05.17.12

The tie-breaker

Posted in Around The State, Commentary, The Lege at 3:43 pm by wcnews

????????After writing this post a few weeks ago, Deeply unhappy Republicans? Don’t be so sure, there have been a few new developments in the Texas GOP. Some of which is highlighted by the recent Ross Ramsey article, Factions Are Forming Among Texas Republicans.  The factions are forming, it’s the corporate Republicans on one side and and the social/tea party conservatives on the other.

Not this year. And these people’s differences are an early warning of friction in next year’s legislative session.

East Texas has an easy example. There’s Representative Wayne Christian, Republican of Center, defending himself in a redrawn district packed with voters he has never represented. The governor and the attorney general and the comptroller have endorsed Mr. Christian.

But many of the big trade associations that might normally be with those heavyweights are instead with Chris Paddie, a radio station manager and personality who has also served as Marshall’s mayor. Mr. Paddie has endorsements from trade groups for doctors, manufacturers, real estate brokers, law enforcement groups and even Senator Kevin Eltife, Republican of Tyler, whose Senate district overlaps the House district. While Mr. Christian has been a reliable vote for social conservatives, the business groups say that — for a variety of reasons — they can no longer count on him.

Another way the factions are setting up is the Straus Republicans and the Perry Republicans.

Here’s Speaker Joe Straus visiting El Paso late last year, talking about government services instead of the price of government services. “We have no choice, unless we want to continue to try to grow our population and continue to shrink spending significantly,” he told The El Paso Times. “I think at some point you can’t cut your way to prosperity.”

Keep in mind that he was talking on the eve of the election season, trying to set the stage for the political conversation to follow.

Gov. Rick Perry was nearing the end of his 15 minutes of presidential exposure. But he dusted himself off this year, offering a budget compact that deals not with the quality of government services but with the price of those services, limiting the growth of the budget and holding taxes at or below current levels.

Mr. Straus was obliquely critical, avoiding a direct confrontation with the governor while showing Mr. Perry the back of his hand. “We welcome the input of the executive, but the Legislature needs to assert itself from time to time as well,” he told a Washington group, as reported by The Dallas Morning News. “It’s important that we remember the separation of powers and remember some of the lessons that we all learned or should have learned in civics class.”

That should help you find the fault line between the House and the governor’s office when lawmakers meet in January, and the institutional Republicans and trade groups now picking sides in the elections are intentionally or accidentally showing how they lean: more toward the House than the governor.

More on the Straus and Perry factions forming here, Perry cool on question of endorsing Straus.

Gov. Rick Perry is unequivocal in his support of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s bid for U.S. Senate, even going with him to vote early this morning at a public library in Tarrytown, an upscale neighborhood near downtown Austin.

And while Perry was scathing in his criticism of presidential candidate Mitt Romney when he was battling him in the primary – and even is leaving the door open for another bid himself in 2016 – he also proclaimed his enthusiasm for the former Massachusetts governor: “On a scale of 10, show me as a 10.”

Perry even endorsed a candidate for U.S. Senate in Minnesota, and he’s been active in Texas legislative endorsements.

But when it comes to the race between House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, and challenger Matt Beebe, Perry was decidedly cool: “I don’t endorse people until I get asked.”

Where this fight is likely to break out into the open is if Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst wins his bid for US Senate and the Texas Senate if forced to choose his successor. Actually it already has, John Carona has never said Dan Patrick was gay.

This is uproarious. Two Republicans in the state Senate jockeying for the day a when Texas needs a new lieutenant governor are hurling rotten tomatoes at each other.

[...]

Carona went on to blame Patrick’s political ambition for the e-mail.

Carona is a potential candidate for lieutenant governor if Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is elected to the U.S. Senate and senators choose an interim replacement, and also in the 2014 statewide election for the seat. Patrick is a potential lieutenant governor candidate in 2014.

Carona also called Patrick “a snake oil salesman” and “a narcissist that would say anything to draw attention to himself.”

Patrick, in response, suggested that Carona is “at a very dark place in his life for some reason” and said:

“I find Senator Carona’s response repulsive and unbecoming of a Senator. I stand by my statement. … He still owes my wife and my family an apology. Now he owes me an apology for his latest smear, another fabrication by Senator Carona.”

Paul Burka is solemn and sober in his judgment.

As pointed in a previous post, there are many issues that go into the Senate picking their next leader.

It took eight ballots, all secret, in a  “committee of the whole” to elect the new Lt. Gov back in 2000.  The Senate back then had a 16-15 GOP majority.  Wikipedia states Bill Ratliff was elected by a vote of 16-15, with most of his votes coming from Democrats.  Suffice it to say that an election like that, just before the legislative session, is likely to stir up passions, not just in the Senate, but those outside the Senate looking to run for Lt. Gov. in 2014. It would be like a Speaker’s race in the Senate.

Add to that what appears to be a looming battle between the Speaker and the Governor and it becomes a proxy war.  Whoever becomes the next Lt. Gov., should Dewhurst move to the US Senate, will essentially become the tie-breaker in the battle between Straus and Perry for the soul of the Texas GOP.

Further Reading:
Top 12 Reasons to Oust Straus.
Texas Public Policy Foundation Rushes to Defend ALEC.

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