November ballot on Monday, June 11, 2018, in Dallas.

(Smiley N. Pool/Staff Photographer)

1. The experiences of Austin and San Antonio in trying to implement laws on mandatory sick leave for employees in those cities shows that Dallas’ fight to enact the ordinance could face a similar uphill battle.

2. New Dallas mayor Eric Johnson writes in The Dallas Morning News that he’s planning to take his time assembling a team.

Tell us

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CORRECTION, 11:55 a.m., Aug. 6, 2019: An earlier version of this newsletter misplaced the name of Michael Quinn Sullivan with Dennis Bonnen. It now reads, “Then Sullivan revealed he had the speaker on tape discussing a “target list” of GOP lawmakers to go after ahead of the March primary.”