In the November 30 episode, it’s time to hand out our Turkey Awards! The roundtable has extra helpings of legs and gizzards for the Texas lawmakers, leaders and “landmen” who made a difference in the Lone Star state this year… both good and bad.
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Straight ahead this holiday weekend, we're serving up leftovers on our annual turkey awards honoring the best and calling out the worst in Texas politics this year. Plenty of new names coming up here State Senator Angela Paxton, state reps Gene Wu and Ann Johnson, House Speaker Dustin Burroughs, leaders in Kerr County, the Austin City Council, Houston Mayor John Whitmire, and Travis County DA Jose Garza, plus plenty more.
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A few non-politicos getting plates. Taylor Sheridan and Billy Bob Thornton, Mark Cuban and Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan. And of course the familiar faces at the table each year, US Senator Ted Cruz, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, Beto O'Rourke, and Colin Allred, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Ag Commissioner Sid Miller, State Senator Paul Betancourt, and former House Speaker Dade Phelan.
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What did they do to get on the list this year? You're about to find out in our annual Turkey Awards. Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whiteley starts now. And boy do we have a show for you. Thanks for joining us for annual turkey awards. The concept is simple here. Texas politicos who have had a good year, they get a turkey leg from our plate of leftovers here. Those who did not. They get the gizzard.
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The roundtable is doing the honors this morning. Bud Kennedy from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ashley Goode, political director at KU in Austin, and Aya Mitra with us from the Texas Tribune. Bud, you are starting us off with somebody. I'm not sure if he's ever gotten a turkey leg from us before.
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Jason, I'm giving a big juicy turkey leg this year to Senator Ted Cruz. Some people would say this is the year when Senator Cruz started making sense, but you know, look at all the brave stances he took this year. He defended Jimmy Kimmel. Freedom of speech, he said that the head of the FCC was acting like a mafia boss. He called Tucker Carlson a coward, spoke out against anti-Semitism, and he also spoke out against tariffs and said that tariffs were just more taxes is all they were.
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He set up all these contrary stances because, probably because he'll be running for president. He's the anti-Vance in the next Republican presidential campaign, but whatever he's taking stands that are principled and not just populist. Yes,
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and I think that if he Does run for president again, that that's going to attract that independent voter
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likely it draws people who might not otherwise be mega voters or might not otherwise vote for the ticket. I think, well, you know, he sounds like he's independent. Independence is what is really important in voters'
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minds. Ian, you're up next with a gizzard. This was a unanimous vote by the roundtable here, I believe.
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Yes, I don't know if there's going to be much debate on this one, but this is for the Kerr County government. You know, the government really just kind of during the July 4th floods just really just did not. Do you know, did not step up to the call, you know, emergency systems delayed mobilization, not even being ready the way they needed to be, not proper alerts either.
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So you know, a proper hazard mitigation plan and now also just, you know, as they kind of still are feeling the accountability, you know, still trying to answer for that, you know, also not seeing enough from them. So unfortunately for that that's a gizzard.
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Somebody could let them know that they're getting a gizzard, but they're probably all still asleep.
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All right, Ashley, I believe you're up next. You're trying to defend Kerr County here. Ashley, you're handing out a, uh, a turkey leg which again is a unanimous vote I think by everyone on the table here. Yeah,
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it's gonna go to state senator Paul Betancourt for that homestead exemption. I know we are all excited to see that happen. Uh, the voters obviously approving it, but he has really led the way on making sure that not only are we helping, uh, Texas be a little bit more affordable for homeowners by increasing that homestead exemption, but also to make sure that there is hold harmless, uh, legislation in the bill to make sure schools are still getting the same amount.
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Amount of money and you know as he would say wait there's more I mean for seniors to not have to pay $200,000 in their value because of the big exemption when you add on the the exemption addition for seniors and the disabled, I mean that's really, really huge that's really gonna help a lot of people and I think everyone, you're having your Thanksgiving dinner in your house, you're happy that you're gonna get a little bit of a cut on your tax bill,
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100% there but hey, sit tight here because I have the next one, Ashley. This is a gizzard for Austin City Council. What in the world were they thinking here? We're talking about property taxes with Betancourt a moment ago. Yeah, we're talking about property taxes here and Austin City Council, they have the gall to go to voters and say, listen, let's, let's raise property taxes by 20%. City property taxes by 20%. We're gonna pay for homeless services and a handful of other things here.
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It would raise the taxes for the average homeowner, I believe 300 to $400 a month down there. But even in the most liberal city in the state, voters there said, heck no, you can take it home. 2 to 1 they voted against this here. You talk about tone deaf, bud. This is the, the, the epitome of tone deaf. Jason.
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I thought you were giving them a gizzard for picking the second worst logo of the year behind Cracker Barrel. We're,
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we're doing that one coming up here. Don't get ahead of us here, bud. All right, uh, but, you are up next here. This is a late ad for us on the list.
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Well, you know, this is, uh, this is breaking news, but the, the whole reason that Texas redistricting, uh, has run into a bump in the court is because of this memo from Harri Dillon at the Department of Justice who said that, my gosh, Texas, your, your, uh, districts are all drawn based on race, so you have to undo them all that set up a racial premise for the way Texas was drawing a map again, which is exactly why the court threw it out. Everybody in. has known this has been a weakness in the case from the beginning. They've talked about it.
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It was the Department of Justice that sent a letter that if Texas's new map doesn't go through, the DOJ is why. Yes,
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and that letter was a key piece of evidence in this, wasn't it? Yes,
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it was every bit of the letter and the judge wrote about how the grammatical errors, the spelling errors, how sloppy it was, that, you know, what Washington wanted, what the Trump administration wanted, wasn't even within the law. Wow,
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Ian, new guy on the list here. Your turkey legs going to who?
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We got one for the House Speaker Dustin Burroughs. You know, you know about the acrimony that Dan Patrick and Dave Filin have had, you know, in the past couple of legislative sessions. Dustin Burroughs didn't exactly have an easy start to this to his session, but look, he put school vouchers, he got that moved through. That was Greg Abbott's signature kind of priority in the legislative session. Also kind of had all Republican committee chairs, you know, the House is always going to have its.
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Factions and challenges and kind of reining in so you know Dustin Burroughs, even with strong challenges throughout the session from Representative Harrison, uh he he he gets a leg for kind of navigating a very challenging session.
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Yeah, he really did thread the needle there. I think that's uh that's something that that you know whether Democrats who voted for him would agree with that or not, but I think he threaded the needle and got the conservative priorities across the line, which is what the Republicans wanted him to do. Uh, Ashley, you're up next here with another. Travis County Austin individual.
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I do. My, my gizzards are very local, um, and this one has to go to Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza, and I want you to really, really listen to what I'm about to say to you. Our justice system is not perfect, but it has a way that it works when someone is charged with a crime, there is a time limit in which they have to be indicted. Those are the rules. 263 times we found he missed.
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The deadline to indict and so you had people back on the streets who had uh were accused of egregious, egregious crimes. I'm talking about a confessed child sex offender, someone who admitted to repeatedly sexually assaulting a little girl released because they failed to indict even though they had a. And now he's back in Mexico.
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He got deported, so that American girl never gets justice. Do you, do you see what I'm saying? I mean this is huge. You also had people charged in minor crimes who were just sitting in jail because they were failed to be indicted, so they couldn't be released, you know, potentially on a bond, and this really has the impact to devastate people's lives 263 times. It's unacceptable.
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Yeah, maybe he gets a plate of gizzards down there, the DA.
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A whole plate, you're gonna fry them or you just gonna boil them and make them eat them?
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We'll we'll we'll boil them for them though. Let's hand out a few turkey legs here to the Texas Democratic caucus Jean Wu, uh, Anne Johnson, Donna Howard, Harold Dutton, Ramon Romero, TMF, the, the, the whole lot of them, uh, when they broke quorum, they went to Illinois, you know, a lot of times, uh, a handful of times that the Democrats have done this, it really hasn't had the success that Democrats wanted it to have because Republicans have always gotten things done. At the end of the day this one was successful.
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They went to a major media market to Chicago. They got a lot of publicity. They got the attention of California. California redistricted its state and uh it is now going to, uh, potentially balance out what's happening in Texas depending on which map the justices choose here. So for that, the Democrats in the House Democratic Caucus get a plate of legs from us. All right, a lot more ahead here including this. Lots of names left to get to here.
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Austin City Manager TC Broadnax, Harris County Commissioner Leslie Brionis, and state senator Angela Paxton, along with a lot more when our annual Turkey Awards return on Inside Texas Politics. Welcome back here. Let's continue with our annual turkey awards. Remember, turkey legs go to those Texas politicos who have shined this year, and those who did not, they get the gizzard.
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Ashley, you're up next here with the next gizzard, your new city manager.
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Yeah TC Broadnax, he gets a gizzard because, uh, there was a reporting that found that he was enjoying $20 sweet green salads most of the times on the taxpayers' dime. Um, 150 times he had lunch that was just kind of written off as, um, something that his secretary brought, brought in.
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Um, how do you not realize that you're getting taxpayer funded lunches when you're just eating in your office? So he ended up paying the money back, but to just say you thought that this was part of, I guess, the gig, you didn't really realize that you were getting this meal for free, mm,
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no. I wish I could expense my lunches too. Bud, you're up next year.
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Mayor John Whitmire in Houston is a strong mayor. Houston has a strong mayor, unlike the other big cities in Texas, where the mayor is actually in charge of the government and the other big cities, the city manager's in charge. John Whitmire has made that count. He's gone in. He's turned around the city's attitude toward getting along with Austin and toward getting along with the Republicans. He saved $122 million. Dollars in the budget he's got after he knocked out a bunch of bike lanes and sidewalks that Houston really needed to save money.
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I don't think that was a good idea, but hey, worshiping the car, that's so Houston
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indeed it is Houston. All right, Ian, you do not have a Politico with us next year on the program.
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Yeah, we're going to go a little bit different with this gizzard. We're going with uh Southwest CEO Bob Jordan. I mean. Look, Southwest was just this model did things differently, you know, no bag fees, open seating, you know, it was just a different type of thing. Families loved it and now this year we've added the bag fees. We've done the thing with the seating is different and that's really just kind of changed it. And now Southwest feels a lot more like a lot of Other airlines and not as unique as it used to.
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That's the challenge there for Southwest is to figure that out, make sure that that it maintains the culture that customers know and love so well. All right, I have the next leg to hand out this morning. It's to Harris County Commissioner Leslie Brionis. We had her on the program a few months ago and I marked this one down because I wanted to remember this one. She did what lawmakers just do not do enough.
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Harris County was on the verge of asking voters to raise property taxes, but she said before she actually did that, she went and took a fine toothcomb straight through the budget in Harris County. She found $275 million in savings there. She is clearly a Democrat who is focused on saving money as opposed to asking the taxpayers to spend money, and for that she gets a turkey leg here in 2025.
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All right, Bud, uh, Ashley, you're up next with a, uh, with a turkey leg, is that right?
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That's right, I have a turkey leg, and I know that this is, it's gonna seem a little tongue in cheek. I'm actually giving a turkey leg to state senator Angela Paxton for filing for divorce, and I wanna be clear, I believe in marriage. I believe that you should make a marriage work. I love, love, OK? However. Uh, we have 10 rules from the good Lord that we talk about so often, right, because of SB 10, and one of them is thou shalt not commit adultery.
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She filed for divorce, um, saying that her husband, Attorney General Ken Paxton, had been unfaithful. Um, again, you know, we already had to sit through this, this, uh. Uh, this, the word escapes me, this impeachment, uh, proceeding because of this. And so I, it's not about divorce though. I am proud that she's standing up for herself. It's that it's a distraction. She may have political aspirations outside of the Texas Senate, and it becomes a distraction. Her colleagues have to sit there and listen to these.
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Accusations of what her husband went through, uh, to cover up an affair and now it's happening all again, uh, with more infidelity that she's claiming. I just think that, you know, for her, uh, to go ahead and say I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be done with this, I'm gonna step away from this, good for you, Senator Paxton, good for you.
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All right, Bud, you're up next now with 4 Democrats handing out gizzards,
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huh? We were gonna give 4 gizzards, I think, to these 4 Democrats and 4 big gizzards for to Beto O'Rourke, Colin Allred, and Tallarico, and Jasmine Crockett for all this game they've been playing. Here we are Thanksgiving weekend and nobody knows who's running for what. Uh. We, we know that Alred and Tallarico running for Senate. We don't know whether Betto or Jasmine. Crockett want to get into the race. The all the, uh, they all lined up and played this game of liar's poker all year. And let's put Castro in there too.
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They've all been talking about who's gonna, uh, who's gonna run for what, and, and nobody has really committed and then nobody's running for the rest of the races down the ballot. You have, you have people from the legislature who don't have statewide name recognition are having to run for all the statewide races. It's going to leave the Democratic ticket weak.
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But, but Crockett, do you, do you really think Crockett's gonna. Get into this. I know she still says, oh well, I may, depending on, depending on what happens. I just don't think she's setting herself up for it
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right now. I don't think she will because it's an easy win no matter how the map's drawn. Just because she doesn't live in the district doesn't mean she can't run for that district. I think she stays in the house.
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All right, Ian, you're up next with somebody I think we can all salute right now. Yeah,
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you know, as we've moved on kind of from the shutdown and we all get on with our lives, uh, you know, there are so many people who are still feeling the effects and. And this is a this is a leg for the people who really stood up for for for folks, the federal workers who weren't getting paid but still showed up for their jobs, the food banks that came to serve people who needed needed help at a critical time. And so while we get caught up in the politics, you know, these people really stepped up and stepped, you know, and really worked on the ground to really, really, you know, help things work as normally as they could in a very abnormal time.
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Yes, and missing two paychecks for these federal workers. Because I have a federal worker. I, I know federal workers, friends of mine who are, are, are, are school teachers for the Department of War, Department of Defense. They went without two paychecks. TSA workers. I flew during all this. I mean think about it. What would you want to, would you show up to work if you lost two paychecks or weren't getting paid? Absolutely not. Yeah, I, I, I mean it's, it's, uh, it's a bizarre situation. All right, uh, up next here I have a gizzard for Dade Phelan, the former House Speaker.
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This is no doubt a year he'd just as soon forget. Here Filin has faced political fallout from the intraparty squabbles here within the GOP. The failed impeachment episode also, and finally he announced that he would not seek reelection. Of course we all know that Dade Filin is a never Trumper, but that was a voice that was, I think, welcomed by a number of Republicans who agreed with him.
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And Phelan is taking off and leaving uh that that voice void now at the state Capitol I think uh for that he's gonna get a gizzard from us this morning. All right, a lot more ahead here. Still, uh, a 6 dozen or so names left on our turkey awards list. We'll have those when we come back here on Inside Texas Politics. All right, we're back with a handful of leftovers to still hand out to several Texans here. Ashley, you are up next with gizzards.
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I am. I'm, I've got the first gizzard and Bud alluded to this earlier. It's the Austin City Council for that daggone logo. It costs more than a million dollars to get this thing designed. Budget deficits, which the city is in, do not happen overnight. They happen by wasting more than a million dollars on logos, things that people don't need and people don't like. It's ugly.
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Yeah, I feel like AI could have done that for free just with a. Prompts, you know, but 100%, yeah, uh, but, two newcomers to the show here today. Well,
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I think we have to pick out Taylor Sheridan, Billy Bob Thornton, and all the stars who went down to Austin and horn swaggled $6 billion out of the Texas legislature for film, TV production incentives. Now all the shows were being made in other states. Now they're all going to be made in Texas. You already see parts of Landman being. Shot all over North and West Texas, uh, but this big a deal, this is the kind of deal that a little old landman could love. Uh, you
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know what? I love Landman. You guys are watching it, right? You bet it is a fantastic program. Can't wait to start watching season two. I, and you have a, uh, gizzard up here
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next. Yeah, I don't know if this one is a newcomer here, but, uh, gizzard for Sid Miller. Look, he just, uh, there's just a couple of headlines that didn't look good for, for Sid Miller, uh, the agriculture commissioner. He had a consultant who was accused of soliciting bribes for agency licenses that what resulted, he ended up becoming Sid Miller's chief of staff. There was also issues on the front end, also on the federal end, the USDA kind of took issue with Sid Miller on how he was handling strategy in terms of, you know, handling certain types of parasites.
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And so just, you know, Sid Miller, you know, he, he's popular in Texas, but he's, you know, he's getting a gizzard.
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This week, yeah, the screw fly, uh, I think is what you're talking about with that parasite there too with the, uh, the cattle. uh, Bud, you have another newcomer, I believe, man. You're bringing the, bringing the smoke this morning,
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huh? You know, and this is somebody who's usually thought of positively, but look at Mark Cuban this year. He sold the Mavericks, you know, he had already hired Nico, who wound up being the goat of the year. Then once he sold them, he tried to take back control and manipulate. And run the team. They sold to the Adelsons who wanted to bring casinos. They come in. The Mavericks are run so badly that people want less than ever to do with the Mavericks or the casinos. Their candidates are losing. Their bills are losing.
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The whole project was deserves a whole team of gizzards.
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All right, last one for us this morning is Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. He has had another banner year for conservative priorities here. Dementia research, uh, increased homestead exemption we spoke about earlier here too. He invested that record 6 he helped invest that record 6.5 $8.5 billion in new funding for public education, provided historic $4 billion for teachers and staff pay raises. He got conservative priorities, uh, like school vouchers, uh, across as well, ban DEI in public schools and universities.
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These are big conservative wins. He once again shows that he is in charge of the Senate and got it done, so he gets our last leg this morning, but. There's more. Who says that? Betancourt, is that right? Betancourt says that. Listen guys, this is the last program for, uh, for I Amira, and we have a special turkey award for him this morning. He's leaving the Texas Tribune. This is, uh, his last ITP with us inside Texas politics, and we wanted to get him our first annual gold turkey trophy. Well,
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I'm impressed with the budget for this, Jason.
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Well, we have a big budget here at Inside Texas Politics, bud, you'd be surprised. But I, I, and, uh, you're, you're, uh, leaving the, the trip, but you've been a fantastic, uh, contributor for us, a lot of insight for us, and we appreciate the context and perspective, uh, over the years, even before you took the job on full time with us. So thanks for, thanks for, uh, all the years, man.
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Jason, Bud, Ashley, uh, shout out to Bernadine. Uh, it's been a thrill. Loved working with you guys and all the
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best. Thank you for hanging in there with us every week, every week
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indeed, and, and, and you bring the levity for us, uh, Ashley. So, uh, I'm, I'm sure he's going to miss, miss that on Sunday mornings too.
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100% we're gonna miss you so much, Ian. We really
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are. Thanks,
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Ashley. Put the trophy somewhere nice. I hope, uh, Mrs. Meacher will let you, uh, put it on the mantle as we go into the holiday season here.
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Put it on your dashboard driving back.
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You, you could have it on there. You're not flying back on Southwest. You're driving back, right? That's right. Yeah. Bob Jordan won't let you on the plane now because of that gizzard you handed out. That's right. All right guys, thanks so much for watching. We appreciate you being here and we hope to see you next week on Inside Texas Politics. Take care.