Speaker of the House Race

       Have you noticed that the new Republican House in Texas is having a family fight over who will be the Speaker of the House when the Legislature convenes in January.  Current Speaker Joe Straus says he has over 100 pledges for the upcoming vote. There are 99 Republicans so there are Democrats in those pledges.  As we get closer to January there are other Republicans who also want his job so there is an active race going on.  The most conservative of the Republicans don't want Straus to continue in this position.  They claim he is too LIBERAL.  Those in opposition to Straus want only the Republicans to elect the Speaker.  It has been reported that one Republican representative has told Straus supporters that they will be targeted in the next primary season for supporting him.  Turns out this and other concerns about the speaker race were taken to the Ethics Committee.  Do you now who chairs the Ethics Committee???  Our own Cherokee County former Democrat who moved to the dark side last year--Rep. Chuck Hopson. He is chair because Speaker Straus gave his that position last session while he was still a Democrat.  Perhaps that is one of the reasons Republicans are not happy with Speaker Straus -- he appointed too many Democrats to significant committees.
   Another interesting point is that the Vice Chair of the Ethics committee is the person who threatened another Rep with a primary fight if he supported Straus.  Seems nothing signicant beyond this came from the committee's meeting, but Rep. Hopson's name keeps coming up in the speaker's race discussions.  He issued an email warning to Representatives to be careful of how they participated in the speaker's race as they should beware of possible bribery charges and other acts of misconduct.  Some took this as a warning to not listen to their constiutents and have said that Hopson and others want only the insiders to elect the next speaker.    The Quorum Report web site has a couple of videos being used in the speaker's race.  Check it out if you are interested.  These videos are under the Daily Buzz tab and are dated November 30. You'll have to scroll down to find them.