In the last election for a Texas state senate seat, a conservative, small government Republican named Mike Canon ran against an incumbent liberal Republican named Kel Seliger. Seliger won.
As we all know, defeating an incumbent is difficult. But when asked, some of his voters contended that he was "for the children" as if his opponents were "against the children." One friend of mine voted for the incumbent Seliger with the lame excuse that a newcomer to the state senate wouldn't be able to get anything done.
My own vote for Mike Canon was based on my hope that as a low tax candidate he would support the governor's proposed measures favorable to property owners on ad valorem taxes. Those proposed measures are still hanging out there.
But Mr. Seliger was part of the opposition. Empowertexans awarded Seliger a "C" for 2017, his highest ranking during his career in which he earned an "F" overall due to his failure in the area of fiscal responsibility.
Anyway, this long introduction leads us to the most recent development. Seliger got bumped from the Senate Higher Education Committee of which he was the chairman. He was appointed chairman of a newly formed Agriculture Committee. Then Seliger made a rude remark on a radio show, and the next thing he knew, he was booted off that committee, too. Read all about it at Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pulls Sen. Kel Seliger’s chairmanship after Seliger suggested Patrick aide kiss his “back end”.
Well, as for my friend's opposition to a newcomer because he wouldn't be able to accomplish anything, sometimes an incumbent's accomplishments amount to less than nothing. Hopefully, Seliger's challengers will have better luck next time.
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4:03 PM 1/26/2019
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