Remember the ABCs? Anybody But Craddick? Not you’ve got ABS folks, who don’t like Republican House Speaker Joe Straus.
Texas House of Representatives
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State Government
TribBlog: RINO Hunters
The latest salvo in the speaker race is a slick internet video that argues the House should have a more conservative speaker than Joe Straus. And it suggests the fight to come, knocking over dominoes with the pictures of “Republicans In Name Only” who could be targets in the GOP primaries two years from now: Keffer, Truitt, Geren, Solomons, Eissler, Cook…
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State Government
No Ethics Violation in House Speaker’s Race
A House committee heard testimony yesterday on whether or a lawmaker used the threat redistricting as a tactic to coerce a colleague into supporting Speaker Joe Straus. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports on the testimony — and what’s next in the investigation.
Posted inState Government
House Committee Can’t Confirm Misconduct
Members of the Texas House General Investigating and Ethics Committee heard testimony today on whether or not a lawmaker used redistricting to threaten a member into supporting Speaker Joe Straus. Their conclusion: We can’t tell.
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State Government
House Ethics Panel on Speaker’s Race Threats
In a House Ethics Committee meeting Tuesday, state Rep. Chuck Hopson, R-Jacksonville, revealed that state Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, is the man behind an alleged threat that lawmakers who fail to support Speaker Joe Straus for re-election could face retribution through redistricting. Hopson named Phillips before the panel went into a closed executive session to discuss the allegation.
Posted inState Government
Interactive: The Speaker’s Race!
We’ve reached a point in the soap opera known as the House Speaker’s Race at which it’s tough to track all the characters and their connections. To keep his post, current Speaker Joe Straus is actively campaigning for the votes of House members who will elect him — or his replacement — in January. In recent weeks, two of his fellow Republicans have emerged as challengers, and the involvement of sundry outside interests make for an increasingly tangled web. As the House General Investigating and Ethics Committee prepares to hold a hearing today about alleged threats made against one minor player in the drama, we present this handy interactive to help make sense of it all.
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Economy
TribBlog: Pitts Sees Deep Cuts Ahead
State budget writers will propose eliminating agencies, cutting others to a quarter of their current size and mandating furloughs for state employees to balance the budget without raising taxes or using the state’s Rainy Day Fund, Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts told a hometown crowd.
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State Government
We Lose?
Citing performance issues and alleging a conflict of interest, critics blasted Friday’s decision by the Texas Lottery Commission to renew a 10-year operations contract worth up to $1 billion with Rhode Island-based GTECH Corporation, the state’s primary lottery vendor since its 1992 inception.
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State Government
TribBlog: Joe the Conservative
House Speaker Joe Straus is sooo conservative … that he advertises on the Drudge Report.
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Economy
Audio: An Interview With Michael Quinn Sullivan
An interview with Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and Empower Texans.
