Good morning, 

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, May 7, 2020
Modify your email preferences.

• After opening up her hair salon in defiance of orders from state, county, and city officials prohibiting the reopening of salons, Dallas small-business owner Shelley Luther was sentenced to seven days in jail on Tuesday without an opportunity for bond while appealing the decision, and she was assessed $7,000 in fines. As Brandon Waltens reports, thousands of Texans have spoken out on social media  and elsewhere – urging Gov. Greg Abbott to take action.
       

• But in a statement on Wednesday, Abbott declined to do so. He weakly expressed disagreement with the “excessive action” taken against her. Left unsaid was that Dallas officials were acting under color of Abbott’s own rules.
      
• State Rep. Mike Lang (R-Granbury) didn’t pull any punches in responding to the governor. He wrote on Twitter: “In a nutshell, Gov. Abbott calls the actions of a Judge in Dallas excessive, when the Judge was acting based on Gov. Abbott’s order. Gov. Abbott is now upset that a private citizen is in jail for operating a private business, which is a consequence of his order.”
      
• Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton took strong stands in defense of Luther, urging her immediate release.
      
• Paxton said the action against Luther was “a shameful abuse of judicial discretion, which seems like another political stunt in Dallas.” Separately, Patrick told Texas Scorecard’s Brandon Waltens during a press conference that he was willing to pay Luther’s fine and wanted her released. Patrick later tweeted: “I’m covering the $7K fine she had to pay and I volunteer to be placed under House Arrest so she can go to work and feed her kids.”
      
• Robert Montoya reports on a rally in Dallas protesting the court action, as well as a letter 23 members of the State Republican Executive Committee sent the governor and attorney general. 

• Consider the irony of this entire situation. Over the last three months, Gov. Abbott has found the power to unilaterally shutdown Texas, collapse the state economy, and send 2.1 million Texans into unemployment. He even took time to regularly “applaud” over-the-top local actions implementing his orders.
      
• Yet yesterday he told the media he simply did not have the power to pardon Shelley Luther.
   
• We are to believe Gov. Abbott cannot get four of the seven gubernatorial appointees on the Texas Paroles and Pardons Board to let him pardon someone who has been unjustly deprived of her due process rights, as well as her liberty and property? Has he tried?
      
• It would seem in Gov. Abbott’s Texas, accused drug dealers and rapists are more justly treated than a small bsuinesswoman trying to provide for her family and employees.

• Putting a more personal face to the unemployment crisis brought on by state and local government officials, more than two-thirds of Texas Minute readers yesterday said they or someone close to them had lost a job.
     
• With more than 2.1 million Texans out of work, there are a lot of hurting families around the state. It’s time to stop waiting for permission, Texans need to reopen Texas.

Your Federal & State Lawmakers