That time has come. It's time to pack the car and head north to the state capitol. The 80th Legislative Session is about to start. It's unfortunate that this will mean time away from the family. I do however look forward to working with a great bunch of guys and gals who love their state and want to do their part to improve it.
Before I leave and take a break away from this computer in order to prepare for the session, I have one bit of unfinished business to attend, namely wrapping up this series of reports on the speaker's race. Curious things, these speaker's races, everyone has a point of view. In the beginning, like any other house member, I simply wanted to wait to enter my vote and be done with it. Ah, but you wiley folks reminded me that as a blogger, I had an obligation to lift the veil of secrecy on the process. I have done my best to try to find a middle ground in providing information while allowing the process to take it's course. Well the candidates have all made their pitch and the members have, to a measurable degree, responded.
So here it is, who is going to win? Well, I've told you all along that a front runner emerged last weekend. Prior to that point, momentum was traveling in one direction. Then as one pundit noted, it became very hard for a challenging candidate to reach the 75 votes necessary to win. Yesterday, my good friend Brian McCall, withdrew from the race. This left one challenger to the current speaker of the house. Will he succeed where other challengers did not? Knowing history to be the final arbiter, based on observable evidence, including the majority of recent converts, it is my opinion that he will not.
Best wishes to all. I will see you in Austin.
Additional perspective from Paul Burka.
UPDATE:
5 comments:
Representative Pena, I heard you respect Royal Masset and his opinions. I found the following comment from him on another blog. It appears that he has come to the same conclusion you have. I thought you would find this interesting:
"The race is over and Pitts will fall short. While a majority of legislators might prefer someone besides Craddick to be Speaker, that is not the same thing as saying one challenger can get a majority against Craddick. They can't.
Almost all of the criticism directed at Craddick is valid. But the problem lies in the institution and not Craddick. Another Speaker in the Texas House, just as we will see with another Speaker in the Washington Congress, will inevitably adapt the behaviors of the ones they replaced.
In the Texas House the Speaker must somehow create an institution that studies over 5000 bills, gets rid of he 80% that are bad and improves the ones that are good. Without a strong and stubborn Speaker the 150 member legislature would resemble a gang of Mel Gibson nihilistic Road Warriors. For example it sounds great to say that the Speaker should allow all members a chance to be heard. But the reality is that there is not enough time in God's creation for all legislators to speak. A nice Speaker would be a disaster for Texas. "
Rep, I have noticed that it is mainly Democrats who are doing the talking for Pitts in the newspapers. This looks like a tell tale sign that it's over for Pitts. What say you?
Have a safe trip.
Looks like the papers are backing you up on converts. Look what I found on a Valley paper-
Eddie Lucio III, D-Brownsville, said he would support Craddick because he pledged his support early in 2006, before others were in the race.
“I was very torn over this issue, there’s no doubt about it,” Lucio III said. “I was leaning toward to supporting another candidate, but that pledge card holds weight. I’ve kept my word in the past, and I wanted to start my career that way.”
Hey there , nice blog, very informative. We have one ourselves, it's a Texas Prison employee blogsite. Deals with issues in criminal justice and beyond. You guys are officially invited. And Rep., we would love to hear from ya!
www.thebackgate.com
Post a Comment