Politics & Policy
April 27, 2015
Tea Party Nears Its Peak in the Legislature
If the 2012 GOP primary results between Ted Cruz and David Dewhurst are any indicator, tea party strength in the Texas Legislature has peaked.
Jim Keffer
Latest
1-10 of 10 Articles
Politics & Policy
April 4, 2012
Times v. Sullivan
Maybe the times are a-changin’ in the Texas House if legislators are willing to challenge Michael Quinn Sullivan. Win or lose, the ethics complaints lodged against Sullivan by two committee chairs, Vicki Truitt and Jim Keffer, are a shot across the bow and an indication that Sullivan’s detractors are not
Burka Blog
June 16, 2011
The Best & Worst Legislators Explained
I have been involved in nineteen of the twenty previous articles, and I cannot recall a more difficult year when it came to selecting the members on both lists.
Politics & Policy
February 11, 2011
MVP: Most vulnerable player (in redistricting)
[I have recovered some material I lost from the original post] It’s Jim Landtroop. 1. He’s a freshman. 2. He supported Paxton for speaker. 3. He cast one of the fifteen votes against Straus for speaker 4. He represents a part of the state that is hemorrhaging population. 5. He
Politics & Policy
March 5, 2009
TxDOT under fire
Yesterday (Wednesday) was a tough day for TxDOT. After the usual routine of resolutions congratulating this and that, and welcoming these and those, the House session ended with a resolution aimed squarely at the transportation agency. Dunnam, Coleman, and other lawmakers are unhappy that TxDOT rushed to decide how to
Politics & Policy
December 13, 2008
The proposed House reforms: Good ideas or not?
As most readers know, Jim Keffer has proposed several reforms for the House of Representatives, and Dan Gattis has proposed a constitutional amendment to provide a means of removing the speaker. Let’s see whether they have merit. First, the constitutional amendment: Gattis would add this language to the boilerplate about
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 19, 2008
Smaller Talk
Honorably Mentioned: Burt Solomons, Jim Keffer, Craig Eiland, Brian McCall, Rafael Anchia, Charlie Geren, Warren Chisum, Phil King, and Rob Junell (naturally). If you do not see your name on the list, you have given us no reason to talk about you. (Go watch it on our homepage so I
Politics & Policy
November 13, 2008
Everyone’s a Speaker!
11/14 Update: Peer Pressure works again! Now we have eight of the nine. (Delwin Jones, please report to me.) So who’s your favorite? Naturally, in the interest of bipartisanship and journalistic ethics, I will not be revealing my choice. 11/14 Update #2: Delwin Jones’s statement was lost in Evan Smith’s
Politics & Policy
November 7, 2008
Bringing Down the House
Eileen talks with Burka about the cantankerous Speaker’s race, a House divided, Craddick D’s, ABC’s, and 2010 with KBH. Honorable video mentions include: Reps. Tommy Merritt; Jim Keffer; Pete Gallego; Craig Eiland; Dan Gattis; Alan Ritter; and Sylvester Turner.