Texas Speaker foils attempts at his ouster

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This is the kind of stuff one tends to read from Banana Republic countries. Its not much of a surprise this guy is a pal of Delay.

Article

House in uproar over Craddick

Legislature: Speaker's moves foil attempt to topple him; parliamentarian resigns


10:08 AM CDT on Saturday, May 26, 2007
By KAREN BROOKS / The Dallas Morning News
kmbrooks@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – House Speaker Tom Craddick shut down repeated efforts by House members to remove him from his post during a dramatic midnight coup attempt Friday, refusing to recognize them for a procedural move that would set off a vote to oust him.

In an extraordinary late-night exchange before a packed House gallery, with most House members seated quietly at their desk, Fred Hill, R-Richardson, asked that the chamber be allowed to vote on Mr. Craddick's fate.

It was the climax of discontent that had been building for weeks – but Mr. Craddick, R-Midland, stymied it with carefully worded parliamentary rulings.

"The speaker's power of recognition on any matter can not be appealed," he said.

The House was in session until after 1 a.m. Saturday, and with just three days remaining in the legislative session, a drawn-out fight could imperil dozens of bills. Among the items lawmakers have not completed is the state budget – and if they don't approve that, they must return for a special session. The House will reconvene at 11 a.m., and it's unclear what will happen.

The historic move followed a outburst in the House hours earlier in which Mr. Craddick warned he would not entertain an effort to unseat him, refused to explain his decision, and abruptly recessed the House for 2 ½ hours. He left the chamber, flanked by his closest allies, as angry Craddick foes threw up raucous jeers and shouts.

One Craddick supporter screamed back at the speaker's opponents, "This is anarchy!"

Some Democrats approached the dais and tried to turn on microphones to record their objections, but they were stopped by the House sergeant-at-arms and his staff. And when the House returned to business two hours later, House members commenced with a dramatic grilling of Mr. Craddick that, with the House gallery packed and cheers erupting, resembled a public inquisition.

Democratic Rep. Garnet Coleman called the speaker "Chicken Craddick" for bolting from the floor, referring to the "Chicken Ds" nickname he had given the group of fleeing Democrats who left Austin in 2003 to stop an effort to redraw congressional districts.

Mr. Craddick's rulings on whether he can be challenged prompted the House parliamentarian, Denise Davis, and her assistant, to abruptly resign. And he replaced them with two former lawmakers who have been consulting with him on the House rules. That prompted outcries from anti-Craddick lawmakers who protested that both had already shown their bias in favor of the speaker or against other members.

Ms. Davis and her assistant have maintained that a motion to "vacate the chair," or oust the speaker while he's still serving, is a "highly privileged motion" that even the chamber's leader can't refuse.

"I don't believe there's such a motion in the rules," Mr. Craddick told members just before Ms. Davis walked out of the chamber.

Said Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth: "I thought we elected a speaker, not a dictator."

Mr. Craddick repeatedly answered questions from half a dozen members who had been leading the charge to remove him. With Mr. Keel instructing him how to carefully respond, Mr. Craddick outlined the following position: that the post of House speaker is created by and protected in the Texas Constitution – and that only a vote of two-thirds of the House can remove him for a particular offense.

House Democratic leader Jim Dunnam of Waco and others, however, say that they can remove the speaker with a simple majority based on precedents in both the state House and Congress. A two-thirds majority would probably be an insurmountable margin for Craddick opponents, who have been thought to be struggling to win a majority of the 150-member chamber.

"Does anyone's voice in this chamber matter but yours? And Mr. Keel's? And Mr. Wilson's?" Mr. Dunnam asked.

Mr. Craddick answered: "We're going to follow the House rules."

Mr. Dunnam, who has long accused Mr. Craddick of abusing his authority, responded: "We're going to follow the House rules? When?"

The gallery broke into cheers and applause, and as sergeant-at-arms staff half-heartedly tried to calm them, Mr. Dunnam then said: "This is my chamber, too, Mr. Speaker."

Lawmakers have once before removed a House speaker, in 1871, through a motion to vacate the chair. Mr. Craddick argued that that was no precedent the constitutional provisions outlining the removal of a speaker did not exist then.

Talk of a potential uprising against Mr. Craddick has been simmering for weeks since the House overruled him on a decision about the chamber's rules. That led some of his foes, including past and current challenger Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie; Mr. Dunnam; and Euless Republican Todd Smith, to challenge him about their rights on the floor.

Mr. Smith called the speaker's position an "abuse of power," while supporter Myra Crownover, a Republican from Denton, called Mr. Smith and the other critics "anarchists."

"I'm totally overwhelmed," said Rep. Helen Giddings, D-Dallas. "This is a terrible blemish on this institution, and there is not one of these 150 members who do not share the blemish."

Mr. Craddick's position has been tenuous all year, after a large number of members sided with an effort to elect Mr. Pitts speaker when the session began in January. Lawmakers have chafed at Mr. Craddick's strict control over the House, with many saying he forced them to make unpopular votes and held too much control over committees and legislation.

Staff writer Robert T. Garrett in Austin contributed to this report.