By Denise McNamara
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas This election in Texas as in the nation was historic. Voters have chosen 99 Republicans to serve in the Texas House a two-thirds majority clearly sending a message. We in Texas have watched elitist politicians both Democrats and Republicans screw up our country for long enough.
Speaker Joe Straus is an elitist politician. He is neither hot nor cold and lukewarm no longer works with voters. If your state representative is a Republican and he or she does not pledge to support Ken Paxton for speaker then its time to recruit another candidate for state representative in your district. The March 2012 primary will be here before you know it.
Last 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.
Erick Erickson of RedState weighed in on the Speakers race writing Anyone who says Joe Straus is a conservative is either a fool or a liar."
Straus is in fact a moderate. He does not share the core conservative principles laid out in our GOP platform and even worse he does not have the backbone to stand up for our Republican members who do share those values.
Mark Davis in an opinion piece for the Dallas Morning News accurately describes Straus as a centrist and a members speaker."
And that is precisely the problem with Straus. He does not want to take sides.
There is a war going on right now for votes in the Speakers race. Straus and his supporters are allegedly threatening retribution for those who do not vote his way. That says a lot about his character not to mention the fact that a so-called conservative has to threaten his fellow conservatives in order to get their votes.
Those state representatives who are scared to support Ken Paxton a true conservative leader have more to worry about than the retribution of Joe Straus and his minions.
They have the voters to fear. The 2012 primary election will be here before you know it.
How is your state representative voting in this Speakers race?
Denise McNamara is the former Republican National Committeewoman for Texas (2000-2008). She is a small business owner & mother of four who resides in Dallas Texas.
