By Mike Barnett

Okay, Texas Farm Bureau’s AGFUND endorsed candidate for governor lost the Republican primary. It was a huge disappointment for those who worked so hard to see Kay Bailey Hutchison heading our state government in Austin.

But as my blog writing partner Gene Hall said, the sun did come up on Wednesday morning. The birds sang. And life goes on. As does Texas Farm Bureau’s efforts to achieve true eminent domain reform.

Senator Hutchison recognized the archaic state of Texas property laws. She promised to right the private property wrongs which have plagued the Lone Star State. She promised to give true eminent domain reform priority in her administration. Although she was unsuccessful in a hard fought battle, Texas Farm Bureau’s fervor for private property rights justice has not cooled.

Nobody knows who will be elected in November. If the political pundits can be believed, it’s going to be a real horse race.

What I do know is although it has been bashed and battered over the last four years, the will to deliver eminent domain reform to Texas property laws has not been diminished. Farm Bureau leaders overachieved in their efforts to get Proposition 11 passed last year, and their efforts were rewarded as the constitutional amendment passed with the highest percentage of any of the proposals on the ballot.

But Proposition 11, which prohibits the government from acquiring land for non-public use, was only the first step. True reform will happen only when additional protections—including offers to landowners that represent fair market value, compensation to landowners for lost access to their property, and the right of landowners to repurchase land not used for condemning purposes—are added to state law.

 Texas Farm Bureau members need to work to finish reform efforts with the same intensity they tackled Proposition 11. We must lay the groundwork now to remind our state representatives and senators of the importance this issue holds for all Texans. New candidates for state government need to know where we stand.

When they go into session next January, state legislators must quickly affirm the language from last session’s SB 18, which unanimously passed the Senate but was tied up by the voter ID wrangling in the House as the session closed.

Any delay could be fatal to our efforts. If whoever is elected governor chooses to veto the reform bill, it would take every remaining day of the session to accomplish an override. There are many who are opposed to this effort to protect private property rights who will be seeking derailment at every opportunity. Those opportunities will abound with a legislative agenda crowded with Sunset bills, redistricting and dealing with an estimated $20 billion budget shortfall.

With the disappointments of the last two sessions, it would seem the deck is stacked against Farm Bureau in our eminent domain efforts. Not so. We are a grassroots organization of true believers. The fire to protect our rights as property owners burns deep within. We’ve come very close to achieving our goals two times.

Texans need eminent domain reform. Farm Bureau members are not timid in standing up for what they believe. We will work hard for success. I know we are up to the task. The third time will be the charm.

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Election Day is next Tuesday and with it, your chance to affect government.  We don’t do politics on this blog, but we do government. We criticize when called for and praise when earned.  Okay, I admit it.  There hasn’t been much to praise recently. 

The debate on all the cable news shows is over whether or not government, at the federal level is “broken.” Well, Duh.  Of course it’s broken.  It’s never been more broken and frankly we’re seeing a lot of that in Texas government as well.

The extremes of the political spectrum, left and right, are throwing a blue faced tantrum.  There is no pretense of compromise, no give and take.  In every human relationship, we negotiate, we compromise and we decide what we are willing to give up in order to get something else we want.  Why should politics be any different?  It’s not, and the inability to accept this simple concept is the reason government is broken.

My message to the far left is, “No, we are not going to accept pushing the U.S. toward a status akin to the socialist democracies of Western Europe.”  The current majority in Washington misread their mandate in trying to achieve this.  Having said that, we know that there are certain things that only government can do.  Left unchecked, markets and capitalism sometimes go off the rails.  Reasonable amounts of adult supervision and regulations are prudent.  Too much of it can be a disaster.  Just check out what’s going on at EPA.  Park the steamroller and seek out common ground.

My message to the far right is, “There has got to be more to your plan than ‘no new taxes or reduce taxes.”  Government has obligations.  I am closer to your position than to the left, but come on.  Stonewalling is a poor tactic.  Compromise is possible and desirable without sacrificing principle.  Failing to understand this is why you’re now in the minority.  Americans are with you on smaller government, but you really haven’t delivered on that.  We can’t spend like we’ve been spending under both Democrats and Republicans without the bill coming due.  I’m not comfortable in sticking my five month old granddaughter with the check.

What I’m getting at here is that both sides have their feet set in stone, claiming that it has to be all white or all black.  There are shades of gray in governing.  There are tough decisions that must be made.  People live in the big middle. Ideologues like to lurk on the edges.  If the left and right can move to the middle, I think they’ll find most people there waiting for them.  Governing is choices.  Governing is compromise.  It has been thus since the beginning of our republic.

If you think your elected officials need a nudge to get there, Tuesday is your chance.

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By Kenneth Dierschke
Texas Farm Bureau President

           Texans scored an “important but incomplete” victory by an overwhelming margin in the battle for private property rights with the passage of Proposition 11.
            The approximately 80 percent favorable vote is a clear message to the Legislature and the Governor that Texans are tired of eminent domain reform taking a back seat to political ambitions and business interests. But even with the passage of Proposition 11, Texas eminent domain laws still favor the condemner.
            True reform will happen only when additional protections are added to eminent domain law such as offers to landowners that represent fair market value, compensation to landowners for lost access to their property and the right of landowners to repurchase land not used for condemning purposes.
            Texas legislators in the last two sessions have proven willing to level the playing field for property owners. Except for his support for Proposition 11, the governor hasn’t.
            Hopefully, whoever sits in the governor’s seat when the legislature meets again in 2011 will hear Texas Farm Bureau’s message loud and clear. Proposition 11 is an important step for eminent domain reform in the Lone Star State, but only a step.
            Texas Farm Bureau members worked hard to ensure the overwhelming passage of this important private property rights amendment to the Texas Constitution. We will redouble efforts to make sure the job is complete.