Dewhurst Has To Polish His Conservative Laurels

The SAExN’s Clay Robinson tells us that Lt. Governor David Dewhurst is having to tilt more rightward, and become more flamboyantly conservative:

Around the state Capitol, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is generally considered a more “moderate” Republican than the other two members of the top leadership trio — Gov. Rick Perry and Speaker Tom Craddick.

But — shhh —don’t talk about that too loudly, lest you spoil Dewhurst’s effort to polish his image among the many Texas Republicans who are decidedly more conservative and who may hold the key to his political future.

That’s funny. I’ve never considered David Dewhurst a moderate. I guess I missed the memo on that.

Of course, the interesting thing about Dewhurst is that he has money—Tony Sanchez type money (well, maybe not that much of it)—and could easily pour enough cash into his own gubernatorial campaign to possibly thwart a candidate from the “far, far right” or, at minimum, go through a primary without Leininger and (Bob) Perry cash and not blink an eye.

After all, that’s what this is about: Dewhurst eventually succeeding Perry. Of course, I continue to maintain that Dewhurst would rather serve in the U.S. Senate. As I recall, he was rumored to be heavily considering that job back in 2001, until Senator Box Turtle came along and thwarted his plans.

And, Dewhurst may end up, like Perry, becoming an “accidental governor,” although we can hope that isn’t the case. It seems more and more (especially with all that talk of “tax rebates” and what not) that Perry is playing to a national stage and hoping for a Number 2 Spot on a Presidential Ticket.

After all, when was the last time a Governor of Texas mentioned an African nation in his or her inaugural address? I have by no means read all of the inaugural addresses, but I’d hedge my bets on the answer being “never.”
Back to Dewhurst, though, it seems the major complaints about him not being “conservative enough” have to do with fiscal matters:

A Democratic majority, for example, wouldn’t have bridged the $10 billion revenue shortfall in 2003 with only budget cuts and higher college tuition. Democrats most likely would have found an assortment of taxes to raise to minimize the disruption to public services.

But Dewhurst and the Senate helped soften some of the spending cuts in 2003, and during last spring’s special session on school finance, they led the way to securing a modest teacher pay raise.

Then, catch this:

According to friends and associates, he also is more moderate philosophically than many of the conservative voters and activists in his own party.

I don’t know how “moderate” Dewhurst could be and have been elected Lt. Governor. It seems to me, in the Republican Party’s modus operandi of “purge the moderates,” Dewhurst would have been primaried back in 2002 if, for example, he had closet feelings that, say, abortion might be OK every once in a while.

Bookmark It