Tell Your Texas Rep to Oppose Liberal Leadership of Texas' House!

Empower Texans ^ | November 11, 2010

[MeekOneGOP]

PLEASE sign this petition, and forward right away to ALL Texans on your Ping Lists and Email Address book:

http://conservativespeakermandate.com/alt1

"The victory of nearly two dozen new conservative Republican legislators was a clarion call for conservative leadership in the Texas House – leadership that has been absent the past two years. A change to a more conservative Speaker is in order...."

[Texas Federalist]

Tell your Texas Rep to support KEN PAXTON FOR SPEAKER!!!!

[MeekOneGOP]

Got THIS in my email ~ 45 minutes ago!:
- - - - -

For Immediate Release - November 11, 2010

Contact: Ken Paxton – (469) 742-0100

State Rep. Ken Paxton Announces Bid for Texas House Speaker

“Historic Opportunities Demand Bold Action”

(McKinney, TX) – In announcing his bid for Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, State Rep. Ken Paxton today issued the following statement:

“Today, on Veterans Day, we honor the service of those who have given so much to our state and nation, many of whom paid the ultimate sacrifice. It seems appropriate that we focus on how we can best protect our hard-won freedoms which are increasingly under attack.

On Election Day, we witnessed a monumental shift in the political climate, and I believe that historic opportunities demand bold action in defense of our conservative values. Voters across Texas sent a clear message that they favor leadership dedicated to protecting our freedoms and fighting government growth. Texans have provided us with an historic mandate, and they expect us to use this mandate to honestly advance conservative principles and not simply protect the status quo. These goals can only be accomplished with a conservative Speaker.

In January, members of the Texas State Legislature have a unique opportunity and an obligation to do more than simply balance the budget without raising taxes. We also have an opportunity to:

· Implement measures to reduce property taxes permanently over time;

· Aggressively fight back on the federal government’s invasion on the rights of Texans, and in fact reclaim our state sovereignty;

· Limit our state government’s ability to grow beyond the rate of inflation and population;

· Pass true immigration reform and implement photo id;

· Provide opportunities for individuals and families to make important decisions such as health care options that are free from governmental intrusion and mandates; and

· Challenge ourselves to bring solutions to the table that create jobs, sustain economic prosperity, and continue to make Texas a shining light for generations to come.

Republicans have the opportunity to unify behind a conservative Speaker who can effectively lead our Party on the principles our citizens espouse. As someone who has continuously served as an advocate for conservative principles, I am announcing my candidacy for the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

Texans have clearly asked us to advance their values, promote conservative policies and follow a path of long-term economic prosperity, and I stand ready to serve as the leader to accomplish these goals. I welcome the opportunity to work with my colleagues in the Legislature to address the critical issues we face and implement real solutions that will benefit all Texans.”

#####

5613 S. Woodcreek Circle « McKinney, Texas 75070 « 469.742.0100

[GeronL]

The bad news is my district has a very liberal representative

[GeronL]

Joe Straus never let any conservative bills on voter ID and vouchers and stuff to the floor for a vote. He did the dirty work for the Democrats.

There is NO reason for a Republican to support him.

[tillacum]

As long as my friend Doc Anderson likes him, I’ll trust Rep Strauss.

[MeekOneGOP]

Joe Driver is MY Rep.

I have emailed him twice and have YET to hear back from him.

Guess I’ll hafta pick up the cell phone and burn a few minutes to
tell him “face to face”, huh?

[GeronL]

I cannot believe that the Texas Republicans who spent 2 years being messed around by Straus/Democrats would now turn around and support him.

[MeekOneGOP]

Not sure who Doc Anderson is, but here is another take
on Joe Straus you may NOT have seen yet?

AN OPEN LETTER TO TEXAS HOUSE SPEAKER JOE STRAUS
FROM CONSERVATIVE STATE REPRESENTATIVE LEO BERMAN
http://news.navigator-news.com/component/content/article/6-politics/63-an-open-letter-to-texas-house-speaker-joe-straus-from-conservative-state-representative-leo-berman

Excerpt:

At the beginning of last session you and 10 of your cohort Republicans, RINOS would be the proper term, decided you did not want my good friend Tom Craddick, a solid conservative Speaker, to preside over the session. You met and voted among yourselves as to who would be your Speaker candidate.

It fell upon you since you were the least controversial although you were the one with the least service in the House. You had 11 votes but needed 65 more to make the 76 it takes to elect a Speaker.

You decided to go to the Democrats who eventually gave you the 65 votes to win. What did you give them? You gave them a promise not to bring legislation dealing with ILLEGAL ALIENS, PRO-LIFE ISSUES, or VOTER-ID to the House floor and that is exactly what happened during the session. The Democrats loved that deal because they opposed all three issues vehemently.

When I saw that no bills on illegal aliens were coming out of the State Affairs Committee Chaired by Rep. Burt Solomons, I did notice that Democrats were bringing bills to the floor that would have funneled millions of dollars directly to illegal aliens. I started to amend those bills immediately, with simple words which said, “These benefits are for U.S. citizens only”.

Excuse the term, but the Democrats went “nuts” over my amendments and Joe, you tried to come to their rescue. You came to my desk on the House floor and asked what you can do for me (like hearing one of my bills in Solomon’s committee) to get me to stop amending the Democrats’ bills. I could not believe what I heard from you. I asked you if you took the same oath of office that I did and then requested that you leave my desk quickly before I really got angry.

Finally, you single-handedly killed the Voter –ID Bill, a bill that 96% of Republicans in the 2008 Primary election voted to have considered in the next session.
- - - - -

Please reconsider your position supporting Straus.

[jimt]

Bump. Your last post clears up WHY you don’t want Straus. That’s helpful.

[Texas Federalist]

As long as my friend Doc Anderson likes him, I’ll trust Rep Strauss.

Don't know who Doc Anderson is, but as long as our good friend NARAL gives him a 100% rating and ke keeps killing every immigration and voter ID bill that comes to the floor of the house, I don't think I'll trust him.

[DallasDeb]

Did it. Thanks for the post. Heard Kelly Shackleford on Mark Davis this morning.

[Weirdad]

Nice post with specifics in a letter I would not have found otherwise. How can we not be influenced by that? Sounds like Strauss has a lot to do with the lack of conservative progress in Texas law. Why would anyone support that?

Doc Anderson is a conservative state rep from the Waco area. I cannot imagine he would not try hard to press for conservative goals, which will not include trying to compromise with Democrats.

So tillacum, should we now worry about Doc Anderson too? Is Doc actually supporting Strauss against true conservatives?, or is he only saying Strauss as a good old boy?

[tillacum]

I’ll see him in a few days and ask what he thinks of Strauss and his strength as a conservative. I trust Doc.

[af_vet_rr]

Thanks for the link and letter.

A lot of Conservatives in Texas do not realize that this is probably one of the most critical decisions to be made in the last 20 years. The State of Texas is facing a deficit of between $18 billion and $25 billion depending on who you believe.

I joked that Staus deserves to be speaker so that the deficit problems sink him, but it's really not a laughing matter. I have no doubt that in the fight over trying to fix the budget deficit, that there will be an assault on veterans' benefits, on hunters and fishermen, and on education.

There are plenty of people on the left, including some with an (R) next to their name, who are going to use the deficit as a means to further their agendas. It maybe something as innocent-sounding as an increase on hunting and fishing licenses, and other fees that end up going into the general fund. It maybe cuts in state employees who work with veterans. It might be hard to spot, but make no mistake, this is a golden opportunity for them. There are plenty of people who would love to raise the price on hunting and fishing out of reach of families. Then you have plenty of Democrats who would like to wreck our public schools however they can, because the dumber and less-educated the population is, the more likely they'll vote for Democrats. They want to keep people tied to welfare any way they can.

This upcoming legislature is going to be making decisions that will have serious impacts on the state for decades to come.

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks.

Yessirree! That was a big spark for me, for sure! :)

[MeekOneGOP]

**This upcoming legislature is going to be making decisions that will have serious impacts on the state for decades to come.**

Yep! So here’s hoping we can put a team in place with proper leadership to get the job done “RIGHT!”

[Texas Federalist]

Check Doc Anderson’s campaign finance report at the Texas Ethics Commission Website. Doc Anderson got about $200,000 from Joe Strauss right before the election. He sold his vote.

[MeekOneGOP]

Whoo-whee, Deputy Dawg!

[Texas Federalist]

Linda Harper-brown also . . . another usually strong conservative vote, another inexplicable pledge to Strauss -another $225,000 from Strauss before the election. Notice a pattern?

[Weirdad]

Texas Federalist: "Check Doc Anderson’s campaign finance report at the Texas Ethics Commission Website. Doc Anderson got about $200,000 from Joe Strauss right before the election. He sold his vote."

Wow, amazing find, thanks, Texas Federalist, for that resource.

If Strauss has the capability and willingness to help conservatives, that's maybe a good thing, but I supposed some of Strauss's money could have came from contributions to Strauss. I do not completely understand these reports. Strauss contributions do not add up to $200,000, but they are close. Quite a bit of money.

Strauss might have simply wanted to insure that a bad Democrat lawyer did not get elected over Doc, but unfortunately those contributions later make a conflict of interest for Doc.

At this point I do NOT think that Doc can in good conscience vote for Strauss for speaker. He can vote for someone else, but if he supports Strauss, he should just abstain from the vote in order to avoid the appearance.

I wish this thread was not crumping because I would like to hear more on this issue from those who know more than me.

For reference I pasted a table with links to the PDF reports below (at least those I could find on that site).

---

Results of Your Contributions Query Contributions disclosed in special pre-election reports (formerly telegram reports) and special session reports appear highlighted in yellow. These contributions are also required to be disclosed in the subsequent report, which may explain why a contribution appears twice in the query results. Contributions disclosed in corrected reports are highlighted in blue.

Report  #	Filer ID	Filer's Name	Contributor's Name	Contribution Amount	Date	Description	Contributor's City	State	Zipcode	Occupation
268581	00051449	Anderson, Charles	Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld Llp,	$ 500.00	11/09/2004		Austin	Tx	78701
463953	00051449	Anderson, Charles	Joe R. Straus Iii C/oh Campaign Acct.,	$ 17,500.00	9/08/2010	Survey	San Antonio	Tx	78709
463953	00051449	Anderson, Charles	Joe R. Straus Iii C/oh Campaign Acct.,	$ 80,000.00	9/08/2010	Political Consulting	San Antonio	Tx	78709
458496	00051449	Anderson, Charles	Strauss, Joe	$ 2,500.00	6/22/2010		San Antonio	Tx	78209-5900	Speaker Of The texas House Of Rep.
466400	00051449	Anderson, Charles	Strauss, Joe	$ 50,000.00	10/07/2010		San Antonio	Tx	78209-5900	Speaker Of The texas House Of Rep.
463953	00051449	Anderson, Charles	Strauss, Joe	$ 25,000.00	9/21/2010		San Antonio	Tx	78209-5900	Speaker Of The texas House Of Rep.

6 contribution records found

---