| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
23 May 2007 03:03:40 PM |
| Object: |
Republican revolution against Texas Republican House Speaker. |
Craddick, who hails from President Bush's oil-rich hometown of
Midland, has tried to counter the insurrection.
From The Associated Press, 5/23/07:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-texas-legislature-coup,0,7227938.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
Powerful Texas Pol Fights a Rebellion
By APRIL CASTRO
Associated Press Writer
AUSTIN, Texas --
In the early years, Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick's Republican
underlings did exactly as they were told.
After all, Craddick got most of them elected and he could darn well
get them unelected.
To oppose him would be tantamount to signing their own political death
warrants.
Countless votes on Craddick's pet issues -- congressional
redistricting and lawsuit restrictions, among them -- routinely went
his way.
Rarely did a Republican dare to oppose the man who had become the
godfather of the House GOP and, some say, the most powerful man in
Texas politics.
But that was a few years ago.
In the past six months, the chamber he once ruled with an iron fist
has become a hotbed of rebellion, and Craddick is facing what may be
the battle of his political career -- an attempt to overthrow him as
speaker 18 months before his third term in the post is up.
Democrats and Republicans alike have grown tired of Craddick's rough
tactics, complaining that he rules like a dictator and that his
win-at-any-cost style often forces them to vote against the interests
of their own districts.
The speaker's power "is detrimental to this House and the state, and
it must end, and it must end now," said GOP Rep. Byron Cook.
In this final full week of the legislative session, the unrest in the
Texas House has been palpable, with coup plotters working the floor
like characters in a Shakespearean drama, whispering and wondering who
among them can be trusted.
In recent days, even some of Craddick's most trusted allies, including
powerful committee chairmen, have turned against him.
Craddick, who hails from President Bush's oil-rich hometown of
Midland, has tried to counter the insurrection.
The 63-year-old powerbroker has been all smiles as he shrewdly works
to woo the suspected traitors and keep his supporters on board.
As for the media, though, he has made it clear that the movement to
oust him is off-limits as a topic.
Extra TV news cameras line the sides of the House floor, all pointed
at the speaker's dais in anticipation of the climax everyone's been
waiting for.
If it comes, it will be in the form of a parliamentary maneuver known
as a move to vacate the chair.
If a majority of the 150-member chamber votes aye, Craddick and all of
his staff will have to clear out of the speaker's quarters, which
include a stately apartment behind the chamber where Craddick and his
wife live while in Austin.
It is the only such statehouse residence in the nation.
"The only reason we would be considering something that drastic at
this stage is because if we don't do this while we are in session, the
speaker will be empowered for the next 18 months to do what he does,"
Rep. Fred Hill, who until recently was a trusted Craddick lieutenant
but is now one of four Republicans running for speaker.
As speaker, Craddick has the power to set the agenda and control which
bills are taken up.
His great advantage is that he is the only statewide leader in Texas
who does not have to bend to the electorate at large.
His district has reliably sent him back to Austin every two years
since 1968.
That gives him an edge in negotiations with Gov. Rick Perry and Lt.
Gov. David Dewhurst, fellow Republicans who must appease voters across
Texas.
The longest-serving member of the Legislature, Craddick is an adept
fundraiser, and those skills helped the Republicans win a majority in
the House in 2003 for the first time in more than 130 years.
His grateful colleagues promptly chose Craddick, an oilfield-mud
salesman of Napoleonic stature, to be their leader -- and Texas' first
Republican speaker since 1871.
"One of the things he is very good at is raising money and campaigning
against members that don't agree with him," Hill said.
"His oxygen is new members. That's what has kept him in office."
His bruising style was on display in 2003, when he helped push through
a congressional redistricting plan that helped get more Republicans
elected.
During the debate, the Democrats in the House fled the state to block
the bill.
Craddick ordered their apprehension.
That didn't happen, but months later, Craddick got the congressional
map he wanted, including a new Midland-centered district.
Craddick held out stubbornly for the new district, despite repeated
pleas for compromise from then-U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a
fellow Republican known as "The Hammer" for his own bareknuckle
tactics.
Some of Craddick's critics complain that they are bullied into doing
things his way with threats that he will bankroll candidates to run
against them in primaries.
"I've been told as recently as Saturday that they're actively
recruiting an opponent to run against me in my district," Cook said
this week in a scathing address on the House floor.
"I will not yield to tyranny, bullying and threats."
If he is forced out, Craddick will occupy another page in the Texas
history books: It will be the first time a speaker has been forced
from his leadership post since 1871, when Civil War veteran Rep. Ira
Hobart Evans, the last GOP speaker, was bounced.
With the 80th session of the Texas Legislature set to end on Monday,
Craddick's foes are weighing the risks of a failed coup.
"I would think that if we don't do something while this body is in
session that we are going to see 18 months of some very aggressive
campaigning, and I'm just going to call it pure hell," Hill said.
"A lot of members are going to be attacked."
________________________________________________________
Harry
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| User: "Lars Eighner" |
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| Title: Re: Republican revolution against Texas Republican House Speaker. |
23 May 2007 03:27:46 PM |
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In our last episode, <ng795312lt9iqf58peph8r2gsm9dkl2pq6@4ax.com>, the
lovely and talented Harry Hope broadcast on alt.politics:
Craddick, who hails from President Bush's oil-rich hometown of
Midland, has tried to counter the insurrection.
From The Associated Press, 5/23/07:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-texas-legislature-coup,0,7227938.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
So, something like this could happen even to Pelosi, who seems hellbent on
throwing money at Bush's war?
--
Lars Eighner <http://larseighner.com/> <http://myspace.com/larseighner>
Countdown: 607 days to go.
Why "War Czar"? That sounds like Imperial Russia!
Call it by the American term: "Fall Guy."
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| User: "The Pretzel" |
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| Title: Re: Republican revolution against Texas Republican House Speaker. |
27 May 2007 08:05:40 PM |
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Lars Eighner wrote:
In our last episode, <ng795312lt9iqf58peph8r2gsm9dkl2pq6@4ax.com>, the
lovely and talented Harry Hope broadcast on alt.politics:
Craddick, who hails from President Bush's oil-rich hometown of
Midland, has tried to counter the insurrection.
From The Associated Press, 5/23/07:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-texas-legislature-coup,0,7227938.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
So, something like this could happen even to Pelosi, who seems hellbent on
throwing money at Bush's war?
Yup.
I say yes. ...but not yet, *****-wipe. Pelosi is just getting her feet
wet. I heard second-hand info that they were worried about what king
georgie iv would say over memorial day weekend... Heh, they should be
worried what WE Dems will DO from now on... I'm good with waiting 'til
September. ...but no later. If they do then what they did yesterday it
will be time to run other Dems against incumbents and call for another
speaker.
So shove it. It isn't your call, Rightard. You're on the LOSING LOSERS
side now, REMEMBER?
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