Dear House Republicans - Swing Voters Don't Care About What You Care About

by: Phillip Martin, Progress Texas

Thu May 28, 2009 at 03:53 PM CDT

Dear Republican Members of the Texas House of Representatives,

Swing Texas voters don't care about what you care about.

Since 2003, you have pushed highly partisan issues -- namely congressional redistricting, school vouchers, and voter ID -- to the forefronts of your legislative agendas. Throw in some gay-bashing and the bi-annual Pro Lifer contests, and your legislative agenda looks gets Rush Limbaugh so excited he has to double-up on his order of oxycontin just to cope with the pain of triumph.

I know Bob Perry's spokesperson -- who is so great at his job that Perry's personal state agency, the Texas Residential Construction Commission, will be abolished -- has you all riled up about how smart you were to "let" the D's talk for three days. I know that Paul Burka is still going to blame House Democrats for the fact that House Republicans refused nearly a dozen compromises to the voter ID bill -- even though both parties had agreed it shouldn't come to the floor unless there was a compromise. And I know that you're beside yourselves that you got to relive the Craddick glory days for at least one weekend.

I also know that you probably don't care that Speaker Straus proved himself to be a total pansy this past weekend. Remember these words:

"A house divided against itself cannot stand." This statement, that originated in the Bible, has been preached by Sam Houston and Abraham Lincoln, and it is appropriately used here today. The Texas House of Representatives cannot conduct the people's business if it is divided. And this is why I became a candidate for speaker.

I will try my best to empower members so that they can do what is right for their constituents and for the people of Texas. After all, that is why we are here.

For the next 140 days, the 150 of us have the important responsibility of representing 24 million Texans.

Yeah...turns out Straus couldn't lead his way out of a brown paper sack. No surprises, I guess.

But you, House Republicans -- probably still pretty pleased with yourselves. You got to be the "party of No" -- just like your national allies. You got to be obstructionists -- despite holding the Governor's office, the Senate, the House, and, well, every other office of importance, you proved to your constituents that you just couldn't get the job done.

You have (almost) killed CHIP expansion. You killed the unemployment insurance bill (saving Rick Perry the hassle of having to veto it). You did a little Tier 1 expansion of higher education (after the Legislative Study Group basically told you what needed to happen), but not much else with higher education.

And if you're thinking this will help you in the 2010 midterms -- think again. As Matt pointed out before, Democrats have only picked up seats since we went to Ardmore -- you really think that talking for a few days will be the thing that gets us beat? Get real.

Sure voter ID is popular -- but you know what is even more popular? Helping Texans who get screwed by insurance companies. Getting health care for Texas kids. Making college more affordable. Pick an issue -- you're not on the right side of it.

Keep crowing about voter ID as your silver bullet. You're going to need more ammo than voter ID in your gun if you plan on holding the House with Pinocchio Joe at the helm. A limosine Republican that couldn't get voter ID through the House and, in effect, may have killed a pro-life bill in the process? How are you all even going to get through the primaries?

Meanwhile, swing voters will continue resonating with the policies Texas Democrats have worked on all decade long. Keep working as obstructionists -- it is the easiest way for us to show you the way to the minority.

See you in the special!

TX House: Republican Runoff Winners Are Vulnerable in General Election

by: Phillip Martin, Progress Texas

Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 00:10 AM CDT

I've written previously (Part 1, Part 2) about each of these races, when I discussed the open races where Republican retirements could lead to Democratic pick-ups. Here is a look at three of the races that were settled tonight -- I'll try and write more tomorrow, once I've looked at the other races more closely. But, Democrats could potentially pick-up each of these seats if we work hard, invest in money early, and turn out the vote in November.

Donate to TexBlog PAC to Help Democrats Take Back the House!

House District 52

District map. '06 election results.

Republican Bryan Daniel defeated Dee Hobbs in the runoff. Daniel will now face off against Diane Maldonado, who is expected to be an extremely strong candidate in the fall. Daniel was the more politically extreme of the two candidates, which is unlikely to help him in the upcoming general election considering:

1. HD 52 in Williamson County is trending Democrat, and
   
2. The larger independent block are much more likely to align with Maldonado's politics than Daniel's.

House District 55

District map. '06 election results.

Republican Ralph Sheffield defeated Martha Tyroch in the runoff. Burka wrote the following earlier in the day (to his credit, he'd been following the race rather closely):

I think Tyroch would make much the better legislator of the two. She is politically experienced (Temple city council) and would have less of a learning curve. Sheffield is a restaurateur who had a long history of trouble with paying his taxes.

I've written about Democrat Sam Murphey before. He's a very strong candidate served in the U.S. Army for 22 years and recently retired from his job as District Director for Congressman Chet Edwards. I wrote then not to be surprised to see this race sneak up on folks -- I still think he's an excellent candidate, and running against a Republican who can't file his taxes right, he will make the race very, very close.

House District 144 

District map. '06 election results.

Ken Legler narrowly defeated Fred Roberts in the runoff. Legler, though more politically astute than Roberts, is also the more politically polarizing figure. He is more extreme on any number of issues, and as a Board Member for the Texas Association of Business, carries with him any number of issues associated with TAB that are potentially harmful.

Strong organizing efforts in Harris County that are already underway could help put Democrat Joel Redmond over the top. It will take smart, continuous work -- Legler is likely to outspend Redmond 2:1 as a former TAB member -- but Democrats won with less money in 2006, and anyone who doubts them this time around is only asking to get the carpet swept out from under their feet.  

Grandma Instrumental In TX GOP Takeover

by: John McClelland

Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 07:29 PM CDT

It discusses the Legislative Redistricting Board that redrew out house districts, taking away traditionally Democratic seats, and making them into GOP areas. It's 4 GOP members were then Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff, then Attorney General John Cornyn, the artist formerly known as Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander and then Land Commissioner David Dewhurst.

Grandma is now bipartisan and independent? Hardly. She helped get us into this mess!

Article is below the fold.