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exas is the state where Republican

and conservative politics predominate,and it is the site of what could be thebloodiest political battle between bigbusiness and grassroots people. Te U.S.Chamber of Commerce and the exasFuture Business Alliance have madetheir opposition to grass conservatives,specifically the ea Party, very clear.

Te U.S. Chamber says they want nomore fools nominated for office by theRepublicans. Te fools they refer toare ea Party candidates. o back uptheir stand, they have been using a $50million bank account in efforts to defeatea Party conservative candidates in theprimaries.

In exas, Te exas Future BusinessAlliance has sent out mailers and pro-vided support on behalf of GOP candi-dates who support water infrastructuredevelopment, highway construction andeducation spending. In other words theyare businesses that live off of big govern-ment projects.

One business insider has told theDallas Morning News, its part of thesame trend youre seeing nationally. Alot of the business community is tiredof people who dont want to govern.Te Business Alliances spokesman Da-vid Polyansky, said the business allianceaims to recognize leaders dedicated tokeeping exas as the best state in the na-tion for business development and jobgrowth.

What these business leaders con-tinue to ignore, they need to grass-

roots conservative to win. Grassrootsconservative want less regulation andgreater market freedom which wouldbenefit business.

he election of ed Cruz as U.S. Sen-

ator, couple with the recent primaryvictor y by Dan Patrick for LieutenantGovernor, as well as the victories byseveral ea Party backed state senato-rial candidates appears to have set thestage of nasty platform fight in FortWorth at the GOP state convention thisweek.

he battle over the exas Solutionplatform which the GOP Establishmentsupports and the ea Party opposes.Grassroots ea Party leaders view it theexas Solution as a cheap labor plat-form masquerading as guest workerprogram and Hispanic Outreach. heyaccurately point out high unemploy-ment and under-employment rate in

the U.S., the huge number people onwelfare, continued lack of border en-

forcement and punishment of em-

ployers who hire illegal aliens, and theObama administrations willingness toplay politics with federal immigrationlaws.

So how will this battle play out? OneLatino restaurant owner in San Anto-nio who claims to be a conservative Re-publican, has already endorsed LeticiaVan De Putte, the Democrat candidatefor Lt. Governor because he dislikesPatricks immigration position.

Its very curious to me how big busi-ness can ally themselves with liberalsand big government. heir positionon cheap labor should not be surpris-ing to grassroots conservatives. Busi-ness groups have backed gay friendlylegislation, affirmative action, abortionhealth care coverage, common core,and always big spending items.

A perfect example is how last yearin May 2013, David Zachry, CEO ofthe San Antonio-based constructionfirm Zachry Corp. and big chambersupporter, pressed state lawmakers,including Leticia Van De Putte, to cir-cumvent a bills limits on the construc-tion of hotels in a redeveloped San An-tonios HemisFair Park. he legislationgranted the city authority to reconfig-ure public land, without seeking voterapproval.

I guess some business folks believegovernment and business seem canwork best when they just ignore and

remove those messy little grassrootspeople from the process.

Te wheels of government are reputedto move rather slowly, and we all moanand groan about it because things arenthappening fast enough to suit us.

Every now and then, however, thosewheels reach NASCAR speeds and

we moan and groan about it because itshappening too fast for us.

A case in point would be the recentmaneuvering by the City of Gonzalesand Gonzales Economic DevelopmentCorp. to purchase Jon Harris old acti-cal Paintball property near Harwood foruse as an industrial park.

Te details on how it all went down arenoted in our news story on the subject,but heres a quick summary of events:

A locator company representing an-other company which was looking to lo-cate a facility somewhere in exas (we as-sume Central exas) was directed by theGovernors Office on Economic Devel-opment to Gonzales and, apparently,several other municipalities. Te locator

informed Gonzales Economic Develop-ment Corp. what kind of property it waslooking for, and that the company it wasrepresenting required anonymity as acondition of negotiations.

GEDC located that kind of property,in the form of the old paintball rangea few miles outside city limits. GEDCinformed the locator, which then ex-plained it had a specific timeline associ-ated with the project and that timelinecalled for much faster action than theGEDCs legal requirement of giving 60days notice before purchasing property.

GEDC approached the City of Gon-zales about the issue, because state lawgives the city the ability to purchaseproperty outside city limits for econom-ic development with no notice whatso-ever and under terms very favorable for

businesses such as the one in question.GEDC proposed the city buy the prop-erty, then GEDC would buy it from thecity in due course in accordance with its60-day requirement.

City Council recognized that there isonly one economic presence in GonzalesCounty along Interstate 10 that beingthe Shell station just outside Waelder.Even if the company in question did nottake the property, Council recognizedthat eventually some business would,

and the property would no doubt con-tribute to the citys revenues. With the City on board, GEDC

authorized an offer (incentivization ofConfidential Project AG-47) to the loca-tor company to pass along to its client.Tat offer was not accepted; the detailsof that offer are thus exempt from publicdisclosure.

Te City now owns the land, andGEDC is in its 60-day process to pur-chase it.

Everything involved in all of the ac-tions are 100 percent above-board andmeet the letter of the law.

Like some others in the community,my curiosity radar went off while cover-ing the meetings during which the proj-ect was discussed and approved.

Of particular curiosity was when the

GEDC board approved the incentiviza-tion of Confidential Project AG-47,because GEDCs recent history has beento be very up-front about incentivizationdeals: they want people to know busi-ness is liking the climate here.

Unfortunately the confidential natureof the request from the business locatorwasnt made as clear as it could have been and we guys in the news media didntask the right questions which could haveenabled an answer to help clear thingsup before now.

Tats water under the bridge.Property owners in the area sur-

rounding the land purchase certainlyhave cause to be concerned. Te city hassaid it has no plans to annex any otherareas to make the purchase contiguousto current city limits but thats now.Other offers, other growth, could changethat.

Some have complained that there wasnot enough opportunity for the public to

have input, that folks didnt have enoughinformation on what was going on tocome to an informed opinion on it.

Part of the quickness on the part ofsome folks to question the transparencyof this all, no doubt, stems from the factthat a prior city manager was knownfor a lack of transparency, prone to do-ing things on his own without seekingCouncils guidance (or, in some cases,without telling them at all). From thiswriters perspective, the local leaderswe have elected to make these decisionshave resolved that issue.

Tats part of the nature in operat-ing as a republican form of govenrment

versus operating as a true democracy.Sometimes, you just have to trust thepeople youve elected to make the rightcall.

T C T, J , P A

I O V

Big Business attacks Tea Party

I O V

Time for a banon texting, driving

Sometimes, you have to trust those you elect

THE GONZALES CANNON (USPS 001-390)is published weekly each Thursday by GonzalesCannon Inc., 618 St. Paul Street, Gonzales, TX78629. Periodicals Postage Paid at Gonzales, TX78629. A one year subscription costs $25 both in-county and out-of county. E-subscriptions are $15per year.

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An erroneous reection upon the charactor, stand-ing or reputation of any rm, person or corporation,which appears in the columns of this newspaper willbe corrected upon due notice given to the publicationat The Gonzales Cannon ofce. Ofce hours are 8:30a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Phone: (830) 672-7100. Fax: (830)672-7111. Website:www.gonzalescannon.com.

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Alice Hermann

Dave Mundy - Editor &General Manager

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Letters to the Editor

letters@gonzalescannon.com

2014

Dances with

Chihuahuas

Dave

MundyGeneralManager

El Conservador

George Rodriguez is a San Antonio resident. He is theformer President of the San Antonio Tea Party, and

is now Executive Director of the South Texas Politi-cal Alliance.

George

Rodriguez

You cannot legislate common sense any morethan you can legislate morality. The time has

come, however, to support legislation which will

at least raise awareness and, perhaps, help peo-

ple come to their senses.

Advances in communications technology con-

tinue to expand our ability to communicate with

others. Unfortunately, those advances have cre-

ated a monstrous danger on our roads and high-

ways.

There have been some attempts in the past to

introduce statewide legislation to ban the use of

cell phones and hand-held devices while driving.

It is time for the state Legislature and local gov-

ernments to seriously consider enacting such a

statute.

The Texas Department of Transpor tations latest

figures indicate that one in four crashes involves

driver distraction. Drivers who use cell phones in

their vehicles have a higher risk of collision than

drivers who dont, whether holding the phone or

using a hands-free device.

State law does provide for such a prohibition

in school zones, and some municipalities around

Texas have enacted local ordinances prohibiting

cell phone/handheld device use while driving.

There is insufficient data to indicate whether

these local ordinances have had a major impact

on the habits of drivers, but at the very least they

have raised awareness of the danger of distracted

driving.

Several recent tragedies and near-tragedies lo-

cally have been linked directly to texting while

driving. Especially given the increase in trafficvolume in Gonzales and surrounding counties as-

sociated with heavy industrial equipment, it has

become vital for all drivers to give their full atten-

tion to the road.

This is especially crucial for younger and less-ex-

perienced drivers who are, unfortunately, the

people most likely to be using hand-held technol-

ogy while driving.

Even among very experienced drivers, it takes

only fractions of a second for a vehicle moving

at high speed to go off-course as a result of dis-

tracted driving.

Current state law targets those younger drivers:

Drivers with learners permits are prohibited from

using handheld cell phones in the first six months

of driving, and drivers under the age of 18 are pro-

hibited from using any wireless communications

device.

Beyond enacting statutes, we urge readers to

take matters into their own hands as well. Do not

text or hold phone conversations with anyone you

know is driving. It can wait.

Drivers: we urge you to drive now and talk later.

If you must make a phone call, pull over and stop.

Otherwise, wait until you reach your destination

to use the phone.