01.02.09
Joe the….Speaker?
Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) is the consensus pick of the anti-Craddick Republicans in the Texas House.
This could be the beginning of an internal battle inside Texas GOP that was bound to happen sooner or later. The “moderates” vs. the “conservatives”, and this pick just feeds into that. I don’t think the wing nuts are going to like this pick, especially when he’s taking the place of their ideological master.
Here’s how a short profile on him from the February 2008 issue of Texas Monthly:
The ideological pendulum at the Lege is swinging, finally and inevitably, back toward the center, so moderate Republicans—the golden-cheeked warblers of Texas politics—may soon reemerge as a force to be reckoned with. When that happens, we’re betting on this pedigreed, patrician lawmaker from tony District 121 (Alamo Heights, Olmos Park) to be in the thick of things. The son of San Antonio grandee and GOP stalwart Jocelyn Straus, Joe III studied political science at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, before taking low-level staff jobs in the Reagan and Bush 41 administrations. A principal in the insurance firm of Watson, Mazur, Bennett, and Straus, he had never run for office before vying for a seat vacated by a Railroad Commission appointee in 2005; he beat three challengers, including a former Texas Supreme Court justice, to win a special election, and was reelected with ease last year. Genial and pragmatic, he’s a proponent of low taxes, economic growth, and other totems of fiscal conservatism, but he’s no friend to hectoring social conservatives—and he’s all for lowering the level of anger at the Capitol. He’s also one of the rare pols who see their time in office as public service. Imagine that. Even better, imagine a world in which everyone saw it that way.
He’s from the Daddy Bush “elite” wing of the GOP. He also may get under the skin of the Rural R’s – there has been a rural vs. urban rift develping in the GOP also. He’s an insurance man and lawyer. There is no such thing as a good GOP speaker for the Democrats. But Straus is likely better for Texas than Craddick. That may be the best we can hope for at this point, to try and lessen the damage until Democrats can take back power in Texas. The pick shocked Burka. Good luck Joe.
[UPDATE]: Elise Hu has video.