Joshua Treviño, former George W. Bush speechwriter and political operative, now has a nice job as the Vice President of Communications at the Texas Public Policy Foundation today. But before he went to Texas, he ran his own political consulting firm where he "worked on national and international media campaigns."

Last year, Treviño landed in a bit of hot water when he was dropped by The Guardian for alleged ties to the Malaysian government, which he vigorously denied.

"Joshua Treviño wrote a piece for the Guardian on February 28, 2011 titled 'Peter King has hearings, but is he listening?' The Guardian recently learned that shortly before writing this article the author was a consultant for an agency that had Malaysian business interests and that he ran a website called Malaysia Matters. In keeping with the Guardian's editorial code this should have been disclosed.

'Under our guidelines, the relationship between Joshua and the agency should have been disclosed before the piece was published in order to give full clarity to our readers,' said Janine Gibson, editor-in-chief, Guardian US.

Buzzfeed reports that Treviño recently filed disclosures confirming that the Malaysian government hired him through APCO Worldwide, the David All Group and FBC (Fact-Based Communications) Media to write columns for MalaysiaMatters and MalaysiaWatcher, websites that were created and run to bolster the current government while undermining Anwar Abrahim.

As part of the deal, Treviño paid subcontractors to write and place columns in high-profile publications. Some of those subcontractors were Tea Party California Senate candidate Chuck DeVore, Red State writer-with-a-past Ben Domenech, and Rachel Ehrenfeld, neocon fearmonger and Fox News commentator.

Treviño writes it off as a "standard PR operation":

"It was actually a fairly standard PR operation," Trevino told BuzzFeed Friday. "To be blunt with you, and I think the filing is clear about this, it was a lot looser than a typical PR operation. I wanted to respect these guys' independence and not have them be placement machines."

Trevino said neither he nor the client knew what the writers were going to write before it went up.
"I provided a stipend to support their work in this area and they would just ping me whenever something went up," he said.

Domenech, a former Washington Post blogger who runs a daily morning newsletter called The Transom, said he "was retained by Josh's Trevino Strategies and Media PR firm in 2010 with the general guidance to write about Malaysia, particularly the political scene there."

"I did not ever have anyone looking over my shoulder for what I wrote, and the guidance really was just to write about the political fray there and give my own opinion," Domenech said. "Of course, Josh picked me knowing what my opinion was - I stand by what I wrote at the time and I continue to be critical of Anwar Ibrahim, who I think is a particularly dangerous fellow."

Perhaps it was a standard PR operation, just like the one proposed against the Occupy Wall Street movement, the US Chamber of Commerce attempt to smear the SEIU and unions in general, and the HBGary scandal which revealed the plan to smear Glen Greenwald, Daily Kos, and other progressives in an effort to undermine progressive voices on the internet.

My question: Who is executing those "standard PR operations" now?

Fox & Friends hosted former California Republican Senatorial candidate Chuck DeVore this morning to hype discuss his book promoting Texas' zero income taxes and corporate taxes as a model for the rest of us. In case you were wondering, DeVore has left California and is now Vice President of Communications for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a Koch-funded institution dedicated to “educating and affecting policy makers” among other goals. But he was merely introduced as an author. If you blinked during the brief period that Fox fessed up to his current job title (without pointing out the Koch connection), you might never know. Also not discussed? How Texas' no-income-tax policy likely means higher taxes overall for most of us.

DeVore couldn't seem to say enough bad things about the state he hoped to represent in the U.S. Senate just a few years ago. Host Clayton Morris, who talked about having family there, joined suit. Morris started with the Freudian slip of saying that the “burdensome tax rate in that country.... is a major problem.” He also complained about the “burdensome regulations” his father-in-law faces running a “large landscape business” there. He said he has other family members in California who “want to move their business out of that state.” He didn't say anything about anyone planning to do so, however.

After some more California bashing, Morris said, “I want to know what is Texas doing right that California is not.” He put up a graphic with Texas' supposedly favorable poverty and unemployment rates and noted that it has zero income taxes compared to California's “highest bracket” of 9.3% and zero corporate taxes compared to California's “flat 8.8%.”

“Remember during the election we were talking about Texas as a model for the nation? What were they doing right?” he “asked.” On cue, DeVore talked up not only the lack of taxes but how the lack of funding for state government supposedly prevented it from ruining everybody's lives through regulations. He claimed that taxes and regulations in California were causing a “massive out migration.”

Not according to Reuters. They cited findings from a September 2012 review of state tax records by the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality:

In fact, more millionaires came to the state than left after California's so-called Millionaire's Tax was introduced in 2005 - adding 1 percentage point of tax to incomes over $1 million. A 1996 cut to taxes for those earning $110,000 and up did not spur migration into the state, either.

The number of millionaires has risen or fallen by about 10,000 a year, but that change has been almost entirely due to the state economy, not wealthy people coming into or leaving the state. Such migration accounted for about 47 people, net, on average.

The very richest, who were likely to have houses and properties in many parts of the world with creative means to finesse their taxes, were the least likely to move after the tax hike, but even those at the bottom end of the millionaires scale did not pick up and leave, according to the September study.

These findings matched behavior in New Jersey after it raised its top rates, it was noted.

Meanwhile, there's plenty not to love about Texas' taxes. In 2011, when Rick Perry was talking up Texas economics as part of his bid for the presidency, the Texas Star-Telegram took the kind of look behind the numbers that “fair and balanced” Fox & Friends didn't:

What draws less attention is that sales, property and wireless service taxes are higher in Texas than in most other states.

...At the state level, Texas draws most of its revenue from federal funding and sales taxes. At the local level, property taxes play a major role.

...Combining state and local rates, Texas has the 14th-highest sales tax rates in the country and the 22nd-highest property tax rates, according to the Tax Foundation.

…Texas ranks near the top in property taxes as a percentage of home value.

"Once you start adding it all up and writing the check, you see there is no free lunch," (Texas Republican pollster David Hill) said. "Texas is a nice state with medium-to-high taxes."

...Texas has the fifth-most-regressive tax system in the country, according to a 2009 study by the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy.

But Morris was too busy slobbering over DeVore to go into any of those pesky details. He closed by reiterating the title of DeVore's new book and saying, “Knows what he's talking about”

Tonight was a big night in primary-land with some expected, some unexpected, some disappointing, and some cliffhanging results.

Arkansas: Blanche Lincoln squeaks by Bill Halter

Despite Bill Halter's slight lead in the polls, Blanche Lincoln took the lead in votes from the first returns and never gave it back, squeaking through the runoff by a 9,500 vote margin as of this writing, winning the Democratic nomination to run against Republican John Boozman in November.

It appears that voter turnout was down slightly from the May 18th primary. In that race, a total of 324,216 votes were cast. In this one, with 83% reporting, 213,818 votes had been cast. Extrapolation of that result gives me an estimated voter turnout of 257,600 or so. This might not be such a big deal, but there are lingering questions about the integrity of this runoff, given that one county only had two polling places for this runoff instead of the 40 open for the primary. A lawsuit has been filed; voter disenfranchisement alleged.

California message: Rich corporate washout women win

Yep, that's right. Carly Fiorina will run against Barbara Boxer for the US Senate, and Meg Whitman will face Jerry Brown for Governor. Tom Campbell, Chuck Devore, and Steve Poizner were left in the dust. Sarah Palin can finally put a winner (Fiorina) in her column, and we're off to the races. Whitman spent $81 million ($71 million of her own money) on the primary. And they say Republicans are conservative.

On the ballot initiatives, Californians bear-hugged open primaries but sent fair elections packing. Despite a harrowing first few hours of returns, it appears that enough Californians rejected the idea of P,G&E and Mercury Insurance buying custom-built laws to build up their business at taxpayers' expense, but it is not a shoe-in. It is 1:00 AM as I write this, and Prop 17 just flipped to NO 15 minutes ago. Prop 16 flipped at midnight or so. Prop 13 sailed to victory as did Prop 14.

In other news, Rep. Jane Harman overwhelmed challenger Marcy Winograd 59.3%-40.7%.

Seems that anti-incumbent sentiment didn't quite ooze all the way out to California.

Birther takes a bath

Orly Taitz lost big, but it still amazes me that nearly 300,000 California Republicans think she's worthy to run for or hold public office.

Nevada - Harry Reid has a very strange challenger: Sharron Angle

A lot of money went to Angle from the tea party groups in the last few months of the campaign, and with Sue Lowden doing the funky chicken, Angle pulled out the win, more or less guaranteeing Harry Reid his next term in the Senate. Angle isn't your ordinary conservative. She wants to repeal Social Security, Medicare, health care reform, and all regulations hindering offshore drilling. I think there may be some issues with that these days. There's more, but that link goes to a cached version of her website which may change since the live site is offline but for a donation page.

Senator Ensign's good buddy Gov. Gibbons lost his primary bid by 30 points (ouch!) to Judge Brian Sandoval, who will run against Democrat Rory Reid in November.

More on yesterday's primaries here.

There are more stories to tell, including how this Twitterer was born. Election nights are emotional, and tonight was no exception, even for some unnamed "senior White House officials."

Glenn Beck yesterday had on both of the Republican candidates in the California Senate primary, the winner of which race will be facing Barbara Boxer. And both Chuck DeVore and Carly Fiorina worked hard to curry Beck's favor, though it isn't hard to figure out which one won, judging by Beck's headline: "Is Chuck DeVore the next Scott Brown?"

Both interviews were essentially explorations by the candidates of Glenn Beck's favorite theme, to wit, progressives are the root of all evil in American life. This was especially the case in the interview with DeVore, who actively stoked Beck's fetish about Woodrow Wilson:

DEVORE: Well, Woodrow Wilson and people like Frank Goodnow, about 130 years ago, saw the Constitution as a roadblock to their plans for perfecting government and for basically ushering in a paradise on earth. And instead of what was set up by Madison to be a separation of powers, with the legislative, the executive and the judicial, because the Founders understood that people like power. And that you'll end up with tyranny in your country if you can't separate the powers.

...

BECK: I think the system is full of — it's riddled with a disease called progressive. If you've got cancer, no doctor says, yes start using filter tips cigarettes. They say no more cigarettes.

DEVORE: Right.

BECK: Progressives and the progressive idea are the cigarettes. So you tell me how to fix it.

Ah, nothing like a little eliminationism in the afternoon, is there?

Predictably, DeVore also revealed himself as one of those Patriot "tenthers" frequently promoted by Beck -- right-wing extremists who believe the Tenth Amendment gives states the ability to nullify federal law:

DEVORE: Well, first of all, we have to follow the Constitution. That's the very first thing that any lawmaker does when they get sworn in.

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: This audience won't, but most people say well, where aren't we following the Constitution?

DEVORE: Well, where do we start?

I think a good obvious place is Tenth Amendment. As a state lawmaker, I find my powers as a state lawmaker being short-circuited at the federal level.

As we've explained, these theories originated in the 1990s with the militia/Patriot movement.

Fiorina, in contrast, was perfectly corporate even as she tried to assure Beck that she really was a populist:

Mostly she did this by joining Beck in the progressive-bashing:

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