The Commissioner of Texas General Land Office manages 13 million acres of state lands, including oil and gas properties, which supply funds to the Permanent School Fund (PSF). The commissioner also chairs the Veterans Land Board, which administers programs for Texas veterans, administers disaster recovery funds and is responsible for environmental protection of Texas’ coast.

When presented with the chance to hear Democratic candidate Jay Kleberg speak, and after researching both the candidate, and the office he hoped to assume, we became acutely aware that so little-known were the many duties of Texas Land Commissioner, and so wide-ranging in its impact on many of the issues Texans most care about, the office itself deserved more attention. We also decided to interview both candidates, and both were gracious enough to accommodate us.

There are actually three candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot, vying for the office now held by George P. Bush, who opted not to seek re-election, and instead ran for attorney general in the Republican primary, losing to incumbent Ken Paxton.

We interviewed two of those candidates: Republican Senator Dawn Buckingham and Democrat Jay Kleberg. Time and resources did not allow us to interview the Green Party candidate, Alfred Molison Jr., who did not respond to questions by BallotPedia or the Texas League of Women Voters.

DEMOCRAT JAY KLEBERG earned a B.A. in English from Williams College in 2000 and an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2013. Kleberg’s career experience includes co-founding Explore Ranches, and working as a producer with Deep in the Heart LLC and as a strategic initiatives lead with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. He is, by profession, a conservationist and a business owner.

Kleberg made a swing through the Panhandle for a campaign event at the Golden Light in Amarillo, as part of his Texas Dance Hall Tour.

“We really wanted to get people together that may not normally turn out to listen to a commissioner candidate, and certainly not a Democrat,” he said. “We had a mixed crowd in terms of both political affiliation and profession. We had some folks from Amarillo National Bank, we had folks involved in the oil and gas industry, and [found] common ground to talk about the issues and some things that I think we all can agree on.”

We asked first what his top priorities were in running for Land Commissioner.

“I think the highest priority is providing funding for our K-12 public schools,” he said, “and that means ensuring that we have a stable source of income from harnessing our natural resources to generate revenue—not just for this generation, but for future generations— in a sustainable manner.”

“Right now,” he said, “it’s traditional oil and gas royalties. But I think it’s the job of this office holder to make sure that we utilize our public lands to generate revenue, [while] also looking to the future to diversify that portfolio. That includes other sources of revenue, like wind and solar and geothermal. We’re looking at large-scale carbon storage as a revenue generator off of the Texas coast that could bring in upwards of $5.5 billion in net new revenue over the next 20 years to the Permanent School Fund (PSF), and to public education in Texas.”

From 1986 to 2018, he said, the PSF endowment nearly tripled in size, but the inflation-adjusted distributions into the classroom remained flat. In a state that ranks 44th in the nation in K-12 per pupil spending, but also has the largest K-12 endowment in the country, Kleberg said, “I think that we have a responsibility to build up the endowment to fund public education and also lessen the burden, frankly, on property taxpayers. Right now, 60 percent of the public school budget is the burden of property taxpayers, and 40 percent is the state’s responsibility.”

During his recent campaign tour through Amarillo and the Panhandle, he said, we talked about how much revenue tax revenue is being generated here and then sent to other schools.

“My opponent is pro-voucher,” he said. “You’re looking at essentially defunding rural public schools if you do that, because you do not have any other options. I’ve seen it in Ector County. I’ve seen it all over the state where you don’t have the options that folks have, living in an urban environment. You’re hurting these rural communities.”

Asked whether he is pro-school voucher— an issue that is drawing increasing support among the state’s Republican leadership— Kleberg has a simple one-word answer. “No.”

Kleberg said his second priority is to the state’s 1.5 million veterans, to whom, he feels, much is owed. “Our veterans have done so much for us, and it’s the least that we can do to honor their service, and provide them the benefits that they’ve earned and deserve.”

The Veterans Land Board, which the commissioner chairs, provides low-interest loans for the purchase of land and homes and for home improvements. Texas has nine veterans’ homes, with a tenth home being built in Tarrant County, and about 1,000 veterans who are taking advantage of them. In addition, Texas has four veterans’ cemeteries.

Despite that, he said, “the Veterans Land Board has not had an executive director for over two years now.”

In 2021, the Honoring Our Pact Act was signed into law, expanding access to VA healthcare services for veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service. For post-9/11 combat veterans, the law extends the time they have to enroll in VA healthcare from five to 10 years, post-discharge. During his opponent’s tenure as senator, Kleberg said, the Legislature passed a Toxic Exposure Registry for Texas-based veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan on bases that have toxic burn pits.

“But then my opponent and others decided not to fund the registry,” Kleberg said, “so veterans don’t even know about it. The largest number of toxic-exposed veterans on the National Registry is in Texas, but they don’t even know that’s something they should sign up for.”

Kleberg is particularly scathing in his opinion of his opponent’s own record on veterans— one his campaign has called public attention to in recent press releases.

In 2016, a Quorum Report investigation revealed that Buckingham, prior to her election to office, profited from National American University (NAU), a predatory higher education institution that targeted military veterans. The report detailed how the university charged veterans exorbitant tuition while delivering what a U.S. Senate report called “abysmal student outcomes.”

NAU is run by Buckingham’s family. It is a multi-million dollar publicly-traded business that generates 70 to 90 percent of its revenues from taxpayer-funded federal college education funds. Buckingham has thus far avoided comment.

For his part, Kleberg promised to fill the position of Veterans Land Board executive director, and to expand the Veterans Cemetery footprint to Lubbock and to the northeast Texas area.

Kleberg’s third priority is to improve the state’s response to natural disasters, and to meet its obligation to fund recovery efforts in a timely and equitable manner.

The General Land Office manages natural disaster recovery work, both through Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds. “Right now, there are about $8.4 billion in federal natural disaster relief funds, both to recover from the last natural disaster and to prepare for the next ones.”

Those funds, Kleberg said, are backlogged and unspent. In Texas—which now ranks number one in the nation in billion-dollar natural disasters—it takes about five years for federal funds that have been appropriated to actually reach these communities.

“We’re trying to focus on pre-disaster planning to make sure that we’re prepared for these disasters when we’re hit,” Kleberg said.

Asked about the growing number of climate-related natural disasters—from hurricanes and tornados, to drought and wildfires— that have affected Texans in recent years, Kleberg noted that during the 2021 freeze, farmers and ranchers in Texas lost as much as $600 million in income as a result of the state having failed to prepare our natural gas infrastructure to be winterized.

“Look at all of the leafy greens and agricultural crops that were lost in the Rio Grande area—completely wiped out. You look at the fact that the Ogallala has about 30 years of good water left in the Panhandle—not just for agriculture, but [for] all the communities that depend on it.”

“You’ve got a burn season this year,” he said, “where at one point, we had 100,000 acres burning in the state of Texas. Four of the last five years have had 500-year storms. So either our calculations are off, or we are seeing something that is unusual.”

In order to become more energy, food, fiber, and water-independent, Kleberg said. “We’ve got to make science-based decisions about the next generation—not based on the next election cycle.”

Kleberg grew up on the 825,000-acre King Ranch, and as a descendant of the King family, started working cattle at the age of five.

“My family has been managing the same piece of property for 200 years. And that is the kind of perspective, the vision that I bring to this office,” he said. “In order to do that...all of the options have to be on the table—about how we support our public schools and manage our public lands—and there has to be a balance between the economy and the environment. I don’t think that’s a false choice, either.”

“How do you look to the next 50 years and project out where the economy is going to be, what kind of educated workforce we need?” Kleberg asked. “What if we get into a situation where we have global supply chain issues or another global pandemic? How do we ensure the money that we’re making right now is reinvested in an economy that is going to be more stable, and that Texas can lead the way in the economy of the future?”

“I think energy is going to be a big piece of that—all forms of energy,” he said. “And I think that with 174 million acres of land In Texas, we also have the opportunity to generate a lot of North America’s food and fiber.”

Remarkably, Kleberg has gone on record in his campaign acknowledging the reality of climate change. “I don’t necessarily have to get into the politics of it,” Kleberg said. “We could just talk about the dollars and cents of what it means to have these changing weather patterns, and have them be more severe.”

“Look at what the cattle industry is saying right now…that we do have more frequent and severe natural disasters. The science is there to back that up, so what are we going to do to prepare for a future that looks like what we’re seeing today, but also is more unpredictable?

“Is there a way to prepare for that in a way that Texas actually leads, and is leading how you develop an economy around that?”

Kleberg has obviously thought about it. “We lead the nation in energy production, but we also lead the nation in wind, and we’re second in solar,” he said. “Those three things are true. There’s a fourth thing that is also true— that we’ve got what is the equivalent of about 700 years’ worth of Texas industrial carbon emissions storage in what’s called a Miocene layer about 10,000 feet down, off of our Texas coasts. That’s Texas-owned land, and it’s under the purview of the General Land Office.”

Kleberg referred to a study done by the University of Texas and the Bureau of Economic Geology, which determined that the PSF could derive about $5.5 billion dollars in additional revenue from fees for injecting that CO2 into the subsurface.

“There is money in what I refer to as the climate economy, and Texas could be leading that,” Kleberg said. “You can actually help our school children and it’s good for the environment.”

The conversation quickly turns to soil carbon sequestration and carbon offsets, and to protecting our resources by recycling water used in oil and gas production. Kleberg’s bottom line, though, is this: “What I don’t hear from other candidates, and certainly from my opponent, is any of this detail-oriented, solutions-based rhetoric. I think that it’s a disservice to the office, to our school children, to veterans—it’s a disservice to the agricultural economy, to our public lands, to not have someone there who actually wants to do the job and show up for work. And I don’t think that there’s anything in my opponent’s background, any relevant experience that points to her wanting to actually take on what is a $1.9 billion-a-year budget job that impacts so many Texans.”

“You drive from Midland, to San Angelo and into Abilene, and you see all that land that was burned over the summer,” he said, “You live through a drought, you live through a freeze, and it’s not just localized, it’s statewide. I don’t want to or have to make an argument. I just want to face reality. I want to get ahead of it. And I want to not just get ahead of it, I want to lead.”

“I think Texas has an opportunity in the future as an energy leader, as an agricultural producer. And I think the General Land Office can be a convener of all of these different constituencies that care about the same thing. We don’t even have to give it a name. Let’s just say that we want to prepare for the future, and for future generations, and talk about stewardship of our natural resources.”

“Stewardship and that ethic is absolutely in our blood,” he concluded. “And if we can use this office to rally around a few things that we agree on, I think there’s hope for the future.”

Our final question of Kleberg was one asked of us by a friend, who knew we planned to interview him: Why should Republicans vote for you today?

“I would ask them to look at relevant experience, and to look at intentions, and to look at my history and what I’ve done with my life. It’s all tied to the land, and frankly, also to education. I don’t just talk about these things— I do them. What I would ask that person is, whether you’re in the ag business or you’re in some other venture, normally you look at qualifications when you’re hiring somebody. I would just ask that person to do the same.”

TO LEARN MORE

www.jay4tx.com

 

REPUBLICAN DAWN BUCKINGHAM was elected in 2016 to the office of State Senator, representing Texas’ District 24. She earned a B.S. in kinesiology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992 and an M.D. from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1997. Buckingham’s career experience includes working as a physician and owning a business.

Buckingham was a school board member before she ran for Texas Senate, and also was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to serve as the Vice Chair of Educator Certification. She believes her diverse background in the business world has prepared her for the commissioner’s post.

“My time in the Senate has really given me the understanding of the inside workings of state government, and the relationships to be sure that we serve Texas,” she said. “This agency really serves so many important aspects of Texas. It serves Texans in crisis after a major disaster, it serves students, it serves veterans, it stewards our precious 13 million acres of state lands. It does a lot of things that are really important to Texas.”

“I think you need somebody that not only has experience in government, but also has experience in the business world,” she continued. “I’m a physician, we run veterans nursing homes, several small businesses, and I’ve been managing partner of my practice. I always joke that I’ve signed the fronts of more checks than I have signed the back.”

We asked Sen. Buckingham how she would prioritize the responsibilities of the General Land office. “I’ve learned from experience that [what] you think about how an entity works from an external view is very different once you get in it and really understand everything,” she said. “So the area that seems like it needs improving is disaster recovery—you know, we’re five years out from Hurricane Harvey [most people would not consider] recovery in the Houston area exceptional.”

Buckingham blamed issues at the local level for some of the problem, but said, “We need to figure out a path forward to help Texas in crisis. That’s the area that deserves the most attention up front.”

The Alamo is revered in Texas history as the site of a pivotal battle in its war for independence. Under Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush’s tenure, the aging monument again became a point of contention over a nearly $400 million plan to renovate and preserve the landmark. The new commissioner will assume that responsibility, which Buckingham made clear was another top priority.

The Permanent School Fund also gets top billing on Buckingham’s list. “It’s kind of moving under the umbrella of the Texas Education Agency,” she said, “so that will be a little bit off the plate at the agency. But of course, we still are running all the veterans, land board programs, nursing homes, cemeteries and the Permanent University Fund lands.”

“The goal is to be very sure that we are maintaining that trust fund for all future generations,” she said, before adding, “This is one of the places in the race where there’s a very bright contrast between my opponent and I. The majority of the revenue for that fund is derived from oil and gas, and he is a Green New Deal activist, and has said he wants to take the fund and invest in green energy.”

“It’s not a fund to invest in energy funds that don’t make money,” Buckingham added. “It’s created so the revenue can be maximized while the land is stewarded to benefit our students. My opponent trying to shut down drilling on state lands would be an abdication of a constitutional duty to fund education.”

Buckingham did acknowledge that developing alternative energy sources is important, but said Texas has the most diverse portfolio of energy production anywhere, and pointed to new technologies on the forefront, such as carbon dioxide sequestration. “There’s a new technology about to be piloted,” she said, “where you break one of the hydrogens off the hydrocarbon. You can burn that hydrogen, and the only byproduct is water and graphite.”

“We all want a clean environment and good energy sources,” she said. “We’ve seen, though, when it’s been artificially suppressed from above. You can just look at Germany, for example. When you give up energy independence, and you artificially suppress your most reliable and inexpensive form of energy, what you see is pretty catastrophic.”

“I don’t think you need to exclude anything,” Buckingham said, “but I don’t think you need to artificially suppress our most reliable, inexpensive form of energy, either. Shutting down drilling artificially would cost Texas thousands and thousands of jobs.”

“The Germans, it was just within the last month, they were like, ‘Please don’t take hot showers because we don’t have enough energy in our grid.’ They’re not even peaking in their energy use. Just wait till January.”

Buckingham did agree that Texans should be looking ahead and thinking about ways to meet the needs of its citizens, “and of course, our environment.”

The depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer evoked more urgency with Buckingham, who said her district “has every kind of water issue you can have, whether it’s no groundwater, a drying aquifer, or all those kinds of things.”

“At some point, we’re going to really start looking at intra-aquifer storage and retrieval. We’re going to start having our communities— for example, Brownwood has the ability to recycle 95 percent of its water, if it has to. And I think, the urban areas can recycle water a lot easier than our farmers and ranchers can.”

“We have to realize if we’re going to stay strong and resilient, we’re going to have to really prioritize agricultural water,” she concluded. “So I think you’re looking at a whole mind shift in the state.”

Asked whether the absence of an Executive Director for the Veterans Land Board concerned her, Buckingham said she was unaware of that vacancy. “That would be a surprise, but yes, that would be very concerning.”

“It’s amazing to me, when I speak around the state, how many veterans have no idea that there are separate state programs, in addition to all the federal programs,” she said. “I think we need to really be proactive and reaching out, especially for the low-interest rate loans, with regard to buying a house, renovating a house, or buying land.”

Buckingham also was unaware that the Legislature, during her tenure, had failed to fund the Toxic Exposure Registry for Texas veterans. “I would have to look into that and see,” she responded. “But again, you know, we just want to create the opportunity for our veterans who have had this harmful exposure to be sure that was recognized.”

“We’re going to do everything we can to help our veterans,” she said, “and their families, because we know that it’s not just the veteran that serves—it’s their families as well. So we want to be there and help them through every phase we possibly can.”

Finally, we asked whether Sen. Buckingham is pro-voucher. “You know, I served on the school board, and the State Board of Education Certification has secured billions of dollars in extra funding for public schools,” she said. “So I’m firmly committed to the full funding of our public schools and the opportunity for our students.”

“This is another one of those bright areas between my opponent,” Buckingham added. “I’m a product of public school, my kids are the product of public school. You know, my opponent went to a very exclusive boarding school outside of the state, and I believe all of his children go to private school now. So he has essentially no experience with public school directly, and no history of ever serving public schools or embedding in their issues.”

Asked again whether she is pro-voucher, Buckingham said she did not understand the question, but added, “You know, that means a lot of different things to a lot of people.”

In conclusion, Sen. Buckingham expressed her eagerness to get started, saying she felt like the office needs an experienced person “who could really come in and serve our students, steward our lands, serve our veterans and help Texas in crisis. I feel like I have a lot of history and experience in those areas, and am excited about serving the state.”

TO LEARN MORE

www.dawnbuckingham.com