02.06.07
Craddick Still Blames Media For His Problems, Still In Denial About Loses In The House
From this article, Speaker backs parks, education, we see that Tom Craddick still doesn’t understand or, at least, won’t publicly acknowledge he understands what went on over the last year. He blames the media for being perceived as an autocratic leader.
In one of the first one-on-one interviews he has granted since he narrowly averted being dethroned last month, Craddick exhibited the same feisty streak that has defined his previous 19 terms in the House and two full terms as speaker.
He acknowledged being surprised by the House rebellion — and suggested it was fueled by unfair media depictions of him ruling as an autocrat.
“I think there’s a perception out there that’s not a true perception,” he said, adding. “I think that misperception is in y’all more than it is on the House floor.”
Uh, it wasn’t the media that let James Leininger roam the back hall to twist legislator’s arms on the voucher vote.
(More of the article below the fold)Â
And here’s more proof he’s a nice guy:
He said there’s no need for him to show a gentler, kinder side, because he is kind enough already. Then he offered reporters a challenge: Find a single committee chairman who would say he controls what happens in committees.
“Forget the members. Go find a chairman that will say that,” he said. “The stories are that I set the agenda for the individual committees and that I control what gets passed out. … I’d be interested if you could find someone.”
Rep. Robert Talton, R-Pasadena, a onetime Craddick loyalist whom Craddick appointed to head the House Urban Affairs Committee in 2003 and 2005, said as far as he could tell, Craddick was partly right — the speaker never ordered him to kill or pass a bill out of committee.
“He gets somebody else to do so,” Talton charged, adding that Craddick’s chief of staff, Nancy Fisher, asked him on two occasions last session to get bills out of his committee to the House floor.
While difficult to verify, such comments are proof that the House’s very nasty public feud still rubs raw.
Hmm…that’s strange that the committee chairs would say nice things about the Speaker. He did appoint them after all. Finally he thinks it was low voter turnout and GOP apathy that caused the losses in the house. Not the fact that his failed leadership and targeting of members, along with James Leininger, and support of vouchers is what caused most of those members to lose:
Asked to explain the uprising against him, Craddick cited the loss of six Republican House seats last year.
And while he lamented his party’s weakening, he dismissed any suggestion he was at fault.
“I don’t think that election was about me,” Craddick said in a half-hour interview in a conference room adjacent to his Capitol apartment. “I don’t think we had anything to do with it. I think it was low voter turnout and there was a lot of apathy among Republicans and that hurt us.”
Asked if he had learned any lessons from the speaker’s race, Craddick said he needs to spend more time with members.
The Speaker is still in denial about what happened in the last year. Or at least this writer was able to portray it that way, whether it was an accident or on purpose, it’s hard to tell.