Posted on 03/03/2003 10:25:36 AM PST by basil
Hupp's ideas shine in legislature
With GOP in control, lawmaker's conservative ideas are at forefront
03/03/2003
Associated Press --Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN ? These days, Rep. Suzanna Gratia Hupp's conservative ideas hold more weight in the Legislature than they used to.
The Capitol, for Ms. Hupp, is more friend than foe. And that's a significant change from her first six years as a lawmaker.
"For once, for the first time since I've been in the Legislature, I have a much better opportunity to improve conditions for my constituents across the board," said Ms. Hupp, a Republican from the Texas Hill Country town of Lampasas.
That change can largely be traced to the rule of House Speaker Tom Craddick of Midland, the first Republican speaker since Reconstruction.
Mr. Craddick has appointed Ms. Hupp, widely known for her dogged endorsement of concealed handgun rights, to key legislative assignments.
One is the Calendars Committee, where Ms. Hupp is one of 11 members who decide which bills get to the House floor for a vote and when they'll get there.
"For the first time, we've had a Republican speaker and a Calendars Committee where more conservative bills will get to see the light of day," Ms. Hupp said. "In the past, this simply wasn't true. When conservative bills fell into the Calendar Committee, it was like they fell into a black hole."
Ms. Hupp's rising star also is evident in her position on the House Appropriations Committee, which drafts the state's two-year budget and allocates money to state agencies. The budget has become the focal point of this legislative session amid a projected biennial revenue shortfall of almost $10 billion.
"It's a whole new ball of wax," Ms. Hupp said. "On a personal level, I have all kinds of new best friends."
Same agenda
Her agenda, however, has remained unchanged and narrowly focused. Ms. Hupp is dauntless in her fight to ensure the public's right to carry concealed weapons and to reduce the size of government.
While other frustrated lawmakers tackle the massive budget shortfall they consider to be a hardship, Ms. Hupp sees it as an opportunity to limit state government. And she's vowed to remember during budget hearings those "fundamental principles of what I believe government is there for."
"There are many good programs that help people, but as someone far wiser than I said, 'That behavior that government subsidizes, the government promotes,' " said Ms. Hupp, who describes herself as leaning toward Libertarian views.
The first cuts on her chopping block will be in health and human services, Ms. Hupp said.
"As cruel as this sounds, I'm almost grateful for this huge, enormous shortfall at a time when the Republicans are coming into power because frankly it's forcing us to do what people put us in office to do," Ms. Hupp said.
Ms. Hupp's no-nonsense questioning of downtrodden state beneficiaries who have been emotionally pleading their cases before budget writers has raised more than a few eyebrows.
Some objected after Ms. Hupp, in an Appropriations Committee hearing, questioned whether allowing foster children to be served by the school lunch program was "double-dipping" into state dollars.
"That's an outrageous thing to ask," said Hannah Riddering, president of the Texas chapter of the National Organization For Women. "As someone who is conservative and as someone who claims to be interested in the well being of children and pregnant women, she needs to put all her money where her mouth is."
Rep. Dawnna Dukes, an Austin Democrat who sits with Ms. Hupp on the Appropriations Committee, diplomatically acknowledges that the two "may not always see eye to eye on each issue, but we are very respectful of each other and have a positive working relationship."
Ms. Hupp's ideology has garnered a following.
"She's a fiscal conservative, and she's a strict constitutionalist," said Peggy Venable, director of the conservative watchdog Texas Citizen's for a Sound Economy.
"A lot of people who are strict constitutionalists and limited-government advocates have a great appreciation for her courage and her leadership in standing up for some of those issues," Ms. Venable said.
Her concealed weapon initiative started before her legislative career. Still a practicing chiropractor, she testified before the 1993 and 1995 Legislatures to get the original legislation passed that allows Texans to carry concealed weapons with a license.
Concealed handgun
Her interest in the subject is personal.
There was a time when Ms. Hupp illegally carried a handgun. But with a growing sense of concern that getting caught would mean losing her license to practice her profession, she left her handgun in her car one fall day in 1991 while having lunch with her parents in a Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen.
A gunman careened his truck through a glass window and opened fire on diners in the restaurant, killing both of Ms. Hupp's parents while she watched from behind an overturned table.
In the end, 23 people were shot to death in the restaurant, before the gunman turned the gun on himself. Ms. Hupp believes that had she taken her gun with her that day the tragedy might not have been as deadly.
"I wasn't angry at the guy that did it. That would be like being angry at a rabid dog," Ms. Hupp recounted, growing increasingly agitated.
"But I was mad as hell at the legislators because they legislated me out of my right to protect my life and my family.
"It frustrates me thinking about it."
Today Ms. Hupp continues her gun rights campaign. She is pushing bills that would prohibit cities from restricting licensed gun carriers and would tighten open records requirements governing gun licenses.
"I believe government ought to do a very, very few things," she said, "and do those things very, very well."
Great to see her doing well and here's to her continued success.
She is the anti-Hillary if ever there was one.
"I wasn't angry at the guy that did it. That would be like being angry at a rabid dog," Ms. Hupp recounted, growing increasingly agitated.
I would be d*** angry at the rabid dog if he had killed my parents. I hope this quote reflects a media bias in reporting. Otherwise, it sounds as if she wouldn't be as hard on criminals as I would hope. However, since she is a friend of yours then I'm sure the quote doesn't represent her views fully.
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