The Evening Brief: June 17, 2013

Culled

•    Malloy: Don’t mess with Connecticut (Hartford Business Journal): "Texas isn't all it's cracked up to be, at least according to the Connecticut governor. On the eve of the Texas governor coming to poach Connecticut jobs and on the heels of a legislative session attacked by the business community, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is making it clear companies are better off sticking with the Nutmeg State. … 'Maybe he can talk about Texas' higher crime rate, the higher murder rate, and higher assault rate,' Malloy said. 'Also, low educational achievement.'"

•    Perry, Daugaard Hit Connecticut To Woo Gunmakers (The Associated Press): "The governors of Texas and South Dakota visited Connecticut on Monday to court gun manufacturers that have threatened to leave since the state passed tough new gun-control laws this year in response to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. … Texas Gov. Rick Perry shot at a firing range at Connecticut’s venerable Colt Manufacturing Co., one of the plants he toured, and met privately with company owners and other businesses at a downtown Hartford restaurant. At a brief news conference afterward, the Republican offered a conservative policy blueprint in a state run by Democrats."

•    House lawmakers take Rick Perry to task for ethics vetoes (The Dallas Morning News): "Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, said that Gov. Rick Perry owes lawmakers an explanation and a plan after vetoing money for the public integrity unit and also nixing a retooling of state etchics laws."

•    Sarah Palin to Hill: 'Don’t stifle' Ted Cruz (Politico): "Tea party favorites former Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Ted Cruz traded praise of each other Monday during Palin’s first appearance back on Fox News, with Palin urging Cruz to continue to have a voice and Cruz thanking Palin for paving the way."

New in The Texas Tribune

•    Video: In Ad, Staples Says He'll Fight for Texas: "In a new video, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, a declared candidate for lieutenant governor in 2014, vows that he will fight back against progressives who want to turn tomorrow's Texas into the California or Washington, D.C., of today."

•    Lawmakers Seek Lessons From West Explosion: "A panel of House lawmakers on Monday agreed to join Gov. Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott in calling on President Obama to reconsider the denial of federal emergency aid to West, the small community still reeling from a fertilizer plant explosion in April that killed 15 people and destroyed several buildings."

•    ICE Director to Leave Office in July: "John Morton, who has overseen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 2009, is resigning from his post."