Posted on 07/19/2017 8:40:11 PM PDT by Morgana
That’s a very clear explanation of our problem! Well done!
Thanks...and the funny thing is that I spend very little time following our state politics, much more interested in national politics.
I’ll add some more things. In Texas, the Lt. Governor is elected by a statewide popular vote, but the House Speaker is elected by the House members, all of them (150 total, in our case)...just as the US Speaker of the House is elected by all members, not just the ruling party.
In Texas, that’s the rut of our problem. If the House is, say, 90-60 Republican, one would expect a reasonably conservative speaker. But we get a left-wing radical. Why?
Well, it turns out, that of the 90 Republicans, all that a left-wing Speaker needs is 16 votes, as he can also get the 60 Democrat votes. The Dems figure (correctly) that they can never elect a Democrat Speaker, so why not be pivotal in selecting the Republican Speaker. So when it’s time for re-election, our Speaker (Strauss) simply rounds up 16 of his buddies (i.e., the ones he’s given plum committee assignments to), verifies that the Dems are with him...and with that, he has a 76-74 majority to be Speaker.
In the end, I don’t think Strauss ever needed Democrat votes to win, as most Republicans know enough to vote for him...since he’s going to be their leader no matter what - but without the threat of Democrat help, he would just be another back-bencher.
But now the fun and games are over for him...his buddies will start (quietly) tugging on him to ‘get this crap over with’ and his glory days of playing God here are likely (hopefully) winding down.
Thanks for the pings!
Thanks for that excellent recap of how our TX legislature works.
I wish there were a formidable candidate to oust the louse Strauss, but...I’ve been saying that for YEARS :(
You’re welcome. That’s why we cannot seem to move this state forward on lots of issues, such as school choice, and many other reforms - despite being loaded up with Republicans who claim to be conservative. Oh well, let’s just see what happens now.
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Straus needs to be impeached, tied and hung. What a pathetic RINO. And shame on house members who voted almost unanimously to appoint him Speaker.
He may be worse that his federal counterparts. We have a TX house supermajority, a willing Senate, a conservative executive branch...yet very little conservative legislation happens and state spending keeps going up. Straus has been doing this since he has been Speaker.
The special session for the abortion clinic legislation was successful. I think this will come down to the intensity of community action. But I don’t want half measure, but a substantive law banning men from women’s rooms and visa versa.
I’d also like to see all sexual orientation regulations (”protection”) banned by state law.
My pleasure.
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