David vs. the Straus-phere – the fight for a conservative Texas House Speaker
As the Texas 2013 legislative session gears up, conservatives are once again calling for a more conservative house speaker.
Speaker Straus has long held the position largely thanks to support from Democrats and many Republicans who seem to like the status-quo of this more moderate state representative.
This year David Simpson put his hat into the race to challenge Straus, but unlike the biblical story of a young boy and a giant, this Texas stratosphere of a giant was not defeated. When entering the race David had promised he would recant his candidacy if it appeared he did not have the votes to save his supporters from possible backlash that has been seen in the past.
Simpson made a statement, as reported by the Grassroots Texans Network while seeking endorsements for David, saying,
I respect Speaker Straus as a fellow legislator; however, we differ on the way that the House should be led. And I am not alone in that opinion.
The culture of ‘go along to get along’ politics, where members face intimidation and retribution should they disagree with a leadership decision, stifles representative government.
Moreover, the rules have been considered advisory rather than mandatory and applied disparately. I believe, however, the rules should be enforced without regard to party, personality, or seniority.
The responsibility for the solution lies with the current members. I invite my fellow legislators to join me in transforming the way the House operates. Now is the time to change the spirit of our Legislature and put the principles of liberty and open government above the politics of intimidation.
RedState.com also released an article claiming to have a number of private e-mails form Straus where ‘Tea party activists are called “idiots”.’
Despite all this it appears that once again, the challenger did not have the needed support to unseat Straus, likely due to the support he still gets from many conservative republicans, and business leaders in Texas.
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