Strauss's reelection to the Speakership this session was done on a record vote, for I believe the first time ever? The names of all the people who supported him (and those who didn't) are now available online and well known to any of their constituents who care. My own representative (Capriglione) voted for him, and I had words with him directly over it, by phone. In fact, HE called ME, after reading my email to him. In the end, he convinced me by rational argument why he thought that Strauss was the better choice, even though he acknowledged that Strauss's tactics sucked, particularly with regard to gun legislation. He said it was his own personal exchanges with Turner during sessions that convinced him that Turner was not qualified for the position of speaker, let alone for the position of representative.......stuff like Turner being confused and not even being aware of what they were voting on, or why. I have no idea if any of this is true or not. I'm just the messenger.Ivan244 wrote:The issue, to my knowledge, is that Strauss is friends with UT prez...and the UT prez is against CC. Thus Strauss does his best to keep CC stuck in committee. The only workarounds is if Gov Abbott calls a special session for host of reasons and includes CC on the agenda thus circumventing Strauss. Or for gun owners to have someone else win in Republican primary in Strauss district, not good odds since Strauss is well entrenched. Third option is to have Strauss defeated in election for Speaker. Fourth option is scorched earth policy all gun owners band together and vote dems in office till the Republicans get the message.
From what I understand the new guard of Republicans is at odds with the established ones. In time the new guard will get the numbers to overcome the old guard and then changes will come. Just like any civil rights movement takes years/decades to get past entrenched politicians.
In any case, my representative is unapologetic about voting for Strauss this session, but as importantly, he is on record about it. None of Strauss's supporters for the Speakership can hide behind a veil of anonymity any longer. If Strauss's actions torque off enough voters from other districts, their representatives are going to hear about it from those voters, and his ability to abuse his power will be reduced by that much next time around.......perhaps reduced enough that he'll give up and let someone else carry the cudgel for a while.
That said, I think that Campus Carry is a necessary piece of legislation, and I hope it passes. My priorities this year - all at about the same degree of importance for me personally - are some form of OC, Campus Carry, and HB 308. I know that others place a higher degree of importance on HB 308 than on the other two, but for me, they're equally important. ALSO, even if we only get 1 or 2 out of 3 in this session, I think that whatever passes this year will grease the skids for the unpassed ones in the next legislature. As people become more and more used to expansion of gun rights, they'll become decreasingly less alarmed by the possibility of other pro-gun legislation passing.