| Just a round-up of releases so far: First, from Chairman Boyd Richie of the Texas Democratic Party: “While I am extremely disappointed with Chuck Hopson, I remain confident the Texas House of Representatives will have a Democratic Speaker of the House next Legislative Session. Democrats continue to make inroads across the Lone Star State and will continue to put the best interests of Texans ahead of the special interests Republicans continue to represent. “Make no mistake… as a rural Democratic elected official who served in rural Texas, I can tell you that if, in fact, Chuck Hopson makes this announcement this afternoon, he will be joining a party that has abandoned rural Texas. “The Republican Party is the party that has abandoned our public schools to send our tax dollars to private schools in the big cities; the Party that tried to take 600,000 acres of our farmland for toll roads while leaving our farm to market roads in disrepair. “Perhaps more importantly, Chuck Hopson will be joining the party of the special interests – the party that has given us the highest homeowners insurance rates in the country, that has increased our health insurance premiums beyond repair, and let the special interest lobbyists rule our State Capitol. “It takes strength and integrity to stand against the special interests – and while some members have that strength, others like Chuck Hopson, do not. In the Democratic Party, there is room for members who are conservative and progressive – the only reason anyone would leave is for crass political reasons and a refusal to stand up to special interests.”
From Jim Dunnam, House Leader and one of the three heads of the House Democratic Campaign Committee (via the Houston Chronicle): "Chuck has assured me and a number of other Democrats of his intention to continue to vote as he has in the past, which has been with our Democratic delegation the vast majority of the time. ... As for the future, this will have only a marginal impact on House Democrats' inevitable progress toward a majority ... Our overall goals and plans for 2010 have not changed, and we will gain a majority in the House in 2010."
From Jim Dow of the 20/20 PAC: "We learned this morning of Representative Hopson's intentions to switch political parties. In light of that, he is no longer a member of our organization. We are profoundly disappointed by his decision."
I know that the members of the 20/20 PAC -- the other conservative Democrats -- were furious at Hopson this morning. Will have more on this later... |
