Inside Texas’ Power Plays: School Choice, Border Policy, And The Comptroller Race

The stakes aren’t waiting for Election Day. We open with a straight talk on early voting—not as a shortcut, but as the safest way to make sure your ballot counts when life throws curveballs. Security concerns matter, but we draw a clear line between what truly hardens elections—voter ID tied to verified addresses, accurate rolls, and tighter mail-in safeguards—and what just limits access for working Texans. Then we shift to the week’s atmospheric rollercoaster: muggy mid‑80s now, a sharp cold front next, and why planning around weather is part of planning your vote.

Our sit‑down with Kelly Hancock takes you inside the Texas CFO’s chair. We unpack why procurement rules and revenue estimates shape everyday life, how a fast pivot away from DEI-based preferences realigns state purchasing to equal treatment and best value, and what it takes to stand up school choice at scale. From vendor vetting that blocks problematic foreign ties to onboarding thousands of providers for over 100,000 applicants, we trace how ideas become operations—and why competent stewardship of the comptroller’s office is pivotal for conservative outcomes.

We speak with Sydnie Henry from Texas Scorecard to discuss their polling data on a variety of primary races, as well as a conversation on a MUD district facing a lawsuit from the Attorney General over concerns about their operations with the East Plano Islamic Center. 

We round out the show with Texas stories that connect pocketbook and safety. A $617 million NRG natural gas plant aims to stabilize the grid for a growing Houston region. A Harris County registration sticker scheme allegedly let unsafe, uninsured cars slip through the cracks, a reminder that “small” corruption carries real costs. An Epic City MUD lawsuit raises fresh governance red flags. And a Pearland High School investigation spotlights the tension between due process and timely parent communication. Throughout, we share practical ways to research down‑ballot races—prior voting records over slogans, substance over signs—so you pick leaders who defend your values and sweat the details.

If this helps you think sharper and vote smarter, share it with a friend, subscribe for more Texas-first coverage, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_13 0:03

From deep in the heart of Texas, it's Houston's gun loving patriot in the voice of reason. This is the Lark Conservative Michael Wilson.

Weather Outlook: Heat, Humidity, Cold Front

SPEAKER_15 0:30

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and you're listening to the Lone Star Conservative brought to you by Texellent AC Service. We have now made it to, if you did not know, Wednesday, which means obviously a couple of things. The first thing that it means is that we are halfway through the work week. I guess technically technically you have to be around noon today in order to But you know what I'm saying. Today's the halfway point uh coming up already on the weekend. The other thing that you really need to know is that it is now day two of early voting. If you have not yet early voted and you're you're I don't know what you're I look, I know there are some people that are that are super uh into I mean, we're all super into election security. I guess I should find some different wording. Uh that are that are like super into making sure that they're all that they're that their vote is counted and they're kind of suspicious about going in early voting as opposed to voting on election day. I get it. If if if you have a plan to go vote on election day, I think that's dangerous. You know, I I get it. Like that's how it used to be, and that's but I take it for granted that there is a a period of time where we can get out and vote. Like I've said before, there have been plenty of times where I've made plans for a day, not related to voting, but I've made plans for a day, and those plans have been monumentally changed by a variety of factors, right? You get into a car accident, somebody you know and care about uh is is in the hospital, right? Something happens, and you don't get to go do the thing that you plan to do that day. Not good. And so if you save voting for election day when we have other opportunities, you know, it's just tough sometimes. Things happen, things get in the way. Num I again, I'm not saying I don't get it. I certainly get it. I know that there's a lot of a lot there's a lot of people, there are a lot of people who are certainly very smart, possibly smarter than me, probably smarter than me, uh, who've said that voting early is a way to contribute to the insecurity of elections. Uh, that election day needs to be one day, it needs to be a national holiday, the businesses are required to give you the day off. I still think that that's a a little bit dangerous because you have people that just can't get off of work, right? I'm I'm I'm in a job where if I take a day, or it's not the end of the world, we we could record a show beforehand, we can rerun yesterday's show, right? Stuff can happen if I if I have to take a day off. Uh and also my job, I I can usually get it done throughout the day and have plenty of time to go vote after. But there's other jobs, right? Like I have plenty of friends that work in blue-collar atmospheres. Uh those people can't just take a day off. Right. And if they even if they do, somebody else still has to work the job. The job is still existent, right? It's not like my job, I I mean, where where you know, if so if I'm not talking on the radio, it is what it is, right? If someone's AC is not getting fixed, or someone's furnace is not getting fixed, right? There's a there's a problem, there's an issue. So somebody has to be on call. And they get called while they're standing in line to go vote, regardless of national holiday. Hey, we have a comp we have a customer, it's getting to the heat of the day, they they need you to come fix their AC. There's an emergency request, right? I you gotta go. That's how it is. And so I I still think that there is an avenue for people like that, and for really all of us then, uh, for an emergency scenario, if there's another opportunity to vote, and I get it, election security, this and that, I do understand. You guys know what I think about the 2020 elections, you guys know how I feel about election security in general. I've been all over this P.O. box scenario here in Harris County, uh, watching the the voter rolls, uh, finding out how many illegals are on it, right? All of those sorts of things I certainly get. I also think that there's if we if we fix the real problem, is not early voting, I don't think. I think the real problem with election security is due to three main things. I guess maybe four, but but three main things. Illegals, which can be fixed with mass deportations already being fixed. Good idea. If we deport almost every illegal, doesn't really matter. Okay. Number two is certainly mail-in voting, right? It's it's that sort of that sort of dynamic. Number three is voting from a non-residential address. I guess that can go with mail-in voting. Voting without being a residential, having a residential home in the area and going to a polling location in that area. That's that's number two and three. And number four is it has to be that we don't have voter ID. I mean, that that is probably the biggest driver that would fix a lot of the other problems. Because if you have to when you get a voter ID, if it has to be paired to a to a registered home address, you obviously can't get it if you're an illegal alien. I think that would that would fix a lot of those sorts of issues. And so voter ID is certainly a much larger deal to me than, say, the fact that there's an early voting time frame. Like I do understand that we want our elections as secure as possible. I think we would never have even questioned, we would never question really early voting if we had voter ID and you people had to show up. Bar an emergency being overseas, maybe a college student, right? That that sort of thing. Bar those scenarios, you have to show up to the location to vote. I I really do think that we would never have even been like, oh, early voting. That's dangerous. It would never have been a problem because it would have been secure anyway. And so I think we have much bigger issues to fix. And I do think that it provides a very good opportunity to make sure that you do go out and vote. Right? Things happen. Uh elections are not as important to many people as I think that they should be. And so if something goes if something if somebody invites you to go do like a birthday party or this or that on election day, a lot of a lot of people, I wouldn't, but a lot of people would say, Yeah, for sure, I'll do that happily. Yeah. 100%. Because elections aren't important to them. And I think there's a lot of Republicans, unfortunately. I think elections are actually more important many of the time to Democrats than they are to Republicans. Uh Democrats, again, are very good at mobilization, prioritizing those sorts of things. That's why you'll find that a lot of the protests are often Democrats. Not just because Democrats are the dumb ones that hold meaningless protests, but also because Republicans say, no, I got stuff to do. I got I live life. I I I have a job. I'm not going to take off. I'm not going to walk out of the classroom to go protest. I'm not going to do that. And so I think that we need to make sure that we're out there voting. And I think early voting provides a responsible opportunity to do that for a lot of people that may be busy or may not prioritize voting as much. Uh for whatever reason it is, I think that early voting provides a good opportunity for that in a lot of ways. And so my encouragement to you, I'm not going to tell you when to vote. I I guess I kind of am. I would I would heavily consider going and voting early, getting it taken care of. I think your vote's still gonna get counted. Uh I I I don't think there's any major concerns about that. So I I would encourage you, if at all possible, to get out and vote when you're available to do so. Uh don't do so so early. If you have not already done the research, I've been saying that for days, but I want to I want to make sure that everyone understands. Do not go vote, and I know we all have a tendency to do this. Do not go vote because you saw a guy's name on a sign. I that is an easy thing to do. I think probably most, I would argue most people do that. Right? I know that we see social media all the time, and on social media, the people that that get interaction on social media are the politically knowledgeable people, are the people that are inclined to politics. And so a lot of the posts that you see, the comments that you see are people that know a lot about politics and are well aware, and so we kind of get a perception of the world that that's most people. I promise you, it is not. Most people are not politically knowledgeable. Most people are are not super well informed on the issues and and whatever. When you ask people, hey, who are you voting for, if they can name you somebody, if they can actually give you a name, which many people cannot, but if they can, even then you ask them, why are you voting for that person? Certainly most people will not be able to give you a cohesive answer. I mean, there are people that ask them, hey, why are you voting for Jasmine Crockett? Because she's black. That is a that is a legitimate answer that so many people will give you. It is insane, it is lunacy, but that's that's the Democrat Party. We'll band together behind this woman because it's a black woman. That's that's the answer. And so I would encourage you, make sure that you're doing the research and and not again, just trusting a letter that you get in the mail. Don't just trust one avenue that says, hey, you should vote for this person. Don't just read a sign on the side of the road. Do the research. Read through the campaigns. Read go on social media and read posts from people. I know there's smear campaigns and there's mudslinging, so you have to kind of weave your way through that. Unfortunately, you kind of got to wade through that. That's par for the course with politics. It's nasty, it's disgusting, I think it's gross. It's it's one of my least favorite parts of politics are the mudslinging, especially in primary elections. But you gotta make good decisions. We we have to elect good conservatives, people who are going to be fiscally responsible, who are going to be morally responsible. And that requires, believe it or not, to be informed. That requires, in order to use wisdom, you must also have the accompanying knowledge. You can't apply knowledge that you don't have. Right? If you don't know the thing, then you can't make good decisions about the thing. And so, uh, do the research for whatever races you're voting in, right? Because everyone's voting in some different races here, there, and over there. Whatever county and district you're in, make sure you're aware of all of the candidates that are going to be on your ballot, and make sure that you are informed as to what those people believe, what you think about those people, the their their if they've been in politics before, the kind of things they did in the in their former political positions, that's often more important than their campaign is the way they voted, right? There are plenty of people who are running right now. I would argue, I'm not going to name names, but I would argue on pretty good platforms, campaign-wise, who unfortunately just have not produced those results in their actual positions. Hey, I really, really believe in this issue. And then they were in a position where they could have voted on that issue and they didn't show they abstained, they didn't show up to vote or they voted the opposite way. There are people that are in politics right now that that are those people that have a phenomenal campaign, have a phenomenal set of ideals that they say that they believe in, who if you voted for them and they stuck to what they said they were going to stick to, they'd be an excellent candidate choice. But then you look at the way they're currently running operations in the position they're in now, and you say, that's not giving me much confidence. I I don't believe that what you're saying is actually true. I I don't think so. And so we we have to look at all of the avenues to find out what they believe, what they actually believe, so that we can make responsible decisions. Um that also means listening to things people have said. I've had multiple candidates on the show. Hopefully you've been able to tune in, listen to some of their thoughts, some of their words. All right, we've had quite a few people that have come on who've kind of given their positions on things. I mean, we're gonna have at 7 o'clock at 6 30 today, we're actually gonna have Kelly Hancock coming on. So we we have a lot of a lot of options all over all these different elections. And you you gotta be informed going into it. With that being said, when we get back from the break, we're gonna go over the weather. Uh we we're gonna look at the heat up that's coming. Uh we certainly the weather is right now is not, I'll say, typical for mid to end February. Uh, it it's it's definitely warmer than it would usually be for this time of year, but we'll go over the weather when we get back from the break. Um and then, of course, at the 6.30 segment, we'll also have Kelly Hancock running for Comptroller coming on. We also, like I said, have quite a few stories to get into um all across the Greater Houston area and all across the state, um, where Republicans are saying that Sharia concerns should lead to legislative action. Uh, we have Texas suing a company called TP Link for allowing China to access Americans' devices. Um, we've got Sid Miller running for ag commissioner who's accusing Meta of targeted suppression after they locked him out of his Facebook page. Um, Wesley Hunt has filed a police report, by the way, against uh an advisor on the Cornyn campaign. Um, we've also got quite a few stories here in Houston. Uh, we have a Paraland High School theater teacher who has been placed on administrative leave and is under a police investigation. Uh, we also have a former s former Harris County tax office employee who's been accused in a vehicle registration sticker scheme with with fraud, and an update on NRG, which is building a six hundred and seventeen million dollar power plant in Harris County. So, again, lots of stuff. Oh, and a woman, by the way, who posed as an immigration officer who's now been arrested and accused of stealing nearly$40,000 from Usenaria families. All of that coming up through the rest of the show. In the meantime, you're listening to the Lone Star Conservative. I'll be back in the next segment with the weather. If you would like to text in, be a part of the show, the number is 713-779-5978. That is 713-779-KYST. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and I'll be right back after the break.

SPEAKER_11 14:20

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SPEAKER_07 14:35

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SPEAKER_05 15:05

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SPEAKER_06 16:36

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SPEAKER_08 17:21

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SPEAKER_19 17:27

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SPEAKER_09 17:52

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SPEAKER_15 18:27

We are starting on the morning a little bit warmer this morning than yesterday, with our lows kicking off in the low to mid-60s. Houston is also simmering really in this soupy air mass this week, ahead of a noticeable pattern change this weekend. Temperatures starting this afternoon are going to climb into the 80s in some neighborhoods, possibly reaching into the mid-80s by tomorrow. But a potent gold front is expected to swing through Southeast Texas this weekend and could bring temperatures back below normal a little bit. So here's what to know. Houston may be in the final stretch of meteorological winter, which officially ends with February. But you'd never know that if you just looked at the weather forecast. Again, we have a mild morning Wednesday in the lower to mid-sixties, which will yield afternoon temperatures near 80 degrees for most of the region. Aside from patchy areas of dense fog before about 9 a.m., there aren't really going to be any problems morning, midday, or afternoon in terms of commutes and anything like that. Southerly winds will be a little bit gusty during the afternoon, occasionally reaching twenty miles per hour or so. He's the weather's going to get even more humid by tomorrow as dew point temperatures, an indicator of how much moisture is in the air, rise to near seventy degrees, making it feel noticeably more muggy and uncomfortable, even if not that much warmer. Now you combine the dew points near seventy degrees with afternoons in the mid-80s, and the heat index, or the feels like temperatures, will run a degree or two above the air temperature. Now, while not summer level hot, like it doesn't feel like we're in July, it will be unusually warm and muggy for February. Temperatures can be up to 20 degrees, to could be up to 20 degrees warmer than the average temperature, right? The average temperature, I think, is like 66 degrees. At this point in February, so it'll be up at 85, 86 degrees, is certainly a lot warmer. By Friday, skies are going to turn mostly cloudy as the next cold front approaches southeast Texas. Afternoon temperatures may nudge down a few degrees, given the increased cloud cover and the slim chance for a passing shower. Now, a slow moving cold front is expected to reach southeast Texas this weekend, likely arriving early on Saturday. Despite the cold front's timing on Saturday, Houston should still squeeze out one more day with afternoon temperatures in the upper 70s. So still, again, a few degrees even cooler than Friday before the cooler weather settles in on Sunday to wrap up our weekend. We're going to maintain the chance for a stray shower or some thunder throughout the day on Saturday. It's not a big expectation, but it is on the agenda, so you should be aware that there is the potential. Again, it's not going to be widespread and it's not going to be much, but there are some chances for rain. So far, again, a strong signal for severe weather has not appeared that. Keep an eye on the forecast as we go throughout the rest of this week, as we're as we're kind of going through this. We'll again cover the weather tomorrow morning. And then again, of course, Friday morning to make sure you guys are very well updated going into the weekend for what we're expecting. Nevertheless, aside from mainly hit or miss showers on Saturday, the rest of the upcoming weekend looks much cooler. Peak daytime temperatures come Sunday are expected to only reach the lower and mid-60s. Uh, with Monday morning possibly falling into the upper 30s north of Houston. Closer to Houston, morning temperatures are going to be in the lower to mid 40s. Uh that's what's looking likely right now. Reminder, by the way, that winter is not yet technically over. Even when it's even when you're when you're, you know, you're feeling out and you're saying, oh man, it's getting warm outside. You just never know what could be on the agenda. Right? We we thought that we were done with 60 degree days really for the rest of February. And then out of nowhere, they go, Oh. Looks like actually that's not true. It's very short-lived, by the way, to be to be absolutely clear with you. When we look out at the forecast, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday are all relatively similar in terms of highs. Sunday and Monday are a little bit more similar in terms of lows. Lows in the for us here in the Greater Houston area, especially south of Houston, those lows are going to be in the mid-40s, Monday and Tuesday or Sunday and Monday. By Tuesday, those lows are going to be all the way up to around 60 degrees. By Wednesday, that that three-day stretch of slightly cooler weather is going to be all but gone. Highs are expecting to be back in the upper 70s, going into the 80s by the latter half of next week. So like I said, you never know what's going on with the weather. I mean, we're going to go from 80, mid-80s down to mid-60s, back up to mid-80s, back up to 80s in a single week. I mean, it's it's certainly a bizarre set of events. Uh with that being said, as I was teasing earlier, we have a very exciting guest coming on. We're going to have Kelly Hancock running for comp controller coming on the show. Uh, this will give you another opportunity to hear some of the words from some of the people that are campaigning to help make your decisions as to who you'd like to vote for in many of these races. Uh, make sure that you pick it again as always the conservative option. We'll have Kelly Hancock coming on for you here in the next segment. So stick around. You are listening to the Lone Star Conservative. As always, if you would like to be a part of the show, if you'd like to text in, let me know your thoughts. Let me know, let's say that we have a disagreement. Or if there's something that I have not reported on, a story that you want to hear more about uh from me, you can text in at 713-779-5978. One more time. That is 713-779-KYST. You are listening to the Lone Star Conservative. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and I'll be right back with Kelly Hancock running for comproller after this short break.

SPEAKER_12 24:07

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SPEAKER_24 24:26

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SPEAKER_10 27:20

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SPEAKER_11 27:29

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Guest Tease And GOP Story Rundown

SPEAKER_15 28:19

Hey, good morning. Good morning. I want to kick it off right out of the gate. Obviously, your foray into this position is probably a little bit different than most people's. I think is is a fair statement to make. That you're you're you're coming in to this office is that you're not just running in this election, that actually you already served some of that position because of the way that you got put in that position. So can you give us some background um on the way that you ended up in this position and then what this position actually entails? What is a comptroller?

SPEAKER_22 28:51

Sure. Um it is a little bit different. Uh, you know, typically you don't have your comptroller or essentially the chief financial officer of the state. We call it the comptroller, but it handled it handled all the revenue side, all the duties of that. Um procurement and contracts and uh and revenue estimates, which is the primary deal. But yeah, when uh Glenn Hager, a previous comptroller, elected to comptroller, was elected as chancellor of Texas AM, um Governor Abbott, essentially the CEO of the state, was looking for a CFO. And I'd served in the House for six years in the Senate um in some important positions in the Senate for ten years, where I was on the budget fighting committee finance. And we had worked extremely well together, and so at the end of the session uh uh this last year, he asked if number one, if I was interested, and you know, and then if I was in a position that we could do it. And so my wife and I you know, we prayed about it, discussed it, and God had put us in a position we could do it. Who would not want to be um the chief financial officer or the comfort for the eighth largest economy in the world? So um we we said yes, and you know, it's just pretty phenomenal. Um, you know, you you you open your eyes and you see what God's done, and sometimes it surprises you, but then you you trust and and keep working hard.

SPEAKER_15 30:16

Absolutely. I think this the the what you're highlighting here is something that a lot of people have come to understand about the comptroller's office. It's one of those, I don't know why this is. It's one of those positions that is when people think of the ballot and going to vote, people get so excited about things like presidential races, oh, that's a Senate race. And then you talk about positions that are arguably for many Texans more important than a lot of these races. You say, hey, how about the person that's tasked with your budget and taking taxes and launching these programs that you're so excited about? What about that person? They go, Oh, who does that? Yeah, there's a whole race for it. Uh that's that's that's I it's it's so crucial. I mean, people want to get excited about like go ahead, go ahead.

SPEAKER_22 30:55

Yeah, exactly. So for example, when I first got in the office, you know, it was time to meet with the credit, you know, credit rating agencies, four different credit rating agencies. And so what I had had to do, what I got the privilege of doing was talking about Texas great economy. And we maintained our you know, AAA rating. But those are the type of things that we do that matters all across the state, you know, local municipalities, school districts, because you know, maintaining that rating is crucial, and you gotta have somebody that understands economics, that has worked through the legislature. And really, I think you know, it's one of the reasons the governor asked me to do it is I had that resume, that background in my years of service, um, that yeah, we were able to sit down and talk with those things and discuss, work with the legislature, work with the governor. Uh, it's incredibly important.

SPEAKER_15 31:48

Absolutely. Now, speaking of the governor, uh, I certainly want to get into uh kind of a list of what you've gotten done while you've been in and then kind of future plans. But I actually want to talk about this this series of events that you have going on right now. I mean, for example, yesterday, of course, uh was was one of these one of these stops uh up in Cyprus. Can you give us some details on what these stops are and maybe maybe even go into how yesterday went?

SPEAKER_22 32:12

Yeah, yesterday was busy. I actually started in uh San Angelo where I'd come from Amarillo the day before, where I'd gone from Fort Worth to Amarola to San Angelo for an economic summit. So I spoke at an economic summit breakfast, flew to Austin, uh, or actually flew to Cyprus where we met the governor there and we had a can't campaign kickoff, and it was a get out the boat effort effort, huge crowd, and amazing how far people came just to uh be a part of that. I think Republicans are incredibly excited. Uh we had, you know, was there a cohorts there and Representative Oliver Son and all the house reps in the area. And uh you know, the governor loves campaigning. I mean, he he loves this, and so it was a great start, and then we uh actually ended the night in Tyler, Texas, at a uh Week and Reagan Day dinner in Tyler, which was a huge crowd. Um, people are fired up there, and so you know, Republicans get excited about elections and campaign season, and that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_15 33:14

No, it certainly is. I it is really funny because you take uh a lot of the diet Republicans and and voting, even in the primaries, and I've said this before. You know, you get to the general election, I I don't want to say that things are ever guaranteed, but there's a lot of races where people will say, this person, the person, like based on all the polling data, historical show-up for these sorts of elections, we're probably gonna get a Republican. Well, that leaves the primary as the opportunity to really make a good selection. Uh, and so uh Republicans almost treat primary season like it's Super Bowl season. Like it's a big watch party and people are excited and all out there. I mean, I actually quite I actually quite like, and that's I don't want to say a relatively recent development, but I think Republicans are getting more and more into saying, hey, elections are really important, we should be a part of this.

SPEAKER_22 33:57

No, exactly, and that was the feel. I mean, you felt like you're at a Super Bowl party. I mean, it was ready to kick off, the excitement was there, and um I mean you're exactly right, and it is for Republicans where we get to select who we want leading our team. And we're fortunate we have Governor Abbott leading the team, and I'm fortunate to be traveling the state with him over the next two weeks and have his endorsement and obviously supporting this office. And so um there's a lot of excitement, and we've got uh a little less than two weeks left to continue to ramp it up.

SPEAKER_15 34:32

Which is still wild to me. I was saying back in October, I said, guys, you know that you know I know that stuff is going on right now with other elections. I said, but primary season's gonna be here before you know it. I got people texting in. No, no, no, that's a ways away. We'll think about it when it gets here. Well, it's here. It's it's we're now, you can now go early vote starting yesterday. So we're we're now here. Uh now with that being said, actually, with the rest of the time we have, I want to I want to dive into a little bit of your positions on things so that our listeners can kind of get to know what you believe, what you think about doing the job. Uh, can we get some details on what you've done in the position? I I have some stuff here that I want to kind of go over. Obviously, one of the big things that matters with spending that was going on unfortunately for a long time was stuff to do with DEI. And I think a lot of Texans saw that and said, okay, something's got to give here because this is an evil nefarious ideology that is completely destroying trust in institutions.

Cutting DEI, Vendors, And School Choice Launch

SPEAKER_22 35:22

Well, it you know, it doesn't abide by the Constitution. We're we're all created equal and and we all should be treated equally. And so, you know, yeah, that's one of the things Governor Ebbett at one of our recent events, you know, tells the crowd, he said, look, HANCOC's done in six months what it takes other people years to do. But I did encounter what we were being sued, state-wise, uh, over our historically underutilized business, which the hub program essentially DEI, uh, using different letters. And you know, they hired counsel. And I said, We're not we're not doing that. We're gonna fix this problem, we'll stay within the statute that goes back to that. And so uh I just said we're not gonna fight this, we're gonna we're gonna fix it, we're gonna treat everyone equal, we're gonna make sure that when we do procurement for contracts, we're looking for the best value for our taxpayer dollars because they're not our dollars. And literally within my first thirty thirty days, we got rid of DEI and DEI, and what I don't think people realize is we wrap the rules for every agency. So literally, you know, other agencies, and you're talking about dodging, we have hundreds of employees across the state that were responsible for the hub program. Well, in my first 60 days, we got rid of DEI and we doged certain parts of the government. And we simply told the agency to go buy based on best value, no longer are we gonna buy or you know, enter into contracts or give preferential treatment based on a race or a gender.

SPEAKER_15 36:59

Right, which which by the way is one of those things that it if you had been cut off from media and the internet for like 30 years and you showed up and you saw what they were doing with some of this stuff, you'd think the world had gone crazy. I mean, if you just you're like, what happened to my America? What happened to my Texas?

SPEAKER_22 37:16

And so again, think about yeah, it's just discriminatory. I mean, when you say these these races are automatically disadvantaged, you know, economically disadvantaged, well, what statement are you making about them? I mean, that is a racist statement to say if you're in this class, you're in this race, we're going to assume that you're economically disadvantaged. It is on the surface of it, no matter which way you look at it. You know, and so and and really that's what we're about. I'm not a rhetoric guy. I'm not gonna go out there and scream louder than you know my opponents or make more posts on social media than my opponents. I'm just gonna go to work and get things done. And I think that's why Governor Abbott, you know, wanted me to move into the office, because there was a lot to get done.

SPEAKER_15 38:04

Right, right. No, absolutely. And uh, you know, on that topic, getting things done, another thing that I want to talk about here, I got a couple of things, but but next, I want to talk a bit about this launch of the school choice program here in Texas, because this has been going on now for a little bit of time, and applications opened a little while ago. We had a massive launch, day one of the application opening. And I think two days ago, I believe, is when it came out that there were a hundred thousand applications for school choice here in the state of Texas.

SPEAKER_22 38:34

Well, I actually approved that press release on a Sunday, so we uh we knew where we were going. And it was, and from day one, I mean, this was a lot like you know, when I left the corporate world and I started on my own business with literally nothing but a laptop. It's kind of what this was like. So we had to get it ramped up. We did, you know, the legislation didn't go in effect till September. We had to by December have providers, you know, schools and tutoring services and others. They had to be ready to sign up. And then by February, we had to be ready to allow students to sign up. So we had to move quickly. We couldn't move it to the pace of business, we had to move at the face of business, we had to operate like it was a business, and we provide great customer service, and from day one we talked about nothing but success. We were gonna set the template of all other states. There's no reason that we begin this direction of leading in education, which is what the government wants to do, while we funded protects schools at the highest level ever. Put four point billion dollars into teacher pay raises. We want to lead the nation education and school choice, and allow it. Education freedom is one step to move in that direction. And we had to be successful in work. We set records. Um on the first hour, 8,000. First day, 42 a new record. You know, the closest was 32,000 previous to that. And here we are, we've already crossed over uh a hundred thousand, and we got a month left to register. So pretty phenomenal start, and I'm not surprised Texans are accustomed to leading.

SPEAKER_15 40:12

Well, absolutely, and I also like uh part talking about that school choice launch. Also, on top of that, people need to keep in mind that that there are certainly vendors like people that are associated with the American Council of American Islamic Relations care, uh, the Chinese Communist Party, that also falls a lot under your position, right?

SPEAKER_22 40:28

Well, and that's what we did. So, you know, I I'd been pushing for this legislation for years. I've been part of the legislature that passed all these conservative things. And I either authored them or co-authored them, so keeping girls in their own bathrooms, uh, you know, making sure we protected women's sports. But you know, here when that program got to us before we lost, I asked our team to do some background research. And you're right. We found connections with the Chinese party, we found connections, and it was interesting. So some of these providers would have four different names, and we had to track them by the address, but we found some that had hosted groups that the governor had identified as you know, terrorist-linked organizations, and we just said we're not sending taxpayer dollars to those people. We're we're not gonna do it. And so we would you know, right now they're outside of the program. We continue to let in. We have over 2,000 schools currently in the program. There's plenty of schools that aren't, you know, associated with enemies to the United States or terrorist organizations. And on my watch, we're not gonna fund those entities, and they're not gonna get a dime of taxpayer dollars as long as I'm in the comp prover seat.

SPEAKER_15 41:43

Absolutely. Well, uh, one more thing before we kind of jump into the future, uh, one more thing that I want to ask you a little bit about is these grants that are going to sheriffs who are, I think, working better with with ICE. I think that's a big thing for a lot of people in Texas that are really desiring to see mass deportations, that are really desiring to see a shift uh and what's gone on under our noses for decades. What is what is that about? What does that program do?

Border Security Grants And What’s Next

SPEAKER_22 42:08

Well, you know, when when we're in the legislature, when I was in the legislature, we you require law enforcement to work with us, which is not, you know, we're not Minnesota. I mean, we respect law enforcement, we support law enforcement. In fact, I'm backed by every law enforcement agency there is out there. And uh, we had just finished providing rural law enforcement grants to aid in our rural law enforcement, and these grants provide additional revenue for these new agreements that you know our our counties and cities and law enforcement have with us to help and assist with illegal immigration, working together across law enforcement entities, both the state, local, and federal levels, to make sure that we continue. Even though President Trump's done a phenomenal job, trust me. I was chair of border security when he came and and Governor and I and President Trump and I went down, we started the border wall, funded Operation Lone Star, but the apprehensions have dropped dramatically. But we want to make sure we continue to assist law enforcement in their efforts working with us, and that's what these grants do. That started in January, and that comes through our office as well.

SPEAKER_15 43:23

Absolutely. So to wrap up here, one last kind of final question. Say that you're in the election, obviously you've gotten a lot of things done. What does the future look like? What still needs to get done? What do you look at and say, these are the things that we still have yet to accomplish that if I win, if I get in, this is what I'm doing next.

SPEAKER_22 43:40

Look, we we never stop protecting our border. And so we're going to continue to support and fund law enforcement. We're going to continue to make sure we protect our border. We've got to continue to make sure that the school choice program continues to flourish, continues to grow. And what we've got to do in this office is make sure that we continue. To get it away from a bureaucratic, government run, a business like speed of business, transparency and accountability of business in an office of 3,000 employees. And so we're just getting started on that. And we've got bigger and better plans to make sure that we better serve all Texans as I leave that office.

SPEAKER_15 44:24

Awesome. Well, ladies and gentlemen, this has been Kelly Hancock, running for Comptroller here in the state of Texas. I want to thank you so much for giving us your time this morning. I know you're obviously very busy with all the events you have going on right now, it being literally in early voting. So I appreciate you giving us your time despite that and coming on this morning.

SPEAKER_22 44:40

Nah, I appreciate it, and it's great getting out there and seeing all Texans.

SPEAKER_15 44:43

Absolutely. Well, Lord Willing, we'll talk to you again in the future, and uh best of luck to you.

SPEAKER_22 44:47

I appreciate it much. Have a good day. You as well.

SPEAKER_15 44:49

With that being said, ladies and gentlemen, when we get back, we got to text in asking about some election stuff, asking how elections are going, uh, those sorts of questions. So we'll answer those questions when we get back from the break. As always, if you would like to be a part of the show, you are more than welcome to text in at 713-779-5978. That's 713-779-KYST. You are listening to the Lone Star Conservative. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and I'll be right back with the rest of this hour after the break.

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Listener Q&A: Evaluating Down‑Ballot Candidates

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SPEAKER_15 49:16

We only have a couple minutes here, but we've got a couple texts in that I want to go over. And I do my very darndest. I it is not only a station rule, it's also my own personal rule that I don't like giving out endorsements for candidates. I don't like telling people how they should vote. And that's a dangerous thing to st if I start doing that, I'm gonna always do that. And I I want people to listen to my show to be thinkers. I I don't want them. I know that there are a lot of shows out there, we will just kind of tune in, hear what they say, not really think through it. This happens to the media all the time. I I mean, this is why you have so many people that are swayed by Taylor Swift's opinion on stuff. It's like, why? Why are you so who cares what Taylor Swift thinks? Come on, think for yourself. And so I don't I don't give endorsements out, but we had a text that says, uh, I was wondering if you know anything about Joan Huffman, because I'm gonna vote this week and I don't know anything about her. I'm just hearing commercials. Can you enlighten the audience about Joan Huffman? Is she a good candidate or a bad candidate, or what are your thoughts? Well, I'll I'll go ahead and say this. First of all, for a little bit of background, Joan Huffman is running in the primary for attorney general against Aaron Wrights, Maze Middleton, Chip Roy. So it's a pretty wide, wide field. I think Chip Roy polling data is leading. Uh, and so I think the others are trying to force a runoff. That's what I'm hearing at least. Uh for a little bit of background about Joan Huffman, Joan Hubbman is your typical relatively establishment GOP for like that that that's kind of a a clinical picture of who Joan Huffman is. I'm not saying that she's awful, right? I'm not saying that she's bad. What I am saying is uh you ask a question about judicial activism, for instance, if you want to talk about some separations. She would say that judicial activism, in terms of us doing anything about it, is a no-go. That if the courts make a decision, that's what we go with. We just trust the courts. That's kind of the position on that. Uh in response to, say, Paxton going out to other states and uh going after, say, abortion doctors that are prescribing medication to people here in the head of Texas, she's come out and said, no, you can't do that. That's not good. You you you can't attack anybody else. Um and so again, on a lot of these issues, she's kind of run more to the middle compared to more of the the further right attitude of her opponents. Um I think Aaron Wrights is, I don't want to say the furthest right. Maze Middleton, we we know a lot about Mays. We've had him on the show multiple times. Uh, he has a lot of history here in Texas, so we know his opinion on a lot of stuff. You guys know Chip Roy. Aaron Wrights uh is is uh maybe kind of the outsider in this particular election. Um he's had a lot of connection to Paxton, a lot of experience in this particular field. Uh he's certainly further to the right than Joan Hubman. It just depends what you're looking for. Uh Joan Upman, again, not necessarily like a bad candidate. It just depends on what you're attempting to elect. If you want to elect the most conservative, the furthest right, the most gung-ho to say, hey, I'm the attorney general. I'm going to use that office to go after evil and to make sure that we're standing as firmly as we can as a state. Joan Upman may not be the choice for you. Uh and and maybe it's Maze Middleton, maybe it's Aaron Wright. Whoever that is, look into these people. Um, we we kind of are out of time for this segment, but yeah, Joan Huffman, just to kind of paint the broadest strokes I can, is sort of the establishment GOP figure in this particular election. So take that as you will. With that being said, we can get back in the break. We're gonna have Texas scorecard coming on, talking about their election coverage, what's going on with elections, and a little bit of an update on what's going on with Epic City, with Ken Paxton, all those sorts of things. When we get back, text in 713-779-5978. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. I'll be back at the top of the next hour.

SPEAKER_13 52:49

From deep in the heart of Texas, it's Houston's God-loving patriot and the voice of reason. This is Old Star Conservative, Michael Wilson.

SPEAKER_15 53:16

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and you are listening to the Lone Star Conservative brought to you by Textellant AC Service. And this morning we have Sidney Henry coming on from Texas Scorecard. We're gonna jump about election coverage, where you can go for that, obviously. We're gonna talk a little bit about the ongoing lawsuit against Epic City and all the things connected to Epic City, major development on that, and then a little bit on the anti-ICE walkout protest from people in middle high school, all these sorts of wild stuff going on right now. Welcome to the show, Sydney.

SPEAKER_21 53:45

Thanks so much for having me, Michael.

SPEAKER_15 53:47

Of course, of course. I want to kick it off since obviously yesterday was the first day of early voting uh with a little bit of that election coverage. And what I mean by that is we have some relatively new polling data coming out. Uh, this is from U of H's hobby school, public affairs. I want to know a little bit about the Republican primaries. I I think, and I've said this for a little while now, the general election is certainly important. I'm not denying that. There are a lot of races, and I don't want us to get ahead of ourselves and start, you know, this sort of false, naive optimism that nothing could change. Uh, but in a lot of these races, uh at least some of them seem relatively based on the districting. Okay, this is probably going to be an elect uh a Republican that gets elected in the general. So then the question is, what kind of Republican do you want? That's that's the really big question. Who do you want that's probably going to end up representing you come November? This is when you get to pick that. So let's talk a little bit about this polling data coming out in those Republican primaries.

SPEAKER_21 54:42

For sure. So we've got this kind of coming out. This came out a little bit late last week, so now we're into early voting. We'll see how things take up and change. But for the open seat for attorney general, uh, in running for Senate. We've got Triple Roy in the lead with May Middleton behind, and then John Husman and Wright controlling, but we still had a big portion of the voters, like almost 25%, were undecided on who they were voting for. So those numbers could change a lot. They could change a little. We'll just kind of have to wait and see how all the voting hands out. But that's certainly an interesting race and one in which a lot I think a lot of people are paying attention. This is Texas attorney general is a huge role.

SPEAKER_15 55:23

I was gonna say, if you've ever if you've ever read statewide stories on what's going on in Texas, you you can't scroll for more than five seconds without there being a story about what Ken Paxton is doing. I mean, that's uh if it most of the time for a very good reason um between all I mean, this this really is the the highest level of attorney for the state, making sure that the laws are being applied, that that the state is being defended, that our laws are being taken care of, all of that falls under that. And so, you know, while a lot of people, you know, will look at senators and presidential races, the attorney general has a whole lot of authority to make sure that our state, there's state sovereignty, that we're dealing with the courts well. So that's a very important decision to make. Uh one of the things that that's that's a little bit wild to me here, and maybe this is just my lack of, you know, I've I've been in politics for not that long. Um, and it's wild to me how many people are undecided on major races while we're going into the primary. I mean, we're we're now in early voting, and how many people are still like, eh, I don't really know yet. Like what what's the is that is that normal? Is that is that just how is that just par for the course to kind of wait? They they'll they'll be more sure after they click the button when they go vote.

SPEAKER_21 56:31

I think this is probably pretty normal for an open seat race, one where there's not an incumbent and they're not as familiar with the candidates yet. We also it's before a race. So chances are this is gonna go to a runoff election and we'll go between the top two candidates later on. And I think I think that really is kind of important. People are still learning about the candidates for like okay, now is the time now is the time when they're gonna go read through the candidates. And before you get to voting, you know, not everybody has the time to do that. So people don't ask you where to go until we kind of just point people to go check out your um go check out some endorsements from like these conservative organizations, go check out iVoterGuy.com has a great resource for like they rate candidates, they get questionnaires in from them. So you have to do your own research. Uh it's kind of the self and self-government.

SPEAKER_15 57:20

No, absolutely. That's what that's the same reason I've said like I don't do endorsements. And it's not because I am not gonna vote, it's not because I don't have an opinion. It's because I think that there has become this sort of mentality where people aren't doing their own research into things, where people don't know the candidates, they don't know the campaign issues. They just say, hey, my favorite this or my favorite guy here, or my favorite social media guy said, vote for these guys, so I'll vote for these guys. And I say, that's a terrible way to do politics. That's that kind of takes away your sort of authority in the situation as the people, is when you're not doing the research. And so even when you're looking at endorsements, look at the reasoning. And that's why I like the Ring of I Voter Guide, because there's the opportunity to actually read through those answers and say, hey, why was this person endorsed? I think that's very, very important. I want to jump over and talk a little bit about some of the other races. Uh, we also, of course, have the comproller race. That's another very big race that maybe is not always so popular. Uh, but given that the comptroller is largely in charge of where the money is spent, how programs are launched, people talk about school choice, people talk about funding sheriffs with working for ice, right? All these sorts of things. Well, that's that's a lot of that is engineered by the controller's office. How's that race shaping up?

SPEAKER_21 58:25

Absolutely. So it currently has Don Halfine's in the lead with Christy Craddock and then Kelly Hancock and Michael Berlinga and trailing them all. But we just also still have like 30% of voters uh unsure of where they stand on that rate. So that's another one where they're paying attention, they're gonna have to go figure out what's who they want ahead of pulling. And yeah, they're gonna the next council is gonna administer the school choice program. Or, like you said, they're gonna oversee these uh grants so the county sheriff can work with ICE. There's there's a lot that goes into that office as well, and it's often kind of behind the scenes because it's maybe not quite as exciting as Texas doing the Biden administration over X, Y, or D.

SPEAKER_15 59:04

Right, right. And it's not as it doesn't feel as exciting. But I mean, recently Ken Paxton came out and even said like that the controller's office, when you look at school choice, uh it goes deeper than just, well, we're doing school choice, like uh care, the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Chinese Communist Party, well, they're not they they can't be vendors for the school choice program. Well, who has the authority to determine who's a vendor, who gets accepted, who can apply? Well, that all again falls under the the the judici the the area of expertise and the area of authority under the controller's office.

SPEAKER_21 59:34

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_15 59:35

Now I want to jump go ahead, go ahead. No, go before it. I was just gonna say, so we have a couple other races. I want to talk a little bit about ad commissioner, uh, because we had a debate the other night between uh Sid Miller and Nate Sheets. Uh obviously there's endorsements in this race, there's stuff to look at. How's that race shooping up right now?

SPEAKER_21 59:52

Honestly, this is the most interesting race to me, I think, because of how much seems to be going into it. Um, this isn't an open seat, this is a challenger to an incumbent. And whoever Abbott has endorsed. And this race, I think this is the I believe this is the first time Abbott endorsed a challenger to Finn Miller. And yes, according to the polling, Finn Miller is still leading the field forty-eight percent of voters instead, eighteen percent proceeds, and more than thirty percent undecided. So I'm very curious to see how the votes take out on that one.

SPEAKER_15 1:00:24

I was gonna say, for this not to go to a runoff, everybody that's undecided has to pick the other guy. I mean, that's that is a a wild, a wild race right there. Uh, that I was not expecting that poll. I mean, I guess sometimes polling data is surprising. This one surprised me. After I watched the debate and I was seeing the endorsements, and I was seeing I guess this is another reminder that social media is not indicative of real life. Um, I thought this race was gonna look completely different than it looks.

SPEAKER_21 1:00:50

Yeah, no, there's like all this kind of grassroots momentum behind sheets with uh a bunch of orgs coming out endorsing him, Governor Abbott endorsing him, and yet the polling data isn't quite bearing that out. So you can see what Texans decide to do when they go to the polls.

SPEAKER_15 1:01:05

Right. Uh another race that I want to talk about is railroad commissioner. Uh another very important role that certainly does not sound very exciting. Um, what's what's shaping up in the railroad commissioner race?

SPEAKER_21 1:01:16

So we have more than 40% of voters unsure of who they're voting for for the thing. So I think that kind of shows you where people are at with this. I would honestly we've got the polling, we've got 21% for Dem Right, 20% for uh James Matlock, 8% for Catherine Colbert, 6% for Beaufrend, 4% for Hawks and Lap. But when we've got 41% undecided, uh, I think those numbers are kind of not necessarily indicative of how it's gonna go on election day.

SPEAKER_15 1:01:42

Right. No, absolutely. I mean, if if if you have a high enough of number of people who are who are not sure which way they're gonna go, uh I mean, if if half of those people go for one of the candidates that has four, six, eight percent, that can immediately just change the makeup of the race entirely. So uh we'll keep an eye on that, obviously, especially as we go into next week and the next week as we get you guys on at Texas Scorecard, we'll have updates on how the elections are going, um, on all that sort of stuff. We also have the Senate. Um, and this is one of those races that's I I want to say hotly contested. There's a lot of debate in the Republican Party when you have people uh in a lot of these races that I I want to say they seem relatively similar on a lot of issues. This one is one of those races where people say, wow, there's there's there's a there's different choices. Uh and so how's how's the point of looking for the the Senate race um for the for the primary?

SPEAKER_21 1:02:30

Absolutely. So we've got Ken Paxton kind of leading the pack with 38, sometimes we've seen different polling, someone say it's 40%, 38% is pretty normal. Um Corning coming in at 31%, and then this one has Leslie Hunt at 17%. But with some of the things that have been happening happening recently kind of makes me wonder what the corn internal polling is because they're kind of punching down at Wesley Hunt, and that's not necessarily a common topic. Um ahead of the election. So that's definitely gonna be an interesting one to see what happens. It seems like it's almost very likely to go to a runoff, and then once again, we'll see who those top two candidates are.

SPEAKER_15 1:03:12

Well, yeah, it it it's certainly odd. I mean, we just found out that uh we had Wesley Hunt now filing a police report against uh an advisor in the corning campaign uh for this, these unredacted documents, which he said jeopardized his family. That's another ongoing thing that's going on right now. So the elections, this is one of my least favorite parts about primary season that doesn't really happen in the general season is the amount of mudslinging at other Republicans. Um and and and I I mean I get it. I mean, some of the Republicans are more establishment, some are certainly more conservative, and so they look like apples and oranges. I it really is. I mean, some of the differences between primary candidates now are differences 50 years ago that would have been the differences between Republicans and Democrats. That's that's how wide the field is on the Republican side of of the elections now. But uh it is wild to me. And so I the we also have polling data for a potential runoff. What what is that? What is that showing?

SPEAKER_21 1:04:01

Yeah, so for that one, it pretty much has Kin Packs and um if Kim Paxton faces either John Cornen or Wesley Hunt, it has him in the lead. If John Cornyn faces Wesley Hunt, it had a lot of people unfair, so neither one of them was kind of over that 50% marker in this hypothetical runoff. But it will certainly be it would certainly it's guaranteed to be an interesting race.

SPEAKER_15 1:04:24

Yeah, certainly. So uh the last thing I want to mention here, we don't really have time to go into it because I I want to talk just a little bit about this this mud district, but uh also if you go to Texasquarecard.com and you look through a lot of this stuff, they also have hypothetical races for coming to the general election, what that could look like. Uh if you look, say, at the at the Ken Paxton, um, Wesley Hunt, John Cornyn race, uh, depending on what candidate wins on either side of the primary, what that polling data kind of looks like. With that being said, Sydney, I want to jump over for a moment here as we kind of get close to the wrap up and talk about this newest lawsuit against this municipal utility district. What is I I know that Epic City has been on on the agenda for a while now. It's been in the news for quite a bit of time. I think all of us have very reasonable concerns about the development, the way that it's being run. And now I think people were kind of hoping that with all the lawsuits, it might just kind of be stalled and and and kind of knocked over. And now we've got another update coming out. What's going on now?

SPEAKER_21 1:05:19

So PAX's office earlier this week filed a lawsuit against this um municipal utility district, like you said, they call a mud. After they had a quote, highly unusual special meeting back in September. It was apparently like the middle of the day, remote location, marked only by DPS coordinates. And after that meeting, and then we're immediately new people.

SPEAKER_15 1:06:33

Yeah, I think this is another one of those stories where, I mean, even if you're a staunch supporter of ethic develop, I mean, no matter what, regardless of where you fall in politics, this has gotta give you some pause, right? You you read this story and you hear the way they annex this stuff, the way that the other board members just left, and then you got new ones that may not be qualified to hold it, the whole thing is just I I I guess bare minimum the perception of being tot I think this is fair, being totally fishy. Well, Sydney, as always, can you tell everyone where they keep updated with all the election coverage, with what's going on in Epic City, all the statewide news for all of this, where can they go?

SPEAKER_21 1:07:30

You can always find us at Texas4Card.com, and if you're looking for election coverage specifically, you can do texas4card.com dash decisiontexas.

SPEAKER_15 1:07:38

Perfect. Well, Sydney, thanks for coming on, giving us your time this morning, and for keeping us updated on everything going on here in the state of Texas. Thank you so much for having me, Michael. Of course. With that being said, ladies and gentlemen, when we get back, we're gonna jump over and we are gonna talk a little bit about this new$617 million power plant here in Harris County coming out from NRG Energy. When we get back, as always, if you'd like to text in the number is 713-779-5978. That is 713-779-KYST. I'm your US, Michael Wilson. You're listening to the Lone Star Conservative, and we'll be right back after this short break.

SPEAKER_11 1:08:13

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New NRG Plant And Houston Growth

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Harris County Registration Fraud Case

SPEAKER_15 1:12:20

I always hate when we don't get to text right away when we have a couple different interviews and I respond to another text, and then before you know it, it's been like an hour since someone texted in and it's like, where's my you say you prioritize this, where's the response? I'm getting I'm here, I'm here, and I'm gonna respond. Hopefully you're still tuned in. This text says, I'm curious about your opinion on college students that are in an area for a couple of years voting in that area. Do you think that students should have to vote where their permanent addresses are or where they are temporarily living? It's actually a great question. One that I was not prepared to think through, actually. I'll be honest, I'll be honest. You know, I I I am fairly gifted. God has been gracious to me that I I enjoy radio, I like speaking, I've I've liked public speaking for a very long time. Um, but I don't have all the answers to everything. As it turns out, I'm I'm not omnipotent. I'm not omniscient. I I'm not omnipresent. I'm not any of the I'm not any of the omna. Omna does not apply to me at all. And so to answer your question as best I can, let's just think through it together for a moment. Let me let me let me gather my thoughts. Because I see, interestingly, I see both sides of the argument. Uh if you're gonna let let's say you go to college. I I went up to college in Lynchburg, Virginia, and I was there for a few years. Uh, there was there was always the potential that maybe I'd ended up even staying there. Uh, you know, I I got married up there, I said, hey, your family lives up here. We had to make that decision as to whether you're gonna stay around her family, move back towards my family, be in the Houston area. So there was always that potential. And if I was a college student who was living up in Lynchburg and I had plans after college to stay in Lynchburg, I think it's fair to say that I should have a say over what's going on in the state of Virginia. Alternatively, I also see the other side of that. Well, you're just a temporary student. We don't know what you're gonna do after. That's where you live, that's where your family is, that's where you're from. You should not be able to just come up and vote and change the like because what if you have a bunch of liberal colleges in one particular state, and you have a ton of students at these liberal colleges that are never gonna stay here, and they elect a Democrat governor and then they move back to California or Minnesota or Washington, D.C., wherever they go after college, that's also not a good thing. Um, so this is a very hard question to answer. Uh either answer comes with its problems and its concerns. I think it's probably, I think it's probably fair. I think it's I think it's because both, again, come with problems. I think that probably the fairest option is just to say until you have a permanent address, you vote at your permanent address. If you plan on staying in Lynchburg and you're gonna rent a house, do that. Right? There's totally the opportunity. In fact, a lot of cases, it'll be cheaper than room and board at a college anyway. Move into an apartment off campus, it's always an option. It's I know people say, well, you can't, it's hard to do. No, it isn't. It is very easy to apply for off-campus housing. It is not difficult if you if you're just willing to apply for it. That would be probably my statement. If you are living at a college and you you have not moved into a permanent address, I think it's just safe to say probably the best course of action is they don't get to vote there. They vote at where their permanent address shows. And voter ID would probably produce the same results. You have an address attached to your voter ID. That's where you vote. And I know that that means that some people that have moved for college and maybe they're gonna do a graduate program and they're also gonna do medical school attached, right? They're gonna be there for 10 years. And so obviously they should have it's not perfect. It's not a perfect system. And I think it's fairer than the alternative where you have a bunch of college students coming in, learning these sorts of crazy things and changing the makeup of certain areas that they're not gonna stay around in. Uh, with that being said, I do I do want to talk about this story uh that I was teasing before the break. So a major energy expansion coming to Harris County, Governor Greg Abbott announced that NRG Energy Inc. electric power generation plant is planned at the existing Greens Bio Facility in Harris County and has been designated as a qualified project under the Texas Jobs Energy Technology and Innovation Program, the Jetty Program. And so what that means is that according to the governor's office, the new 455 megawatt natural gas facility represents a six hundred and seventeen million dollar capital investment being built at the existing NRG Greens Bayou site. So Abbott came out and he said, Texas is America's energy leader. The$670 million investment by energy in Harris County will add more power to Texas's energy infrastructure and help meet energy needs of Texas homes and businesses in the fifth largest metropolitan area in the nation. Smart investments like these will power and sustain an even brighter future in Texas for generations to come. And so back in November of last year, a Texas energy fund loan agreement in Energy and the Public Utility Commission of Texas, that's the PUC, was announced for the plant. And essentially the facility is expected to begin generating power come 2028 for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the ERC. And so it's going to take a couple of years to get there. Obviously, whenever you amount a$617 million investment, you don't expect that's going to be completed in a week. It's going to take a while to get up and running. But you have energy president Robert Godot who said moving Texas forward to meet rising energy demand involves public-private partnerships. And energy is grateful for the new build project that is part of Governor Abbott's innovative Jetty Program. Our new 455 megawatt facility at the Greens Bayou plant will enhance great stability, create job opportunities, and help make power more affordable for homes and businesses in Texas. We thank Governor Abbott, the Texas Legislature, the PUC, and the Galena Park Independent School District for being excellent partners. And so you also, of course, have that attention from local education leaders. And so you have uh Galena Park ISD's superintendent of schools, John Moore, who said Galena Park ISD recognizes the potential of NRG's investment in the Greens Bayou project and the positive impact that it may bring to our community. Projects like this support local economic development while helping ensure long-term stability for public education. That also, of course, means that it comes with a level of state support because it's part of that Jetty program. And so, I mean, you also have just last week you had the Houston Texans announced that they were going to build a new state of the art training facility and team headquarters in Northwest Harris County, another major development project. Um, but but I I will point out Houston is still growing. I mean, if you think Houston, oh, Houston's so big, it's not getting smaller. That's that's one of the highlights of all these stories is it's not getting any it's not getting any smaller. It's not going back the other way, where I know that we've seen a lot of the stories come out about HISD enrollment families that don't want to live in Houston, and I I trust me, I totally get it. Uh, but in terms of overall growth of the greater Houston area, I I don't think that it's gonna be slowing down. And even the families that are moving out of the technical Houston area are largely just moving to suburbs right outside of Houston, which still grows the general metropolis. It still grows the general Houston region, even if they're not living in the city of Houston limits. I mean, a lot of us don't live in the Houston City limits. A lot of our listeners are in Galvison County, Fort Bend County, Brisoria County, even up to Montgomery County, right? A lot of people have said, hey, you know, I want to live near Houston, I like the amenities of Houston, maybe my job's in Houston, but I don't want to live in Houston. I think that's a lot of why you're seeing the enrollment declines in big cities. Especially for families with children, right? Because we've talked over and over and over about crime issues, rampant homelessness, drug abuse. You don't really want your kids in those sorts of situations, right? You you r you really kind of don't. And the reality is that even when you go into Houston, right, there there always is the concern. I mean, I was been talking about this just the other week. We went to the zoo last year. I say last year, like it was a long time ago. It was the it was the end of last year or the beginning of this year, so it was not very long ago. We went to the zoo and it was it was gonna be a good day. We were excited to get to go, and we got to the parking lot, and we didn't get there early enough. Parking lot was full. Like they blocked it off and said, you gotta leave. We waited in traffic for 30 minutes or more to for them to tell us there's not a parking spot in sight. You you can't come here. So we went to one of the metro stops a little ways out that was closer towards our house and uh would still allow us to get into the zoo area. And I thought to myself, this might be a bad idea. Parked at the metro stop, we get in the we get on the on the train, and we are sitting there, and wouldn't you know it, there's a couple of crazy people on our on our on our on our train that that are talking nonsense, like schizophrenic, listening to crazy music. I'm like, can I put some headphones on my children? This this is this is this is a terrible, a terrible situation to be in. And so I I keep highlighting that people in Houston, I think a lot of the the change that you're seeing from people wanting to live in Houston is not because Houston doesn't have a lot of growth, it's not because it's a good economic opportunity, it's not because that you know there are those sorts of issues. A lot of the changes in the dynamics and the demographics are because people don't want to live in the city anymore because it's not safe. And it's not just by nature being a big city, it's because of the policies that surround being in a big city. We're electing Democrats who are soft on crime, who are fans of judicial activism, who drop cases they could certainly win, who give, again, second chances to criminals, admit they do that, uh, whose solutions for the homelessness crisis are just more buildings instead of actually hamping down on the real issues like drug abuse, calling those sort of nuisance crimes that don't need to actually be punished. And it results in an area that's unsafe. And so if you're still traveling to Houston, if you're still living in Houston, my encouragement to you would certainly be to make sure that you're joined up as a member of our sponsor, Gun Owners of America. Uh Gun Owners of America understands that the Second Amendment was built for a wide array of things that all fall under the banner of your right to keep and bear arms. Do you have a right to keep and bear arms for hunting? Yes, you do. Do you have a right to keep and bear arms for personal self-defense from just a random criminal? You absolutely do. Do you have the right to keep and bear arms to prevent the government from being tyrannical over you? You absolutely do. All those things are all parts of the lack of infringement on the ability to keep and bear arms. You want that infringement to stick around, you have to join with an organization that's going to defend your rights. And they do that as I've highlighted many times through campaigning for candidates, lobbying for bills, filing lawsuits against uh overarching, tyrannical, and nay I say, unconstitutional legislation and rules that that violate your God-given rights. Gunders of America is on the front lines literally every day. If that not a day goes by, I have friends that work for GOA, not a day goes by that they're not doing something, that that something is certainly getting done. There's issues on the horizon that they're already planning to deal with, they're already looking at Canada, they're already looking at the potential bills come up for 2027. So all that's going on, you can go to G-Oahuston.com to become a member. That is G-Oahahuston.com. It is a$25 annual membership,$25 per year. Not per month. I know Netflix is raising their prices. No, per year,$25. And of all the places you can spend your money, talk about a return on investment. You're investing in the future of the U.S. Because the Second Amendment is not just, again, one thing or the other. It's all of them. And if you want a future for your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren, the Second Amendment is crucial. That that future being free is contingent upon the continued survival and defense of the Second Amendment. So again, that is G-O-A-Houston.com. With that being said, when we get back from the rig, we're going to jump over and talk about this former Harris County tax office employee who's now been accused in a vehicle registration sticker scheme from TikTok ads, deleted texts, transaction logs, which have led investigators to allege that there's been some sort of organized crime going on here in Harris County. Uh, you can't go a week without there being some sort of widespread corruption in local government. We'll talk about it when we get back from the break. As always, if you would like to text in, the number is 713-779-5978. That is 713-779-KYST. You're listening to the Lone Star Conservative. I'm yours, Michael Wilson. I'll be right back after the break.

SPEAKER_12 1:24:14

Houston, this is Dana Lash. Join me weekday starting at 6 p.m. for the Dana Show, right here on Patriot Talk 920 and at PatriotTalk920.com.

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Faith, Easter Reflections, And Civic Life

SPEAKER_15 1:28:10

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Michael Wilson, and you are listening to the Lone Star Conservative brought to you by Textellent AC Service. You got a text in that says, Good morning, Michael. Today is Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent. It is meant to help us remo help us remember what Easter is really about and that it is our risen Lord and our redemption through his sacrifice. God bless you and your family. I appreciate that greatly. And like I've always said, you know, the reality is that, and I say this about any holiday, any celebration, any time where we dedicate specific time to remembering the precepts found in Scripture is, in my estimation, a good thing. Uh regardless of whether you're a Protestant, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, right? Whatever you know, delineation you fall under as a believer in Jesus Christ, you know, the reality is if if we can get together and say, hey, look, these are the precepts found in the Bible. Here's the truth. Here's what we're called to. Celebrations, and I always say this, people say, well, it's not in the Bible. Well, Easter is not in the Bible. And otherwise, what we're celebrating on Easter is in the Bible. But this sort of a lot of the things that we celebrate today, 4th of July, I think is a good celebration. Christmas is a good celebration. Thanksgiving is a good celebration for a variety of reasons. And uh if you've listened to the show for anytime at all and you've ever heard me talk during holidays, you guys know that I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan of dedicated time for those things. So uh it is important to remember Easter is, in terms of the meaning, is one of the best holidays, undeniably. Uh Easter is a phenomenal time to be reminded about the fact that, you know, I know that it's it's easy as always to get caught up in the world and all the things going on around us, but to be reminded that we have God became man, dwelt among us, and died for the remission of sins. I I mean, we can talk all we want about the bad actors in the news and local corruption and statewide issues and races. But the reality is, and I say this often, whenever we're looking at people and the way they're acting, would it not be for the great had it not been for the grace of God in our lives, we would be no better. I know that that there are a lot of things that go on and you say, Oh, I'd be better than you. No, you wouldn't actually. Uh, without the grace of God, we'd all be dead in our sins. There would be no remission, there would be no forgiveness, there would be no repentance, there would be no turning away from sin where it were it not for the grace of God in our lives that we've been blessed to receive. And so I would encourage you, if you've not received that, text in. I'd love to talk with you privately as well. Uh, but I would highly encourage everyone to dive into scripture more often. Uh even if you know you you're already like, I'm already saved, I'm already, you know, forgiven, not worried about it, uh, get worried about it. Uh you should be living like Christ. People should know if if you are a believer, it should be, it should be obvious. Right. And that's that's one thing that I've always said on my show. If I'm remembering for anything, I I want it to be, as Charlie Kirk said, courage for my faith. If if people are talking about my show and the fact that I'm a strong Christian and that my views flow out of that is not mentioned in a discussion on this show, is not mentioned people who are talking about who I am, then I've failed. Then I have done a horrible job at at relaying the truth. If people know me or they've heard of me, or they've listened to my show, and they don't walk away with a fundamental understanding that, oh yeah, that guy is a strong Christian. Yeah, that guy, he's obviously a believer in Jesus Christ. He obviously follows the Lord. If they can't tell that by listening to my show, if I've not been clear enough about that, then then I've not done my job. Regardless of how well I cover local and statewide politics, then then I have failed in what I actually desire to do. Uh because my desires, everything that I talk about, from local elections, political races, local corruption, uh to crime, all the things I talk about, my position on all of them is determined by my belief in Jesus Christ and his word. From Genesis to Revelation and everywhere in between, that's that's what I believe. And so if you want to ask me about justice or criminality, you want to ask me about what the government is called to do, how we're called to act, you know where I get my answers from? Because it's not from me. I I certainly am not bright enough to come up with these things on my own. I certainly am not smart enough to do that. These things are all responses to what God has called us to be and to do. And so, with that being said, let's go ahead and jump over here in this segment and talk a little bit about this this Harris County Tax Office employee. Well, employees, plural, two former Harris County Tax Office employees, and two local business owners have been charged with allegedly defrauding taxpayers out of tens of thousands of dollars by illegally processing vehicle registrations and title transfers. Adriana DeLaRosa, 43, is the owner of Bella's Multiservices based in South Houston, is among the three suspects taken into custody. Oswaldo, Os Perez, who's 51 is also affiliated with Bella's Multiservices, remains wanted right now. Social media posts from Delarosa's accounts on Facebook and TikTok previously showed stacks of Texas vehicle registration stickers and license plates advertising services that promised quick processing without meeting standard requirements. Her post included claims to save customers from unnecessary fees with no inspections needed. And so former Harris County Tax Office employees Sarah Ambria Anderson and Renesha Touche-Wilkins were also charged in the operation, and both were fired from the tax office back in April of 2024. Anderson and Wilkins are accused of performing nearly 200 fraudulent transactions at the Scarsdale branch of the Harris County Tax Office. Investigators say the employees accepted bribes in the form of money and gifts to override system requirements, bypassing insurance verification, emissions inspections, and residency checks. In some cases, vehicles were allegedly marked as tax exempt, allowing owners to avoid paying required fees. If you've ever been hit by an illegal alien, I know people who have, and they get on and they don't have insurance, you want to know how they got it? Stuff like this. If their inspection is, if their sticker is current, registration is current, and they're obviously in illegal with no insurance, this is how they get around it. Records say that Anderson typically charged about$300 per transaction and concealed incriminating paperwork in a personal binder when coming and going from the government office. Investigators allege meetings between the employees and business owners often occurred in public locations near the tax office, including a grocery store parking lot on Scursdale Boulevard, where fraudulent documents were transferred during lunch breaks. Authorities also discovered deleted text messages between the employees and businesses and owners to hide their activities. University of Houston Law Center Associate Professor David Quok said these types of corruption tend to be very hidden. They tend to be secretive. They thrive in secrecy. The scheme was first flagged when employees of another Texas County noticed Bellis Multiservices advertising registration stickers for sale on TikTok and Facebook. They alerted authorities, prompting an internal audit and the subsequent investigation. Detectives with the Harris County Constable Precinct One's tax special investigations unit documented payments made via Zell, Apple Bay, and Cash App, as well as communications between the tax employees and the business owners discussing alleged fraud. Alan Rosen, he's the Harris County Constable Precinct One, said that the tax office employees abusing their positions to line their own pockets and actively condemned that. He said the scheme was brazen and the schemers will now face justice. You also have Nathan Beadle, the former Harris County prosecutor who now works for the law firm, said the schemes don't just defraud taxpayers, but they also put drivers at risk. He said the potential of somebody hitting you, your family, and injuring them to where you'd be financially responsible is huge every day. We don't need to encourage that by not requiring people to provide basic documentation of their insurance is in fact intact. So all four of the defendants are facing two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity, which are first-degree felonies punishable by up to ninety-nine years or life in prison and fines of up to$10,000. Meanwhile, here's the statement from the Harris County Tax Office The Harris County Tax Office's rigorous internal controls ensure that all transactions strictly follow state law. These very systems played a critical role in bringing these allegations to light. The Special Investigations Unit and the Constable Precinct One detective assigned to the unit are tasked with preventing, detecting, and investigating fraudulent motor vehicle activity. The SIU worked closely with Constable Precinct One and the Harris County District Attorney's Office on these charges. We will continue this partnership to ensure those who abuse the taxpayers' trust are held accountable. We remain vigilant in upholding the highest standards of integrity for the people of Harris County. And again, I've said it, I've said it many times. There is a high level of concern now, unfortunately, that when something goes wrong in a car accident, that you're going to be the one financially responsible. I mean, I know that they have all the lists of, oh, here's how many Medicaid services, here's here's how much Medicare that you have taxpayers, uh, illegal aliens getting, here's how much uh how many illegals are attending schools, here's how many illegal aliens have voted, here's how many illegal aliens are on welfare. They say that's that's all theft from the American taxpayer. That's all theft. But what about when an illegal alien who doesn't have car insurance hits you and your family and you're forced to now cover those bills? They just stole from you the money that you were owed by their terrible decisions. You're you're owed money for what they did, their actions. And you're not gonna see it because they don't have insurance. And and schemes like this one are a way for people to lie in their own pockets, make an extra three hundred dollars per transaction for them to then walk away knowing that they've contributed to a public safety crisis. And I think they need to be punished. I don't think that 99 years in prison is the right response, to be quite honest with you. I think restitution is far more valid than this, and a you're not allowed to work for this organization ever again, or any other government organization. You're blacklisted from government organizations as an employee, and you have to pay back triple. I mean, you you're on the hook, right? If if any of the people you we're gonna find all the records of who you did, we're gonna go after them. And if they've been in a car accident that you are the reason that they were able to do that and not have to pay out, you're gonna cover all those costs out of your own pocket, right? That sort of stuff. With that being said, to wrap up the show, when we get back from the break, we're gonna jump over and we're gonna talk about this Paraland high school theater teacher who has now been placed on administrative leave and is under a police investigation. And uh this is another one of those cases. I I mean it's not, there's not, I don't even think technically yet there's criminal charges. It's still in the investigative phase. Uh, but yet again, another concern, reasonable concern from parents as to what am I sending my kids to every day that I send them off to public school. We'll talk about it when we get back. This is your last opportunity. If you would like to be a part of the show and text in, you can do that at 713-779-5978. One more time. That is 713-779-KYST. I'm your host, Michael Wilson. You're listening to the Lone Star Conservative, and I'll be right back to wrap up the show after the break.

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Pearland Teacher Probe And Transparency

SPEAKER_15 1:43:18

I mean, it is, again, maybe the biggest highlight of the story, given that there's no criminal charges yet, are that the families were not alerted that a teacher had been placed on administrative leave at all, that there was an investigation on a teacher. And so Wynne said to protect and maintain the integrity of this ongoing investigation, campus families have not yet received a formal communication. The campus principal did meet with theater booster parents in person to share the news of the employee being placed on administrative leave. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Paraland Police Department said the Paralyman Police Department is aware of the allegations involving a teacher at Paraland High School. We are actively investigating the case to determine if a criminal offense has occurred. At this time, we no charges have been filed in the case. We will not be releasing any name at this time due to no criminal charges being filed. And so, uh no charges have been filed, certainly not a conviction. So let's all let's all wait. I will say I saw on Facebook the day before this came out, before the story broke, uh, that I think somebody might have leaked it. One of the parents that got to talking to that that heard about it might have leaked it, because on the Facebook group for the Paraland area, uh one of the one of the parents had posted and said, Hey, has anyone heard the rumors about the theater teacher that's been kind of inappropriate with a student? And people were saying, Oh, that's they're just rumors. There's nothing actually happening. They said, uh, I I think it was actually part of a play, whatever. And then the next day this article comes out and somebody posts and says, Well, there it is. There's an investigation. The biggest frustration, as is typically the case in many of these issues, is just the lack of transparency. I understand maintaining the integrity of an investigation. I get it. I wholeheartedly understand. Uh, but it is insane when you have parents living in a district where they send their kids to the school and they don't know that the theater teacher has been put on leave because there's potential inappropriate conduct. I mean that that is insane to me. Nevertheless, that will do it for the show today. I want to thank everyone for tuning in, being a part of the show. I greatly appreciate it. Lord willing, I'll be back bright and early tomorrow at 6 a.m. In the meantime, enjoy the last day of slightly cooler temperatures before we have a weekend heat up. Of course, we also have the cool front coming in over the weekend. So enjoy your Wednesday and Godspeed, ladies and gentlemen. Godspeed.