Commentary roundup: What newspapers around the state are saying

Dallas Morning News

Oct. 5 editorial, "Poisonous abandoned oil wells are all over North Texas."

The 800 wells being fixed by federal funds are in addition to those the commission has already taken care of in recent years. Since 1983, it has plugged more than 40,000 wells, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. This year, about 1,100 were plugged by the end of July at a cost of about $29 million.

Troubling us, however, is that even though the railroad commission is busy plugging wells, more are continuously being orphaned because of the commission’s own flawed policies. According to the watchdog group, Commission Shift, reform is needed to prevent additional orphaning.

Among its recommendations are to check the environmental compliance of companies seeking drilling and operating permits. Another is to make sure bonds provided by the operators are sufficient to clean up abandoned wells in the event of “dining and dashing on Texas resources.”

We think these and other policy changes that would require the oil industry to clean up after itself make good sense and are long overdue.

— Dallas Morning News Editorial Board

San Antonio Express-News

Oct. 3 editorial, "On this episode of Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton: Ag on the run."

In Texas, we have the dubious distinction of having an attorney general who holds the triple crown by being the most corrupt, clownish and embarrassing attorney general in the United States.

Paxton’s latest escapade that helps him hold on to that crown was, well, a comedic escape.

Late last month, Paxton fled from his house to avoid being served a subpoena in a federal lawsuit by groups seeking to help Texans receive out-of-state-abortions, according to an affidavit.

The comedy and embarrassment of Paxton’s flight is in the details. When the process server arrived at the Paxton’s home, he told Angela Paxton, a state senator and Paxton’s wife, that he had legal documents to serve the attorney general. Angela Paxton told the processor that her husband was on the phone and the processor said he’d wait.

About an hour later, when a black Chevrolet Tahoe entered the driveway, Ken Paxton left his house, according to the processor.

“I walked up the driveway approaching Mr. Paxton and called him by his name. As soon as he saw me and heard me call his name out, he turned around and RAN back inside the house through the same door in the garage,” the processor wrote.

— San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board

Houston Chronicle

Oct. 1 editorial, "Abbott can’t win a debate against O’Rourke — only against his caricature."

The conventional horse-race analysis is that Abbott and O’Rourke dueled to a draw; that neither outperformed expectations enough to sway the seemingly few voters who are up for grabs.

However, if you could look beyond the game show lightning-round feel, the sterile, audience-less debate room, and the scripted talking points, the debate distilled a caricature that so often prevails in Texas politics: the tough-talking conservative versus the wimpy, out-of-touch, latte-sipping liberal.

This comical exaggeration serves Abbott perfectly. He holds all the advantages of incumbency, able to make news with the stroke of his pen.

Abbott can show voters how tough he is on border security by raiding state coffers for billions of dollars to fund a theatrical border-policing operation. He can poke Democrat-led cities in the eye by handcuffing their ability to manage a pandemic. He can win a decades-long culture war by signing the most restrictive abortion law in the nation months before the Supreme Court even decides the fate of Roe v. Wade. He can put a stranglehold on ERCOT , the nonprofit that manages the state’s power grid, by vetoing candidates to run the agency and dictating its public statements to assuage any concerns of widespread blackouts during a summer heat wave. And then he can skirt accountability by rarely talking to the media, not even to spin his debate performance as a success .

Abbott can do all of this while simultaneously ridiculing O’Rourke as the spawn of the far-left wing of the Democratic Party; a former punk-rocking boy wonder who deserves only to be referred to as “Beto,” an El Paso flip-flopper on the hunt for any and every assault rifle; a three-term congressman-turned-perennial candidate in search of an elected office after failed U.S. Senate and presidential runs.

Yet during Friday night’s debate, and throughout his campaign, O’Rourke has gamely countered this distorted image, painting himself as the candidate more in line with Texas’ values. And too few people realize: he’s got a point.

— Houston Chronicle Editorial Board

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Oct. 1 editorial, "Did Beto O’Rourke manage to change Texas governor race in debate with Greg Abbott?"

Democrat Beto O’Rourke needed a breakthrough moment Friday night in his only debate with Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

Barring that, he needed Abbott to make a blunder that would cause large numbers of voters to rethink the race.

He probably didn’t get either.

The debate in Edinburg in the Rio Grande Valley was hampered by a choppy format, but it largely reflected where the race for governor stands with just more than three weeks until voting starts on Oct. 24: Broad differences on the issues. An incumbent displaying a mostly serene demeanor, who calmly landed the punches he wanted to land.

And most of all, two candidates who do not like each other, largely trying to energize their dedicated voters by activating their antipathy for the other guy.

— Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Commentary roundup: What newspapers around the state are saying