Posted on 09/24/2007 9:12:17 AM PDT by Cat loving Texan
Sullivan hitting small groups around the state to question Legislature's performance.
By Jason Embry AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Monday, September 24, 2007
CANTON — During an evening speech to about three dozen of the Republican faithful in this East Texas antiquing town last week, Michael Sullivan mentioned somewhat casually that Republicans had controlled state government since 2003.
"That calls for a hand," one member of the audience interrupted.
But that wasn't meant to be an applause line. In fact, it was a setup.
"I'm sorry to say that when you look at what Republicans have delivered in control of state government, it hasn't been a lot to write home about," he told the audience.
For the second time that day, the lanky 37-year-old president of a group called Texans for Fiscal Responsibility told an audience of GOP loyalists that their party had increased state spending more than 30 percent over six years, failed to use $14 billion in new state revenue for a fresh round of tax cuts and ignored the effects of rising property appraisals on tax bills.
It's a sermon that Sullivan has preached repeatedly around the state in recent months.
And while at least some of his audiences are eating up every word (as appeared to be the case in Canton), his critique isn't winning him a lot of new friends in the Legislature.
"A lot of times, different organizations — not just conservative organizations, it's teachers groups, everybody — they feel compelled to go out during the interim and create a crisis where one doesn't necessarily exist," said Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock. "And then, of course, they gather interest in their organization as the one to cure that ill."
Sullivan is trying to do two things. The first is to tap into the unmet expectations of ideological, faithful activists — the folks who fold up the chairs at local party events and nail candidates' yard signs into their grass. The second is to compel more casual voters to keep a closer eye on their politicians between elections to make sure they vote the way they campaigned.
His goal is a Legislature that focuses more on spending restraint and lower taxes. And he sees two ways to get there. One is to put a little fear in the people who already have seats in the Legislature but aren't voting the way he would like. The other way is to defeat them at election time.
"I want folks walking away wanting to ask more questions, wanting to get more engaged, more involved," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said he'll support anyone who's on board with his ideas, regardless of party. Yet he spends most of his time talking to Republican voters, which makes sense, Sullivan says, because they're the party more closely identified with his brand of fiscal conservatism.
In fact, the group of lawmakers he seems most interested in changing is about a dozen House Republicans who often vote with Democrats on the issues he tracks.
"For most voters, they're voting for the brand," Sullivan said. "When I go to the grocery store and I buy Dr Pepper, I expect it to taste like Dr Pepper. If it tastes like Pepsi, it's going to bug me."
Sullivan, who was part of the Corps of Cadets while a student at Texas A&M University, was a reporter for two small newspapers before going to work for U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, the Libertarian-turned-Republican from Lake Jackson who is running for president.
After a stint at a Washington think tank, he joined the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an Austin research group that supports smaller government and lower taxes. The foundation's key early benefactor was San Antonio businessman James Leininger, a major Republican donor and advocate of private school vouchers.
Frustration with a new business tax that Gov. Rick Perry championed and lawmakers approved last year to help pay for property-tax cuts prompted one of the foundation's board members, Midland oilman Tim Dunn, and others to discuss starting a group that could more actively push for policies and candidates. The foundation is limited in that realm because it accepts tax-deductible donations.
"We're going to work where we can be effective, and the reality is that right now there are a lot of Republicans that are looking for a way to express themselves and express their dissatisfaction with what they see going on," Dunn said. "Empowering citizens is what we're about."
Dunn has been the predominant funder of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. He and Sullivan won't say how much Dunn has given, but the organization's annual operating budget is about $240,000.
Sullivan is one of two full-time staff members, and he, Dunn and Dunn's son make up the group's board. Sullivan said he has collected about 15,000 names for his e-mail list.
Although many of the House members who most irritate Sullivan are moderate Republicans who do not support House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, he and Dunn said they are not trying to influence whether Craddick withstands an expected challenge for his leadership post in 2009.
"Who the speaker is does not enter into my thinking," said Sullivan, whose group was formed in 2006, before Craddick successfully fended off a challenge for the speaker's post during this year's legislative session.
Along with sending out regular e-mails, Sullivan keeps a Web site with blog posts and podcasts. During the legislative session he bought radio time to praise a House member who voted against expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program, and he's raising money for a political action committee to spend in next year's elections.
One of his recent e-mails appeared to draw the ire of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. Earlier this month, Dewhurst's campaign sent out an e-mail saying "a small Austin-based group" was misinformed about the new state budget and the money in it that will be used to reduce property taxes. Dewhurst spokesman Rich Parson refused to say which group he was talking about, but all signs point to Sullivan's.
In speeches in Odessa and Canton last week, Sullivan lamented a 30 percent increase in total spending over the past six years. He chides lawmakers for not passing further property tax cuts this year despite the fact that state revenue was projected to be $14 billion more than they spent in the previous budget.
Like many advocates, Sullivan uses numbers that lack some context. For example, the amount of money that lawmakers budgeted for state and federal spending has increased 34 percent since 2001, the last time Democrats controlled the state House, but state spending — which lawmakers have greater control over — has increased 21 percent. And while the Legislature this year did not vote for any further reductions in property tax rates, it did leave $7 billion unspent so money could be used to hold down property tax rates in three years.
Also, Texas already has one of the lowest per-capita spending rates of any state on many programs and services.
Yet there is no question that many taxpayers have not seen the savings they were promised by some politicians (Perry said in his 2006 campaign that the average homeowner would see a $2,000 cut over three years). It's that kind of frustration that gives Sullivan something to work with.
"They tolerate, and they're too busy trying to compromise instead of standing their ground and taking the ground," said Sherrill Lenz of Van, which is near Canton. "We need to be far more aggressive as Republicans."
One of Sullivan's favorite tools to reach such frustrated voters is his group's legislative scorecard. The scorecard rewards lawmakers who, among other things, voted against loosening eligibility rules for the Children's Health Insurance Program, against a bill expanding prekindergarten programs and against a major tuition discount at public universities for anyone who graduates in the top 10 percent of a public high school class.
Duncan said the scorecard, which Sullivan distributes at his speeches, leaves out key information, such as the fact that every dollar spent on CHIP brings more federal money into the state.
"If we were to vote 100 percent his way, we would lose the majority in the House and Senate," Duncan said. "His grading mechanism would spell certain defeat for members of the party because they would not be representing their districts."
Sullivan isn't without his friends. Late in the legislative session, he and Perry appeared at a news conference together to call for immediate property tax cuts and tighter controls on spending. And Rep. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, said Sullivan's work isn't much different from that of anti-abortion and gun-rights groups.
"We need a group that's going to keep us honest on spending issues," Hughes said.
Sullivan spends a few days a week on the road, but in a state of 23 million people, it's unclear how much of an impact he can have. More than half the members of his small audience in Canton identified themselves as elected officials or candidates for office.
"If I can get someone asking some questions about the way our state's being run, the way policies are being handled, and they then in turn go and talk to some of their friends and get them asking some of those questions," he said, "then suddenly we really do start seeing some movement."
jembry@statesman.com; 445-3654
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