Key Point: While Democrats in the State Senate could hope that Dewhurst, Ogden, or any other Republican left in charge would be fair in 2011, there is really no evidence for that. It may end up being that the only way Senators can preserve Senate traditions like the 2/3's rule -- that allows individual Senators of both political parties to impact major policy decisions - is for Senate Democrats to file for or work to elect a mainstream Democratic Lieutenant Governor who could build a centrist coalition with moderate Republicans to fix the problem at the source. While having a Democratic Lieutenant Governor would not change the fact that 16 Republican Senators could change Senate rules to eliminate the 2/3 rule or create a "Majority Leader" position, it would eliminate a problem rooted in the animosity against the current presiding officer -- and a capable Democratic statewide winner would have an opportunity to build a coalition of sixteen Senators who would put problem solving above rank partisanship. With the expected announcement this Friday that Bill White will decide to run for Governor, discussions have begun to shift towards who will run for Lieutenant Governor. Having a strong candidate atop the ticket is the #1 priority for Democrats statewide -- but closely following at #2 is the Lieutenant Governor's spot, where Texas Democrats must find a serious candidate to take charge of the Texas Senate before the far-right wing of the Republican caucus gets there first. The balance of power in the Texas Senate strongly favors Republicans. With a 19-12 advantage, Republicans hold a strong majority. Traditionally, the minority in the Senate was able to use the 2/3 rule -- where no legislation will come to the Senate floor unless 2/3 of the Senators agree to it -- to block over-reaching and or highly partisan legislation put forth by the majority. However, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst partnered with Republican State Senator Tommy Williams during the last legislative session to obliterate the 2/3 rule for voter ID -- a purely partisan maneuver that, ultimately, spelled devastation for the entire Legislative session. Harvey Kronberg, writing for News 8 Austin, on "Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst Controversy", explained the details of Dewhurst's sneaky maneuver -- and how his failures to preside over the Senate chamber have lost him the trust of many, if not most, of those in the Texas Senate: [David Dewhurst's] denials notwithstanding, most in the Capitol now believe that Dewhurst conspired with Sen. Tommy Williams to trick the other senators on the first day of the session. Williams surprised his colleagues by proposing a new rule mandating the Senate take up voter ID, a bill that Democrats otherwise had the votes to block.[...] Dewhurst's erraticism, lack of concentration and inability to keep a schedule were the talk of almost every senator. He was rarely in the chair. By most reports, he was inconsistent and dismissive in his dealings with Speaker Joe Straus. He surprised and blindsided the House by not sending more than 400 bills in those critical final days. Dewhurst also faced a strong challenge from his colleagues by refusing to set legislation on the Calendar that had the support of more than 2/3 of the State Senators. Republican State Senator Jeff Wentworth went so far as to boldly announce, in the Austin American-Statesman, that "we're not going to put up with this any longer": “If I have anything to say about it, we’re going to change the rules come January 2011,” Wentworth said. [...] He added, “We’re not going to put up with this any longer. There are a number of senators that I’ve already spoken to that agree with me. It only takes 16 senators to adopt rules.”
David Dewhurst's reliance on purely partisan politics, and foregoing long-lasting Senate rules at his own political whim, are reason enough for him to be defeated at the polls. Yet, some Democrats in the State Senate -- including those who could consider a run against Dewhurst for Lieutenant Governor, now that it looks like Bill White will be atop the ticket -- believe that if they run against Dewhurst, they will lose the power to negotiate on the critical legislation coming up in 2011. Along with redistricting and the upcoming state budget disaster, nearly a half-dozen major state agencies are up for Sunset review. Working behind the scenes -- the way the Senate operates -- can be more difficult to broker if a Senator just beat up the presiding officer for a year on the campaign trail. However -- there is one option that is even worse than having to negotiate with Dewhurst again, and that's having to negotiate with a Republican Majority Leader. Paul Burka, writing on Texas Monthly's BurkaBlog, wrote extensively about how Senate Republicans are considering creating the position of "Majority Leader" to go around Dewhurst's authority -- not to mention any minority power Texas Democrats would control through the 2/3 rule:Republicans have grown weary of his eccentricities and his AWOL leadership, and part of their caucus discussions has been about changing the rules to transfer power from the lite gov to the caucus, presumably to a senator who would act as majority leader. [...] We could be on the verge of seeing momentous changes in the Senate—changes that would completely change the way that the upper chamber operates. The radical Republicans are in a position to exploit their caucus colleagues’ disdain for Dewhurst to end the tradition of a strong lieutenant governor and transfer his power to the caucus leadership; they can change the rules in the Senate to eliminate the two-thirds rule and to operate by special orders when the normal course of business does not produce the results they want.... The radicals signaled their intentions with the Voter ID play at the start of the 81st Legislature: They want to change the rules in the Senate so that they have complete control over policymaking and the Democrats are frozen out. The majority of the caucus may well go along. I don’t think Dewhurst wants to stick around and watch all this happen.
The possibility of changing the rules to create a "Majority Leader" is very real. If Senator Jeff Wentworth -- by far one of the most moderate in the Texas Senate -- has already publicly declared his intention to limit some of Dewhurst's power. The question, then, becomes who would become this new majority leader? Steve Ogden could be one -- he is ideologically similar to the block of Senators that want to create a "Majority Leader" position, the Statesman has written that he "wields ultimate authority" in the Senate, and he could promise to only serve two years until 2012 -- when, perhaps, Dewhurst would be running for Hutchison's (finally) vacant U.S. Senate seat, and someone else can run the Upper Chamber. One thing is certain -- should he decide to return, he's not going to sit quietly. He'll want to be in charge, in a big way. Add everything up, and what it looks like is that Texas Democrats will be facing one of two people in charge of the State Senate in 2011:- David Dewhurst -- Who is ineffective, untrusted, and has shown the willingness to eliminate the Senate's long respected 2/3 rule -- something he will surely do for redistricting in 2011, and possibly on other major issues.
- Steve Ogden -- Who, in many ways is worse than Dewhurst -- remember, he went so far as to try and sneak a rider to ban appropriations for stem cell research in the budget, despite objections from Democrats and Republicans -- because he shares the same ideological zeal yet manages to earn respect despite of it for his ability to do what Dewhurst cannot -- manage and corral the Texas Senate to action.
While Democrats in the State Senate could hope that Dewhurst, Ogden, or any other Republican left in charge would be fair in 2011, there is really no evidence for that. It may end up being that -- for any State Senate Democrat hoping to pass the best policies possible in 2011 -- their best chance for action would be to file for Lieutenant Governor and attempt to fix the problem at the source. And while having a Democratic Lieutenant Governor does not change the fact that only 16 Senators are needed for any change to the Senate rules (including the creation of a "Majority Leader" position), it would eliminate the animosity against the current presiding officer -- which is the source of the problem for both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate. Texas Democrats must find a passionate, intelligent, and strong-willed candidate of substance to challenge David Dewhurst in the 2010 general election. If we don't, we will be heading into 2011 -- facing a massive state budget crisis, redistricting, the sunset review of numerous key state agencies, another possible voter ID fight, and more -- with the proven failure of David Dewhurst in charge, or, what could be even worse: a Republican Majority Leader operating under dramatically different Senate rules. |
