Nine so-called Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives voted for a Democrat bill (HB 2858) in the 89th Legislature that called for the creation of a State of Texas guest worker program for Mexican nationals if the federal government would approve of the state-based program.
“We’ve had over five million illegal border crossings into our state, not including got-aways. Why are we trying to pass a program that would bring even more immigration into our state, especially considering the H-2 agricultural visas are uncapped?,” asked Representative Mike Olcott, who well represents Stephens, Palo Pinto, and Parker counties (HD 60), during debate on the bill in mid-May.
Most House Republicans were rightly against such a bill given the current state of affairs regarding illegal immigration into the country and an estimated 20 to 30 million people now residing here without legal status. Most understand that even if the Trump Administration were to deport record numbers of these people we would likely still have over 20 million illegal aliens present in the country. Most Republican representatives understood the gross stupidity of adding yet another program to import people into Texas and how difficult this would be to explain to rational voters back home.
Nine state representatives who run in with an “R” beside their name in General Elections had no problem with this ridiculous idea and joined Democrats in voting for it. The names of some of the shameful nine will be familiar to Pratt on Texas listeners. Here is the full list: Stan Lambert of Abilene; Drew Darby of San Angelo; Ken King of Canadian; Charlie Geren of Fort Worth; Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City; Janie Lopez of San Benito; John Lujan of San Antonio; Denise Villalobos of Robstown, and; Candy Noble of Murphy and the Plano-area.
HD71 Rep. Stan Lambert
HD88 Rep. Ken King
HD72 Rep. Drew Darby
Three of these politicians represent what is commonly thought of as West Texas: Lambert, Darby, and King.
There are many reasons but the two biggest two are that local media rarely, if ever, tells the story of how anti-Republican values these politicians are (did you read or hear about that vote on HB 2858 from local media?) and, these men hold the power of the seat and thus receive the support of certain people back home who put their own desires ahead of whether or not these men are an overall good for their districts.
…local media rarely, if ever, tells the story of how anti-Republican values these politicians are (did you read or hear about that vote on HB 2858 from local media?)
The oldest knock on politicians, that they gain and keep power by serving and rewarding powerful people in their districts even when not in the general best interest of all, is easy to repeat and put on the backs of officeholders, but clearly it takes others to bring this behavior about and maybe it is the enablers that should be despised the most.
Politicians who vote against the interests of the overall body of their constituents are only able so to do, for any length of time, and continue to hold office because equally self-interested people back home, often with money and influence, encourage and enable such bad behavior.
Is it time local primary challenges to the full-out fake Republicans, such as Ken King, Stan Lambert, and Drew Darby, be directed partly toward exposing the self-serving interests of their backers and donors as much as on the direct actions of the officeholders themselves?
89th Legislature – Bad, worse, and terrible: Stan Lambert, Ken King, and Drew Darby
“We’ve had over five million illegal border crossings into our state, not including got-aways. Why are we trying to pass a program that would bring even more immigration into our state, especially considering the H-2 agricultural visas are uncapped?,” asked Representative Mike Olcott, who well represents Stephens, Palo Pinto, and Parker counties (HD 60), during debate on the bill in mid-May.
Most House Republicans were rightly against such a bill given the current state of affairs regarding illegal immigration into the country and an estimated 20 to 30 million people now residing here without legal status. Most understand that even if the Trump Administration were to deport record numbers of these people we would likely still have over 20 million illegal aliens present in the country. Most Republican representatives understood the gross stupidity of adding yet another program to import people into Texas and how difficult this would be to explain to rational voters back home.
Nine state representatives who run in with an “R” beside their name in General Elections had no problem with this ridiculous idea and joined Democrats in voting for it. The names of some of the shameful nine will be familiar to Pratt on Texas listeners. Here is the full list: Stan Lambert of Abilene; Drew Darby of San Angelo; Ken King of Canadian; Charlie Geren of Fort Worth; Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City; Janie Lopez of San Benito; John Lujan of San Antonio; Denise Villalobos of Robstown, and; Candy Noble of Murphy and the Plano-area.
HD71 Rep. Stan Lambert
HD88 Rep. Ken King
HD72 Rep. Drew Darby
Three of these politicians represent what is commonly thought of as West Texas: Lambert, Darby, and King.
These three state representatives have a voting history in the House that is far more Left and Democrat-leaning than is the voting record of their constituents. These three reps. hold seats in areas the press often defines as the most conservative areas of Texas, so why do Darby, King, and Lambert win re-election time after time?
There are many reasons but the two biggest two are that local media rarely, if ever, tells the story of how anti-Republican values these politicians are (did you read or hear about that vote on HB 2858 from local media?) and, these men hold the power of the seat and thus receive the support of certain people back home who put their own desires ahead of whether or not these men are an overall good for their districts.
…local media rarely, if ever, tells the story of how anti-Republican values these politicians are (did you read or hear about that vote on HB 2858 from local media?)
The oldest knock on politicians, that they gain and keep power by serving and rewarding powerful people in their districts even when not in the general best interest of all, is easy to repeat and put on the backs of officeholders, but clearly it takes others to bring this behavior about and maybe it is the enablers that should be despised the most.
Politicians who vote against the interests of the overall body of their constituents are only able so to do, for any length of time, and continue to hold office because equally self-interested people back home, often with money and influence, encourage and enable such bad behavior.
Is it time local primary challenges to the full-out fake Republicans, such as Ken King, Stan Lambert, and Drew Darby, be directed partly toward exposing the self-serving interests of their backers and donors as much as on the direct actions of the officeholders themselves?