Free Republic

As Texas lawmakers convene in January for the next legislative session, their chief task will be to write a two-year budget. And the state's next comptroller will be charged with estimating how much revenue lawmakers can expect to work with. The responsibility has become a political minefield, particularly after Comptroller Susan Combs’ estimate ahead of the 2011 session drew criticism for underestimating tax revenue by several billion dollars. Combs’ office recently researched the accuracy of revenue estimates going back 40 years and found that, by one measure, other comptrollers’ estimates have landed farther from the actual number. Since 1942, the...

Comptroller Susan Combs on Thursday added her name to the long list of Texas elected officials who are backing Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in his bid for the U.S. Senate. Dewhurst has been “relentless and focused on conservative principles,” said Combs, who credited the lieutenant governor for putting Texas in a strong economic position. “Fighting for principle is not always easy and it is not always visible,” Combs said at an Austin news conference. “I will tell you that actions speak a lot louder than words.” The low-key news conference at Run-Tex on Riverside Drive stands in stark contrast to...

Not long ago it was discovered that Amazon was operating a facility in Texas without paying sales tax. This of course was a problem because everyone else in Texas pays sales tax, including the small local bookstores. A little over a year later, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs has announced an agreement with Amazon that settles the tax dispute and will bring 2,500 new jobs to Texas and $200 million in capital investments. This is great news for the Texas economy. This is also great news for Amazon.com because Texas is very business friendly and Amazon will enjoy a great environment...

AUSTIN — The Texas treasury lost $19.5 million through an investment in the Ponzi scheme run by convicted financial swindler Bernard Madoff. The money was part of a $224.5 million investment the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Co. had with a Texas-based hedge fund called Austin Capital Safe Harbor. Austin Capital closed in May due to losses it suffered in one of Madoff's scam investment funds. Comptroller Susan Combs chairs the Treasury Safekeeping Trust, which manages $50 billion in tobacco lawsuit settlement funds, TexPool investments for 2,000 local governments and Treasury Pool for managing state funds. Combs spokesman R.J. DeSilva said...

AUSTIN -- State Comptroller Susan Combs delivered the bad news today that state lawmakers will have $9.1 billion less in state general revenue available than they did two years ago as they look to pay for everything from education to health care to prisons. The figure includes a $2.2 billion expected drop in state general revenue in the two-year budget cycle that begins Sept. 1, plus a beginning balance that's $6.9 billion smaller than the one lawmakers had last time they met. The budget picture is brightened a bit, however, by $6.7 billion saved in a state rainy day fund...

Hutchison choice softens intensity of GOP primary ASSOCIATED PRESS AUSTIN (AP) - With Gov. Rick Perry and Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn now strapping up for what promises to be a fiery gubernatorial campaign, expectations of shifting across the Republican primary have all but fizzled out. The GOP holds every statewide elected office in Texas and party leaders had been gearing up for a grand game of political musical chairs in case U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison jumped into the 2006 governor's race. Instead, Hutchison opted for another run at the Senate, leaving most GOP office holders sitting right where they...

AUSTIN – Texas Agricultural Commissioner Susan Combs officially opened her campaign for state comptroller today without waiting for incumbent Carole Keeton Strayhorn to make her next move. Strayhorn has been eyeing a run for governor in next year’s elections. Combs and Stayhorn are Republicans, as is Gov. Rick Perry. Combs, a former state legislator before her 1998 election as agriculture commissioner, said she expects an open seat for the comptroller’s office next year based on past discussions with Strayhorn. "She has been aware that I was running for this office," Combs said. "I’m in the race to stay. I’m in...

AUSTIN — Is she or isn't she? Those anticipating a possible GOP fight for governor took notice Monday when Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn was quick to deny that she'd told a fellow Republican she's not running for re-election. Strayhorn, who regularly lambastes Gov. Rick Perry, is seen as his potential challenger but hasn't announced. The latest twist came after the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, quoting Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs on her interest in running for comptroller, reported: "Strayhorn already has told Combs she is not running for comptroller again, so Combs' fund-raising efforts are directed at the job, she said. 'I...

Political Pulse: 01.23.05 The morning after the Texas State Society's Black Tie and Boots inaugural ball in Washington, which drew Texas politicians in droves, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs was hoarse, which she attributed to talking over the band. Though she has not made a formal announcement, Combs said she would run for Carole Keeton Strayhorn's job as state comptroller, when Strayhorn tries to fill bigger boots, widely rumored to be Gov. Rick Perry's. Strayhorn already has told Combs she is not running for comptroller again, so Combs' fund-raising efforts are directed at the job, she said. "I will probably...

School fight may wound Perry in '06 Thursday, May 20, 2004 In the recent 28-day special session called by Gov. Rick Perry, the only consensus was that no one liked the governor's plan — long on sin taxes and short on new money for schools. Even several Republican legislators marvel at how Perry has angered people and groups across the state. Some think the special session was just for show, and to set legislators up to take the blame for failure to revamp school finance and lower property taxes. The public is apparently cooling on the governor as well. In...

Combs to seek state comptroller job in 2006 election Associated Press AUSTIN (AP) — Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs confirmed Friday she's planning to run for state comptroller in 2006, a job now held by fellow Republican Carole Keeton Strayhorn. Combs wouldn't divulge any conversations she's had with Strayhorn, but said she doesn't expect Strayhorn to run for the office in the next election. "I think it'll be an open primary," Combs said in a telephone interview. Strayhorn is considered a potential candidate for governor in 2006, although she won't say whether she's seeking the state's top job. "I love...

Susan Combs starts a food fight of national proportions. Her presence is felt there in the cafeteria, behind the scoop-shaped slap of chili mac, next to the canned corn, fruit cobbler and 1 percent milk. This is her new kingdom, the world of school food. Since taking control of the school nutrition program last summer, Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs has tightened even further the restrictions on what kids can eat at school. Now she runs the strictest school lunch and snack program in the nation, one that has earned praise for its intent to fight obesity and...

Mexico delivered enough water to Rio Grande reservoirs this month to fulfill its entire annual obligation to the United States under a 1944 treaty, but remains uncommitted to paying the almost 1.4 million acre-feet of water it still owes. Mexico has released 383,554 acre-feet of water since the current accounting period began Oct. 1, said Sally Spener, a spokeswoman with the International Boundary and Water Commission. The most recent delivery, a substantial 200,000 acre-feet, was made Jan. 16, three days after President Bush visited with Mexican President Vicente Fox at the Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico. The payment...

Combs: Make Mexico pay for water debt Associated Press AUSTIN (AP) - The United States should take aggressive action to force Mexico to pay off its mounting debt under a 1944 water treaty, including withholding money for economic development and water from the American side of the border, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs said Thursday. "We have not even made Mexico feel a pin prick of pain," she said. "We have power to do some things." Combs, a Republican who last week was elected to a new four-year term, testified before the state Senate Subcommittee on Border Affairs. The treaty...