It’s Time for a New Speaker… in Texas

It’s Time for a New Speaker… in Texas

By

James Scott Trimm

There is a lot of talk about a new speaker in the House of Representatives.  The reason there is so much concern about who the next speaker will be, is that the last Speaker, John Boehner, sold conservative out at every turn.  Republicans control both houses, and yet the conservative agenda has been sidelined at every turn by the Speaker.  We all know we need a new Speaker, and we want to make sure the next Speaker is not another sell out.

We have a similar situation in the Texas House of Representatives, except that Speaker Joe Straus has not announced that he is bowing out, none the less, Straus needs to be replaced as Speaker.

Although “Tea Party” conservatives swept the Republican primaries and subsequent general elections in 2014, all too often we have still not gotten the conservative Texas government for which we voted.  The blame for that falls largely on the shoulders of House Speaker Joe Straus.

Straus is the best Speaker money can buy, but he is no conservative.  In fact Straus and his chief lieutenant, State Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth) are the only Republicans in the top-15 recipients of public-sector labor union campaign donations in Texas.  And Straus is the second-highest beneficiary of union money, only State Sen. John Whitmire, who is the longest serving Democrat in the Texas Senate, receives more union cash.

Straus gerrymanders the chamber in such a manner as to inhibit conservatives and exalt moderates when making his committee assignments.  Conservative bills then go to House Calendars where they are selectively left to die without ever having a vote.   

At least one Democratic strategist has suggested that Boehner could have learned a thing or two from Straus.  Strategist Jason Stanford recently said:

"He should have taken the Texas model. We have a speaker here in Texas, Joe Straus. And I hate saying this, but maybe Washington needs to adopt the Texas model here because he gets elected speaker with Democratic votes. John Boehner knew he couldn’t stay speaker unless he was willing to rely on Democratic votes. He just wasn’t willing to do that so he quit."

Sadly our Speaker Straus has been willing to go even lower that Speaker Boehner had in selling out to the Democrats.

Primary season is upon us, don’t vote for any State Representative who will not pledge to oust Straus.