At last Thursday’s TribLive conversation, the authors of Texas Monthly’s biennial Best and Worst Legislators story, senior executive editor Paul Burka and senior editor Nate Blakeslee, defended their 2011 picks.
Joe Straus
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State Government
TribLive: Burka and Blakeslee on Joe Straus
At last Thursday’s TribLive conversation, the authors of Texas Monthly’s biennial Best and Worst Legislators story, senior executive editor Paul Burka and senior editor Nate Blakeslee, assessed the performance of Speaker Joe Straus.
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State Government
For Big Three, Session Ends as It Started: It’s Complicated
If you wanted to know where the governor, the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House would stand at the end of the legislative session, you could have seen it all months ago.
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Demographics
The 82nd Lege Session: The Highlights Reel
The Trib’s multimedia team highlights some of the most memorable — and surprising — moments from the 82nd Legislative Session. Our lawmakers sure do love to make a statement, complete with finger pointing, yelling and props. (Some video courtesy the Texas House, the Texas Senate and legetv.org.)
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State Government
Video: GOP Leaders Tout Budget Cuts; Perry Demurs on 2012 Run
Gov. Rick Perry, House Speaker Joe Straus and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on Tuesday touted the accomplishments of the regular session: cutting the state budget without raising taxes or tapping the Rainy Day Fund.
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Criminal Justice
Session’s End Creates Graveyard of Failed Legislation
The system is meant to kill legislation: That’s the old line often heard around the Capitol. As the session’s end slams the coffin door on a slew of bills, more than a few lawmakers are taking solace in the fact that their dead bills have lots of company.
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State Government
Video: GOP Praises Fiscally “Responsible” Session
Republican members of the Texas House reflected on the end of the regular session late Monday. Speaker Joe Straus praised lawmakers for showing “great discipline” and focus, while GOP Caucus Chair Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, warned Democrats they made a “bad strategic” move by pushing for a special session.
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Criminal Justice
20 Weeks in Which the Budget Held Sway
The 82nd Texas Legislature’s regular session ends as it started, with lawmakers arguing about a shrunken state budget and redistricting.
Posted in
Politics
Conservative “Outsiders” Have Inside Track in Legislative Session
His nickname around the Texas Capitol is “mucus.” It’s a play on Michael Quinn Sullivan’s initials — MQS — but the moniker underscores how much of an irritant the conservative activist has become to politicians who dare buck his Tea Party orthodoxy. It also says something about his staying power.
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Demographics
AUDIO: Crownover, Taylor and Williams at TribLive
At this morning’s TribLive conversation, I interviewed three veteran lawmakers — state Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Lake Dallas, state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, and state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands — about how they and their Republican colleagues fared this session.