Robert Pratt
The fastest way for Texas Republicans to facilitate a renascent Democratic Party in Texas is to be caught in what the public perceives as a lie on a major issue for which voters had an emotional investment.
Every poll we saw released at election time a month ago showed that illegal immigration was the most important single issue to the most Texas voters. Now we learn that our Speaker of the House, a putative Republican, worked to prevent Governor Perry’s force multiplier build-up on the Texas border this past summer and has now engineered a complete draw-down of that force multiplier provided by the National Guard.
Almost every Republican state office holder ran this fall on securing the border and touted that border build-up. To now turn around and support a draw-down by supporting Joe Straus as Speaker of the House for another term is a slap in the face to voters and calls into question the veracity of state reps who do so.
Yes, being caught lying to Texans en masse on such an important issue is a good way to create a renascent opposition party. It reminds me of what a price Democrats paid for their lie, told by their governor Ann Richards and supported by the rank and file, that the lottery money would go exclusively to education if voters would just pass the lottery.
There was electoral hell to pay when voters discovered the claim to be a lie all along. The issue greatly helped Texas Republicans capture legislative seats.
If expert predictions are true, that yet another large wave of Central American illegal immigration is about to hit our border, and that force multiplier of the Guard is not in-place leaving us with the disastrous images we saw last summer, Republicans will be seen as Ann Richards-style liars – and it will all be due to Speaker Joe Straus and a flip-flopped after defeat David Dewhurst.
Incumbent R’s are far too comfortable in their seats.