Showdown Over Speaker in the Lone Star State

With the Texas legislature 8 days away from convening the 2009 legislative session, the topic dominating all political discussion in the Lone Star State is the race for Speaker of the House.

Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland), the first Republican speaker in TX since reconstruction, had been facing a number challengers and a vocal “anybody but Craddick” contingent in his own party. However, Craddick’s reign as speaker effectively came to an end on his own accord this weekend with the announcement that he is withdrawing his name from consideration.

That leaves 15 members of the House vying for the speakership. Texans for Fiscal Responsibility has put together a list of all speaker candidates and how they rank on their Fiscal Responsibility Index, which measures how often TX legislators voted in the best interests of taxpayers (the higher the score, the better).

Click here to view the list.

Since that list was published, Rep Joe Straus (R-San Antonio), Rep. Brian McCall (R-Plano), and Rep. John Smithee (R-Amarillo) have joined the race for speaker. Straus scores a 71.43% on the Fiscal Responsibility Index, McCall has a 64.29%, and Smithee has racked up a 91%. The House Republican average is 75.01%.

ATR joins Texans for Fiscal Responsibility in taking issue with lawmakers who wish to conduct the vote for speaker in a secret and opaque manner. ATR agrees with TFR that there should be more recorded votes – not less and that the vote for speaker must be conducted in a way that is transparent and open to the public.