Politics & Policy
April 1, 2015
141-5
It’s hard to argue with results of the House debate over the budget bill.
Texas House
Politics & Policy
May 20, 2011
R.G.’s Take: 82nd Legislature rolls the dice, betting on the come
Betting on the come, in gambling terms, means: You don’t have what you need but you’re betting that you will have it when you need it. Betting on the come is exactly what House and Senate Republicans are doing with Governor Rick Perry as they press for a final budget
Politics & Policy
March 28, 2011
R.G.’s Take: What the Lean House Budget Bill Means for State Employees
(Editor’s note: Every week, for the remainder of the legislative session, BurkaBlog will be publishing an original column by R.G. Ratcliffe, who was the state political reporter for the Houston Chronicle for twenty years. During those two decades, I’ve known R.G., who resigned from the Chronicle in February to work
Politics & Policy
May 22, 2009
Watching paint dry
How else to describe the pace of House debate? I can’t recall another session when the default option was for both parties to chub every bill. The debate over the unemployment insurance bill was particularly dilatory. Why is this bill even being debated? Rick Perry has drawn his line in
Politics & Policy
April 19, 2009
The Cold War
The House budget debate had a lot in common with the Cold War. The two sides came to the battlefield fully armed, but they engaged in frequent diplomacy that avoided a nuclear conflagration. Jessica Farrar, for the Democratic caucus, and various Republicans, Phil King among them, held a summit on
Politics & Policy
March 17, 2009
In the good old summertime
You can see the train wreck coming: a special session over the budget and the stimulus package. Speculation is rampant that Perry will veto the appropriations bill, but he may not even have a bill to veto. The difficulties of melding the budget with the stimulus funds (and the rules
Politics & Policy
December 1, 2008
The Speaker’s Race: Shock and Awful
Things are about to get ugly in the speaker’s race. The Craddick forces, led by several longtime loyalists (I want to run another check on the names), are trying to stir up a coordinated campaign to put pressure on wavering colleagues to vote for Craddick. According to credible reports I
Politics & Policy
November 18, 2008
Wisdom of Solomons
Putting on my best faux-reporter voice, I called Rep. Solomons to find out why he would be so crazy as to run for Speaker. I wanted to give him the opportunity that we gave to the other 140 candidates to send along an Official Declaration of Intent. Solomons noted that
Politics & Policy
October 25, 2008
The Speaker’s Race: The McHaig letter
With Election Day quickly approaching, it has become clear to many conservatives that a Democratic takeover of the Texas House of Representatives is a very real possibility. What was once a 26-seat Republican majority in 2003 has dwindled to an eight-seat majority today, and that number will almost certainly shrink
Politics & Policy
October 24, 2008
Optimism abounds in the battle for control of the House
I have asked Democratic insiders how their slate of candidates will fare in races for the House of Representatives. Their answer is that the D’s will pick up one to three seats, with a possibility of winning enough seats to capture control of the House. I have asked Republican insiders
Politics & Policy
October 14, 2008
The Predictor
I learned today about a method of analyzing House races that may be able to predict winners (no warranties, expressed or implied) in close races for the Texas House of Representatives. The idea is to determine whether Democrats have a chance to win certain races, based on primary turnout of
Politics & Policy
October 10, 2008
Money Talk: D’s hold fundraising leads in major House races (but Craddick has money to burn)
This is going to surprise you. It surprises me. In the most hotly contested races in the state, many Democratic candidates hold substantial leads over their Republican opponents in fundraising. Of course, Craddick has $3 million ($2,998,784.92, to be exact) to distribute, and his modus operandi has been to spend