Politex

Was Chisum opposed to partisan speaker races before he was for them?

Earlier this week, state Rep. Warren Chisum called for the House Republican Caucus to meet and coalesce behind a single candidate for House Speaker.

Chisum, a Pampa Republican, is one of two candidates hoping to unseat current House Speaker Joe Straus. Chisum's announcement stirred the debate on whether it's appropriate for one party to decide who will be Speaker on their own.

Chisum said Republicans need to "respond to the will of the voters and work together to select a single Republican nominee for Speaker."

Back in 2002, Chisum appears to have held a very different position on the issue. Chisum was one of about 23 Republican House members who signed an editorial titled "Let's not have partisan speaker elections." The piece ran in the Star-Telegram on June 6, 2002.

In it, the authors warn that if Republicans decide on a speaker without any input from Democrats, it will lead to the kind of partisan rancor more associated with Washington, D.C.

From the editorial:

Now that it appears Republicans will gain a majority of Texas House seats this November, some - but not all - of our Republican colleagues are eager to change this system and seize control so that no Democrat will have a voice in choosing the next speaker. They want effectively to elect the speaker in the Republican caucus.

To support such a monumental policy change simply and solely because it improves the odds of a particular speaker candidate is short sighted and fundamentally wrong.

Once the genie of Washington-style partisanship is let out of the magic lamp, do not think that the odious process and environment which results will ever be reversed.

You can read the full editorial below the jump. We have a call out to Chisum for comment and will update this post as soon as we hear from him.

-Aman Batheja

Is the campaign against Straus anti-Semitic? Jewish media undecided

The race for House Speaker was a story with little news value outside of Texas before some comments and emails from conservative activists highlighted Speaker Joe Straus' Jewish faith.

That prompted more attention to the race and questions of whether Tea Party activists were using anti-semitic attacks.

Today, two different Jewish media outlets outside of Texas weighed in on the race and the long-term impact and came to very different conclusions.

Tablet, a New York-based online magazine that describes itself as "A New Read on Jewish Life," published a piece that argues that Straus' faith is a clear part of the effort to replace him with a Christian Republican as House Speaker

"What is clear is this: Texas tea party activists are targeting Straus, a fiscal conservative, as somehow culturally and ideologically alien, and at least some of his enemies are using religion against him," writer Michelle Goldberg wrote.

Goldberg goes on to declare that "Straus isn’t being targeted solely because he’s Jewish. Rather, his religion is part of a constellation of characteristics that puts him outside the Tea Party fold."

Meanwhile the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), a kind of international wire service for Jewish publications, has a completely different take on the speaker's race.

"In Texas, the Tea Party passed its first Jewish test even before its legislators had been sworn in.

Deeply conservative forces in the Lone Star State firmly repudiated the effort by evangelical Christians to unseat the powerful Jewish speaker of the Texas House of Representatives because he wasn’t a 'true Christian conservative.'

Speaker Joe Straus still faces opposition from his right flank because of his relatively moderate views, but his opponents have made clear that Straus’ Judaism is not a factor in the Jan. 11 race to be speaker."

-Aman Batheja

 

 

 

Chisum calls for caucus vote for speaker but Straus doesn't sound worried

State Rep. Warren Chisum, one of two Republicans vying to unseat House Speaker Joe Straus, announced today he will be calling for the Republican caucus to meet early next year to settle on a single candidate for House Speaker.

“We need to respond to the will of the voters and work together to select a single Republican nominee for Speaker,” Chisum said in a statement. “There are three Republican candidates for Speaker now, and the Republican caucus is the appropriate place for us to narrow the field to one candidate.”

Both Chisum of Pampa and Ken Paxton of McKinney are framing themselves as more conservative than Straus and a better fit to lead the House given the newfound Republican supermajority.

Texas clout grows with new Census numbers

Texas' population is up by 20.6 percent over the last decade, putting it in position to gain more congressional seats in reapportionment than any other state. The state's congressional delegation will grow by four seats -- from the current 32 to 36. Each district will have at least 710,000 people.

Next comes the ugly work -- getting a redistricting deal done in the Texas Legislature, which convenes its 140-day session on Jan. 11. North Texas is in line to gain more representation. More coverage coming from Dave Montgomery, Maria Recio and Steve Campbell.

-- John Gravois

Census looks back at US population shifts

The US Census Bureau is about to announce the latest population figures which will determine how many congressional seats each state receives. The big question for Texas is whether the state will receive three or four additional seats.

While we're waiting for the information, you can have fun with this interactive graphic from the US Census bureau showing how US population has changed since 1900.

 

 

You can click here for a closer look.

-Aman Batheja

Will it be 3 or 4? Texas learns congressional seat pickup Tuesday morning

Star-Telegram reporter Anna Tinsley has the full details in today's paper:

By 2013, Texans likely will have three or four more congressional members than it has today.

The exact number of new seats the Lone Star State will pick up due to population growth will be announced Tuesday.

That's when U.S. Census officials will reveal the number of people living in the United States, as well as the number in each individual state -- and the number of congressional seats each state will pick up or lose.

With this new data, Texas lawmakers will redraw district boundary lines during the upcoming 2011 legislative session and determine where the new congressional seats will be based on population growth. The new districts will be in place for the 2012 election.

U.S. Census officials will release the new data at 10 a.m. Central Standard Time on Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. By law, the Census Bureau has until the end of December to report the new population figures to the president.

-Aman Batheja

Straus: My racing connections likely hurt gambling bills' odds

Even before he was sworn in as House Speaker in 2009, San Antonio Republican Joe Straus was dogged by his family's ties to horse racing.

Straus' family has been in the horse racing business for decades. His father helped build Retama Park outside San Antonio. If the Legislature ever allows racetracks to install video slot machines, Straus' family stands to gain millions of dollars.

Straus' racing connections have been mentioned by conservative critics hoping he won't serve another term as House Speaker. Last session, Straus appointed state Rep. Ed Kuempel, a gambling advocate who died earlier this year, as chair of the committee that oversees gambling issues.

When asked about gambling bills at a Republican club meeting in Arlington Thursday, Straus said he has walled himself off from any House debate involving gaming bills and won't vote on any of those bills if they come up in the next session.

"I don't think any member of the House can ever tell you I've had a conversation with them on the issue," Straus said.

He added that his personal connections probably aren’t the boon to gambling interests in Austin that some assume they would be.

“Whether or not any kind of gaming legislation progresses in the House, my personal belief is as long as I’m serving as speaker, it’s probably more a harm than a help to that advancement,” Straus said.

-Aman Batheja

Straus says online disinformation campaign behind speaker's race

House Speaker Joe Straus fought back at those questioning his conservative bona fides at a Republican club event in Arlington Thursday morning.

Two other Republican state representatives, Ken Paxton of McKinney and Warren Chisum of Pampa, are challenging Straus' bid for a second term as Speaker of the House. Straus framed the race as a fight over power rather than actual ideological disagreements within the House GOP.

"We have an agenda," Straus said. "Grassroots will be happy. We are not in session. The election is over. We will govern in a way that, when I come back Arlington, you will stand up and say, 'Thank you, Mr. Speaker.'"

The San Antonio Republican took questions from attendees for about 30 minutes. Most were related to the Speaker's Race. Straus repeatedly described attacks on him as misinformation coming "from the Internet."

Democrats hammered by defections

It's going from bad to worse for Democrats.  The blog buzz today is that Rep. Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg, is on the verge of defecting to the Republican Party, following on the heels of another party switch by Democrat-turned-Republican Allan Ritter of Nederland.  Pena and Ritter are expected to presented at a 3 p.m. press conference by Republican Gov. Rick Perry and other GOP leaders.

The two Democratic defections deal another demoralizing blow to Democrats, who were hammered in the November elections.  Worse yet, from the Democratic perspective, the additional pickups for the GOP put Republicans in control of a two-third "super majority" going into the 2011 legislative session. 

-- Dave Montgomery

Texas death penalty sentences fall again, California picks up slack

Only eight people were condemned to death in Texas this year, the lowest level since the state reintroduced capital punishment in 1976, according to data in a new report from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Texas juries have been opting for the death penalty less often in recent years, in part due to the introduction of life without parole as an option in 2005. Several Texas prosecutors have said they are now less likely to push for the death penalty.

Over the same period that Texas death sentences have fallen, California's rate of condemned has been rising. Last year, the Golden State sent 29 people to its San Quentin death row. Texas sent 9. This year, California juries have picked death 21 times as of Oct. 1.

 

Texas is still far ahead in executions, with 17 conducted this year, according to the report.

California hasn't conducted an execution since 2006 due to legal challenges into the constitutionality of its lethal injection process. A previously scheduled execution in September was cancelled due to shortages of one of the necessary drugs. California officials confirmed a purchase of the drug from an overseas manufacturer last week but have not rescheduled the execution.

-Aman Batheja