Joe Straus vs. Matt Beebe
We lost the battle of getting Ken Paxton elected as the Texas Speaker of the House for the 82nd legislature, but that does not mean we have given up.
We now are working to not only prevent Joe Straus from becoming the Texas Speaker of the House for the 83rd legislature, but to prevent his re-election to the Texas House of Representatives.
TEAParty911.com founder, Michael Kinzie has endorsed Matt Beebe in HD-121 and we are all working hard to get Beebe elected to rid the House of Representatives of Joe Straus.
To see how you can help, please go to Matt Beebe's page on our site.
The Below Info is Outdated
Letter to Dennis Bonnen Regarding His Support of Joe Straus
by Dennis Edwards - January 4, 2011
Rep. Dennis Bonnen |
Ref: Your continued support of Joe Straus
Mr. Bonnen,
Please take the time to read this and then respond. As my State Representative I am looking for you to account for your continued support of Joe Straus as our BEST choice for House Speaker in the 2011 session.
In your recent letter to me you expounded on your strong conservative record and that of Representative Joe Straus. I honestly continue to be puzzled at your support of Representative Joe Straus. I am left wondering if you truly believe Joe Straus is the BEST choice for House Speaker or if you, like apparently so many other House Republicans, are now just afraid of Joe Straus and his strong-arm intimidation and political tactics. Or perhaps you aren't as strong a conservative as you proclaim. I might point out that among the many Republicans I talk with here in your district, I have yet to find one that believes as you do that Joe Straus is the best choice for the 2011 House Speakers position. Your continued support for Joe Straus just leaves me wondering how can you consider him the best choice and if not the best choice why would we or should we have to settle for him and risk a conservative agenda in the 2011 session? On November 2nd Texans overwhelmingly voted for a strong Republican conservative Legislature and quite honestly, Texas conservatives aren't really asking at this juncture, we are demanding that a new House Speaker be selected other than Joe Straus. I can assure you that the conservatives in your district and this state will remember and hold accountable those who support Joe Straus in the same light as the voters just held incumbents accountable who voted for ObamaCare, TARP, bailouts, etc.. We will find true conservatives to run in 2012 and we will vote for them accordingly. What will your recourse be if Joe Straus is again Speaker and successfully stalls and kills many of the important legislative issues Texans are looking to see addressed? What will you say to your constituency? Ask them to wait another 2 years to see the issues addressed?
Joe Straus (RINO) |
Let’s look at some of the facts on Joe Straus and then ask yourself what would be the problem with just doing as your constituency is asking and have a Republican Caucus vote for a new House Speaker? Honestly, we would probably be happy with just about any one of a number of other conservatives than Joe Straus. There are many TRUE conservatives to choose from. No matter how you try to spin his record, no matter how hard I may try to understand, there is no argument that convinces me Joe Straus is a good choice much less the best choice to lead the next session of the Texas House Legislature.
Here is what I have learned about Joe Straus, if any of this is wrong, then I would ask and count on you to point it out to me.
Joe Straus had, according to Heritage Alliance, the worse voting record of any other Republican during the 2007 Legislative session, voting only 52% of the time with his fellow Republican conservatives.
Joe Straus was elected Speaker in 2009 by 65 House Democrats, voting as a block, and only 11 fellow Republicans. Republicans that I might point out that had less than stellar conservative voting records and many of which got powerful committee chairmanship appointments in return for their support.
Joe Straus, once elected Speaker, appointed 14 Democrats to powerful committee Chairmanships of the 32 House committees.
Joe Straus appointed Brian McCall, a recognized very liberal Republican, to the very powerful Chairmanship of the Calendar Committee. Brian McCall had received a dismal 27% rating from the Young Conservatives of Texas. It is well recognized that if you want legislation killed it is done through the House Calendar Committee.
Todd Smith, Straus appointed Chairman of the Elections Committee, stalled and effectively killed the Voter ID legislation passed by the Texas Senate (SB 362) that many conservative Texans were asking for and are still asking for. Chairman Smith later substituted a watered-down version that would not have secured the right to vote. Voter ID legislation, which should have been a clear priority for a Republican Speaker and his chairman… did not pass.
Most recently, Joe Straus campaigned for the very liberal Democrat Patrick Rose, while at the same time not giving one dime to Republicans across the state.(Now does that sound like a true conservative?)
Under Speaker Straus’ leadership during the 2009 session Republicans saw 32% of their bills killed while only 3% of Democratic authored legislation was killed.
You strongly stated in your letter to me “I can assure you that I would not support a Speaker of the House who is not pro-life. Joe Straus is pro-life”. Interesting to note though that Joe Straus supported a bill making it easier to perform late-term, third trimester abortions. (SB 419, vote 672, 2005). You might also note that Joe Straus also received a 100% rating from NARAL (the very liberal pro-choice abortion organization) in 2007 and was just rated a 73% (still very high for someone who you say is pro-life).
Joe Straus supported a public-school sex education bill which was supported by Planned Parenthood (where Straus’ wife sits on the board), NARAL, and the ACLU. Some described it as allowing “Planned Parenthood to control sex education in Texas” (Rep. Straus co-authored this bill: HB 1842, 2007)
Joe Straus co-authored another bill that would have allowed use of embryonic stem cells in research and human cloning. (HB 2704; 2007)
Joe Straus supported homosexuals as foster parents (SB 6, vote 327, 2005)
Joe Straus supported expanding gaming and gambling, including casinos and slot machines (HB 10, vote 939, 2007 and HB 2265, votes 749, 2007). Interesting enough I also have heard (although not confirmed) that either he owns or his family owns, or has large ownership interests in, some horse tracks and would stand to make millions if this passed. I have also been told that this is a “priority” for him in this upcoming session… as I stated, please correct me where I’m wrong in any of this.
Joe Straus opposed strengthening marriage and reducing divorce, voting against encouraging statistically-proven premarital education. (HB 2685, votes 384, 437 and 1407; 2007)
Joe Straus voted against a bill to let parents know the service-referrals that school counselors were making for their children ( HB 2136, vote 592, 2007)
Need I continue? And you call this man a strong conservative? You stated in your letter that you would “put Speaker Joe Straus’ conservative record up against any of our recent leaders”, well, with all due respect I challenge you on this. You may find a way to politically twist his record to somehow convince those less informed that he’s a good conservative, but again, the BEST choice for our Texas House Speaker… I think not !
With the long list of issues before the upcoming legislative session, with redistricting taking place and Texas in line to get an additional 4 seats in the U.S. House, the question remains, why would you continue your apparent unwavering support for Joe Straus to continue as Texas House Speaker?
This whole issue shouts of “good old boy” politics, back-room deals, political arm-twisting (of arm-breaking magnitude), just the type of politics that Texans and Americans as a whole are fed up with and are resoundingly rejecting..
All we are asking for is that a NEW Speaker of the House be selected by the House Republican Caucus… is that REALLY ASKING TOO MUCH ?
I might just one more time try to gently remind you of who you represent and who gets the final say in your term limitation.
We are proud Texans, we DO NOT back down or walk away from a fight when we know we are RIGHT…. we expect nothing less from our elected officials… and when it comes to this issue… WE KNOW WE ARE RIGHT…. JOE STRAUS MUST GO!
Website: OurBrokenGov.org
Blog: OurBrokenGov.com
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Joe Straus vs. Matt Beebe
We lost the battle of getting Ken Paxton elected as the Texas Speaker of the House for the 82nd legislature, but that does not mean we have given up.
We now are working to not only prevent Joe Straus from becoming the Texas Speaker of the House for the 83rd legislature, but to prevent his re-election to the Texas House of Representatives.
TEAParty911.com founder, Michael Kinzie has endorsed Matt Beebe in HD-121 and we are all working hard to get Beebe elected to rid the House of Representatives of Joe Straus.
To see how you can help, please go to Matt Beebe's page on our site.
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