EXCLUSIVE: Colorado Republican Shares Hard Learned Lessons for Texas

(Author's Note: Sean Duffy is in the center of the picture, next to Santorum)

Today, Cahnman's Musings was blessed to speak for 45 minutes with Sean Duffy former deputy Chief of Staff to former Colorado Governor Bill Owens.  Almost a decade ago, Sean Duffy was a source of ours when we worked with Robert Novak.  During that time, the left was in the early stages of its takeover of Colorado.

Since the election of 2012, as the left has announced its intention to use the Colorado model in Texas, Cahnman's Musings thought back to those conversations we had with Sean Duffy in 2004 many times.  In 2004, there was something happening on the ground in Colorado that we did not understand at the time.  Having been on the front-lines of those battles, Sean Duffy shared his thoughts with Cahnman's Musings:



Highlights: 

Education -- Early in their rise to power, the left demagogued Education.

• In the Early 2000's education in Colorado was a mess.  Amendment 23, passed in 2000, created a mandate in the state constitution that required the state to spend at least inflation PLUS 1% on education.  This chaotic policy environment gave the left an opportunity to operate in Colorado in a way that doesn't exist in Texas today.

• In discussing education: "Moms and Dads like substance....There's ways to deal with this [education] in a substantive way where you can get Moms and Dads to focus."
• Author's Note: In Texas, that means School Choice, School Choice, and School Choice.

• "If we fight over dollars we lose, if we fight over substance we win."
•  Author's Note: I think that's the most important line in the whole interview.

Tactics of the Left

• The left likes to "create chaos and drop a piano on someone's head."

• The left systematically took out key Republicans in the state legislature by demogoguing particular votes and spending multiples of what had previously been spent in state legislative races; they knew who to pick off.
• Author's note: In Texas, my educated guess is that Donna Campbell and Giovanni Capriglione are the two most likely candidates.
• In a hilarious and ironic turn of events, this point might be the silver lining of Joe Straus' leadership. If there's one thing members of the Texas House know how to do, it's raise money and campaign.  No vulnerable Republican in the Texas House will ever lack for money.

• The left has "an extraordinary ground game"
• "The Left loves to go door-to-door."
•  Day in, day out, door-to-door organizing.
• Teachers "literally go door-to-door."
•  "We just don't do that"...."[W]e don't cultivate neighborhoods the way the left does."

•  Ken Salazar 2004:
• Ran as a moderate and was well liked.

•  "The spend a lot of time ripping our guys' heads off and we don't do as well in terms of finding the 1 or 2 message points that really unravels somebody in the public mind."

 Differences with Texas:

• Texas conservatives already have the seven capabilities; we can get a LOT better in how we deploy them, but we're building from a solid foundation.
• "This is the bread and butter of the left; they stand up organizations that do each of those things and they fund them."
• Intellectual Ammunition: Texas Public Policy Foundation.
• Mobilize for elections: Anyone who volunteered for Ted Cruz knows how many people were block-walking in 100 degree heat heading into that LATE JULY runoff!
• Pursuing investigations: Who uncovered CSCOPE?!?
• Strategic Litigation: Does the name Greg Abbott ring a bell?!?

•  Colorado was never the Republican stronghold that Texas is today.
• Bill Owens was the first Republican governor in 25 years.
• Ken Salazar was an incumbent state Attorney General before he was elected to the U.S. Senate; in Texas terms that would be like having Joaquin Castro serve alongside Rick Perry.
• In Texas, by contrast, no Democrat has won statewide office since 1994.

•  Entrepreneurs in the Minority communities.
• Texas conservatives have people like Rafael Cruz.

How you beat the left:

• "You've gotta get into the specifics of where the dollars are going and pound the crap out of them!"

Finally, via e-mail, Sean Duffy shares his thoughts on how conservatives, in general, can improve our messaging:

I just think we do so much better when we use emotion, and strong compelling narrative to back up our points.  Whether in charter schools or school choice, folks are moved by the plight of eager mothers who are fighting to get their kids educated.  We are moved by entrepreneurs who succeed despite humble beginnings.  More and more, it’s the narrative that has to be developed to bolster our policy points…particularly in the new media environment.

 Bottom Line: Texas conservatives must always remain vigilant, but we're a LOT better prepared for this fight than the left thinks we are.

Read More

Revised Priorities for the 83rd Texas Legislature

Back in February, Cahnman's Musings published this list of big ticket items for the 83rd Texas Legislature; heading into the final six weeks of the session, these are our revised priorities:

1. Gold, gold, gold - Rep. Giovanni Capriglione has proposed building a depository to store Gold bullion.  Governor Perry supports this effort.  Repatriating our own gold, and creating a safe haven for others' gold, will enable Texas to withstand the coming global economic [REDACTED]storm.  In a world where bank deposits are being confiscated, safety has value.  Accomplishing this task will allow us to live to fight another day.
   
2. School Choice - K-12 education is 40% of state spending.  Keeping long-term education spending under control is essential to keep the budget under control.  Putting the money in the hands of parents instead of educrats will also help pre-empt future CSCOPE's.
   
3. Medicaid - Medicaid expansion is economic suicide; just say no.
   
4. Transparency/Pensions - As we said in February: "Local government debt in Texas is $324 billion.  Pension obligations are a big chunk of that debt.  The interrelated issues of local debt and pension obligations are a time bomb the legislature should defuse before it becomes a crisis."
   
5. Texas Budget Compact - This is Rick Perry's baby.  To our knowledge, he isn't doing bupkus to get it passed.  Cahnman's Musings was an early supporter of the Texas Budget Compact, but if Rick Perry isn't going to do squat to pass his signature initiative, why should we?!?

There's still time to pass every item on this list.  These are structural reforms that will strengthen Texas' economy for the next generation.  If the 83rd Texas legislature delivers on these five items, Cahnman's Musings can live with a lot of other crap.

Read More

Kevin Freeman: You can run but you can't hide (except maybe in Texas)

Cahnman's Musings has been familiar with Kevin Freeman since we read his book Secret Weapon last year.  Thus, it heartens us to hear Freeman speak approvingly of Rep. Giovanni Capriglione's effort to establish a gold bullion depository in the state of Texas. Freeman writes:

The most asked question after people grasp that we are in a global economic war is “What do I do with my money?” Now, it is a pretty astounding revelation to understand that the next global war, or more precisely the one we are in now, is not fought with tanks and planes. It is fought with money and computers. It is not a cyber war as so many have thought. It is an economic war and cyber is simply one of the many battlefields.

It wasn’t a cyber attack that doomed Cypriot depositors to lose 10%, 30%, or 80% of their deposits over 100,000 Euro (or however it ends up). No, it was bank failures and the pressures of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the European Union. These were terms “handed down.” No computer needed in this case.

Of course, there is a massive cyber battle underway. In fact, just last week may have been the largest attack in history. Here at home, JP Morgan Chase depositors logged on to their accounts recently only to see zero balances across the board. We have been told that this wasn’t hacking but rather a computer glitch. but, it could have been hacking and that is the point.

Once someone realizes that this is a global economic war they understand that their bank accounts, life savings, stock holdings, and even currency could come under attack. The immediate response is to ask how to protect your money. Unfortunately, there is no “one size fits all” answer. The reality is that no single approach can work.

....

The reality is that gold has been confiscated in the past and could be confiscated in the future.  If the IMF can raid Cyprus-held bank accounts, do you believe gold bars in your home would be immune?


It is interesting to note that the state of Texas may ask for their gold to be held in the state. A new bill sponsored by Giovanni Capriglione and supported by Governor Rick Perry may pave the way for one place to possibly hide. If successful, this bill opens some interesting possibilities as mentioned by Jim Rickards, best-selling author of Currency Wars. [Rickards has been featured extensively warning of the risks of a dollar collapse. He led a war game effort in the Pentagon that showed how Russia and China could destroy our currency.]

It makes us breathe just a little easier knowing that Kevin Freeman favors these efforts.

Update: Apparently, Kevin Freeman helped craft this plan.

Read More

Texas State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione on Repatriating Texas' Gold

Texas State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione stopped by GB's radio show to discuss his efforts to establish a Gold bullion depository in the State of Texas:


Highlights:

• Bullion depository in the state of Texas; Perry supports it.

• The law will be passed by May and go into effect on 9/1.

• After the law is passed, the State will determine the location.

• Disconnecting Texas' banking system from the nightmare that is coming.

• Texas' electric grid is independent of the rest of the country.

Read More