Strayhorn Sues…Herself?

Evidently, The Comptroller Formerly Known As Rylander can’t get enough of seeing the word “plaintiff” following her many names.

Now, she wants to join a conservative group opposed to the Texas Tax Reform Commission/Rick Perry tax plan in a lawsuit they’ve filed challenging the plan in relation to the state’s constitutional spending cap—in which Strayhorn and other state leaders were named as defendants.

And, since Strayhorn is a state officeholder, by becoming a plaintiff in the suit against the state, she’d be suing…herself? When it boils down to it, that’s probably about right.

I court filings this week by the legal department for the Comptroller’s office, Strayhorn says she only certified the school finance plan because surplus money was avaliable. So, is this another case of her being “for” something before she decided to be “against” it?

Yes and no. Strayhorn moaned and complained about this all throughout the special session (probably because it diverted attention from her campaign), so she was at least partially against it even though she certified it before she became fully against it.

“No,” because this is a blatant attempt by Strayhorn to court the anti-tax grassroots base (the “Dan Patrick Wing”) of the Republican Party that’s now mad as hell at Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Of course, this gives Perry, Bell and anyone else who’d care to design a negative mailer about Strayhorn plenty of ammunition. For one thing, isn’t she kind of constitutionally bound to defend herself and the state from litigation as opposed to flipping sides and joining in a lawsuit against the state?

Although the Dan Patrick Wing should see this for what it is (pure political opportunism and OTG’s ever-present “Me, Me, Me! Syndrome” run amok), I suspect they’ll embrace Strayhorn as their savior, which could cause Rick Perry some trouble this fall.