It was a sea of people. Capitol staffers, reporters, dozens of elected officials from both sides of the aisle, and a few tourist all mixed under the rotunda today.
Every balcony was full with camera flashes and inquisitive pointing.
I sat front and center among TV cameras from across the city and state. Constantly bumped by paper media, citizen journalist and the unfortunate souls simply at the wrong place at the right time.
Because of the size, I broke the press conference into two parts-- Straus and Straus supporters.
The reality of it was that Straus spoke, his supporters from both sides of the aisle spoke, and then he took nearly 5 minutes of questions. The Q&A was particularly interesting because Craddick has avoided cameras since November 2008. Already we see a huge departure of access and transparency in the Speakers office.
Straus has already announced 96 Representatives pledged to support him or roughly 2/3 of the entire House of Representatives. One of the few names surprisingly missing is Rep. Frank Corte who also represents San Antonio. It seems Representative Corte would want a Speaker from San Antonio in order to better serve his district.
Brian McCall, who ran to be Speaker of the House in 2006, filed paperwork late today to seek the office again.
He is one of the eleven Republicans meeting right now in Austin to determine a consensus ABC candidate for Speaker.
This leaves seven of the eleven representatives as declared candidates for Speaker. And, theoretically, we will know by the end of the day which member the group will stand behind. It will be one of the following: Representatives McCall, Kuempel, Solomons, Keffer, Jones, Merritt or Cook.
Today Representative Brian McCall spoke and answered questions at the University of Texas. He talked a little bit of his experiences as a legislator. He also discussed the make-up of the House of Representatives and some facets of that.
More significantly, though; he talked of the speakers race and gave hints of what a McCall speakership might entail.
During one portion of the small lecture from this recent PhD, Mr. McCall recognized the growing Democratic trends in the state of Texas. However, when I posed questions about the possibility of a Democratic majority or a split legislature, he veered away from the speakers race excusing himself with the obvious notion that he wishes for the GOP to retain their majority.
His first opinion of note was a statement he made in response to a question by our friend Paul Burka. He thinks that Tom Craddick is now in a worse position than he was May 28, which was a very bad day for him. He explained that Mr. Craddick will be an issue of every House election in Texas, and defending him simply won't be an easy task. He also believes that if the state's political trends continue, Mr. Craddick is in significant trouble.
Regarding what it would be like for there to be a McCall speakership, his theme was giving the power back to the legislature. He mentioned multiple times that he would like issues on the floor to come from the members. He declared, "I believe that members given access to good information [...] will come to the right decision on their own." He mentioned that the current speaker micromanages, and the members simply don't want that.
However, I would also think that the speaker at least would order the issues, even if he does not choose them. Earlier in the lecture, Mr. McCall listed what he dubbed "unique problems" of Texas. The following list is edited from my notes:
• Every other baby born in Texas today will be a Medicaid baby.
• Texas leads the nation in teenage pregnancies.
• Texas has a long border with another nation - our laws (such as pollution laws) are not recognized along the border.
• Health insurance: Texas has the highest overall uninsured rate in the nation.
• On a per capita basis, Texas incarcerates more people than any other non-US nation in world and more so than any other US state.
• Texas Executes more than in any other state.
This is all very significant information, and might be even more so if we Democrats do not succeed as often as possible in 2008 and the House remains Republican... Below the fold are other notes I found interesting from today's talk.
(UPDATE: Question on process and timing were asked in the Comments. I've tried to answer for those watching this train wreck for entertainment. Glen Maxey, former member, with eyes averted from the carnage. - promoted by Glen Maxey)
Rep. Todd Smitth (R-Tarrant) filed House Resolution 2671 today, which outlines the procedures by which a Speakers race would occur.
A post in yesterday's Texas Politics blog from the Houston Chronicle explains:
AP photographer Harry Cabluck was stalking the four candidates for speaker today as they huddled in the back of the House chamber's center aisle.
Suddenly they turned on Cabluck. Reps. Brian McCall, Jim Pitts and Jim Keffer all began playing rock, paper scissors as Rep. Fred Hill watched. The implication was that they were trying to decide which one would stand alone against incumbent Speaker Tom Craddick in the insurrection. But Hill explained it differently.
"Those guys were doing rock, paper, scissors for speaker pro tem, because I'm going to be speaker," Hill joked.
(Rep. Fred Hill has also announced. - promoted by Burnt Orange Report)
State Representative Brian McCall has filed for Speaker of the Texas House, according to a news item on Quorum Report. Rep. McCall joins Rep. Jim Pitts, who filed yesterday, and Rep. Jim Keffer as the third Republican who has shown intentions to replace Speaker Tom Craddick.
**UPDATE** The Chron blog is reporting that Rep. Fred Hill has also announced that he is filing for Speaker.
(For those that missed it yesterday. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
A new game was created today. Instead of the Craddick designed and well documented history of arm twisting and Speaker run politics, the team of Pitts/McCall said it is time for a true 150 member legislature.
Today, Pitts stated clearly he will not put his supporters on the chopping block, far from it, he said it is time for the Speaker of the House to let members vote their for the citizens of their district.
As Brian McCall said, "who knows their district better than the member elected to represent them?"
Is this a risky move? Absolutely.
Is it the right thing to show members? Sure is.
Craddick's reign of terror started with the forceful showing of strength and immediate repeal of seniority rights. Now, his numbers have fallen from 150, to 109, to 83, to whatever we see on January 9th.
Pitts' refusal to show names and out members is not the status quo, but it is the way the Texas House was run before Craddick and it is likely the way it will run after Craddick.
Only one number matters, the number of votes on January 9th, and Jim Pitts says he has that magic number.
Don't know much yet, but QR has the announcement that McCall is throwing his support to Pitts.
However, multiple independent sources tell us that speaker candidate Brian McCall has thrown his support behind Jim Pitts and that the two are calling members now bringing together the coalition. Our sources, including members, tell us that there may be a press conference as early as tomorrow.
What we cannot verify yet is whether or not the Democrats have been consulted or signed off on the proposed coalition. We know that those calls have begun.
That means Senfronia Thompson endorsed Brian McCall, Brian McCall endorsed Jim Pitts, and the race was never the same.
Update:Here is a side by side comparison of the November 8 pledge list compared to the list released today on Quorum Report. Notice that he has lost half of his Democratic support and nearly a third of his Republican support.
In an interview with Peggy Fikac at the Houston Chronicle, Waxahachie Republican Jim Pitts says he will announce today that he will jump in the race for speaker.
"I told Speaker Craddick that I didnt think he could get the numbers that he needed (to be re-elected as head of the House). I dont think Brian (McCall) is getting the numbers. And I've got a consensus group that has asked me to run," Pitts said in an interview minutes after he mailed his paperwork for the race.
That now makes it a four person race with the Democratic Candidate, Senfronia Thompson, endorsing Brian McCall.
It appears that the 149 members of the legislature are tired of Craddick and his horrid leadership.
Craddick has also released a new list of pledges that indicates waining support. After the November election, Craddick announced he had the support of 109 of the 149 member body, now his support is down to 83 (including a handful of Democrats).
As we get closer and closer to January 9, it appears that Craddick is losing more and more momentum.
Conservative Republican Robert Talton (Houston) pledged his support for moderate Brian McCall (Plano) to be the next speaker of the Texas House.
Rumors had been swirling about the possibility of Talton entering the race to gain leverage to chair the committee on Civil Practices.
Currently Talton chairs the Urban Affairs Committee and is the first GOP chair to openly support someone other than Tom Craddick.
In a statement on Quorum Report:
Talton said, "As I think the public will see when the members speak, there is a tremendous interest in seeing new leadership in the Speaker's office. My singular focus has been on achieving that goal. I offered myself for consideration only as a means to achieve new leadership".
Talton continued, "Over the last several days I have personally visited with Brian. I believe he possesses the qualities we need in a Speaker. He shares my belief that this is a campaign for leadership of the "people's house". As we have learned over the last several legislative sessions, all politics is local. State Representatives have a closeness to their districts and constituents unlike other state office holders."
"Individually we have an obligation to represent these interests and these voices should be heard - the people's voices. Those voices should not be diminished by those in power, by the special interests or by those who seek favor at the hands of government. I can and frequently do, disagree philosophically with my colleagues but that does not diminish the importance of having their voices heard. A Speaker has an obligation to let those voices be heard and more importantly to allow members to vote in a manner that best represents their districts," Talton said.
"Brian McCall shares this philosophy and I am proud to join his effort to become the next Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives," Talton concluded.
