Humbled Texas leaders take office in new era
AUSTIN — The inauguration ceremony Tuesday for Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is about more than taking an oath of office. It is about taking the reins of power.
And while Perry, Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick all once ruled like the undisputed lords of their respective realms, times have changed. This year, each will come to the legislative negotiating table with political problems that could weaken him in the eyes of the others.
Perry won re-election last year with 39 percent of the vote. Craddick won re-election as House speaker last week with 45 percent of his members voting against him on a key procedural vote.
And Dewhurst is returning to a state Senate in which Democrats can force him to compromise because they have the votes to block anything from passing. Additionally, freshman state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, already has made it clear that he will be a maverick who tries to push the Senate to the right.
"Perhaps that translates back to the Big Three burying the hatchet," said Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, a key Craddick ally.
"Every place there's a different dynamic than we've had in previous years: a 40 percent governor, 40 percent 'no' votes against the speaker and then the Senate a few more issues for them out there," Chisum said.
The behind-the-scenes battles among the leadership were legendary between 2003 and 2005. Perry once got angry when Dewhurst failed to show for a leadership breakfast. On another occasion, Dewhurst told reporters he had filled in Craddick on some Senate plans on legislation, and Craddick replied by saying Dewhurst must have been talking to someone else.
And when negotiations on congressional redistricting stalled, Dewhurst said Craddick negotiated like "an Iranian cab driver."
In those days, Perry was the governor who had crushed his 2002 Democratic opponent. Dewhurst had the upper hand in the Senate, and Craddick was firmly in control of the House. The friction led to the Legislature failing to pass public school finance reform and property tax relief in either 2004 or 2005.
The atmosphere began changing during the 2006 election. Republican voters were demanding a solution. So was the Texas Supreme Court, which had declared the public school finance system unconstitutional.
With the hammer cocked on the electoral pistol, Perry, Craddick and Dewhurst came together to pass such legislation. Dewhurst said that began the healing. "This past spring, I was able to put together a very solid and constructive working relationship with Speaker Craddick that enabled us to put together bold elements in school reform," Dewhurst said. "He's told me, and I've told him, we each want to continue to build (on) the progress that we've made."
Craddick has been avoiding the media since the speaker's race began shortly after last year's election. His spokeswoman, Alexis DeLee, said the three leaders "like and respect" one another.
State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, said anyone observing the leaders has to remember Craddick is a state representative from Midland who is elected by House members, while Dewhurst is a statewide politician with hopes of winning higher office. "Dewhurst is concerned about the statewide constituency and the statewide press," Whitmire said. "Craddick is solid in his House district and his Midland constituency. ...So they both have different pressures that they face as they go to work every day."
Perry said he thinks the tales of the leadership battles are overblown, as is the perception that he lost any clout by winning re-election with less than 40 percent of the vote. "When I take my hand off the Bible, I'll be 100 percent governor. I won't be 39 percent governor. I'll have 100 percent of the authority," Perry said. "When the session is done, take a look, and I believe we'll have had a pretty successful session."
At the moment, though, the scorecard is mostly blank.
Perry spent most of the election defending his programs. His biggest campaign promise was to obtain $100 million from the Legislature for border security — not a difficult task when the state has an unencumbered budget surplus of about $8 billion.
Aides have said Perry wants more line items in the higher-education budget so he can veto some spending.
The governor also wants to repeal or change the top 10 percent law, according to spokesman Robert Black. Perry also may want to consider some kind of exit test for some college graduates.
Dewhurst won re-election campaigning on a simple platform: protect children by passing a version of Jessica's Law that mandates life sentences or the death penalty for repeat child sexual predators and protect student athletes by putting an automatic external heart defibrillator in every school.
Dewhurst said, in the short run, the session's success will be measured by how "prudently" the state uses its surplus while also guaranteeing the major property tax cuts that have been promised.
Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, also said making sure the business tax will work as intended will be a legislative priority this year."All of that school finance reform is riding on the fact that that business tax will work as intended," Ogden said.
So it is not about serving the public interest but about Power? If the general population did not know that before they will by the end of the article. Perry comments about being a 100% governor after taking the oath on Tuesday, and not being a 40% governor, well Mr Perry, you have to realize that you will not be a Senator if you can only get 40% of the state wide vote in 4 years. As far as the infighting and other crap, the more they fight the better it is for the voters to see who of the 3 is the most conservative. I could go on and on about the fact that each of these 3 men face issues both with dealing with the other 2 but as well as credibility and believe-ability issues, that have knocked them from their ivory towers of power. And until I see Perry and Dewhurst pushing for smaller government, lower taxes, and more straight forward laws as well as stronger border protection, they will simply be 2 RINOcrats that need to have viable contenders facing them in the next set of primaries. Note to all conservatives, keep your eye on how Dewhurst handles Dan Patrick, as well as how Perry tries to work the room to get things done. You will see very early on in the session if they are going to have any political capital to spend, or if they will be for all reasonable discussions, lame ducks because of the fact that they have failed to listen to those that voted them into their positions.
1 comment:
Excellent post, BWeldon!
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