Lyceum Poll: Abbott Up 8; TT Profiles Likely Davis Campaign Team
Abbott Announces Settlement with American Airlines;
Perry to Push Water Plan in San Angelo Today
Devore Wash Post LTE on Texas Model
*****
Good morning from Austin.
Here’s the brief:
LYCEUM POLL: ABBOTT UP 8
The Texas Lyceum poll was just released and it has:
Abbott 29
Davis 21
Undecided 50
TT’s Jay Root has the details.
JAY ROOT DETAILS THE DAVIS CAMPAIGN TEAM
TT’s Jay Root profiles the likely campaign team for the expected gubernatorial run for State Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth).
AG ABBOTT ANNOUNCES SETTLEMENT WITH AMERICAN AIRLINES
UPI reports:
Texas has pulled out of a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block the planned American Airlines-US Airways merger, the state’s attorney general said.
The state and the airlines’ parent companies reached a deal in which the two carriers promise to keep scheduled daily service to 22 state airports, including rural airports often used by military personnel, for at least three years, Attorney General Greg Abbott, who is running for governor, said in a news conference.
The deal also calls for the “new American” to keep Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport as a hub and to keep its headquarters in the Dallas area, Abbott said in a news release.
The agreement makes binding what the airlines promised to do when they announced their mergerFeb. 14, The Dallas Morning News said.
“I’m proud to join today with American Airlines and US Airways to announce we have successfully negotiated a settlement,” Abbott told reporters at DFW alongside Thomas W. Horton, chairman, president and chief executive officer of American and parent AMR Corp.
Horton dodged a question about whether American and US Airways discussed a settlement with the Justice Department.
“We have regular discussions with the DOJ,” he said, declining to elaborate.
The Justice Department had no immediate comment on Texas’ withdrawing from the lawsuit or on its discussions with AMR.
Abbott, a former judge in his second term as attorney general, is running to succeed Republican Gov. Rick Perry.
Abbott at first said he opposed the merger because he thought the diminished competition would lead to higher prices and reduced service.
He was criticized for his position by his GOP rival in the governor’s race and by a Democratic state senator expected to join the race, The Wall Street Journal reported. Other Texas politicians and communities have also condemned his position.
Abbott denied Tuesday political considerations played a part in either joining the lawsuit when it was filed Aug. 13 or deciding to withdraw now.
Texas’ withdrawal leaves five other states — Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Tennessee — and the District of Columbia as parties to the Justice Department’s lawsuit opposing the merger.
The department argues the deal would harm airline competition and result in higher airfares, higher fees and fewer consumer choices. AMR and US Airways Group Inc. claim the merger would cut costs by $500 million, letting them offer more flights to more cities at lower prices and with better service.
The Justice Department’s case is to go to trial in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Nov. 25.
> KRLD radio host and DMN columnist Mark Davis has a column in today’s DMN where he calls this a “convenient reversal” for AG Abbott.
Here’s the official release from by the office of AG Abbott:
State of Texas Reaches Agreement with American Airlines and US Airways on Proposed Merger
DFW International Airport: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today announced that a settlement agreement has been successfully negotiated with American Airlines and US Airways concerning the proposed merger of the two airlines. The settlement resolves the State’s objections by American Airlines agreeing to maintain daily service to rural airports across the State of Texas. Additionally, the airlines entered into a binding agreement to maintain the merged company’s headquarters in the DFW metropolitan area. The result is a settlement agreement that serves the best interests of the State of Texas, continues daily air service to 22 airports across the state, and preserves thousands of jobs across the state.Attorney General Abbott issued the following statement regarding today’s settlement:
“From the beginning, our focus has been on maintaining service to rural airports in Texas and protecting Texas jobs. Today’s agreement ensures that thousands of jobs will remain in Texas and that Texans traveling by air – especially those who fly in and out of rural cities across the state, including members of the military – will continue to benefit from daily flight service. The settlement secures common-sense concessions that are in the best interests of our great State.”
Attorney General Abbott added: “The settlement is good for American Airlines’ customers, the communities it serves and its employees. Our negotiations confirmed that the airline will preserve competition in the marketplace, maintain important routes in Texas and protect jobs.”
The State’s legal action, announced in August, was prompted by concerns about the potential for reduced airline service to several of Texas’ smaller airports. One particularly large group of travelers who depend on airline service to rural airports across the State are members of the armed services, who are served almost exclusively by American Eagle flights to and from Killeen, which is near Fort Hood; San Angelo, which is near Goodfellow Air Force Base; and Abilene, which is near Dyess Air Force Base. Today’s agreement ensures that 22 airports across Texas – including more than a dozen smaller airports in rural Texas – will continue to offer daily departures and arrivals.
In addition to ensuring daily service to airports across Texas, the agreement also guarantees that Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport will remain a “hub” and that, if the airlines merge, the headquarters will be located in Texas, in the DFW metropolitan area. This provides much greater assurance to Texas because it solidifies into a legally-enforceable agreement what was previously merely a stated intention to keep the headquarters in the DFW area. Those concerns are now put to rest and we’re proud that we now have a legal document that guarantees that the new American Airlines will maintain its headquarters in the DFW area.
Texas airports protected by the agreement include:
• Abilene Regional Airport
• Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
• Brownsville/South Padre Island Airport
• Corpus Christi International Airport
• Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
• East Texas Regional Airport
• Easterwood Airport
• El Paso International Airport
• Houston William P. Hobby Airport
• Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport
• Jack Brooks Regional Airport
• Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport
• Laredo International Airport
• Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport
• McAllen-Miller International Airport
• Midland International Airport
• Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport
• San Angelo Regional Airport
• San Antonio International Airport
• Tyler Pounds Regional Airport
• Waco Regional Airport
• Wichita Falls Regional Airport
PERRY PUSHING WATER PLAN IN SAN ANGELO TODAY
TT’s Alana Rocha reports that Gov. Perry will be in San Angelo today to push the state’s water plan, which faces the voters this November.
DEVORE WASH POST LTE IN RESPONSE TO O’MALLEY OP ED
TPPF’s Chuck Devore has a letter to the editor in the Washington Post in response to an op ed from Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-MD):
Regarding Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Sept. 18 op-ed, “The secret of our success”:
Attacks on Texas aren’t really about Gov. Rick Perry’s job-hunting expeditions. Rather, such attacks are, as Mr. O’Malley suggested, proxies for the national debate on the efficacy of lean government vs. large government. So, given the stakes for Americans, is Maryland or Texas a better model to follow?
First, let’s be frank: Maryland is a federal colony. Its economy rises or falls with the federal behemoth in Washington. As a result, its example is utterly unrepeatable across the United States. From January 2007 to August 2013, Maryland lost 22,900 private-sector jobs but gained 33,500 government jobs, the vast majority being highly paid federal workers, for a net of 10,600 jobs. By comparison, Texas added 958,700 jobs, or 90 times more than Maryland.
The Maryland governor’s shopworn bromides about Texas included this whopper: “Texas ranks 49th in high school graduation.” False. The Education Department reports that 86 percent of Texas high school students graduate, the nation’s fourth-highest rate, vs. 83 percent in Maryland. The misleading statistic Mr. O’Malley used refers to the number of adults with high school diplomas, which is solely because of the large number of immigrants attracted to Texas’s thriving economy.
Mr. O’Malley also insisted that Texas is poor. But federal reports ignore the cost of living, which is 31 percent higher in Maryland than it is in Texas.
The Texas model, not Maryland’s, is more relevant for America.
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#txlege
– The Texas Lyceum poll referenced above has the water plan supported narrowly 44-42.
2013 / 2014 / 2016:
– NYT’s Manny Fernandez reports on Gov. Perry’s jobs tour and skepticism over his motive.
– Gov. Perry campaigned for a U.S. Senate candidate in New Jersey yesterday, where he called Obamacare a ‘criminal act.’
– Chron’s Mike Tolson reports that the four GOP candidates for Lt. Gov. appeared at a candidate forum hosted by the United Republicans of Harris County and TFRW in Houston yesterday and, for the most part, played nicely.
– The reelection campaign of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R-TX) released a new ad yesterday.
– A new ad released by Houston Mayoral challenger Ben Hall focuses on crime.
Other stories of interest:
– Security bills for Gov. Perry and AG Abbott are piling up.
Lighter clicks:
– SXSW is adding sports.
– Ranking ESPN’s ’30 for 30′ series.
– ESPN on the financial empire retiring UT Athletic Director Deloss Dodds built.
– Jay-Z says selling drugs helped him prepare to be a sports agent.
– MJ says he thinks he could beat LeBron in 1 on 1 in his prime.
– The man who will get college athletes paid?
– Please don’t let the Dodgers win the World Series.
Your Daily Source of Inspiration:
– Being five foot five and dreaming you could one day dunk. (Spud Webb was 5’7″)
– ‘Till death do us part.
