Potential tax raise in Harris County, Texas election latest, and more | What's Your Point?

The Democratic majority at Harris County poised to kick affordability concerns to the curb and increase government spending. A full stop declared by the governor on controversial flock cameras. Can use of the controversial crime-fighting tool be controlled without invading the privacy of Texas? And haunted by his words, Democrat for Senate James Tallarico under fire for past calls to totally dismantle the Texas oil and gas industry. I'm Greg Grugan and welcome to What's Your Point where our panelists call it like they see it. Let's greet them. Starting us off, Fox 26 legal and political analyst Chris Tritico. Next up, crime victim advocate April Aguirre. In the three-spot, longtime super-neighborhood leader Tomorrow Bell. Batting cleanup this morning, Bill King, businessman, columnist and fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute. And closing us out, education and public safety advocate Paul Castro. Let's begin. It only happens here in Harris County that a leftist progressive majority court raises taxes to the point where taxpayers bleed. Because that's what's happening now. They are bleeding with this type of increase. It doesn't happen anywhere else in the state, but it happens here in Harris County. Houston State Senator Paul Betancourt sounding the alarm, warning Harris County taxpayers they are on the verge of getting bludgeoned yet again with a double-digit tax hike hammered through without their permission by the Democratic super-majority on Commissioner's Court. Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey, the lone Republican with a vote, pleading with colleagues for fiscal restraint. When you decide to increase your spending $325 million, then you have no choice than to increase the tax rate to its highest level that we've ever seen in Harris County. As we've reported, if approved, the proposed budget and subsequent tax increase would provide double-digit funding increases for at least 35 or more different county departments. Panel, it is critical to mention the cumulative weight being hoisted on hard-pressed home and business owners. That is, when taken with the burden added in the previous two years, property taxes will have risen in Harris County by more than 30%, outpacing income growth tenfold. All right, Bill. Are they going to go through with this? I don't know. There were some press conferences this week where there seemed to be some consideration by Commissioners Briones and Garcia that maybe there needed to be some compromise on what was proposed. We'll see what happens. By the way, the spending increase is actually $383 million. Ramos thinks he can find about $50 million of savings. Some of those are probably right. Some of them are kind of problematic, like not outsourcing as many jail prisoners outside the Harris County. So this is a massive increase in spending, and that's what's driving it. And I think what happened was, you know, they gave increases to law enforcement. They gave increases to everybody else. They took off the hiring freeze. They're continuing the policy of giving basically free health care to all 43,000 Harris County employees. And they've done all this without giving any thought to how they were going to pay for it. And they're creating a brand new county department tomorrow. The key thing here is we're getting out in the neighborhoods that this is coming down the pike. Yes, the word is getting out, and they are appalled. They cannot believe it. After the tax hike that they did to us, after Barrow, and after the DiRiccio, when people didn't even have the money to fix their houses, and they went back and added an extra tax on them just because they could, because we had experienced those hardships. But they didn't experience them. We experienced them, but they wanted us to pay. This makes no sense. Raddick is already running his first commercial against Brionis. Now, if she and Adrian really, really want to lose, keep on track with this stupid stuff, because this makes no sense to put this hardship. You know the tariffs. You know the oil. You know the war. You know everything people are going through. And what you're showing is Jimmy hate jamming your ass, don't give a damn. All right, Paul, is there a certain amount of hubris here? Look, we know Trump and the Republicans are underwater in Harris County. And so Brionis and Garcia, have they thrown caution to the wind and believe that they've got re-election locked up? I don't know about thinking re-election is locked up. I do think this is very politically risky. There are obviously places where Harris County can cut back on its expenses. So there are, they're still continuing COVID era spending, $14 million that they're maintaining for ARP funding, which should have gone away years ago already. And then the health care that was already mentioned, the fact that there are, it's 100% subsidy for all of the employees, which is great if you're an employee. But if you are a person who is just a blue collar worker paying out of your own pocket, taking care of your parents and your kids prescriptions out of your own pocket, this is a really bad move because I don't think there's any sympathy there. Look, in terms of pitching this April, are some of the Democrats trying to piggyback this on saying, hey, you wanted the raise for law enforcement. You wanted public safety. We gave it. But they're throwing everything else in the wagon as well. You know what? They kind of want to blame it on that. But let's just be honest that this race was overdue, especially, specifically when they're paying other people with arts degrees, $400,000, come on. But what happened here is just a perfect recipe for disaster. You grew the department by two over 2000 people. There's so many departments now. All you have to do is compare commissioners court and what that looked like in Harris County 2017 to now. And we depended on ARPA funds. When is enough enough? All right. Say what you want about Republicans. But this looks like profligate spending to me, Chris. Well, if you're going to if you're going to increase what's 350 million, then you've got to do it with with with the design to how you're going to pay for this. And they didn't. And that's catching up to them. And if Briones and Garcia aren't thinking about this election, then they're they're they're not thinking at all. And they should be thinking about it. This vote right on the heels of this election could cost them their seats. And this is a this is a horrible, horrible timing. And they're running out of time like I am. And and this is this. This could change the makeup of the court. Wonder if they're listening. Still to come. Trash talking the Texas oil patch and demonizing capitalism. Senate candidate James Tallarico has some explaining to do about hyper progressive pontificating in the past. But up next, digging deeper into the apparent desire of Harris County Democrats to raise taxes by double digits. Will they go through with it just weeks from a big election? As someone who grew up check to check, raising taxes to me is a last resort. Right. And so we need to do the hard work. Harris County Precinct for Commissioner Leslie Briones calling a tax increase a last resort. While Briones has previously complained about what she described as federal and state funding cuts. An affirmative vote for the 12 percent hike will drop a 300 million dollar weight on the same paycheck to paycheck households. I know she actually grew up in because we were actually from the same hometown. Meantime, Republicans both on and off the midterm ballot are justifiably alleging hypocrisy. This hammers taxpayers at a time when families in Harris County are struggling and we've got to put an end to that. Spending is out of control here. And if you spend out of control, you're going to tax out of control. This past week, Commissioner Adrian Garcia held his state of precinct to luncheon and made not a single mention that I heard regarding this highly consequential spending decision. What's going to happen here, Bill? I don't know. I suspect they're going to try to find some middle ground on this. I don't much think that Garcia or Briones are in trouble of losing this election because Trump's probably 30 or 40 points underwater in Harris County. But I do think that this will be a legacy, particularly Briones as a future. And from now on, every time she runs, she's going to be campaigned against on she voted for the highest increase in Harris County's history. And I think that's a real problem for going. Look, I agree with her that property taxes should be a last resort. But this proposed county budget is not within a country mile of last resort. Not just the highest, but the second highest, too, because she voted for the post-barrel emergency loophole tax hike. Tamara Bell, when you hear this, how much of this goes back to Rodney Ellis? Bid high, settle low. And that's the game they plan. Because I promise you, this is nothing but a three-card molly that they plan with us. They want to make sure that we are so outraged at 12 that when they try to hit our answers with eight, we say, no, don't fall for that. Unlike Bill, I do believe that Adrienne and Briones are in trouble because the redistricting that they did did not come out the way they thought it would. Because what was redistricted for Briones back then was ETJ, grass and all that. Tomball is growing by leaps and bounds. Those are all subdivisions. I mean, I'm talking about even all the way out to Fulcher. All those communities have really grown. So the voting level that was when she got elected is different. Same thing with Adrienne. You got that whole generational park area going out there, and there's people moving out there. So they don't have the same demographics that they had when they won four years ago. Paul, are you in Precinct 4? I am. I am, too. And I don't see my life getting any better, even though I would have to pay 12% more. No additional services. I'm wondering where this money goes and whether it's just patronage jobs. Yeah, what they're saying is that it's going to the unincorporated areas of Harris County, which are growing faster than those that are part of the city. But we're all paying the same taxes. Really quickly, Bill likes to say the best thing the Republicans have going for them is how god-awful the Democrats are. And is this a case of that? Real quick. Well, yeah. This is all this spending, spending, spending, spending. I, for years, have sponsored a high school mock trial, pay for their lunch, buy their trophies out of my pocket, which is something I love to do, and I'm always going to do it. I mean, the constable precinct one has paid out of his budget for the facilities. He can't do it anymore. The lead at the county said they will not pay for it. So now I've got to raise the money for that. Up next, Harris Health pleading for money from taxpayers while sitting on literally $2 billion in cash reserves. That is precisely the reason why this expansion needs to happen next to Benton Hospital. The need, the urgent public necessity that is currently facing us. Just a couple snippets there from Harris Health Director Dr. Ismael Porceau, who seems to be pleading for additional facilities in cash every time we hear from him lately. That ask from the leader of our community safety net health care system continues with a bid to raise property taxes. Turns out the premise of that request may have some holes in a revealing look under Harris Health's financial hood. Our own Bill King found the system sitting on a $2 billion unrestricted surplus while generating more than $200 million a year more than it spends. Dr. Porceau should be commended for running a financially sound ship. The question remains whether it's at all necessary to ask cash-strapped local homeowners to pay more when births at Harris Health are down 20% and county population growth is actually stagnant despite claims to the contrary. All right, King, what's going on here? So, you know, we've been looking at all these individual government entities, financial statements, and we just started looking at Harris Health. And so I was frankly really shocked at what I saw when I picked up the financials and look at it because my impression has always been that they're broken. You just barely get by. But starting in about 2021, the federal government dramatically increased Medicare supplemental payments. We were getting less than $200 million. We've been averaging $650 million for the last several years. Now, I will say this, to their credit, they have not really increased expenses by nearly that much. Their average expense increase has only been about 6%, which is generally in line with what other hospitals have seen. And so as a result, they've just stacked up this huge amount of cash over there, which frankly I commend them and say that's great. But I don't understand why you would come back and ask for a tax increase when you're in that situation. Now, they say that they're worried about losing Medicaid funding, your Medicaid cut, Medicaid cuts. All of that has been postponed until at least next year, and who knows what will happen then. This year in their budget, they're projecting a $39 million increase in Medicare payments. Wow. April, do you feel like giving them some more preemptive money just in case the worst-case scenario happens? So Harris Health, I think, is doing great financially, and we should applaud them for that. And they're one of the few entities here in Harris County that is working. However, they remind me of my children after they get their birthday money that they still want Mom to buy them all the extra stuff. Just because I can doesn't mean that I should. Well, you shouldn't be asking for more money when the Harris County, honestly, is broke. And Harris County residents are really, really trying to figure out what they can do to save money and to make ends meet. This is just uncalled for and unnecessary. Paul, you look at spreadsheets of big organizations trying to make ends meet. Do these guys have an argument? Not really. So I think Bill's article talked about, I think, 209 days of cash on hand. So typically you're looking at a 60- to 90-day window that you're, you know, to be healthy. And so they have way more than that. So even if something were to change, they would be able to gradually move into that space and make that transition. The fact that Harris County itself has, I think, the second lowest or third lowest per capita income of the area counties shows you that there are a lot of people who do need access to this health center, but that the people who are going also need to be made aware of when it comes to the tax situation. We just need to take care of our taxpayers. Dr. Porce, shield's up. Tomorrow, bell. Here you go again with your stupid lies. This makes no sense. You know good and well you all do not need more money. I talk to people, and I'm not going to say them because you'll fire them, about how dysfunctional you really are running the hospital. You have spaces right now for additional beds so that it won't be crowded, but you don't want to put them in there because you want to keep your poll story going. You shouldn't get another damn dime. Not one. I swear, I don't know what's wrong with you. All right. Going to leave it there. Hear from Chris in overtime. Up next, enhanced public safety or threat to privacy. A battle raging over flock cameras in the Lone Star State, and the governor may have gotten caught in a political crossfire. Welcome to Texas, y'all, where we celebrate freedom from big government. So relax. There's only 10,000 clock cameras reading your plate, lobbying where you sleep and pray. No warrant needed in Greg Abbott's Texas. The freedom capital of America. Smile. Democrat for Governor Gina Hinojosa's ad looking to capitalize on the second major policy reversal of this campaign season by incumbent Greg Abbott. Last week, the governor froze all state funding for flock cameras after a thunderous outburst of protests by Texans concerned about privacy and potential abuse and preservation of their constitutional rights. While hailed by advocates as a critical crime-fighting tool, the Texas Tribune reports at least a half dozen Texas law enforcement agencies actively investigating officers for abusing the tracking technology. Panel, when combined with this data center development freeze, this is Abbott's second 180 in a matter of two months, and Hinojosa is looking to exploit the flop. What do you think of this, Paul? Well, we do want our government to be responsive, and right now people are concerned about flock cameras. Fluggerville came out recently. They had 83 different agencies that they had authorized to use their flock camera systems. They had 450 who were actually tapping into it. I think there's a situation where this is about coming up with policies and oversight. Flock actually has an audit system now that they've installed that allows, they can give to free to anybody who is already using it to see, is somebody using it unnecessarily? Are they looking at things at home, tracking their ex-girlfriends, tracking homes and those kinds of things? This is a fixable problem through policy. Chris, jump in here. So I think we figured out how to change policy in Texas, and that's run a poll and send it to the governor, and he'll change his policy if it doesn't fit what he's looking for. The problem with Flock's audit system is it's after the fact, and that doesn't help stop the problem. It helps correct a problem after we've had it. We've got to figure out how to stop people from abusing Flock cameras before they abuse it, not after they abuse it. And once we figure that out, and that's going to be an internal policy with each department, and once we figure that out, the Flock cameras will be a good crime-fighting tool. All right. We have a three-term governor who's arguably the most powerful and popular Republican in Texas, and yet he's had two policy reversals, Bill. Look, there's nobody that polls like Abbott does. I think they do weekly polls is what I've been told. And, look, I'm okay with this. If your policies are not aligned with the majority of the people that you govern, then maybe you ought to think about changing them. Now, in these two cases, I just don't get the big objections to Flock or to data centers. I agree with Chris and with Paul that there needs to be some better policies around Flock, but when we're only solving 25 percent of the rape cases in the state of Texas, we need some more crime-fighting tools out there. And let me just tell you what, the data center issues, those things are going to be built someplace, they're going to pay a bunch of property taxes, and they are going to happen. And so if you don't want them in your community, fine, they're going to go someplace else. Tamara, I'm going to give this to April. Guardrails, are these Flock cameras necessary for the future? If it was your family and your child got kidnapped, you would want the police to be able to find that vehicle. And, unfortunately, they're not going to be able to do that now because so many Flock cameras are being cut down. I just want to say that Governor Greg Abbott, having a shift in his position, he reads the room and he wants what Texans want, and he's always going to represent Texans that way, and I applaud him for wanting to change his stance. However, we could easily fix this problem by having a warrant. All right, still ahead, the power of words from the not-so-distant past. Senate candidate James Tallarico, on the record, equating capitalism with white supremacy and climate change. You just knew it was coming, the kind of rhetorical skeleton dug up from the dusty digital closet, and once revealed, triggering a collective cringe from everyone at a Tallarico HQ fully engaged with wooing independent and disaffected Republican voters. I'm so thankful that you asked this question, and also thankful that young activists have really drawn the link between climate change and white supremacy and capitalism in our country. And I think only in the ways that all three of those oppressive systems work together are we going to be able to begin the process of dismantling them. That advocacy for dismantling capitalism was made to an Austin Sierra Club group back in 2020, and, folks, that wasn't all. Tallarico also felt compelled to put our state's oil and gas industry on missile lock for elimination. We all know that Texas has been a leader in oil and gas, but in many ways that's like being a leader in cassette tapes in the 1980s. That industry is not going to last, and if we want to ensure we have an economy that's going to work for our children and our children's children, we've got to be ahead of the curve. Panel Tallarico's comments were unearthed by CNN, hardly a conservative news outlet. Bill, does this hurt? Yeah, for sure it hurts, and I've said it before. If Tallarico could go back and erase about a dozen things that he said, he'd be up by 10 points right now. But back during that time, and remember this is during the 2020 election when Biden was getting elected and when there was all of this green energy push going on and everything, so this was consistent with what the Democratic Party was saying at the time. It all turned out to be incredibly stupid, but the question I think Tallarico's got to try to address is does he still believe all this stuff and he is conveniently changing his position just because he's in an election, or has he actually matured in the last six years and understands that some of these positions were nonsense? Okay, Bill makes the sheep, wolf, and sheep's clothing analogy. You believe he's evolved? I don't know because I don't know him. Now, I see him on TV, I see him on interviews, but I don't know him. Now, that is a problem for him because I know Captain Sabrehoe, but I don't know you. I cannot sit here and say whether you really meant that. You didn't, and that is a problem, and that is what I have said repeatedly to people who are affiliated with your campaign. I am one of those African-American people who can actually say I don't really know you. Paul, should there be a statute of limitation on statements like this? You know, it's one of the things where I think a person could say. So, you know, when I look at him, I think, okay, six years ago he was what, in high school? But then he's 37, right? So he was 31 back then. So he does have responsibility for having said those things, but he also has the ability, kind of like we were just talking about Governor Abbott changing his position, to come back and say that was me then, this is what I believe now, and here's why. And I think the why part is what's missing right now, which is if I'm going to represent the state of Texas, 32 million people, I have to represent what the interests of those people are, especially the working class, many of whom work in the oil and gas fields. I dug through some of my old stuff the other day, and I found a column I wrote for the Daily Texan in which I called for the rooting out of the Sandinistas by U.S. military power. Of course, that would have caused a full-blown war. But I was kind of a, you know, kind of rowdy in a jingoistic kind of way back then. And Chris, what do you think of this? But you believed. You know, so you've got to break down exactly what that statement said. And I think we all missed that part that said the oil and gas is not going to last. And nobody asked him, because he hadn't addressed it, but what do you mean by it's not going to last and how long were you talking about before you talked about breaking it down? And he's going to have to address that. It was a stupid statement at the time. It's an even dumber statement today now that you're in the lead. He's going to have to explain that at some point. But his opponent won't debate him, and so he may never have to explain it. He may just get to run and maybe win this race without ever having to address that comment. Okay. Lots of folks in South Texas and West Texas make their living in this industry. And newsflash, you know, you can have all the alternative resources in the world. Oil and gas is here for the next century or more until they come up with some type of replacement. Any thoughts on this, April? Absolutely. Here in the Houston region, Pasadena, Baytown, La Porte, Beaumont, we rely on the Port of Houston and this petrochemical complex that we have built here. It is so dumb for you to have that type of belief without really a plan. So my thing is when somebody shows you who they are, believe them. Teller Rico does not want this, and he has said it not only in this interview but others. He really is siding with these progressive activists that think that they can replace oil and gas. But let me tell you, the Port of Houston is not only a lifeline for our local community, but the nation. Bill, you know, Labor Day is kind of the unofficial start of when the missiles really start launching. Do you think there is more stuff like this that opposition research has unearthed? Well, I have got to believe everything that is out there has been found. Whether it has all been used or not, I think, is the question. And, you know, if you look at the polling, it does seem like Paxton's free fall has kind of stopped. I mean, the last two or three polls that have come out have all been within the margin of error. I think it is going to be a very close race. All right. Still to come, the first of its kind midterm Republican convention set for liftoff in the Lone Star State in less than 72 hours. But up next, the cash-strapped Ken Paxton campaign set for a very big financial boost from the richest man on the planet. So, Ken Paxton, you might not like the way he dresses. And I say this, it is so insulting to him, but I might as well say it. You might not like the way he looks. You might not love his look. You might not love his television interviews. But he was the best attorney general in the country, perhaps. The president in genuinely backhanded fashion looking to pump up support for Republican Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race. What Mr. Trump has not done yet is direct his MAGA Incorporated PAC to dole out any cash to the GOP nominee, who trails James Talarico by a cool $55 million in the fundraising battle. Enter the world's first trillionaire, Elon Musk, who the New York Post reports is poised to dump $100 to $200 million into Republican war chests here in this adopted Lone Star State. Panel, no question Paxton would be a major recipient if Musk becomes the equalizer via his almost limitless wallet, Paul. So, here's the math. If you were a trillionaire, you could spend a million dollars a day from the day Jesus was born, and today you would still have money in your pocket. So, the amount of money that he's going to be investing into this is pocket change to him. But it's going to have a big impact on the election if people are listening. Remember, Cornyn outspent Paxton like 10 to 1 and still lost. And so, the electorate is not stupid. The electorate's going to be paying attention. They will watch the ads, but they're going to vote their pocketbook. All right, Bill, we talked about this before the show. Is there a saturation point? Yeah, I think it is. And also, it's getting kind of late. You know, to be able to buy television ads this late and produce them and everything, and so far the money I've seen spent for Paxton is mostly, I don't think, very effective. Like the Chinese ad, I don't think that's going to move a lot of independents one way or the other. Look, we have just, I mean, Paul gave a great example of the Cornyn spend over Paxton. You know, Clinton outspent Trump about six times, I think, in 2016. So, just putting a lot of money in something doesn't guarantee that you're going to win. A lot of it depends on how the money is spent. And so far, I haven't seen a lot of discipline on the Republican side. They seem to continue to be running a primary campaign. They can't seem to figure out a focus on the general campaign. Chris, you know, they can spend unlimited amounts on the Internet. They will not get any views from tomorrow, Bill, on Facebook or Twitter or any of that stuff. Can this kind of influx of money, if it comes from Musk, make a difference? It could. Like Bill said, it can if they can figure out how to do it right and how to do it effectively. The problem they have is they have such a flawed candidate in the attorney general that I don't know that they can dress him up in such a way that they could actually turn him into a real candidate. He won't campaign effectively. He won't debate. He won't do the things that are necessary to turn the electorate into an electorate that wants to support him. But can they demonize Tallarico sufficiently to make it a wash? I don't know if they can, but when you look at both campaigns, it is about how you spend the money. And one thing I'm not seeing in any of them is a ground game. Ground games is how you win the elections. I've been doing this since pre-K. I don't see a good ground game on either one of them. And you have got to get that on track if you plan on winning. That's how Obama won. That's how Kennedy won. I mean, you've got to do it that way. Let's take the city election. Willie Davis, I don't think, raised $50,000 and the other people had a million. He won because he had a ground game. But their ground games suck. You see one stupid commercial after another. No, that ain't moving nobody. Okay, the RGV may be the kingmaker in this. I mean, what are you hearing on the street? What I'm listening to and what I'm understanding from everybody, and I feel the same way, is we don't like Paxton, but we really don't like Talarico and are worried about what he's going to be doing. He has made some very unusual statements that just don't align with Texans voters, so we're going to just pick the guy with the mistresses. All right, Keela, two big days in Dallas as the GOP looks to gather plenty of campaign steam with a groundbreaking midterm convention starring the commander-in-chief. The countdown has begun for the first ever midterm Republican National Convention hosted by our fellow Texans in Dallas. It was the president's idea, which is why he's getting credit for it, and it's rightfully so. I think it's going to be an extraordinary opportunity for us to get a couple of nights on national television to talk about our extraordinary record of achievement. Trump built a first-of-its-kind midterm convention in Dallas to put himself at the center of the campaign, and his own candidates are suddenly discovering scheduling conflicts. Must be busy. Contrasting predictions on the two-day event panel. Former Congressman Kinzinger suggesting Republicans in competitive races are giving the convention the Heisman because this president with his 30-something percent approval rating can't help them and could hurt them in a general election. So I ask, what's your point, Bill King? I think this convention is a huge risk for Republicans. I could see a lot of ways it could really go sideways because the message that Trump is talking about these days, which is the Iran war is really okay, you know, we've cut prices, don't worry. I mean, all of that is not... It reminds me of Biden doing exactly the same thing in 2024, saying, no, you don't understand, you're really doing better than you think that you are. American people just, you know, they know how they're doing. They don't buy it. So I think it's a huge risk. You know, they're at least stepping into the ring, Chris. Is this potentially a big mistake? It is, and it's not a war, by the way, we were told the other day. Sorry, sorry. No, it is, and I agree with Kinzinger. The number of people who aren't going to go is showing that exactly the problem with doing this. They're afraid to show up and hurt their campaign because the president's underwater and he's not telling the truth, and everybody knows it. Have you been invited? I have been invited. Are you going? I am not going. But, you know, the thing is that we have lost our ways. I feel we have a huge issue right now with immigration. If we would have stuck to the plan and we would have got all those bad guys and we would have pulled up their posters and said, look at the human trafficker we got, but no, we lost our way. We started wasting time with individuals that were not criminals, not here locally or internationally, taking up spaces and resources from catching the real bad guys. And we are now involved with the Ukraine war, which should have been over on day one or two, he said, and that has not happened. And also now we're in the Iran war, or conflict, and here we are. All right, Tamara, real quick, because I want to get to Paul. Nobody came to his event he had here in Houston, so he said, to hell with y'all, I'm going to go to Big D. I bet you I got some friends up there because he ran out of them here. You wouldn't be stupid to go to this. This makes no sense. As Bill said, people know how they feel. And as she just said, if they would have done the immigration the way they said, instead of picking up Grandma, Meemaw, Pawpaw, and everybody who wasn't doing nothing, they wouldn't be in this situation. Paul, our friend Gary Pollin says Trump is overexposed. Does this make him overexposed? Yeah, I think Republicans I talk to don't want to talk about Trump anymore because he's always in everyone's faces with the triumphal arch, the ballroom, the war. So you have all these things happening all the time, and they're just kind of tired of having to defend him. But this is always true. Every president at midterm gets knocked out, right, because people are tired of thinking about him and like, oh, we want to change. I think it's even going to be more pronounced now. Even if you redistrict, there's going to be people who just want a change, and I think this is not a good idea. All right, when we come back, splitting the sheets with the Woodlands. City of Houston opting for cash now versus a potentially larger payout later. The deal is done. In exchange for a $50 million one-time dividend, the City of Houston agreed to permanently abandon any prospect of annexing the Woodlands while also, probably more importantly, relinquishing its current share of the township's sales tax. We better be responsible and accept this $50 million because we may never see it again. This is an asset sale that is going to fund day-to-day operations for a very short period of time, and then we'll be in bad shape. This is mathematically a bad deal. All but one member of council voted in favor of what Willie Davis called a bird in hand better than two in the bush. For his part, Woodlands Township Chairman Brad Bailey is ecstatic about the deal he crafted with the mayor, a bargain he characterized as opportunistic. It's a great deal because we saw that the City of Houston was in financial troubles, not by the current mayor's issues but by former mayors, and I saw him at an event. He was talking about the need to look under every rock because they're broke, and I presented it to him, and it was a very interesting conversation but one that was very good for the Woodlands. We called September 2nd the Woodlands Independence Day because it gave us our independence. We're not having to pay kind of a penance to the City of Houston going forward. All right, panel, is this arrangement a win-win as advertised? Bill King? I think it was a good deal. Under the current law in the state of Texas, Houston would never annex the Woodlands, never annex them. It's impossible. The other thing is this money was not coming into the City of Houston. It was going into a special account, and there were all sorts of restrictions on how it had to be spent. And so it had accumulated over time, and the money was just sitting there not doing anything. There was no way we were going to ever annex the Woodlands. Plus, we don't need to be annexed anymore. We can't govern what we've got. So, as usual, Willie Davis was the smartest person on council. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, we would have to match anything that was spent out of that fund. We don't have the money to match. Go ahead. It's got to be spent on things that benefit the Woodlands. I do not agree. I don't think this was a win-win. I believe it was a hell of a win for the Woodlands because if it's already in law that you never be annexed, why would you say I need you all to come out and say we give you this money so you won't never annex us? The money that they have in that fund, ain't no way they couldn't have done work in the Woodlands that would have benefited Kingwood because the flooding issues that they had during the Harvey show that they need some infrastructure stuff done so they could have used the money. I'll never see making permanent decisions in temporary situations. Don't nobody know what the hell might happen in 20 years. Detroit didn't happen to Detroit overnight. All right. Bailey contends that the annexation issue was a toss-in because the legislation that's been passed demanding that the annexed city approve annexation pretty much took that off the table. Paul, what do you think of this deal? Yeah, so I don't know the technical details that would have allowed or prohibited something from happening. What I do know is that a general rule, local control is better. And so for the Woodlands to be able to maintain its own local control, given that it does really want to distinguish itself from Houston and I think Houston wouldn't be able to serve it kind of like this situation they've seen with Kingwood, I think this is a good overall just as a public citizen. Well, look, in support of the mayor, I mean, we just complained or spent a lot of time complaining about tax hikes at the county level. You know, this prevents or helps stave off a tax hike at the city level. I agree. I think it was a good deal. It needed to be done. We were never going to annex the Woodlands. The Woodlands would never vote for it and it wasn't going to happen. To get $50 million today to bargain for something that was never going to happen anyway, we might as well do it and be done with it. I agree with the mayor. Sally Alcorn, pretty shrewd. She supported this. She's headed the budget committee. Absolutely. I think it was a good deal. Mayor Whitmer is doing absolutely everything possible to prevent from raising taxes. And I think that should be applauded because Harris County is not doing that. They're saying, nothing we can do. We're going to go ahead and raise it. And I tell you what, he's also rooting out corruption. So I'm hoping that in another two years that the city of Houston is going to be doing it much better financially because also they are shrinking the amount of people that they're employing. All right. Up next, Senate Majority Leader John Thune calling on the president to play a major role in pushing Ken Paxton across the finish line in Texas. On tonight's edition of Battleground Texas, airing at 945 right here on Fox 26, you will hear from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who is very publicly asking the president to invest both his own time and his political treasure in the Texas Senate race. But because Texas is such an expensive state, we're going to need the president and his team to be engaged there and to be putting resources into that race. All right. Chris, what do you think of the Senate Majority Leader saying, you know, we're not giving you any cash, Ken Paxton. Mr. President, you broke it. You buy it. Well, I mean, he's got a point. The president destroyed John Cornyn's campaign by doing what he did. And now he's done nothing to help Ken Paxton. Why the Senate's not, why they're not helping Ken Paxton, I don't know. But this president has just bailed off this race. So he can say when he loses, it's not my fault. I didn't do it. It's not my fault that he lost. But the president picks races that he knows are going to win, and then he comes in and says, look what I did. But Thune's right. The president broke this race. He should be in here trying to fix it. Bill, made an interesting point that the sides have leveled off here. It's going to be pretty tight. Do you think Elon Musk could really make a difference if he spends some money? Again, it depends on how it's spent. And based on the stuff he says on X all the time, I don't think it's going to help. If that's going to bleed the campaign. I would point out this. Trump is underwater in Texas by 10 points. And so I'm not sure that Trump running in and saying this is my guy is really going to help all that much. All right. Thanks to this week's panel. And thank you for joining us. The conversation continues on a national level. Next on Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream. And we'll keep talking here with What's Your Point Overtime streaming live on Fox26houston.com and on our free Fox local app for your phone or smart TV. From all of us here, have a safe and healthy week.