01.06.09

Speakers race highlights rifts inside the Texas GOP

Posted in Around The State, Commentary, HD-20, Right Wing Lies, Speakers Race, Williamson County at 11:16 am by wcnews

Implications for Williamson County as well

The last several days of the speakers race is likely a microcosm of what to expect in the GOP primary for governor in 2010 if Kay Bailey Hutchison does indeed run. Nasty attacks from the radical right of the Texas GOP in support of their candidate Rick Perry.

There will be repercussions in the Texas GOP now that it’s almost guaranteed that Joe Straus, III a more moderate, liberal, or libertarian – whichever one prefers – Republican will be taking the gavel of the Texas House of Representatives. It’s also likely there will be repercussions here in Williamson County too. While Straus has deep roots in the Texas GOP, it’s not the same kind of roots that were instrumental in taking power in Texas since the 1990′s, or here in Williamson County. They agree on low taxes and their “so called free market”, but that’s pretty much where the agreement ends. Straus’ kind of social conservative pedigree, or lack there of, isn’t what’s needed for a candidate in Williamson County, or most rural counties in Texas, to win a GOP primary.

He’s from a pro-gambling family, his father clashed with Texas Baptists in the 70′s over gambling. His family has close relations with the Bush family – other than Dubya most of the Bush family isn’t down with the “far right” of the party – hearkening back to the more moderate/elite/Rockefeller style GOP.

This new speaker would also seem to have negative implications on Rep. Dan Gattis, Jr.’s career in the house.  Since he didn’t join with Straus and the ABC’s early on, he’s likely to lose his  seat on the House Appropriations Committee and it’s also unlikely he’ll chair a committee in the upcoming legislative session.  He’ll likely begin looking ahead to a state Senate run next if Sen Steve Ogden does indeed retire and doesn’t run in 2010.

This likely is not an isolated case or a flash-in-the-pan. This has likely been boiling inside the Texas GOP for some time and the post-election GOP poll, Beyond Bush, results played into this as well. It will now become “safer” for more moderate Republicans in Texas to step forward, especially in urban areas, Straus: Well-liked except by far right.

Straus, a pro-business, fiscal conservative who held minor posts in the Reagan and the first Bush administrations, quickly gained a reputation in the Legislature for reaching across the aisle – unusual for a freshman. In one instance, he broke with his party and with Gov. Rick Perry to vote against a hotly contested measure to lower school property taxes by increasing sales and cigarette taxes. Conservative think tanks say his votes were pro-taxpayer more than 70 percent of the time.

Straus, who is vice chairman of the House Economic Development Committee, also serves on the Committee on Regulated Industries – he’s an advocate for energy efficiency – and the influential Local and Consent Calendars Committee, which determines when bills come up for a vote. He was named Freshman of the Year by the Texas Association of District and County Attorneys, and has been honored by the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Along with the moderate vs. radicals fight in the Texas GOP, the other fault line is the rural vs. urban Republicans.  It’ll be hard fro the far right to  attack Straus on criminal justice issues since WCDA John Bradley’s TDCAA awarded him “Freshman of the Year” in 2005 saying he had a “strong first session”, (see page 10) [.pdf].

Straus being from San Antonio and being a moderate  means one of the reasons he was likely chosen was so that he can help them get back some of the Hispanic vote they’ve been losing lately.  Which will likely enrage the anti-immigration fanatics in the radical right of the party.  It will be like this on many issues as the Texas GOP fights it’s internal battles over the next several years.

But the Texas GOP’s most glaring problem has been their inability to govern.  While some don’t see any “major issues” facing Texas in the upcoming legislature, there is a massive clean up that needs to be done regarding the neglect the Texas GOP has allowed to happen to our state in the recent past.  (For in depth on that check out this ongoing DMN series State of Neglect, link  via South Texas Chisme).  And most believe school funding and budget issues will soon be major issues again.

While the Texas GOP fights it’s internal battle it’s key for Texas Democrats to show Texans the way out of this morass.  Because history is showing that tax cuts and privatization are not the panacea the Texas GOP led many to believe they were.  What Texas needs is leadership, not another sales pitch about how much we can have without having to pay for it.  Whichever party and/ or politician(s) that can provide that will have a bright future in Texas.

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