Abbott takes aim at Straus
Governor hints he may seek speaker’s ouster
AUSTIN — With half of his conservative agenda spoiled in the abrupt end of the summer’s special session, Gov. Greg Abbott Wednesday laid the blame on House Speaker Joe Straus and hinted it might be time for new leadership.
Abbott said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle that he’s upset the Texas House “dillydallied” and let property tax reform die during a special legislative session. He made clear Wednesday that he plans to get involved in 2018 campaigns — including Republican primaries — to help elect candidates who will help get the issue passed.
He suggested a change in House leadership might be needed “to make sure we’re going to get those principles passed.” He also said the House needs more members willing to buck the speaker’s priorities.
The comments mark the latest push in a political pile-on against Straus, a San Antonio Republican who has spent much of this year at odds with his party’s conservative members, who have threatened to oust him. He enjoys support from moderates and the business community, however, who argue his priorities are in the right place.
Straus kept largely mum Wednesday, telling reporters after a House Republican Caucus meeting only that it was a “very positive” gathering. Some caucus members have said they want to lay the groundwork to oust the speaker before the Legislature holds its next regular session in 2019.
As of late Wednesday, Straus had not given interviews in the wake of the special session, although his spokesman, Jason Embry, underscored the prerogative of leaders in the 150-member House.
“In any legislative session, the Speaker and House leadership must make very difficult decisions about which bills should move forward, based on public input and on whether the rest of the House wants those bills to move forward,” he said. “This special session was no different.” ‘Wasted time and money’
The Chronicle interview was one of several the governor gave Wednesday to spread the word about what he considers the successes and failures of the special session.
“We’ve got to either make sure we have the current speaker support those principles, or we’ve got to get the votes in the House to make sure we’re going to get those principles passed,” Abbott said on a conservative talk radio show Wednesday morning when asked if his priorities have a chance with Straus as speaker.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, an outspoken Republican from Houston who controls the Senate, said he holds Straus responsible for Abbott’s top priorities that didn’t pass the Legislature. Among them: property taxes, school vouchers for students with disabilities and the transgender access bill that most Texans refer to as the bathroom bill, but which Patrick prefers to call privacy legislation.
“In almost every case, it was the speaker’s personal politics,” Patrick said in a press conference after the session ended Tuesday night. “Responsibility starts at the top.”
Patrick said Straus treated the governor’s agenda like horse manure, recalling a joke Straus told school board members in June about a boy digging through a pile of horse droppings in hopes of finding a pony.
Patrick, not amused, told an old joke, saying, “Thank goodness Travis didn’t have the speaker at the Alamo. He might have been the first one over the wall.” Abbott praised the Senate. “The Senate passed all the items in the first two weeks, but nine items never got through the House,” Abbott said. “The House dilly-dallied around on issues that weren’t even on the call ... They wasted time and money.”
Abbott said the special session ended “with a clear and deep divide between the Senate and the House on the items that did not pass,” leaving little need to call lawmakers back into another special session now to address the remaining issues.
“But I’m keeping all options open in the future,” he said. Ended in stalemate
The special session, which concluded Tuesday night after 29 days, was projected to cost around $1 million. The governor called the session so lawmakers could pass bills continuing operations for the Texas Medical Board and four other agencies after the Senate held up those bills in the regular session.
While lawmakers were in session, Abbott said, he wanted them to pass bills on 19 other largely conservative issues, such as reining in local spending and control, clamping down on abortion policies and zeroing in on traditionally liberal groups such as unions and teachers.
Abbott promised early on in the special session to keep track of lawmakers supporting and opposing his legislation in a veiled threat to use that information during the 2018 election cycle. The governor, who’s built a $41 million political war chest, published lists of lawmakers who registered support for his bills, although he has yet to release the names of legislators he could target in the next elections.
Although some of his agenda died in the special session, Abbott claimed victory for the Legislature passing bills addressing 10 of 20 largely conservative issues, although he said his satisfaction is mixed with disappointment that major measures addressing property taxes, school choice and local government spending limits fell short.
Lawmakers abruptly ended the special session Tuesday after coming to a stalemate on a proposed property tax reform that would trigger voter referendums when a municipality raises property tax over a certain threshold.
The issue was a priority of the governor. Ultimately, the House ended the special session, leaving it up to the Senate to adopt a 6 percent threshold when the upper chamber preferred 4 percent. The Senate decided to adjourn, leaving the issue unaddressed.
The House also blocked hotbutton legislation known as the bathroom bill that would have effectively barred transgender people from using the bathroom of their gender identity, a proposal derided by critics as intentionally discriminatory and opposed by business leaders who said the proposal would hurt recruitment and the tourism and convention industry.
As for the opposition from big business to the bathroom bill, Abbott said he is not worried that their displeasure will have residual effects for him, Patrick or other Republicans who supported the controversial measure.
“Texas leads the nation in its business climate,” Abbott said. “The business community is pleased with Texas ... There are a lot of progressive states like California and Connecticut that business is fleeing.” Foes tie session to Trump
Democrats and their allies excoriated the Republican-led Legislature’s agenda, calling it a priority list that furthers “white supremacist, racist” attitudes.
The groups calling themselves One Texas Resistance blasted the Legislature for pushing the so-called bathroom bill, passing more bills to make it harder for women to seek safe, legal abortions and failing to do more to boost school funding.
“This was a Trump-inspired legislative session and special session,” said Joaquin Castro, a San Antonio congressman considered a likely future statewide candidate for office. “This is a completely dysfunctional system that is not working on issues that matter to the people of Texas.”
The governor signed several special session bills into law Wednesday, including a measure to require more reporting on how minors obtain permission to undergo abortions, an extension of a task force to study maternal mortality and morbidity, and legislation that would eliminate fees for homeowners cutting down trees in their yard.
The governor also signed into law a bill to increase retirement benefits for teachers, shore up funds for some small school districts, and offer facilities funding for charter schools, as well as spend more money on students with autism or dyslexia, an issue that was a priority for Straus but was cut down by more than a third by the Senate.
The House Republican Caucus began working early Wednesday on the next speaker’s election in a meeting to discuss rules for 2019. Straus has said he plans to run for re-election, although the Freedom Caucus — a splinter group of about a dozen teaparty Republicans — suggested he could see a serious challenger, although they have refused to say whom.
Democratic leaders such as Cesar Blanco, D-El Paso, are treading carefully on what happens next to the House speaker. He wouldn’t speak to what happens to Democrats if Straus is replaced with a more conservative Republican leader. But he was quick to acknowledge that Democrats were key to getting him elected speaker in 2009 and that Straus has been good for appointing some Democrats to committee chairmanships.
“He has held on issues where there is common ground with the Democratic Party, like the bathroom bill,” Blanco said.
Blanco said his goal is to get more Democrats elected to the House so it puts even more pressure on Straus to rely on Democrats. But that in turn only would increase the pressure from the right on Straus.
In a statement following the GOP meeting and Abbott’s radio appearance, Straus said he enjoyed meeting with the caucus and thanked the governor “for working with the House on his very ambitious agenda in the special session. We considered every idea carefully, listened to constituents, and acted on a number of critical issues, such as helping retired teachers.”