That was the prenicious legislation that required groups who took in $25,000 or more for political purposes to register with the state, reveal their donors and exempted unions. It was evidently Speaker Joe Straus’ baby, and it’s unclear to me why Republicans let it pass. Given the burgeoning IRS scandal, the last thing politics needs is more state involvement in determining “acceptable” opinions.
Posts Tagged ‘Joe Straus’
NEWFLASH: Gov. Perry Vetoes SB 346
Saturday, May 25th, 2013Quick Impressions from the TPPF Conference Call for 3/11/13
Monday, March 11th, 2013Some very quick and exceedingly brief impression of today’s TPPF conference call with Mario Loyola and Arlene Wohlgemuth:
I said brief…
Bryan Hughes Drops Out of Texas Speaker’s Race and Endorses David Simpson
Monday, December 10th, 2012This is big news. Rep. Bryan Hughes has dropped his bid to be Speaker of the Texas house of Representatives and has endorsed Rep. David Simpson in his run against incumbent speaker Joe Straus.
While conservatives wanted to see Straus replaced, they was worry that Hughes’ background as a trial lawyer could work against him, and there was also worry that Simpson would split the anti-Straus vote. With Hughes out and endorsing Simpson, conservatives now have their best chance ever to oust Straus.
Expect to hear more about the Speaker’s race in the near future.
LinkSwarm for November 6, 2012 (Election Day!)
Tuesday, November 6th, 2012Today’s the day! Get out there and vote!
LinkSwarm for October 15, 2012
Monday, October 15th, 2012Doing a bunch of stuff, so here’s a more-or-less random linkSwarm:
Dick Armey Aims to Unseat Speaker Joe Straus
Monday, September 24th, 2012Well, this is very interesting:
FreedomWorks, which helped insurgent Ted Cruz snatch the GOP nod for U.S. Senate from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, said Monday it will put its muscle behind toppling Texas House Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio from his leadership post.
Armey’s one sharp cookie, and he plays hardball. Conservatives came up short when they challenged the moderate Straus before last session, but the incoming Texas House looks to be more conservative, and a lot of Straus’s committee chairs lost in the primary. But Straus is no pushover, and I imagine he still sits on a big pile of legislative IOUs, as well as lobbyist juice and gambling money. Will a disgruntled David Dewhurst throw his still-considerably clout behind his counterpart in the House?
This promises to be a very interesting fight…
Update: Here’s the Freedomworks press release, where Brendan Steinhauser says they’re supporting State Rep. Bryan Hughes for Speaker.
LinkSwarm for April 27, 2012
Friday, April 27th, 2012Working on a major senate race post, so enjoy another Friday LinkSwarm:
LinkSwarm for May 23, 2011
Monday, May 23rd, 2011LinkSwarm for Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011A few links of interest, some Tucson-shooting-related, some not:
- Wow. There’s crazy. There’s super crazy. And then there’s even the people on AboveTopSecret think you’re a loon crazy.
- Cry for help, insane person, or random troll? Really, there’s no way to know.
- Why the liberal response to Palin’s video is so lame:
Let me be blunt, liberal America: no one, outside your own fever swamps, trusts you to decide what discourse is “fair”, or where the “Climate of Hate” begins and ends. You don’t get to drop buckets of blood on Palin for days, then call her a hatemonger for responding. Your behavior over the last few days is a crime against discourse, and you did not get away with it.
- Paul Krugman managed to bring up one example of conservative “eliminationist rhetoric”…and it was a lie.
- “Liberals wanted to use the Tucson massacre to smear conservatives. In the end, it will further discredit them and journalism itself. We are seeing, in a somewhat different form, the Dan Rather/National Guard story all over again. And we know how that turned out.”
- In truth, I don’t cover Krugman a lot, because: A.) Plenty of others are covering that beat, and B.) Like much of the rest of The New York Times, I view Krugman’s blinkered liberalism as a major strategic advantage for conservatives. But John Steele Gordon is right: “He is the Joe McCarthy of our times.”
- Joe Straus re-elected Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
- OK, something non-shooting related: This disclaimer is pretty funny.
The Texas House Speaker’s Race Religion Kerfluffle
Monday, December 6th, 2010Since the topic has gotten to Fark, I thought I would clear up the whole “Republicans oppose Straus because he’s Jewish” myth, a myth entirely based on one dumbass (or one plant) sending out email. (The truth is, Republicans oppose Straus because he’s not conservative enough.) In particular, I’d like to point out that those who say that Republicans haven’t condemned this religious bating are wrong:
Reps. Warren Chisum and Ken Paxton, conservative Republicans who’ve launched long-shot bids to unseat House Speaker Joe Straus, on Wednesday condemned campaign e-mails that have introduced candidates’ religions.
E-mails, some of unknown origin, have surfaced in recent days that mention Straus’ rabbi and underscore the Christian faith of his leading critics in the House Republican Caucus. One e-mail promises that “Straus is going down in Jesus’ name.”
“I repudiate that in the strongest terms,” Chisum, R-Pampa, said in an interview. “That is not what this is about.”
Chisum later issued a release saying, “No one working with me on my campaign for speaker has anything to do with such tactics,” which he called “deplorable.”
Paxton, R-McKinney, released a similar statement.
“There is absolutely no place for religious bigotry in the race for Texas speaker,” Paxton said. “It is just as shameful for anyone to imply that I would ever condone this type of behavior. My campaign is singularly focused on a message of providing proven, dependable conservative leadership to the Texas House.”
That was way back on November 18, people. If you’re going to repeat a liberal smear, how about one that wasn’t already debunked three weeks ago?