Now that a 101 seat Republican super majority has been achieved, conservative R’s are turning their attention to an internecine battle for the House speaker’s position. Joe Straus wrested the position from conservative Tom Craddick before last session by virtue of the support of 72 Democrats and 16 Republicans. The Democrats now hold a mere 49 seats in the House, meaning that Straus will need a lot more help from the R’s to return. At different times over the last couple of months, Straus has stated that he has from 120 to 140 pledges of support, but that is before Reps Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, and tea partier Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, ramped up their respective bids for the post. There have been several public defections from the Straus camp, and yesterday the Hays County Republican Party passed a resolution, which it sent to new Rep Jason Issac, R-Dripping Springs, urging Issac not to vote for Straus. Said the Hays County Republican Party Chief: “There is a place in the Republican Party for people like Joe Straus that are more moderate – it’s just not in leadership positions. He doesn’t represent the strong conservative values we saw in November.”
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