{This represents my personal opinion and not that of Exec Committee)
It may seem like an odd question, however, I think it's worth exploring; I think there are many similarities. Let's start with a few data points. There are 214 Republicans in congress. In regards to time in Congress, there are at least 100 members who have more tenure than Rep Cheney. The Conference Chair is the third ranking position. So what does the Conference Chair do? The Conference Chairperson presides over conference meetings and is supposed to act as/represent the voice of the conference. Rep Cheney was recently removed from the House Conference Chairperson position. Why? The Conference started losing confidence in her not merely because of her vote to impeach former Pres Trump but her failure to focus on efforts to regain the House in 2022. Instead of moving forward she spent most of her time sparring in the media with former President Trump. Her supporters and Democrats (interesting coalition of defenders - "2016 Never Trumpers" and Democrats ) will point out that she voted in line with Trump's position 92% of the time. However, she is unquestionably much like her father, she is a “war hawk” who is staunchly opposed to pulling out of Afghanistan, and defended Dr Fauci amid the COVD-19 pandemic. Wait we're now pulling out of Afghanistan after the date former President Trump initially wanted and more info is coming to light surrounding COVID.
Was she lying in wait like a “snake in the grass”? Both her and her dad said little about Trump over the past four years. However, the elder Cheney helped pull together and op-ed from all 10 living defense secretaries during the election certification debacle. I see this as the plan for a post Trump era trying to re-establish the old guard come into play.
Herein lies the similarities to the 87th Legislature. The Legislatures are giving us just enough of the 8 Priorities to make us feel as though we have achieved great victories and they can walk away saying we would have done more but......
The truth is that Republicans in Austin have the trifecta; they control the Governorship, Senate and House. There's no justifiable reason why all of the priorities did not get passed this session.
Oh they are slick, procedural maneuvering and running out the clock is what they did with most of our priorities. Next campaign season they will come back touting the limited victories, I guess 2 of 8 is good for baseball stats. However, this isn't baseball and the next season to get things done won't be for another two years. Put on your elephant memories and don't forget what happened. I recommend that everyone check the voting record on all of the Priority Bills and then go to https://www.transparencyusa.org/tx/ Always follow the money. It said that ALL politics is local. Let's just hope that some of our elected officials don't read that to mean there "local" bank account.
Ferrando Heyward Guadalupe Pct 411 Chairperson
I totally agree. We can stand by and let them pretend or we can Stand Up and Speak Out. We need to remember "They work for Us!"
Yes we can vote but voting integrity is in question. We need to keep it in the spotlight.
I know it's hard sometimes but each of us need to try to keep informed of what is going on in Our Country not just Texas. The blue states in the east, west and north are coming to Texas and we need to come to action. Get involved, call & write to your legislatures, attend meetings to learn about what is going on, meet your elected officials. Not all at once but if you would…