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Blindref757 wrote:These people couldn't realistically vote for Turner...the "Turner 19" will be the last people placed on the Dog Catcher committee. Tough to go back and tell your constituents in 7 months that you fought hard for them against the SPCA in Austin as your number one fight. Sometimes the whole "elections matter" mantra is the biggest hoax!

A lot of eyes will be watching what happens to those 19 Representatives, and if anything negative happens to them, other people will be held accountable. I suspect you'll see something similar happen in the Texas House that happened in the US House. Boehner's knee-jerk reaction was to punish his opponents, but many conservatives who voted for him made it clear that was a bad idea. Suddenly Boehner is preaching anti-immigration messages and the punishment has stopped. I suspect Strauss now realizes he risks losing a lot of support if he does anything radical to punish the 19. The public is waking up, and they are not going away. Politicians are suddenly being deluged with phone calls, faxes and letters, and they can't escape. Most of them realize that if they don't follow through on what they ran on they will be primaried in 2 years and a lot of very loud opponents will be banging on doors trying to get them thrown out.

The Annoyed Man wrote:

baseballguy2001 wrote:Hey Mojo --

I agree on both points. It IS up to us to educate, advocate, but I'm telling you -- It's not a lost cause, but it's a very steep climb. Of my circle of friends, me and one other have our CHLs. Nobody else does. We're talking about an 18-2 ratio here. I don't know the numbers of CHLs v regular voters, but I'm willing to bet it's hundreds of thousands v millions

I certainly didn't take your points as a personal attack, I hope you didn't think I attacked you either.

It's roughly 850,000 CHLs out of 26.45 million million souls.....or roughly 3.2% of the population. 2 out of 18 is higher than average at 11.11%.

Roughly 4.5 million voted in the last gubernatorial election. They represented approximately 25% of the voting age public. 850,000 CHLs represents 18.9% of the voting public IF all CHL holders voted. So "we" have a powerful voice if "we" chose to use it.

ELB wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:

mojo84 wrote:Joe will remember it. I feel sorry for the 19 walking dead members now. I respect them no less though.

I hope that, it being a record vote, they'll actually be less dead than otherwise. It will be painfully obvious even to non-members if Strauss punishes them, and he'll likely be called to account and get exactly the same reaction as Boehner got when he tried to punish House republicans who voted against his speakership. He had to walk back some of his initial responses, in no small part because there was so much publicity surrounding his opposition.

Scott Turner did not mount his campaign from a position of obscurity, and so Strauss cannot retaliate against him or his supporters from the safe haven of obscurity. He'll have to do it out in the open, and if he tries, he'll get called out on it. Not only will he get called out on it by other members, but he might well not be reelected Speaker in 2016 if he runs.

I hope you are right, but I don't think members that weren't brave enough to vote against Strauss are going to be brave enough to call him out on it, especially if it is more subtle than just booting them off of committees. Thinks like their bills never moving past a certain stage, funds going to opponents in primaries, etc.

I suspect there were more than 19 people opposed to Strauss, but not yet enough that the undercurrent of opposition had developed enough buzz for them to be fairly certain of winning if they voted against him. If Strauss ever gets voted down, it will be a cascade effect; one moment he will look strong, on paper at least, and then suddenly the vote will seemingly massively turn. That point comes when enough people in the opposition become aware of enough other people in the opposition that are willing to act.

Just the kind of people we do NOT want serving in our legislature.

Straus says, "A small number sought to divide us, but you cannot lead this House by dividing it."

That does not portend well for the future.

Here is the 19 who voted for Turner:
Rep. Rodney Anderson, District 105
Rep. Dustin Burrows, District 83
Rep. Pat Fallon, District 106
Rep. Bryan Hughes, District 5
Rep. Mark Keough, District 15
Rep. Stephanie Klick, District 91
Rep. Matt Krause, District 93
Rep. Jeff Leach, District 67
Rep. Matt Rinaldi, District 115
Rep. Scott Sanford, District 70
Rep. Matt Schaefer, District 6
Rep. Matt Shaheen, District 66
Rep. David Simpson, District 7
Rep. Stuart Spitzer, District 4
Rep. Jonathan Strickland, District 92
Rep. Tony Tinderholt, District 94
Rep. Scott Turner, District 33
Rep. Molly White, District 55
Rep. Bill Zedler, District 96

Strauss - 127, Turner - 19.

Business as usual. The legislators have STILL not gotten the message.

I wouldn't read too much into that. Speakers for Strauss are met with polite applause. Speakers for Turner are met with cheering, which gives the impression of support. When the vote is taken we will know where the legislators stand. I doubt these speeches will change many minds.

I read the other day that Turner supported and would push for a recorded vote, because he thought it was important that each legislator be held accountable for his vote for Speaker.