Opinion

Editorial: Seliger, West Texas deserve better from Patrick

Texas Sen. Kel Seliger, right, greets guests at the Permian Basin Petroleum Association’s Top Hand award banquet honoring S. Javaid Anwar. Seliger Thursday at the Petroleum Club. Seliger lost his longtime position as chair on the Senate Higher Education Committee. less Texas Sen. Kel Seliger, right, greets guests at the Permian Basin Petroleum Association’s Top Hand award banquet honoring S. Javaid Anwar. Seliger Thursday at the Petroleum Club. Seliger lost his longtime ... more Photo: James Durbin Buy photo Photo: James Durbin Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Editorial: Seliger, West Texas deserve better from Patrick 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

State Sen. Kel Seliger deserved better than what he received when Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick handed out his committee assignments last week.

The residents of District 31, which includes Midland, Odessa and Amarillo, deserved better, too.

Patrick stripped Seliger of his chairmanship (and seat) on the Higher Education committee and removed Seliger from the Senate Education and Finance committees.

Seliger was named chair of the Senate’s new Agriculture Committee, a smaller committee split off from the Agriculture, Water & Rural Affairs Committee.

RELATED: Patrick moves Seliger off Education committees

“Lt. Gov. Patrick created a separate agriculture committee this session because of the ever-increasing economic impact on agriculture on the state economy,” wrote Patrick staffer Alejandro Garcia in a response to the Reporter-Telegram. “The agriculture industry is hugely important in Senate District 31.”

At this point in time, there is nothing more important than education.

Plenty of people in District 31 care about school finance and having to send to Austin tens of millions of property tax dollars to be redistributed to so-called poorer school districts. Midland ISD officials have previously told the Reporter-Telegram a school finance payment of $80 million or more could be required next school year. Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott aren’t concerned with returning those dollars to Midland. They are on the record that a victory on the school finance front would be just capping school finance payments.

We disagree with Patrick on his committee assignments. This was a serious demotion for Seliger and a serious slap in the face to the people of the Permian Basin.

There is history between Patrick and Seliger. The Texas Tribune reported Friday that “Seliger and Patrick have had squabbles in the past, if they remained relatively low-temperature. Patrick stayed quiet on Seliger’s re-election bid, but his top political consultant — Houston-based Allen Blakemore — ran the campaign of Victor Leal, who unsuccessfully challenged Seliger in the Republican primary. And Seliger was the only Republican senator who didn’t endorse Patrick’s re-election campaign, saying he was focused on his own race.”

“I know exactly what motivated the change. It was a couple of ‘no’ votes for the lieutenant governor’s priorities in 2017,” the longtime higher education chairman told the Texas Tribune. “It was a very clear warning to the Republicans that if you get off the reservation, you better be careful.”

Let’s be clear about Seliger’s decision to put local government ahead of the mandates of a heavy-handed Senate leader in Austin. Seliger was right. The voters of District 31 agreed. Despite efforts from Team Patrick – conservative West Texans overwhelming voted to send Seliger back to Austin.

For the record, conservatives in District 31 also helped pave the way for a narrow Patrick victory over Mike Collier. Patrick got 75.92 percent in Midland County, 67.48 percent in Potter County and 77.16 percent in Randall County. On Friday, District 31 residents saw how the lieutenant governor showed his appreciation of the region.

West Texans deserved better.