Despite its name, commission works on energy all the live long day

What's in a name? When it comes to regulating the oil and gas industry in Texas, it's apparently everything.

The most important election for statewide office this year is for Texas Railroad commissioner, but most voters have no idea because of the commission's misleading name. The three commissioners regulate oil and gas activities, arguably the state's wealthiest industry, and have nothing to do with railroads.

Then you have the major party candidates, both of whom won their races based on their last names, not their qualifications. When it comes to an oddball race like the Railroad Commission, too many Texans choose the most appealing name in the party primary and then tick the straight-party option in the general election.

The result is a misnamed commission run by political opportunists making a living off the taxpayers' dime while fundraising from the world's richest corporations. And we wonder why government doesn't work?

The Democratic nominee is retired schoolteacher Grady Yarbrough. The San Antonio resident ran for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in 2012, made a bid for state treasurer as a Democrat in 1994, and ran for land commissioner as a Republican in 1990 and 1986. He's never won a race.

That's because Yarbrough rarely makes public appearances and raises almost no campaign donations. He wins Democratic primary races based on a malapropism. Yarbrough sounds and looks a lot like Yarborough, which is the name of a Texas senator much loved among liberal Democrats of a certain age.

Ralph Yarborough represented Texas in the U.S. Senate from 1957 to 1971 and died in 1996. Democrats mistakenly believe Yarbrough is a descendant of Yarborough, and by not campaigning, Yarbrough perpetuates this mistaken identity.

On the Republican side of the ticket is Wayne Christian, a former state representative from Center who regularly made Texas Monthly's Worst Legislator list. His last name, however, provided for a great campaign tag line: "The only Christian in the Texas Legislature."

Christian did his best to live up to that promise. He led the Texas Conservative Coalition and railed against homosexual rights and tried to mandate that 10 percent of public university courses focus on "Western civilization," which in this case is code for his concept of European Judeo-Christian values.

A true culture warrior who relished the chance to rally fundamentalist Christians, Christian pushed to ban abortion and never hesitated to attack fellow Republicans if they broke with his conservative orthodoxy, which was most of the time. His rather severe politics, and sometimes bizarre public statements, led voters in his district to pick a different Republican to represent them in 2012.

This is Christian's second run for the Railroad Commission after losing the Republican primary in 2014. In a low-turnout runoff, Republican voters rightfully chose Ryan Sitton, a levelheaded engineer who started an oil and gas services company. Christian has no experience in the industry.

Christian won the Republican primary this year, and conventional wisdom predicts he will win next month thanks to the 83 percent of Republicans who choose the straight-party option in the general election. But there is nothing conventional about the 2016 general election.

Luckily, independent-minded voters have an alternative.

Mark Miller is the Libertarian Party candidate, and his qualifications are impeccable. Miller has a doctorate in petroleum engineering from Stanford University and taught at the University of Texas at Austin for 18 years. The best part is that he's been researching the industry for decades and even wrote a book about the Railroad Commission.

"This book was written as a challenge to Texas voters - a challenge to become more engaged in matters related to an industry so vital to the Texas economy; and to become more engaged with a state agency tasked with protecting property rights, public safety, and the environment," Miller writes. "Texas voters have a regular and ongoing opportunity, an obligation, even, to pay attention to what their commissioners are doing and to hold them accountable."

Imagine that, an expert on the science of oil and gas extraction serving on the commission that regulates the industry.

That's why editorial boards at the Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, San Antonio Express-News , Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Corpus Christi Caller-Times have endorsed Miller. And that's why I urge voters to overlook the straight-party option and vote thoughtfully.

There are many things to admire about Miller's limited-government, public-minded approach, but my favorite campaign promise is his commitment to changing the commission's name to the Texas Oil and Gas Commission. After all, the commission hasn't regulated railroads in 100 years.

Some politicians and industry representatives don't like that idea. They worry that voters might start taking an interest in the commission if they knew what it actually did, and they'd prefer the commission operate in obscurity.

If Shakespeare is right, and a rose by any other name smells as sweet, then it's equally true that a lousy politician by any name smells as foul.