Analysis: The blurry line between government and political campaigns in Texas – By Ross Ramsey (Texas Tribune) / January 31, 2022
What voters hear from the offices of the top Texas officeholders often sounds identical to what they’re hearing from the incumbents’ campaigns. It’s hard to tell their government work from their political work.
If you’re having a hard time telling where government work stops and campaign work begins, which announcements are political and which ones are civic, which ones are paid for by political donors and which are financed by Texas taxpayers, it’s because there is often no difference between the two.
The top three Republican incumbents on the ballot have each amped up their campaigns and their official efforts as the elections approach, with the political and government offices running in parallel, reinforcing the campaigns’ themes.
For instance, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick rolled out a campaign ad touting his hard-line position on immigration and border security. At about the same time, under his state letterhead, he announced the formation of a new Senate Committee on Border Security.
“Public safety is government’s first responsibility and there is no greater threat to public safety in Texas right now than the failed, open-border policies of the Biden Administration,” he said in that news release. Pretty close to what he says in the TV ads for his campaign: “Texas must secure the border because Biden and his administration won’t. And we must stop those here illegally from voting.”
CONTINUE > https://www.texastribune.org/2022/01/31/texas-politics-campaigns/
