Keep Straus

House speaker proved himself lonely voice of sanity at top level of our state government.

“I’m disgusted by all this. Tell the lieutenant governor I don’t want the suicide of a single Texan on my hands.”

That’s the bravest and most righteous quote to come out of the Texas Legislature this year. That reaction to the so-called bathroom bill reported by The New Yorker’s Lawrence Wright came from House Speaker Joe Straus, whose practical leadership stood in stark contrast to the nonsense fomented in the capitol by our governor and lieutenant governor. That’s why voters need to make it clear they want their state lawmakers to keep Straus at the helm of the Texas House.

Straus slammed the House doors to block a blizzard of bad bills blowing in from the Senate. Still, nothing exemplified his common sense leadership better than his staunch opposition to this year’s potty politics. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made passing a so-called bathroom bill one of his top priorities. Gov. Greg Abbott initially dodged this issue as he quivered in Patrick’s shadow, but he eventually dumped it into the special session. By contrast, Straus stridently blocked this bill from the very beginning — not only because it was bad for business, but also because of the hateful message it would send to transgender Texans.

While Abbott and Patrick squandered time and energy on divisive causes dear to social conservatives, Straus repeatedly demonstrated he was more interested in good government than partisan politics. He chastised the Senate for fighting improvements to public education and passed through the House a budget that basically banned voucher programs. When Patrick pushed a pandering proposal for a teacher pay raise without offering any state funding, Straus coolly complimented “the lieutenant governor’s newfound focus on school finance reform.”

Straus proved himself a lonely voice of sanity in our state’s leadership, but it has put him in a potentially difficult position. His focus on issues that really matter in Texas government has won him widespread support from the state’s business leadership. But his fellow Republican lawmakers nowadays pay more attention to the GOP’s most socially conservative voters, who dominate the party’s primaries.

Now both the governor and lieutenant governor are predictably blasting Straus, making it clear they want him ousted from his leadership position. Right-wing activists who tried to unseat him before the special session will no doubt try to stir up another challenge before the Legislature meets again in 2019.

The speaker is not elected by voters, he’s chosen by a majority of legislators in the Texas House. So it’s important that Texans upset with the lunacy in Austin this year let their state lawmakers know not only that they support Straus, but also that they’ll vote against any legislator who joins a movement to replace him.

Straus has already said he wants to keep his leadership post. If he wins again, he’ll be the first Texas House Speaker to serve more than five terms. He deserves a sixth, and voters need to make it clear they expect their state lawmakers to give it to him.