Posted on 07/25/2022 6:54:37 AM PDT by karpov
Gun owners allowed to carry handguns without permits or training. Parents of transgender children facing investigation by state officials. Women forced to drive hours out-of-state to access abortion.
This is Texas now: While the Lone Star State has long been a bastion of Republican politics, new laws and policies have taken Texas further to the right in recent years than it has been in decades.
Elected officials and political observers in the state say a major factor in the transformation can be traced back to West Texas. Two billionaire oil and fracking magnates from the region, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, have quietly bankrolled some of Texas' most far-right political candidates -- helping reshape the state's Republican Party in their worldview.
Over the last decade, Dunn and his wife, Terri, have contributed more than $18 million to state candidates and political action committees, while Wilks and his wife, Jo Ann, have given more than $11 million, putting them among the top donors in the state.
The beneficiaries of the energy tycoons' combined spending include the farthest-right members of the legislature and authors of the most high-profile conservative bills passed in recent years, according to a CNN analysis of Texas Ethics Commission data. Dunn and Wilks also hold sway over the state's legislative agenda through a network of non-profits and advocacy groups that push conservative policy issues. Critics, and even some former associates, say that Dunn and Wilks demand loyalty from the candidates they back, punishing even deeply conservative legislators who cross them by bankrolling primary challengers. Kel Seliger, a longtime Republican state senator from Amarillo who has clashed with the billionaires, said their influence has made Austin feel a little like Moscow.
"It is a Russian-style oligarchy, pure and simple," Seliger said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Adherence to Constitutional principals is “far-right”?
That must explain the incredible inflows of new people moving there.
“It is a Russian-style oligarchy, pure and simple,” Seliger said.
The Left is sure obsessed with Russia, aren’t they? And not at all concerned about China. This tells me all I need to know.
This is Texas now
It reads like an advertisement for why you should move to Texas.
From where I sit in the Northeast, it sounds like the cure for so many ills.
Check out the authors up above. It took the efforts of 4 fags to put this piece together
Wait a minute, I thought Texas was fixing to turn blue? All the lefties said so, could they have been wrong, or even lying? (Hopefully sarcasm tag not necessary)
And those evil oil barrons Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks are bursting our Beto dream! Super Soros needs to pump a few more million to keep that big ‘ol “S” on his chest! (//sarc - trying to mimic a liberal thought process- it is difficult.)
Mega donors only make CNN’s news when they donate to the wrong party.
Now do far-left MEGA donors, to all of the deprived leftist candidates and policies, CNN.
Too many to mention??
You’re right...they’re horrified that their leftist infiltration is being stymied and (hopefully) blocked, here in TX and other states.
CNN is horrified, but I think this is an interesting article on how conservatives can gain power. CNN does not mind the big donations of people like Soros.
It took 4 people to write this sludge? The more contributors, the bigger the lie.
Change the state to California and the donors to Soros and Gates and it becomes an article you’ll never see written
If I must choose one or the other..a prog/commie
...I guess I’m an “ right wing extremist”
No Dominion machines there!
We need to oust as many RINOs in the state legislatures every cycle and replace them with MAGA people. Purple and red states with RINO-controlled legislatures are where the Steal happened.
Don't blame Democrats for the woke clown world we live in. It was RINO-controlled state legislatures of PA, GA, AZ, and MI who handed it to them on a platter by turning a blind eye to their cheating and refusing to investigate/prosecute it.
Considering how far left they are, it's probably quite difficult to see across the distance from them to the Constitution, so they do consider Constitutional principles to be far-right.
Translation of their first three points:
Supporting the 2nd amendment bad
Killing babies good
Mocking God required
Don't forget Zuckerbucks, which probably swayed outcomes in several states in 2020. How much concern has CNN expressed about that?
Russia is the new Trump.
The far left bozos like der kleine Fuhrer Soros and the Hollowoody elitists like Gwyneth Paltrow have taken over buying government jobs for the far left RAT candidates in Texas.
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