Note: Wimberley voter Barbara Hopson sent the note below. Mr. Rose of course is welcome to chime in to correct information that may be misleading. We recall a time when Rose was a leader in the push for lawsuit reform in the Legislature. It was supposed to result in dramatic reductions in insurance premiums for everyone. So far, the much anticipated results – premium reductions and making our lives less expensive – seem to have escaped us all.
For more on Rose's TLR connection, see this illuminating Jan. '07 dispatch from Austin-based Burnt Orange Report: http://www.answerbag.com/article/Patrick+Rose+for+Texas%3F/65c0a61d-4fbe-b5b9-f2ef-052a6736035c/rose-pruning
Send your comments and news tips to online.editor@valleyspringcomm.net, to Mr. Rose at info@patrickrose.com, or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story
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On January 30, 2010, voters in Patrick Rose's Texas House district received in the mail a glossy flyer which attempts to make much of the little that Rose has accomplished for senior citizens. What the flyer did not mention, of course, is that in 2004-2008 Rose received contributions totaling $130,500 from Texans for Lawsuit Reform (source: www.followthemoney.org).
On December 1, 2009 the group presented Rose with their annual award – meaning that Rose did more for them than any other politician that year. The bland name of that organization belies that it is a consortium of business groups which want to severely limit the damages which seniors (or any other citizens) can be awarded for damages done to them by businesses. Does that sound "helpful" to seniors?
Barbara Hopson
P.O. Box 1753
Wimberley, TX 78676-1753
512-842-2882
hopsonbarbara@yahoo.com
24 comments:
Frankly, Ms Hopson, your article is weak and shows that you are either an attorney or are in the pocket of the trial lawyers. Texas, like the rest of the country needs Tort Reform. No one, not even seniors need to sue for every little thing that happens to them and certainly shouldn’t win millions from any company or individuals no matter what the grievance. The cost of these huge lawsuits is borne by the customers of the company. Lawyers get rich, companies get ruined and the greedy get unearned rewards. You Go, Mr. Rose!
Don, Don, Don. You are either in the pockets of the insurance companies or in the pockets of the "Greedy Incompetent Physicians Association". You free markets wackos always blame the trial lawyers for the high cost of everything. In fact, medical malpractice awards account for no more than 3% of all medical costs, compared to a 20% profit for the HMOs. Tort Reform is nothing more than a smokescreen for the real problem of state physician boards not removing the licenses of bad doctors until he or she has butchered too many patients or hurt them way too often.
Don, do impartial research before you send out any more mindless free markets blather.
To summarize, young master Ro$e is his own worst enemy in his fight against "ChecKbook Politics" aka Pay to Play.
Consider the following from the State Ethics Commission website and assisted by the tools on the Texas Tribune website(http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-campaign-donations/). The numbers are real (really his), the commentary is mine, and the other comment is from the Texas Classroom Teachers Association.
Please consider the following:
Ro$e has also received $70,000 from “Swiftboat Bob” Perry and $93,749.50 from “Saltlick Scott” Roberts.
What did they get for their payments and what did taxpayers receive?
Ro$e took $7,500 from Rex Baker (the don of Dripping Springs), what’d he receive and what did the voters get?
Realtor Ro$e received $56,000 from the Texas Association of Realtors PAC. What did they receive and what did you get?(corrected from $36K)
‘Swiftboat Bob’ Perry’s Hillco Pac gave young master Ro$e $15,000, for what? What’d the voters get?
Ro$e was paid $18,500 by the Texas Manufactured Housing Assn. Committee For Responsible Government. Paid to be responsible?
Ro$e is actually owned by Texans For Lawsuit Reform PAC by the tidy sum of $141,574. This PAC is all about protecting the corporate interests at all costs over the interests of the citizens.
Act For Texas Classroom Teachers Association
"TCTA supports Perry's decision to decline RTTT funds - TCTA supports the decision of Gov. Perry and Commissioner Scott to decline to seek funds under the federal Race to the Top program. From our perspective, seeking these grant funds would be a classic “be careful what you wish for” situation. Texas public schools would face significant policy shifts, concessions, and related costs if we were granted the limited, one-time funds available under the RTTT program."
Ro$e received $15,750 from this group, what did they receive? Is this what we get, a Democrat aligned with this type of group? Is this what you want?
Now if he didn't write very much legislation, with the noted Saltlick Sovereign bill, did these big donars get ripped off or did they just get a vote?
You decide.
I have met with Rose a few times and I have observed his voting record, his actions and his inactions and I am very disappointed with this young man.
He is out to be a career politician and success is measured in power and dollars. The good of the community is a tertiary concern to Mr. Rose. He has lost his way, so to speak.
Unfortunately, these days politicians reward themselves and each other for being this way. So, Mr. Rose is on the toll road towards success. Let's hope it will not continue to be at our expense at the county and state levels.
We, the people, have little control over the politicians.
We can only vote out Rose by voting in another candidate, which I will do at the polls.
I sincerely hope that Hays, Caldwell and Blanco county residents will do the same and replace Patrick Rose for the good of the community.
We deserve better than Patrick Rose.
Here's a win-win solution:
Ro$e follows in the footsteps of his mentor Ben Barnes (registered lobbyist for the Stanford Financial Group), stops bothering with the title of representative and gets on down the road like his other mentor Rick Perry.
We win this way in that Rex Baker, Ben Barnes and Lon Burnham will not give us our next representative. Heck of a deal.
We can start in this primary by helping Ro$e out of his dilema on when to register as a lobbyist for all of his private interests.
Go vote, he'll thank you for it in the long run.
Do any of you think that Jason Isaacs is going to be better than Rose? I don't think he will represent what this district really needs at all.
The alternative to Patrick Rose is
not necessarily Jason Isaacs
(Republican). It's Andrew Backus
(Democrat). Vote for Andrew Backus for State Representative
in the Democratic primary on
March 2. Then Andrew can take on
Jason Isaacs in the November
general election.
Some contributors to Patrick Rose,
our current State Representative:
Texas Land Developers Assn.
Texans for Lawsuit Reform (business
assns.)
Texas Association of Realtors
Texas Assn. of Mortgage Bankers
Real Estate Council of Austin
Texas Land Title Association
Randall Morris (real estate, incl.
Wimberley Land Co.)
Wimberley Quicksand Partners
Richard Weekley (real estate)
Scott Roberts (Salt Lick Barbecue)
Rex Baker (Dripping Spring lawyer)
Bob J.(Bobby Jack) Perry (Houston
land developer).
Whoever is mentioning all these campaign contributions to Rose, would you please cite your sources? How are voters to believe what you are saying is true? And who are Mr. Backus's contributors?
When many legislators leave their political positions they are hired by one or more of their campaign contributors as lobbyists.
This is not news as it happens all the time.
It is "a conflict of interest" that is permitted under the current laws.
It would be wonderful if we could change the laws and stop the payoffs, but that will never happen.
It would be significant also to stop extravagant campaign contributions that buy our officials, but that won't happen either.
These are the top reasons why people go into politics: wealth and power.
Under this rubric of a system it is harder to find qualified and ethical individuals who work for the good of the community they serve.
Furthermore, even if they may start out as ethical, caring for the community type of people, they soon are corrupted by the system in place. It is a Catch-22 phenomenon that hurts the people more each year.
Knowing this, the only thing in our power is to vote-out incumbents and hope for the best and then vote them out again when they are incumbents.
The list of Patrick Rose's
contributors was compiled from lists available at the website
www.followthemoney.org. That site
lists contributors to national and
state candidates, but unfortunately
not to county candidates. At the
site you can also see charts which
show what percent of a candidate's
contributions came from what groups
(real estate, Democrats, Republicans. etc.)
As for Mr. Backus' contributors,
since he hasn't run before for national or state office, there
are no contribution records for him
that I am aware of.
I agree fully with "The System Sucks", in more ways than one. LOL
Another issue "grazed" by this person is that there are no time limits on legislative positions.
There should be a maximum 2-term limitation, "but that won't happen either."
For state office campaign financial reports go to http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/php/cesearch.html, enter the last and first name and click on Search.
Be careful with Patrick Rose. To find his financial reports you have to use the name of his PAC.
You can also go to www.followthemoney.org who tries to ID the contributors.
Yet more contributors to our current State Rep, Patrick Rose:
Texas Construction Assn.
Associated General Contractors of
Texas
Texas Manufactured Housing Assn.
Paul Bury (construction)
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Taraborelli
(contractors in Spring)
Robert Baldwin III (insurance, real
estate)
Wells Fargo.
-from www.followthemoney.org
I'm just worried that any Democrat (besides Rose) can't be elected in this district. Even though I think Backus could win Hays I think Blanco and Caldwell will automatically vote for the person with an R after their name.
I think Mr. Backus is a Republican running in a Democratic primary. He seemed to be apologizing for running as a Democrat for Rose’s seat. This was at the WPOA Annual Meeting last month. Has anybody asked him about that? He is POed at Rose for dissing him over Chapter 36 authorization last year. He can’t articulate about much else that the legislature will face.
If you don't pay powerful politicians big money you don't get squat. End the wars!
To the person who feels that Andrew
Backus can't articulate about any
issue other than water:
Not true. When Andrew Backus has
spoken before in public, water has
been the topic. Fortunately for us
in this drought-prone area, water
issues are Andrew's field of expertise. Frankly, if there is any
issue I do want my legislators to be concerned about, it IS the
protection and preservation of our
water supply. Our home area can
thrive only so long as we have
precious water -- all else is
secondary.
However, Andrew is concerned about education, economic recession, roads, health care, and many other issues in addition to those
involving water. He is hardly the
one-issue candidate his opponents
would like to make him out to be.
Please vote for Andrew Backus for
State Representative in the
Democratic Primary on March 2.
Early voting begins February 16.
to the worried about electing any Democrat in this district (besides Ro$e), please remember that you once elected a 22 year old kid who's only qualification was that his name was on the ballot and he had $150,000.. now in light of that revelation, don't be so fearful as at least Backus comes with years of service to the community and has actually held a job prior to being your representative. By comparison to the Ro$e, he's excessively more qualified.
Ms. Hopson, I have a problem with your statement, “Our home area can thrive only so long as we have precious water -- all else is secondary.”. Clean and adequate water is vital, but to make such a statement is ludicrous. Our State Representatives have a lot more on their plates than just water. I agree that Andrew Backus has been a tireless community servant regarding water conservation but I hardly think that alone qualifies him for the office he seeks. He is more valuable to our area on the HTGCD board. This election will be little more than a distraction to Mr. Backus. BTW, I know Andrew and have followed his good works.
I think some on this blog hate Rose so much they’d elect anybody to replace him. Thankfully, the public at large is more aware than the average zealot here. Want to bet that Rose is not going to be reelected?
in 2004, Swiftboat Bob Perry gave $25,000 to Ro$e - at the same time he was swiftbaoting John Kerry.
FYI - Rudy Giulliani's bunch gave Ro$e $4,000
What did Dolph Briscoe get for his $47,000?
In tough times isn't it good to know that Ro$e is thriving - lookup his $$$ taken from bankers and mortgage companies....
I hope Hays, Caldwell and Blanco County residents vote for candidates other than Rose.
We will never be completely free of him, but at least we can be rid of him being our state rep.
Wow! It looks like our friend Mr. Rose has a lot of big and powerful special interests in his pocket. Or is it the other way around . . . a lot of big and powerful special interests have Rose in their pockets? A vote for Rose then would be a vote for all those special interests. I don't think my own interests are aligned with any of theirs. And my pockets are looking pretty sparse right now, so I guess I don't count.
I am about ready to bet the farm that young Mr. Rose never took an ethics course at Princeton.
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