Texas House Speaker Straus faces possible GOP censure

AUSTIN — Texas House Speaker Joe Straus won a number of high-profile legislative battles in this year, but fellow Republicans are now passing no-confidence resolutions aimed at removing him from his leadership role.

Ray Myers, chair of the Kaufman County Tea Party, said 50 Texas county GOP organizations have approved no-confidence measures, and Myers is waiting for Harris County Republicans to vote on a proposal next week. 

But the vote that would resonate at the state Republican level is expected to come when Bexar County’s Republican Party acts on a “Rule 44” censure resolution at its Oct. 9 executive committee meeting. 

Such censures originate in a lawmakers’ home district; if approved, the State Republican Party Executive Committee could adopt the resolution as a statewide reprimand for what conservatives consider Straus’ failure to advance the GOP platform, and for thwarting proposals such as so-called bathroom bills.

Straus has overcome previous leadership challenges, but censure from the state GOP would significantly escalate a battle against the speaker that grassroots activists are eager to join. 

“Straus and his hand-picked committee chairs have consistently thwarted … core Republican issues …” Phil Sevilla, a Bexar County Republican, wrote in a recent email. “The speaker … personally thwarted the very operations of the Texas House and blocked elected representatives from representing their constituents by prohibiting legislation from being considered in the full House.

Myers said that even calling Straus a RINO, or Republican in name only, is giving the speaker too much credit.

“Joe Straus is not a Republican,” Myers said. “He’s an embedded Democrat.”

Cal Jillson, a Southern Methodist University political scientist, said that while Straus has “always been suspect” in Tea Party circles, House members — who’ve elected him speaker five times — view the San Antonio native as “someone who can steer the ship and save them from their worst instincts.”

Sevilla would ultimately like to challenge the power of the speaker’s office.

“There are bigger issues here than Joe Straus,” Sevilla said. “The speaker has such unbridled power.

“Perhaps that needs to be reined in. Maybe the real problem is the office itself.”

A constitutional amendment, for example, might well be the road to checking a speakers power, Sevilla said. 

But for now, the focus is on sending a message via the newly implemented Rule 44 censure, something that Jillson said “would be an embarrassment.”

Tammy Blair, who chairs the Cherokee County GOP, said the contest to unseat Straus underscores the “war going on in the party: conservatives versus moderates.”

Underscoring the conflict is the narrow win earlier this year by James Dickey, the state GOP chair, who won by a single vote. 

“Conservatives are still trying to take the party,” Blair said. “We’ve got a serious problem.

“Look at Dan Patrick in the Senate,” Blair said, referring to the lieutenant governor. “He does a lot of stuff; Speaker Straus, not so much.”

Sevilla said the fact that Straus appoints Democrats to head powerful committees signals his lack of strong GOP loyalty.

And, Sevilla said, Straus won’t allow votes to come to the floor for a vote by the full House on legislation he opposes. 

“He does not separate his role as speaker and his role as a representative of his district,” Sevilla said. “This year he really pulled the governor and lieutenant governor’s chains.”

There was also vocal opposition in the House from conservatives in the Texas Freedom Caucus.

Unlike the lieutenant governor, who presides in the Senate and is elected by voters statewide, House members choose one of their own members to serve as speaker when each new Legislature begins.

State Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, said this week at their annual caucus, GOP House members will likely be mulling the way they choose a speaker, one of Texas’ top three elected officials.

One option: filling the job through secret ballot in the caucus instead of voting on the House floor. 

But that would mean changing bylaws. 

Meanwhile, Straus said that “we’ve got to see if anybody’s going to step up and run.”

A call to Straus’ office for comment was not returned.

John Austin covers the Texas Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jaustin@cnhi.com.

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