Free Republic

Probe finds no wrongdoing by federal department in search for Texas lawmakers Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In vestigators found no wrongdoing by a Department of Homeland Security agency that helped Texas police track down the private plane of a state legislator who fled with other Democrats to Oklahoma in a political dispute. The department's inspector general concluded in a report released Monday that a dispatcher at the California-based Air and Marine Inter diction Coordination Center made eight phone calls that took no more than 40 minutes to track down a Piper Chey enne belonging to state Rep. Pete Laney,...

Craddick in, Laney out as House Speaker By BRIAN WILLIAMS AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Pete Laney's 10-year tenure as House Speaker appears to be over as Republican Tom Craddick staked his claim to be Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives on Thursday. The election night success gave the GOP control of the chamber for the first time in 130 years. Dozens of gleeful Republicans crowded around Craddick as he announced in Austin he had the support of a vast majority of the 150-member House. Republicans won 88 seats Tuesday. The House will formally vote on its new speaker when the legislative session...

I read on a site Sunday (that I cannot find today) that State Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, will be voting for Speaker Pete Laney, D-Hale Center, for reelection to a sixth two-year term as Speaker. In the article, Jones predicted that Republicans will increase their numbers in the lower house of the legislature by 10 -- from 72 to 82. A majority is 76. Jones said that he cannot support the expected Republican candidate for Speaker, stalwart Rep. Tom Craddick of Midland, senior Republican in the legislature. Jones also predicted that at least a dozen Republicans will cross party lines...