Angie Chen Button's offices really, really don't want to answer the phones this morning. Weird. Any suggestions on others to call.

Ag_of_08 said:

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I dont know what you want me to say. I hold that the idea an elected representative can be punished/censured/influenced by a party in any way for choosing to vote in a manner they deemed appropriate is dangerous.

You don't, especially in this instance.

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It sounds like you are missing the point of the issue at hand, but also are more concerned with the amount of power the two party system has which I would venture most people here agree with.

If the two party system was not so powerful, then your take would carry significant weight and a lot of people here would agree with you.

But for now, these RINO's are screwing over the conservative ideology the GOP supposedly is advocating for, all in favor of the RINO's gaining power.

I just haven't followed this **** show. Thx.

Ag_of_08 said:

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I dont know what you want me to say. I hold that the idea an elected representative can be punished/censured/influenced by a party in any way for choosing to vote in a manner they deemed appropriate is dangerous.

You don't, especially in this instance.

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You are missing the entire point of what this represents. This is an internal election held within the caucus at the beginning of every session. That internal election is to decide who the caucus will vote for as their candidate for speaker. The party is not demanding that they vote any specific way in that internal speaker vote within the caucus, just that they vote with the caucus when it comes to the vote in the full chamber.

Burrows and his sycophants (really Dade's minions, since he bought and paid for them) are not going outside of that process for some big meaningful ideological difference. They are doing it for their own naked power goals. I am sure Burrows has promised each of these sellouts a prime committee chair position from which they can harvest lucrative donations to stay in power. So they are willing to go to the democrats before the session even starts and promise that several key GOP priorities for the legislative session are off the table and won't happen in return for the democrat votes in the speaker election.

The democrats get what they want...no vouchers and no limits on publicly funded lobbying, and the RINOs get the power and donor money they want. And the people who voted for them expecting them to go focus on GOP legislative priorities are left holding nothing and wondering why their rep would go court democratic support to thwart their wishes expressed at the ballot box. If they want to stand in the middle and represent nothing but a naked desire for more power, fine. But let them do it with an I next to their name on the ballot next election instead of an R and see how well they fare when everybody knows what they really stand for.

So Trump speaks out, but neither Abbot or Patrick will?

Did I miss either of their posts/tweets/public statements?

Called my rep's local office this morning and, of course, they seemed to know nothing. Asked me who I wanted him to vote for so I told her. Said she would let him know (yeah, right). Told her social media is great way to communicate with constituents.

Abbott and Patrick are split on some of these Republican reps.

oldag941 said:

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Abbott and Patrick are split on some of these Republican reps.

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Split specifically on who the speaker should be?

Don't know about that but know they are split on some of the republicans that are supporting Burrows.

Ellis Wyatt said:

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It's time to target these traitors. They've done everything they can to prevent republicans from running Texas government despite Republicans being in power for decades. Primary them. They're worse than worthless.

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Yep. They all need to hear loudly and clearly between now and 1/14 that a vote for Burrows guarantees a Republican Party supported opponent in the next primary.

Patrick has already called for them to unite behind Cook. I'm sure calls are being made. Campaign donations are trying to be covered. If you go look at a lot of these Republican reps one of their top 4 donors is Dade. A lot of the others are familiar as well, cop groups, realtors, etc. etc.

oldag941 said:

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Don't know about that but know they are split on some of the republicans that are supporting Burrows.

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Well, if Abbott is serious about vouchers, he will push for the correct Speaker. If he's lying and just playing games, well, he will be silent.

His intentions on vouchers seem apparent to me. He supports them when he knows it won't pass. Otherwise, get off your ass and speak about the Speaker position.

Quote:

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Patrick has already called for them to unite behind Cook.

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Really? I couldn't find anything. Would love a link to that.

I'd be interested to know how many of Burrows' supporters ousted an incumbent that was opposed to vouchers.

Interesting . Buckley, the Aggie Vet and also current Chair of the House public ed committee (and supporter of vouchers) is supporting Burrows. Others on that list supported vouchers in prior sessions as well.

Also interesting he was in his local school board and his wife is the assistant superintendent in Killeen. But he's for vouchers and he's supporting Burrows.

Just some "strange bedfellows" at play.

oldag941 said:

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Interesting . Buckley, the Aggie Vet and also current Chair of the House public ed committee (and supporter of vouchers) is supporting Burrows.

Also interesting he was in his local school board and his wife is the assistant superintendent in Killeen. But he's for vouchers and he's supporting Burrows.

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You sure he's for vouchers? He sure doesn't seem to be for vouchers.

Buckley's on Dade Phelan's payroll.

TLR is pure evil.

Well, look at his voting record on the topic. Along with Meyer and Chen and others on the list. And as the committee chair, the issue would have never had hearings or come to a vote without his support and prioritization. That's what a chair does.

He also voted to impeach Ken Paxton, which deliberately prevented the people's business from being acted on.

Show more of that list. Greg Abbott is # 5 top contributor. So Abbott and Phelan in his top 5 contributors.

Yep, that's what I'm pointing out. There is no one through-line on these reps. The strange bedfellows comment applies.

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You sure he's for vouchers? He sure doesn't seem to be for vouchers.

Buckley's on Dade Phelan's payroll.

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Well, like I said above, many can be "for vouchers" if they know it won't pass. Much like those Republicans in the US Senate voted against ObamaCare when they knew it would get vetoed, only to vote to keep it going when they knew Trump would sign the bill killing it.

oldag941 said:

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Show more of that list. Greg Abbott is # 5 top contributor. So Abbott and Phelan in his top 5 contributors.

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Well, he ran away in support of Burrows, so he is doing Dade's bidding and working on behalf of democrats. That is not in question.

It is TBD if he will support vouchers.

No longer in Drew Darby's district, but it is extremely disappointing to see a West Texan cut & run from the Republican Caucus in order to protect his own hide and position within the squishy Phelan leadership cabal and a host of Democrats.

I'm very curious to see how his district reacts. He won the last primary by about 13 points, but I don't think this move is going to sit well with the base.

Although, if their rep is speaker, that will be hard to convince them to give him up in a primary because any real influence will go away with him.

oldag941 said:

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Although, if their rep is speaker, that will be hard to convince them to give him up in a primary because any real influence will go away with him.

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We did it with Dade in SETX. He wound up winning the runoff by 366 votes with a couple thousand Dem voters that crossed the line in the runoff. He should have been gone, but I suspect he won't run for another term. The great thing is, 14 conservative Republicans were elected because Dade had to spend all his money to win his Primary and couldn't dole it out to other RINOs in the state.

Tea Party said:

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Ag_of_08 said:

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I dont know what you want me to say. I hold that the idea an elected representative can be punished/censured/influenced by a party in any way for choosing to vote in a manner they deemed appropriate is dangerous.

You don't, especially in this instance.

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It sounds like you are missing the point of the issue at hand, but also are more concerned with the amount of power the two party system has which I would venture most people here agree with.

If the two party system was not so powerful, then your take would carry significant weight and a lot of people here would agree with you.

But for now, these RINO's are screwing over the conservative ideology the GOP supposedly is advocating for, all in favor of the RINO's gaining power.

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So ultimately, are these representatives beholden to their constituents or what the current party zeitgeist is? Because someone might be called a 'RINO' for how they voted on one issue, but that may be what their constituents want.
If my representative ignored the interests of our district just to kiss the party ring of someone on high, then I wouldn't vote for them again. Many of these issues aren't out side conservative ideology. If my rep still supported Phelan but also does a great job for my district, I'm not going to play this stupid political game just because Paxton gets his knickers in a wad for those that don't kiss is ring.

People make these generalized 'RINO' comments, based often on one vote that still falls in the conservative category.

Anyone voting consistently for more liberal agendas and from a conservative district will be taken care of in the next election.

BluHorseShu said:

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Tea Party said:

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Ag_of_08 said:

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I dont know what you want me to say. I hold that the idea an elected representative can be punished/censured/influenced by a party in any way for choosing to vote in a manner they deemed appropriate is dangerous.

You don't, especially in this instance.

---

It sounds like you are missing the point of the issue at hand, but also are more concerned with the amount of power the two party system has which I would venture most people here agree with.

If the two party system was not so powerful, then your take would carry significant weight and a lot of people here would agree with you.

But for now, these RINO's are screwing over the conservative ideology the GOP supposedly is advocating for, all in favor of the RINO's gaining power.

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So ultimately, are these representatives beholden to their constituents or what the current party zeitgeist is? Because someone might be called a 'RINO' for how they voted on one issue, but that may be what their constituents want.
If my representative ignored the interests of our district just to kiss the party ring of someone on high, then I wouldn't vote for them again. Many of these issues aren't out side conservative ideology. If my rep still supported Phelan but also does a great job for my district, I'm not going to play this stupid political game just because Paxton gets his knickers in a wad for those that don't kiss is ring.

People make these generalized 'RINO' comments, based often on one vote that still falls in the conservative category.

Anyone voting consistently for more liberal agendas and from a conservative district will be taken care of in the next election.

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No, it doesn't. If you have to band together with 60+ democrats to vote against the rest of the republican caucus to get the leader you want, you are not a conservative. You don't get to call yourself a conservative just because you will later "vote for" things that you know the speaker has already promised the democrats will never get passed. My rep is Stan Gerdes. He was endorsed by Abbott and Patrick this cycle because he voted for school vouchers in the last session. I can promise you he was not out campaigning in Bastrop County on his desire to work with the democrats to block vouchers and limits on public employee lobbying. I don't know if I would call him a RINO, but for sure he is bought and paid for by Dade Phelan. I didn't vote for the guy to go to Austin and be a sycophant for guys like Phelan and Burrows. Unless he reconsiders his position between now and January 14th, I plan to work like hell to make sure nobody here is allowed to forget what he did two years from now.

But SE Texas politics is more like SW Louisiana . West Texas / Panhandle is different.

(Just throwing a little humor into the convo).