Texans believe decline of moral & family values has country on wrong track
By Cathie Adams
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas When the leading abortion provider in the country Planned Parenthood honors Texas House Speaker Joe Straus in their fall 2009 newsletter Horizon for his tireless efforts on behalf of Texas women and children during the last legislative session" it explains why every pro-life bill was killed during the session. (It is further explained by the fact that Speaker Straus received a 100 rating by the radical pro-abortion group NARAL and that he even voted in support of third-trimester abortions (SB 419 vote 672 2005).)
Some have attempted to defend Speaker Straus on this issue claiming that it was really a single legislator who missed one committee meeting that was actually responsible for killing the pro-life agenda in the past session (including the sonogram bill filed by Rep. Frank Corte).
That is nonsense especially when the legislator they are trying to blame is former Speaker Tom Craddick who has a proven life-long pro-life voting record. Craddicks pro-life credentials are irrefutable.
Significantly when Tom Craddick was Speaker in 2003 Rep. Frank Corte filed
HB 15 to regulate abortion.
It passed the House early in the session on April 30 was sent to the Senate finally passed and sent to Gov. Perry for signing.
By contrast in this session under Speaker Joe Straus Rep. Frank Corte filed HB 36 to require a sonogram before an abortion. The Straus-appointed State Affairs Committee Chairman Burt Solomons held a public hearing for HB 36 on April 21 a full seven weeks after Rep. Corte formally requested it.
The bill was left pending in committee which was not necessarily unusual but what was unusual was that Chairman Solomons held additional formal meetings on April 23 27 28 30 and on May 5 6 (twice) and 8 but still refused to take any action on pro-life bill HB 36.
With time running out in the session it became imperative that Senator Dan Patricks companion bill (SB 182) move through the Senate in order to force
the House to act. After passing the Senate on May 1st the bill was received in the House on May 4th.
It could have been acted upon quickly but instead it went an entire week before being read the first time and referred to the House Committee on State Affairs the same unfriendly committee where the companion pro-life bill was being bottled up.
Although House author Rep. Corte submitted a letter on May 12 requesting a public hearing for SB 182 it took yet another week before it was considered substituted and reported favorably from the committee.
Finally on May 22 SB 182 was sent to the House Committee on Calendars and placed on the House Major State Calendar for May 24 very near the end of the legislative session. The Democrat chubbing" (a term used for filibustering) was used to run out the clock for the session and kill that pro-life bill along with dozens of other bills.
Significantly early in the session Speaker Straus had been specifically warned by pro-life leaders about the potential chubbing" tactic by Democrats and
was therefore urged to get the bill to the floor early in the session as had been done with pro-life bills in previous sessions but Speaker Straus ignored those warnings.
An exit polling on Election Day similarly showed that a majority of Americans believe that our country is on the wrong track because of a decline of moral and family values adding that they wanted to end abortion-on-demand.
Speaker Straus with his public pro-abortion position is out of step on the issue of life according to a Gallop poll that shows that the majority of Americans are pro-life.
On November 2nd voters proved that former President Ronald Reagans three legged stool of fiscal and social conservatism and a strong national defense is very much alive.
It is time for Representatives to elect a new pro-life conservative House Speaker who represents the values not only of most legislators but also of the overwhelming majority of Texas voters.
Cathie Adams is immediate past Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas is a former Texas Republican Party National Committeewoman having spent years as president of Texas Eagle Forum where she became a nationally recognized conservative leader. She may reached at cathieadams@me.com
