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Texas Speaker Race – November update and call to action

By: Freedoms Truth (Diary)  |  December 1st, 2010 at 11:31 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Where do things stand in the Texas Speaker’s race? Let’s recap how far we’ve come. It’s been a month since the Tsunami election delivered a Republican super-majority to the Texas statehouse, and the first ‘surprise’ of Nov 2nd was how many seats flipped, creating the opportunity for a more conservative Speaker, one not beholden to Democrats as Speaker Straus was in the last session.

A review of status and events is below, for your information.

(0) Where things stand right now -

The count of Texas State Representatives publicly calling for a new speaker stands at 21 (most are endorsing Rep Ken Paxton): http://manifestdesigns.com/2010.11.24.GOP.Reps.pdf

The count of Texas citizen-activists and leaders doing the same stands at 6,400 as of Dec 1, 2010.

Add your name to that list here: http://conservativespeakermandate.com/

(1) Flowchart on the Speaker race, created by The Texas Tribune. The flowchart shows the “who’s who” in the Speaker’s race:
http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-house-speaker-race-flowchart/

(2)  Rep Warren Chisum announced his candidacy for Speaker of the Texas House on October 13: http://bit.ly/ewxj8l

(3) Rep Ken Paxton announced his bid for Texas Speaker on Nov 11, and he now has his Speaker of the Texas House campaign website up at:
http://paxtonforspeaker.com/

(4) The Austin American Statesman has a “postcard” history of its coverage of the Speaker’s Race which includes stories way back to January 9th, 2007:
http://bit.ly/eV8x0E

(5) On Nov 4, Texas conservative leaders endorsed Empower Texans’ (Michael Quinn Sullivan’s group) Letter On Leadership that called for a conservative Speaker:
http://www.empowertexans.com/issues/letter_on_leadership

(6) The Dallas Tea Party blog has a lot of information on the Speaker’s Race, and brought out information that made it clear that Speaker Straus had put liberals and moderates, not conservatives, in control in 2009, and that Rep Paxton is the clear and consistent conservative, compared both with Chisum and Straus:
http://dallasteaparty.org/

(7) On Nov 30, State Rep Van Taylor endorsed Ken Paxton for Speaker. This brings the number of newly elected ‘freshmen’ State Reps endorsing Paxton publicly to 9: James White, Erwin Cain, Cindy Burkett, Bill Zedler, Charles Perry, Jim Landtroop, Kenneth Sheets, and David Simpson are also on the Paxton endorsement list.

(8) On Nov 17, Governor Mike Huckabee and HUCK PAC has endorsed Ken Paxton for Speaker of the Texas House (Huckabee is on the Flowchart of Item 1):
http://bit.ly/hlprHR

(9) On Nov 15, FreedomWorks / Dick Armey Oppose Speaker Straus, Announce Support for Paxton (Armey is on the Flowchart of Item 1):
http://bit.ly/fM27jA

(10) On November 10, 2010 Rep Brian Hughes withdraws his pledge to Straus, says that House leadership is trying to oust Reps Flynn and Cain and told Hughes that if he did not go along (i.e. support Straus) he would fall victim to similar retribution. Chairman Hopson’s General Investigating and Ethics Committee investigates the allegations and dismisses them after taking sworn testimony from Hughes and unsworn testimony from Rep Larry Phillips, who made the threats (Hughes and Hopson are on the Flowchart of Item 1):
http://bit.ly/fAmfiN , http://bit.ly/gGnZgX and http://bit.ly/hOTWMf

(11) Straus Chairman Shuts Out Public From Speaker Race “Threats” Information at so-called “Public Hearing”—related to Item 10 above: http://bit.ly/gCgSUT

(12) Video: “The Battle for the Texas House”, http://j.mp/fPGdC2. In this video David Barton sums up what “we the people” seem to be saying—that Texans want a conservative Speaker! It lays out the history and the issues clearly and completely.

(13) Nov 8, Rep Leo Berman, first Rep to file as opposition candidate to Joe Straus (June 23, 2010—see http://bit.ly/i8OkIj and http://bit.ly/eusjYM ) wrote an Open Letter to Joe Straus, full of enlightening information:
http://bit.ly/gFJSY8 and http://ainn.ly/gSTUyL

(14) Nov 15, Erick Erickson (of RedState) blogs that Ken Paxton should be Speaker of the Texas House, bringing the power of Redstate and national conservative activist attention to this race: http://www.redstate.com/erick/

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/11/15/ken-paxton-should-be-the-speaker-of-texass-house/

(15) Nov 19, Gun Owners of America endorse Ken Paxton for Speaker of the Texas House:
http://bit.ly/hG7JMW

(16) On the other side, we have primarily one group that is the apologist for and promoter of Speaker Joe Straus—that is, Conservatives4JoeStraus:
http://www.conservatives4joestraus.com/home/

(17) Higher Education Committee Chair, Dan Branch questioned the constitutionality of the proposal of a Republican Caucus picking a consensus candidate for Speaker, as mentioned in the Flowchart of Item 1:
http://bit.ly/eqRGbh

(18) If you want to read what Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka is saying in his left-of-center BURKABLOG, you can follow the following link (you might need to use the blog’s search engine to find all the relevant posts):
http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/

November saw a great election, and a followup of strong statements from the vast majority of Texas conservative activists demanding a conservative Texas House Speaker. This lays down a marker for all the Republican members of the Texas House.  However, conservative activists should not underestimate the power of Speaker incumbency, and Straus has wielded the use of many carrots and sticks (some exposed in recent weeks) to keep ‘pledges’ on board. He doled out over a million dollars in the last election cycle to keep incumbents friendly to him.

This is a classic outsider versus insider battle, the outsiders need to keep the pressure up, find the influencers of the state Reps and get them to support a conservative Speaker. One thing will ensure Speaker Straus’ re-election – if he can avoid a GOP caucus vote.  Without a GOP caucus vote, Straus only needs 25 Republicans, or a fourth of the caucus, and he has at least 20 votes just from the commitee chairs and supporters alone. But a caucus win would require 50 Republican caucus votes. The priority should be to demand a Republican caucus vote, and get all Texas State Reps to agree to it. I further explain why the caucus vote is needed and important over here:

http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-to-choose-texas-house-speaker.html

To have a productive session, the House Speaker must be supported by the majority of the House Republican caucus. To ensure this, the Republican House members should caucus and decide on a nominee for House Speaker. It will be dysfunctional to have a House speaker supported by 50 Democrats but opposed by 70 Republicans. The end result of that may be a repeat of what happened in 2009, when conservative bills that would have passed in a fair floor vote never got the chance to go forward. The further necessity of a Republican caucus is to keep the matter “in the family” of Republicans in the Statehouse, in order to maintain party unity on the House floor. An intra-party fight on the House floor might give the rump Democrat minority excessive leverage and worsen any intraparty split.

The Texas Speaker will be decided on January 11, so there is not much time left to make a difference and get more State Reps on board for Rep Ken Paxton. Now is the time to keep the momentum going through December. 51 declared opponents to Straus and a caucus process and it will be ‘game over’. There are 21 declared opponents now. 30 to go. Direct contact with State Representatives is the best way to go, and they should all be encouraged both to support Paxton for Speaker and to support the caucus process to select a consensus Republican choice for Speaker. This can be done and Texas can have a conservative Speaker, but it will be uphill and the outcome is not yet written. December action will make or break this effort.

“The quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail. But hope remains, if friends stay true.”
- Elf Queen Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring

Updated from cross-posted article here:

http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2010/11/speakers-race-update.html

COMMENTS

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  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    but not by much, in the Texas House. There were attempts in 2007 to push liberal agenda items, and many failed, but in 2009 they were getting majority House support.

    It’s not like the Democrats stopped messing things up in 2009 – the ‘chubbing’ in 2009 was the most partisan train-wreck in years – in 2009. It was ironic that the partisan Democrat filibuster over the Voter ID saved us from more bad legislation.

    Most of what makes the House good or bad is the membership. But leadership matters. Without Dunham, no ‘chubbing’. Straus v Craddick meant many conservative bills were knifed in the back before they got to the floor.

    Cradddick didnt just lead in 2007, he led in 2003, where a lot on the conservative side was done.

    What’s the key reason Ken Paxton will be better than Straus? His committee assignments will be better.

    It’s true that House leadership cannot go further than what the House membership is willing to do. By Ken Paxton will be a leader for the conservative agenda, while Straus has ALREADY appointed committee chairs that will act as a brake on conservative legislating.

    The Straus-picked democrat who ran ways and means? He is being touted as the next Democrat leader.

    • Menlo

      What I’m wondering is how Paxton can bring different results from Craddick.

      I disagree about 2007. The biggest accomplishment that year was a bathroom bill! I do pin a lot of blame on now-retired David Swinford, but I believe he was only part of a bigger and more widespread problem. How that was an improvement over 2009 (whose biggest accomplishment was a booster seat bill) is beyond me.

  • Menlo

    First of all, my rep is Ken Paxton; and I told him he should be speaker over a year ago. I’ve been outspoken against Straus before his “Polo Road Gang” of elites put him in. Unfortunately, I am quite confident it will be impossible to get rid of Straus given his committee chair and other Republican support.

    However, even if it were not, I recall we had Tom Craddick as speaker in the 2007 session. That gave us results that differed little from 2009 when Straus was in the position with a lot more Democrats. The best I can gather is that the reason was representatives (mostly Democrats) were upset over Craddick!

    Maybe I missed something then, or maybe I’m missing something now. I have been wondering what is supposed to make it better with Ken Paxton than it was with Craddick in 2007. Wouldn’t there be a similar backlash with similar results?

    Make no mistake; I’d love nothing more than to see Straus gone and Paxton of all people in his place. However, my recollection of 2007 has crossed my mind.

  • Goldwater_Conservative

    is solid, which means you are not really welcome by the new tea party contingent here in Redstate. I was not very happy when Craddick was using lobbyist threats to get votes and then replacing republican chairmanships with democrats who sided with him. Craddick was every bit as dirty as anything thats being hurled at Straus. I didnt like Craddick, and I’m no fan of Straus, but what Redstate and the tea party are doing is a drive-by politics here and they will certianly leave things much worse than they were before the civil war.

  • http://www.gmsplace.com/ civil_truth

    “RedState and tea party”?

    You sound exactly like Meghan McCain in your disdain.

    “drive by politics”?

    So that’s what you call citizens peacefully assembling to pretition the Government for a redress of grievances?

    civil war?

    So we should just sit back and let Mr. Straus destroy the credibility of the Republican Party in Texas as a promoter of conservatism and instead have the Party stand as the Party of cronyism and back-room politics peeing on the citizenry that elects them?

    You might want to look up Mensheviks and kulaks and Ancien R?gime to see where business as usual is going to get you.

  • Bill S

    Leave.

  • Menlo

    I don’t know I’d call it “drive by politics,” but I think conservatives were simply not paying any attention when it really mattered. I pointed it out on this site when Straus was first chosen, and there was little response. It made no headlines or blogs, and most people were concerned with other issues. On into the primary, I stressed the importance of getting a new speaker. People were more focused on the governor’s race, only a figurehead in Texas. I pointed out all the anti-conservative people in the legislature who call themselves “Republicans,” but the attention was still on the governor and “his” positions when he has ZERO influence on the legislature (unlike in Washington). Of course there was a lot going on in Washington too, but I don’t understand why the legislature has gotten virtually no major attention in nearly a decade. Not a peep about David Swinford, Brian McCall, Mabrie Jackson, Burt Solomons, and until now, Straus. There were certainly plenty of spectacles that were not business-as-usual and should have made big headlines.

    After working so hard to defeat Kay Barely Republican, they miss the house races and get a virtual clone in a position that actually has some influence on legislation.

    I don’t understand why, but conservatives were simply asleep until now. I guess knowing why may explain things.

    At this point, it seems the choices are getting nothing done with happy liberals or getting nothing done with angry liberals. I don’t think either outcome is better or worse than the other.

  • http://www.gmsplace.com/ civil_truth

    http://www.vermonttiger.com/content/2010/11/an-inverse-thanksgiving-remembering-the-ukrainian-holodomor.html

    Which was the fate of the kulaks.

    Bad formatting above: in addition to kulaks, the other terms above were Mensheviks and Ancien R?gime.

  • http://www.gmsplace.com/ civil_truth
  • bk

    If implying that Erick would like to see a return to slavery isn’t enough to get one banned, then what is?

  • Goldwater_Conservative

    disagree with anything, you should leave? Is that the new Redstate motto?

  • Goldwater_Conservative

    talking about? When I say Civil War, I’m reffering to the bloody GOP against GOP fight going on in the state of Texas with the speaker race.

  • Goldwater_Conservative

    is a survivalist more than a RINO or anything else. And in this case that would have been good, the conservatives could have thrown their new found weight behind him and owned him, but by going after him right out of the gate, now they are sure to have someone hostile in there if they dont oust him.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    … that you seem to lack.

    You’re whining and moaning how you don’t like it here, yet you stay.

    Why?

  • Menlo

    The legislative outcome would have been the same regardless of who supported him. Many conservative Republicans have come to know not to trust Lucy with the football.

  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    as you are on this whole fiasco. I would be inclined, however, to say that it is a good thing to try and oust him. His kind are not what we want are need, we wasted how many decades trying to be pragmatic, and bi partisan. What the hell did that ever get us?

    We got the dubois right to become the tax collectors for the welfare state.

  • Goldwater_Conservative

    some of the most recent tea partyish tactics that are being employed on here. I have been here almost 3 years now, and I haven’t whinned until now as I see a different Redstate than the one I signed up with 3 years ago.

  • Bill S

    It still stands.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    We’re changing on purpose in fact. We’ve refined ourselves to a sharper, more activist point.

  • Goldwater_Conservative

    the best idea in becoming “sharper activists” is tuning out anyone who disagrees with anything?

  • Goldwater_Conservative

    chairs that the speaker will appoint. Thats what this is about. My point is what do you think those chairs are going to look like with Straus as spearker after being challeged by the conservatives? What would those chairs have looked like if the conservatives put pressure on him but ultimately supported him? If you say the same thing in both cases you have no idea how these speaker fights go down here in Texas.

  • Menlo

    It would likely depend on how many were voted out. One prime example is the crucial (and perhaps most important) State Affairs committee. Burt Solomons headed it up last time. Why wouldn’t he be first in line for it again?

    I would add that under Craddick, we had the equally awful but now retired David Swinford. How he got elected (let alone appointed chair) is a mystery to me; but it was obvious he had no choice but to retire after he showed his true colors on a local radio show. I’d be interested in the story behind Swinford.

    Anyway, I have little faith it makes any difference. We get nothing but booster seats, bathrooms, and “controlled glassware (possession of an Erlenmeyer flask is a criminal offense here).”

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    It is you who started you petulant whining about the TEA Party and RedState, not us.

    It’s you who’s throwing an all out hissy fit because we peasants dare to have the temerity to speak up on who should be our Lords and Masters in a state legislature.

    Get over yourself already.

  • Goldwater_Conservative

    and I’m free to disagree with it if I want. And in this case, I’m a little more in the middle of the action than Erick or any of the out-of-staters. I have been, and will continue to be invloved with the Texas GOP well after this little drive-by effort is over with. If Erick was doing this in Georgia inside their GOP, then I wouldnt be saying aything because I dont have a dog in that fight and I’m not involved.

    Texas is the greatest state in the country right now, especially by any fiscal conservative measure and that didn’t just happen overnight. I’m not saying thats due to Joe Straus or even Perry for that matter, but it does have something to do with how we do things down here. I dont think you realize what a bad name and reputation Redstate is getting down here as a result of this action. You may not care or think its some kind of sign that you are doing things right, but those of us who plan on being here long after this struggle is over will have to deal with it.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens
  • http://www.erickerickson.org Erick Erickson

    Sometimes doing what is right requires paying a price. It is the price I’m willing to pay. Straus needs to go.

  • E Pluribus Unum

    and 99-51 does not “speak” to some bipartisan-zed, half-Republican half-Democrat running the House.