House Clout List Topped By Straus A-Team Roster as Conservatives Take Lead Up State Senate Ladder
Capitol Inside Editor
By Mike Hailey
The Texas Senate power chart is decidedly more conservative at the top while the House members with the most clout heading into the 2013 regular session share critical common threads as Republicans in the highest stations on Speaker Joe Straus’ leadership team.
The Capitol Inside pre-session power rankings for the east wing of the statehouse features a pair of conservatives – Republican State Senators Tommy Williams of The Woodlands and Dan Patrick of Houston – who can probably thank the U.S. Senate election this year for meteoric vaults on the Senate sway gauge in the countdown to the Legislature’s biennial gathering.
Williams and Patrick, who occupy the first and third spots on the Senate power list, were appointed to new positions as the chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee and Education Committee respectively as major beneficiaries of a right turn that Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst has taken since losing to Ted Cruz in a GOP primary runoff for the U.S. Senate last summer.
State Senator Jane Nelson – a Flower Mound Republican who’s been one of the upper chamber’s most conservative members for almost two decades – ranks fourth on the power list as the Health & Human Services Committee chair and the most imposing roadblock to an expansion of gambling in Texas next year. But most of the other Senate Republicans who will wield considerable sway during the session that convenes on January 8 have been relatively moderate by GOP standards in the deep red state of Texas.
Across the rotunda, Straus appears on track to win a third term in the speaker’s post that makes him one of the state’s three most powerful leaders. The speaker and the lieutenant governor are in different leagues in the power department and not included in the rankings as a result. But the House power list would undergo a dramatic upheaval if Republican State Rep. David Simpson of Longview or another unforeseen challenger pulled off an upset of gargantuan proportions in the leadership election on opening day when Straus is up for re-election as the lower chamber’s commanding officer.
Operating on the assumption that Straus stays on as speaker, Republican State Reps. Jim Pitts of Waxahachie and Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi rank first and second on the House power chart as the chairmen of the Appropriations Committee and Calendars Committee respectively. State Rep. Dan Branch – a Dallas Republican who’s led the Higher Education Committee for the past four years – is closed behind in the power ratings as one of Straus’ closest personal friends and top lieutenants. Branch has amassed a war chest with a $2.3 million surplus that he may be tapping for a potential statewide race in 2014. Hunter has been mentioned frequently as a possible contender for statewide office as well in the next election cycle.
Nine out of the top 10 state representatives on the House power list are GOP members on the Straus A-team. But the ninth slot on the list is occupied by State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer – a San Antonio Democrat who’s the highest rated member of the minority party on the House power index as the chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.
Martinez Fischer has emerged in the past year as the Democratic Party’s most visible force in the House on a variety of fronts ranging from redistricting to the speaker’s race. While the House Republicans who’ll carry the most weight at the Capitol in 2013 are top Straus allies, Martinez Fischer has been the speaker’s most vociferous critic on the left with a confrontational style that resembles a bulldog in a China closet on steroids. Martinez Fischer, an attorney who entered the Legislature 12 years ago, has seized the megaphone from a House Democratic Caucus that’s been in a state of transition since Republicans rode a tsunami in 2010 to their first supermajority in the west wing. Martinez Fischer has been in position to pull off a power play partly as a result of a professional association with Steve Mostyn, a Houston trial lawyer who’s been the Democrats’ number one contributor in Texas for the past five years.
But Martinez Fischer has been engaging in risky rhetorical warfare with threats to lead a Democratic revolt against Straus if the incumbent House leader fails to heed some of the MALC chief’s demands and serve up some major concessions between now and the speaker’s election. Martinez Fischer’s stock would take a dip if fellow Democrats who are content with Straus decide that the MALC leader has gone overboard with self-promotional bluffing that he simply can’t back up. There’s speculation that someone like incoming Democrat Chris Turner of Arlington could emerge as a major House leader for the minority party with Mostyn’s blessings when he returns to the chamber after bouncing back from a re-election loss in 2010 with a comeback victory this year.
The vast majority of the most powerful House members in Austin next year have become familiar names in the high rungs of the lower chamber power ladder since Straus claimed the speaker’s job four years ago. But several Straus lieutenants such as Republican State Reps. Harvey Hilderbran of Kerrville, Jimmie Don Aycock of Killeen, Brandon Creighton of Conroe and Drew Darby of San Angelo can expect to wield more sway than ever in 2013 for a variety of reasons.
Hilderbran, the chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee for the past two years, created the political action committee that the Straus team used as the main vehicle for funding GOP incumbents and open seat candidates in House races this fall. Hilderbran had backed Republican Tom Craddick in his bid for re-election as speaker in 2009 when Straus unseated him. Aycock has emerged as the point person in the House on school finance and appears to have a good shot at an opening for the chairmanship of the Public Education Committee. Darby has joined Straus allies like State Reps. John Otto of Dayton and John Zerwas of Richmond as top-shelf players in the House on the state budget – and Creighton is one of the more conservative members on the leadership team with a decent shot at becoming the House GOP Caucus chairman after the session gets under way.
Creighton is dueling another up-and-coming Straus ally – State Rep. Jim Murphy of Houston – for the caucus leadership post. Murphy, who fell short in his first re-election race in 2008 before winning a return ticket two years later, moved up the power chain this year when Straus selected him to chair a special interim committee on manufacturing. Veteran Republican State Rep. Linda Harper-Brown of Irving received a similar bump in power points when the speaker appointed her as the chair on a special House Committee on Response to Federal Sequestration during the interim.
While five of the 15 most powerful senators heading into the session are Democrats, the minority party has only 14 spots on the list of the 50 House members who appear poised to wield the most clout next year. In addition to Martinez Fischer, Democratic State Reps. Senfronia Thompson of Houston, Garnet Coleman of Houston, Sylvester Turner of Houston, Rafael Anchia of Dallas and Ruth McClendon of San Antonio are ranked in the top 30 on the House power chart.
Thompson, who’s entering her 40th year as a state representative, has been Straus’ most outspoken Democratic supporter since he surfaced as a last-minute candidate for speaker a week before the regular session began in 2009. Thompson’s political muscle may be underrated as the chair of the Local & Consent Calendars Committee – a panel whose unglamorous title belies the importance it’s had as a place where legislation that lawmakers’ hometown constituents view as priorities can be held hostage or killed for leverage, bargaining and payback purposes. The case could be made that Thompson is arguably the most powerful Democrat in the House – even though the role that she’s had since Straus took over has few similarities to the part Martinez Fischer has been playing recently.
Turner, a 24-year House veteran who’s one of the most impassioned eloquent orators in the history of the Texas Legislature, has been the vice-chairman of the Appropriations Committee for the past two years. Coleman and Thompson are longtime legislators who’ve chaired committees under Straus during his two terms as speaker. Anchia has a built a reputation as one of the most effective Democratic lawmakers in Austin while Farrar has enjoyed a significant measure of sway as the House Democratic Caucus leader during the past two years. Coleman, who’s been a co-leader of the House Democratic Campaign Committee since its inception almost 10 years ago, is the second highest-ranking Democrat on the power list as a lawmaker who’d been viewed as a partisan warrior before working across party lines during the Straus regime. But Coleman is a loyal partisan during the campaign season as a legislator who controls a separate political action committee that he created.
Democratic State Senators John Whitmire of Houston, Judith Zaffirini of Laredo and Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio are ranked among the 10 most powerful legislators in the Capitol’s east wing as the session nears. Democratic State Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa of McAllen isn’t far behind.
Zaffirini appeared to be destined to drop a few slots after Dewhurst replaced her as the Higher Education Committee chair with Republican State Senator Kel Seliger of Amarillo as an apparent concession to tea party conservatives who’d backed Cruz in the U.S. Senate battle. But Zaffirini, a 25-year Senate veteran who trails only Whitmire in seniority, will still have substantial sway as the new chair of the Government Organization Committee that will oversee sunset legislation. Whitmire is the highest ranking Democrat on the pre-session Senate power chart as the Criminal Justice Committee chairman who’s good friends with Dewhurst.
Van de Putte has been a force in the upper chamber for the past decade as the leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus and chair of the Veteran Affairs & Military Installations Committee. But Hinojosa’s power stock has been on the rise since Dewhurst picked him to be the new chairman of the Intergovernmental Relations Committee in addition to his duties as the vice-chairman of the Finance Committee.
The Senate power list includes veteran Republican State Senators Robert Duncan of Lubbock and John Carona of Dallas in the second and sixth spots respectively. A pair of East Texas Republicans – State Senators Kevin Eltife of Tyler and Robert Nichols of Jacksonville – and rated in the top 11 as well along with Seliger.
The top 10 on the House side includes State Reps. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth, Jim Keffer of Eastland and Byron Cook of Corsicana – were original members of the so-called group of “cardinals” who put Straus in position to win the speaker’s job. Geren, Keffer and Cook currently serve as the chairmen of the House Administration Committee, Energy Resourcs Committee and State Affairs Committee respectively.
In a legislative arena where members seldom have the opportunity to exert significant clout until they’ve been around for more than two sessions, the list of the 50 most powerful House members in the countdown to the session contains only two representatives who’ll be sophomores next year. Republican State Rep. Lyle Larson of San Antonio is ranked 37th as a Straus ally and old friend who’s going to be carrying several key pieces of legislation that have the potential for fireworks. While Larson will be in the midst of a second term that he won without opposition this year, he’s a veteran of elective politics as a former San Antonio City Council member and Bexar County commissioner.
The only other second-term lawmaker who’s rated among the 50 House members with the most sway is State Rep. Dan Huberty – a Humble Republican who’s expected to be a key player on education issues as a former local school trustee in the fast-growing section of the Houston area that he represents.
Several conservative Republicans who opposed Straus’ bid for a second term as speaker last year – State Reps. Phil King of Weatherford, Jodie Laubenberg of Parker and Dan Flynn of Van – are ranked among the 50 most powerful representatives in the stretch before the session opens for business. While Laubenberg has already pledged to support Straus for another term, King and Flynn have been attacked by conservatives who’d been big fans up until now for defecting to the speaker’s camp even though they haven’t officially declared how they plan to vote in the leadership battle early next month. Several other conservatives who voted against Straus in 2011 including Republican State Reps. Tan Parker of Flower Mound and Debbie Riddle of Tomball could see their clout rise significantly if they follow Laubenberg’s lead and rally behind Straus in the leadership election. Parker is ranked among the 50 House members with the most clout as the session approaches on the bet that he’ll be in Straus’ corner with Laubenberg, King and Flynn when the roll is called in the speaker’s election in January. Riddle at that point could expect to move into the top 50 as well.
TEXAS SENATE
1 Tommy Williams, The Woodlands Republican
2 Robert Duncan, Lubbock Republican
3 Dan Patrick, Houston Republican
4 Jane Nelson, Flower Mound Republican
5 John Whitmire, Houston Democrat
6 John Carona, Dallas Republican
7 Judith Zaffirini,Laredo Democrat
8 Kevin Eltife,Tyler Republican
9 Kel Seliger, Amarillo Republican
10 Leticia Van de Putte, San Antonio Democrat
11 Robert Nichols, Jacksonville Republican
12 Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, McAllen Democrat
13 Bob Deuell, Greenville Republican
14 Glenn Hegar, Katy Republican
15 Royce West, Dallas Democrat
TEXAS HOUSE
1 Jim Pitts, Waxahachie Republican
2 Todd Hunter, Corpus Christi Republican
3 Dan Branch, Dallas Republican
4 Charlie Geren, Fort Worth Republican
5 Jim Keffer, Eastland Republican
6 Harvey Hilderbran, Kerrville Republican
7 Byron Cook, Corsicana Republican
8 Jimmie Don Aycock, Killeen Republican
9 Trey Martinez Fischer, San Antonio Democrat
10 Brandon Creighton, Conroe Republican
11 Larry Phillips, Sherman Republican
12 John Zerwas, Richmond Republican
13 Drew Darby, San Angelo Republican
14 John Otto, Dayton Republican
15 Lois Kolkhorst, Brenham Republican
16 Dennis Bonnen, Angleton Republican
17 Senfronia Thompson, Houston Democrat
18 Phil King, Weatherford Republican
19 Garnet Coleman, Houston Democrat
20 Allan Ritter, Nederland Republican
21 Patricia Harless, Houston Republican
22 John Smithee, Amarillo Republican
23 Sylvester Turner, Houston Democrat
24 Myra Crownover, Denton Republican
25 Bill Callegari, Katy Republican
26 Tryon Lewis, Odessa Republican
27 Jim Murphy, Houston Republican
28 Rafael Anchia, Dallas Democrat
29 Ruth McClendon, San Antonio Democrat
30 Diane Patrick, Arlington Republican
31 Susan King, Abilene Republican
32 Linda Harper-Brown, Arlington Republican
33 Jodie Laubenberg, Parker Republican
34 Lyle Larson, San Antonio Republican
35 John Davis, Houston Republican
36 Mark Strama, Austin Democrat
37 Mike Villarreal, San Antonio Democrat
38 Dwayne Bohac, Houston Republican
39 Allen Fletcher, Houston Republican
40 Angie Chen Button, Garland Republican
41 Dan Flynn, Van Republican
42 Dan Huberty, Humble Republican
43 Doug Miller, New Braunfels Republican
44 Craig Eiland, Galveston Democrat
45 Chris Turner, Arlington Democrat
46 Joe Deshotel, Beaumont Democrat
47 Donna Howard, Austin Democrat
48 Tan Parker, Flower Mound Republican
49 Joe Pickett, El Paso Democrat
50 Dawnna Dukes, Austin Democrat
