During a time when most people are enjoying the holidays, Texas Republicans are engaging in a very interesting power struggle. The prize is to become Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
The current holder of that office, Tom Craddick of Midland, got that job after the Republicans took control of the Texas House in 2002 following the 2001 redistricting. In the ensuing four years, he has perhaps been the single most powerful individual in Texas politics, including leading Tom DeLay's divisive drive to re-redistrict Texas' congressional districts in 2003. Craddick's harsh and autocratic rule over the House has apparently made him some enemies, even amongst his own party. And now with the GOP's margin in the House shrunk by serveral seats after the November elections, two fellow Republicans, first Brian McCall and now Jim Pitts, are trying to oust Craddick from his position.
McCall, from Plano and apparently quite conservative, appears to be the favorite candidate of most Dems in the legislature, based on his alleged fairness.
Vince Liebowitz at Capitol Annex suggests that Pitts, who just jumped in today as McCall's candidacy appeared to be taking off in the last couple days, is the "Craddick-subsitute" candidate: "the same far-right wing ideals and uber-conservative establishment credentials without most of the baggage (and respected by more Democrats)." Charles Kuffner, though, says, "All I've heard about Jim Pitts suggests that he'd be as good an alternative as McCall would be. If he can get over the hump, he'd be fine by me."
As Craddick's rule has only been good from the vantage point of DeLay-style, corrupt, special-interest, viciously-partisan politics, the ouster of Craddick would, in principle, be excellent news for the citizens of our state. Hopefully the "in principle" will eventually translate to "in practice."
Here is the latest from the San Antonio Express-News today:
Republican Rep. Jim Pitts of Waxahachie, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said in an interview today that he is challenging Speaker Tom Craddick, becoming the third member to declare his candidacy. Craddick, meanwhile, insisted he held a decisive lead against his two declared opponents and released a list of 84 members he said reconfirmed their support for him.
The question of who supported whom appeared Thursday to be the most-hotly disputed issue of the race.
Pitts said he told Craddick that he "didn’t think (Craddick) he could get the numbers that he needed (to be re-elected as head of the House). I don’t think Brian (McCall) is getting the numbers. And I’ve got a consensus group that has asked me to run," Pitts said in an interview minutes after he mailed his paperwork for the race.
For much more on the fast-developing Speaker's race, see Burnt Orange Report and Capitol Annex.
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