Greg Aydt, HCRP Precinct Chair for Precinct 333, says that he was the final author of the resolution after receiving much input and support from several others. Greg writes the “Rhymes with Right” blog:
WHEREAS the 2010 elections resulted in a historic number of Republicans swept into office across the nation; and that the Texas House of Representatives constitutes a shining example of that Republican electoral tsunami; and
WHEREAS this unprecedented success was based upon the people of the United States, and the state of Texas in particular, embracing a conservative approach to governance; and
WHEREAS there exists among the people of Texas a profound discontent over the traditional “pledge” method of selecting the Texas Speaker of the House; and
WHEREAS this year’s election of a historic majority has resulted in multiple Republican candidates for the position of Speaker coming forward for consideration; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED that the Harris County Republican Party calls for the release of all members of the Texas House of Representatives from any pledges, promises, or commitments made to support any candidate for the office of Speaker so that a special caucus for the purpose of selecting ONE Republican candidate for the office of Speaker of the House may be held, at which time a secret ballot of all Republican members of the House elected or reelected in 2010 shall be conducted; and be it further
RESOLVED that the Harris County Republican Party calls for each member of the Republican Caucus pledge to support the winner of this vote when the full assembly votes for Speaker at the beginning of the new session so that the majority party, rather than the minority party, shall determine the Speaker for the upcoming legislative session; and be it also
RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be delivered by electronic and US mail to each Republican member and member-elect of the Texas House of Representatives.
For certain it is nice to see this particular group working together – it wasn’t so long ago that they were fighting and insulting each other via email. But let’s break down their resolution a little.
The first part is a true and objective fact:
“WHEREAS the 2010 elections resulted in a historic number of Republicans swept into office across the nation; and that the Texas House of Representatives constitutes a shining example of that Republican electoral tsunami; and”
No question about that one.
This one, not so much. This is a much more dubious fact, skipping over nuance and ignoring significant fault-lines that lie beneath the surface of Texas Republicans:
“WHEREAS this unprecedented success was based upon the people of the United States, and the state of Texas in particular, embracing a conservative approach to governance; and”
An argument could be made that the people of Texas did not embrace a “conservative approach to governance”. In fact, the people of Texas voted against Washington, not for anything. Don’t believe me? Here is what Texas GOP Chair Steve Munisteri said:
Munisteri said there was a coordinated Republican effort to nationalize the election at every level and drive straight-ticket voting.
He said the state party mailed out 2.1 million pieces of direct mail to known Republican voters urging a straight-ticket vote. The Victory Committee, headed by Comptroller Susan Combs, did another 1.1 million direct mail pieces with the theme “Just vote Republican.” Munisteri said Victory also made 300,000 calls to identified Republicans on Election Day, urging them to turn out.
And we did the same thing in Harris County, as any observer will admit. But we failed to convince everyone because Bill White defeated Rick Perry by 16,436 votes. If, as the resolution suggests, we were “embracing a conservative approach”, no way that would have happened. I hope that this isn’t an indication that Texas Republicans are going to confuse the election results with a “mandate” to govern in such a way that we reverse our gains in 2012. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened; see Obama, Barack.
This next part is completely and totally wrong. It states as “fact” something the authors wish to be true:
“WHEREAS there exists among the people of Texas a profound discontent over the traditional ‘pledge’ method of selecting the Texas Speaker of the House; and”
Profound discontent? Seriously? Granted, if the authors had replaced “people” with “certain activists”, this would be true. But they didn’t. And I gotta tell you the truth – the people of Texas don’t give a profound rats tail about the way in which the Speaker of the House of the State of Texas is selected. They just plain don’t. Don’t believe me? Walk around Wal Mart and ask a hundred Christmas shoppers what they think of the pledge system that is used. You’ll be lucky to find one that even knows what it is, much less expresses “profound discontent” with it. Try it. You know I’m right.
Okay, so now that a resolution is passed, can we please get on with the business of thinking about legislation? I’m sure that Speaker Straus is going to lead the House in a successful session, even with the severe budget challenges they face. Let’s hope the Senate does its job, which is not a given, despite the lack of focus on it from the “grassroots”. That is where the action is going to be.
And speaking of the Senate, Evan over at PerryvsWorld has an intriguing idea about that so-called “blocker bill” – the one requiring 21 votes (2/3) to get a bill passed. He thinks we should lower it to 60{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}, or 19 votes and do it via constitutional amendment. He makes a pretty strong argument for it. Check it out.