A bad relationship gets worse
Somehow the already poor relationship between Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is getting worse.
Phelan, a Beaumont Republican, got the ball rolling during the first day of the new 30-day special session on Monday by calling on Patrick to give back donations from a political action committee that he said had ties to white supremacists.
That had Patrick, a Houston Republican, calling for Phelan to resign as the leader of the Texas House.
"He has now absolutely hit rock bottom," Patrick said. "His latest political stunt is disgusting, despicable, and disingenuous."
Phelan's response?
"There is no excuse to keep tainted funds from an organization that provides a platform for hatemongers, sexual predators, racists and nazi sympathizers," Phelan said.
It's under that backdrop that these two leaders now find themselves in a special session over an issue - school vouchers - that has bitterly divided urban and rural Republicans for decades in Texas.
As reporter Jasper Scherer wrote, this latest exchange added to infighting that has boiled over since the Senate voted to acquit Attorney General Ken Paxton last month following his two-week impeachment trial. Immediately after the acquittal, Patrick slammed the GOP-majority House's "flawed process" and called for an audit into how much public funding was spent on the impeachment effort.
 | Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter |
Who's up, who's down
Up: Ted Cruz.
The Republican U.S. Senator is certainly being more aggressive with his fundraising going into this re-elect than he was during his last campaign six years ago. Fox News reported that Cruz raised $5.4 million over the last three months and now has $6.7 million in his campaign account heading into next year's campaign season. That puts him well ahead of where his fundraising was in 2017 as he prepared to take on Democrat Beto O'Rourke.
Down: Michael McCaul.
The Texas Republican and House Foreign Affairs Chairman was one of the big targets of Vietnamese government agents who tried to plant spyware on the phones of several influential members of Congress. The Washington Post reports that the attempted attack came as Vietnamese and American diplomats were negotiating a major cooperation agreement intended to counter growing Chinese influence in the region.
What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.
What else is going on in Texas
|
|
|
|
Pick of the day
Photo by: Jeremy Wallace
Tuesday is the last day to register in time to vote in the November elections. Besides hot city council and mayors races around the state, the ballot has 14 statewide constitutional amendments including ones that could lower property tax bills. If you've moved since the last time you voted, be sure to change your address. You can check your voter registration status here.
What else I'm reading
Puerto Rico officials are having to add "USA" to its driver licenses because of viral incidents where Puerto Ricans are having their driver licenses rejected in the mainland because of people not realizing people from the island are legal U.S. citizens. The New York Times reports that on Tuesday officials will make the change so driver licenses will read "Puerto Rico USA".
Unsubscribe | Manage Preferences | Privacy Notice
Houston Chronicle
4747 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77027
© 2023 Hearst Communications
No comments:
Post a Comment