The Dictator In The Chair
By Vince Leibowitz on May 28, 2007 in 80th Legislature
Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland) began his tenure as House Speaker in 2003 as the illegitimate heir of a Republican coup engineered by Tom DeLay and paid for with illegal campaign contributions and illegal campaign activities.
Today, on what will likely be the last day Craddick presides as a speaker in the Texas House (and likely the last day a Republican Speaker will preside in that chamber for the foreseeable future), he ends his tenure as a Texas-sized dictator who has survived coup attempt after coup attempt only through sheer luck and intimidation.
Events of this weekend, when Craddick refused to recognize motions to vacate the Chair, serve to fully illustrate just how dictatorial Craddick has become.
While the power of the Speaker to recognize or not recognize a member is not new and has been in the House rules for decades, Craddick is the first speaker in history to utilize that power in such a way to make himself immune to criticisms and even a coup.
For decades, Speakers have used the power to recognize (or rather, not recognize), judiciously and sparingly. While a Speaker could fail to recognize anyone on a point of order that would kill bills he supports, few speakers have even used the power to fail to recognize for this purpose. A classic example is when Speaker Laney recognized former Rep. Arlene Woghlemuth in 1997 for her points of order that resulted in the “Memorial Day Massacre.” Former Congressman and State Rep. Craig Washington was even recognized in his day to use a point of order to kill a school finance bill during Bill Clayton’s speakership.
Anti-Craddick Republican Mike Krusee, during a point of personal privilege last night, made a comment which is very germane to Craddick’s dictatorial stance:
Mr. Speaker, we can disagree on many things, but you cannot disagree with the fact that you are here because we put you here. Inherent in the granting of power to the speaker is the retention of our right to speak and question the presiding officer. This rules interpretation denies us this right.”
Tom Craddick has become a dictator in his own right.
He has, if you will, become Texas’ own Ferdinand Marcos. Except, instead of looting the treasury for his own gain and buying his wife six thousand pairs of shoes, he has led the looting of our treasury to pay for tax cuts for the rich at the expense of Texas children and used money from big business to set himself and his wife, Nadene, in a capitol apartment fit for Ferdinand and Imelda themselves.
And, he abuses his power to make certain that no one can overthrow him, even in the waining hours of his reign.
Craddick became speaker in 2003.