http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2010/11/22/opinion/doc4ceae2ad428c7977111416.txtLast session, Straus was elected with the help of his friends, the Democrats. He appointed Democrat Senfronia Thompson as the Chair of Calendars – a crucial committee that determines which bills see the light of day. The most telling sign of Straus’ ideology is his appointment of committee chairs. Indeed, according to the Young Conservatives of Texas ratings, the average score of committee chairs appointed by Speaker Straus was a 42, a drop of 25 from the previous session.
http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2010/11/07/opinion/doc4cd642868584a743195230.txtDavid Barton is the former Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. Barton recently circulated a report confirming that conservatives are now the largest ideological group in America, and that Texans call themselves conservatives by a margin of 3 to 1 over liberals.
Unfortunately, according to the report, current Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, a Republican, has worked and is working to defeat conservative Republican candidates and is even helping elect Democrats in various state races.
Speaker Straus has also selected liberals, including tax and spend Democrats, to be committee heads, instead of choosing conservative Republicans. Some of these liberal committee heads will oversee legislative redistricting – key to who controls the legislature.
Our own State Representative Jim Pitts was one of the “Gang of 11 who joined with Liberals and Democrats to out the previous conservative House Speaker and to get Straus elected House Speaker.
http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2010/11/24/opinion/doc4cedabf192dbb546589343.txtMr. Pitts stated that he supports Joe Straus for Speaker of the Texas House, even though that would put a non-conservative in a position to control what legislation comes up for a vote. Those who attended the Nov. 20 meeting repeatedly asked Mr. Pitts to support Ken Paxton for Speaker, and not to support Straus because of Straus’ liberal record on issues such as gun control, voter I.D. and abortion. But Mr. Pitts said he intended to support Straus regardless of the wishes of those constituents.
http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2010/11/22/opinion/doc4ceae23756fd0457302994.txtIt is troubling, but somewhat understandable that during the last session of the legislature, with a bare majority (76-74), the Republican Party did not have the numbers to put good quality conservatives in all the important chairmanships; there had to be some compromise. Jim Pitts was one of 11 republicans along with a majority of the democrats that threw over Tom Craddick in favor of Joe Straus to be the Speaker, the third most powerful position in the Texas state government. Speaker Straus, in turn put Democrats and his allied Republicans in charge of the most powerful committees. Now, after the results of the conservative movement on Nov. 2, with a near super majority, it is time to take a different tack. It is time to elect a true conservative voice of the people to the speakership. It is time for Chairman Pitts to hear the raised voices of We the People and address our concerns. It is beyond the time to reconsider his misplaced pledge to the Democrat-leaning Speaker for the House. It is beyond the time for our elected representative Jim Pitts to pledge his support to one of the other candidates for the position.
The calls and letters will continue and we have the expectation that we will be heard. It is the position of this author that Representative Joe Straus shall be replaced; that a true conservative shall take the helm and lead the People’s House in a Conservative direction.
http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2010/11/14/opinion/doc4cdf65cb95a25484807183.txtLast session the state House seated almost as many Democrats (74) as Republicans (76). Republican Straus has to get elected in the general election in a very Republican district. However, he relied on more Democrat than Republican support to build the coalition that elected him speaker of the House in the past session. In fact, only 12 Republicans supported his race for chairman last time. With the larger Democrat support that was enough. Therein lies his vulnerability. Will he retain the speaker’s chair?
In addition, a San Marcus activist reports that Straus hosted a fundraiser for Democratic member Patrick Rose. Rose lost in the General Election. Few of the recently elected Republican members enjoyed his support.
More conservative Republicans can rightly ask where do the speaker’s loyalties lie? In the previous session his primary interest was being elected speaker while walking the tight-rope of being re-elected in his Republican district. The current session will be molded by the new 99 to 51 vote majority that the Republicans will try to wield like a big stick.
The members of our state House choose one of their own to serve as speaker. In the Texas House the speaker of the House appoints committee chairman and wields much influence and power. He controls the Calendar through the Calendar’s Committee. Since our state House only meets for limited terms, unless a special session is called by the governor, bills can die of inaction if they are set too far back on the Calendar. They will simply never be considered.
In fact that is just what happened in some cases, to bills favored by many conservatives.
No wonder the voters who turned out to put so many new faces in the state House are not satisfied with Speaker Straus. The Republican landslide may not be finished. Its momentum may now bury the speakership of Joe Straus who may be too bipartisan for the new Republican majority. Left or Right, “The People” will be heard.
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