Emails, Liz White, political director, Glenn Hegar campaign, June 26 and July 13, 2015
From: Liz
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2015 11:59 AM
To: Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin)
Subject: Fwd: Tweet, backup information?
Gardner,
Lauren forwarded me your request.
Here is some background. I am quoting a document titled “History of Texas Public Lands" which was published by the Texas General Land Office. Here is the link: http://www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/history-and-archives/_documents/history-of-texas-public-lands.pdf
Page 15:
"In 1844, Texas submitted a treaty of annexation to the United States Congress. Under its terms, Texas would have given 175,000,000 acres of public land to the United States government and the United States would have assumed Texas's debts of $10,000,000. The United States Congress rejected the treaty on grounds that the Texas public domain was not worth $10,000,000. When Texas was annexed to the United States in 1845 by a joint resolution of Congress, Texas retained both its debts and its public land. Texas was the only state, other than the original 13 colonies, to enter the Union with control over its public land.”
Page 21:
"Today, over 22.5 million acres of land remain in the Texas public domain.”
As you can see above, Texas, unlike other western states, did not cede its public lands to the federal government at the time it joined the United States.
For example, here is some background on the creation of Big Bend National Park taken from the National Park Service website (http://www.nps.gov/bibe/learn/historyculture/cultural-history_overview.htm).
"In the 1930's many people who loved the Big Bend country saw that it was a land of unique contrast and beauty that was worth preserving for future generations. The State of Texas passed legislation to acquire land in the area which was to become the Texas Canyons State Park. In 1935, the Federal Government passed legislation that would enable the acquisition of the land for a national park. The State of Texas deeded the land that they had acquired to the Federal government, and on June 12, 1944, Big Bend National Park became a reality."
This is an example of the federal government asking permission from the state of Texas to acquire land for the creation of a national park.
Thanks,
Liz
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Liz White, Political Director
Glenn Hegar for Comptroller
On Jun 26, 2015, at 5:01 PM, Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin) wrote:
I expect to ask the Interior Department about the statement. Any other recommended state or federal sources?
Did you rely on any other sources than the GLO paper? Can you point out any specific statement there or elsewhere about the asking permission element? I don’t see it in what you highlighted.
THANKS.
g.
From: Liz
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2015 5:33 PM
To: Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin)
Subject: Re: Following up
It initially came to us from a website http://facts.randomhistory.com/texas-facts.html which references as it’s source a book in a series about state facts by Emily McAuliffe. We confirmed this information using the GLO and NPS sources.
To your point about asking permission, what I believe the GLO document as well as the example provided indicate is that by maintaining possession of its public land when it entered the union, Texas maintained the right to dispose of that land as Texas saw fit, unlike other western states.
...
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Liz White, Political Director
Glenn Hegar for Comptroller
From: Liz
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2015 12:40 PM
To: Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin)
Subject: Re: FYI
Gardner,
Given that Texas owns all of its public lands, what would be the process for the federal government to create a park in Texas?
...
Liz
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Liz White, Political Director
Glenn Hegar for Comptroller
On Jul 13, 2015, at 1:07 PM, Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin) wrote:
We’re limiting our focus to whether the federal government needs to ask permission from Texas, which is what Hegar said. So far, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
g.
1:13 p.m.
Answering the question below seems completely relevant for the simple reason that if you determine what the process is for creating a national park in Texas, then you can determine an answer to whether that process must be done with some form of permission.
As I pointed out in my earlier information, Texas is unique from other states in that we own our public lands. The Big Bend information I sent you comes into play because the State of Texas deeded the land to the federal government in order to create the park - a form of permission or approval.
In addition, I would think that a deed qualifies as a “document” as described below.
per·mis·sion
pərˈmiSHən/
noun
1. consent; authorization;
an official document giving authorization.
Thanks,
Liz
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Liz White, Political Director
Glenn Hegar for Comptroller