OK, call me a grave dancer. However, given the damage which Speaker Tom Craddick has inflicted upon our state in recent years ? not to mention the damage to our democratic system of government inflicted by his conduct at the close of the just completed legislative session ? his imminent demise is more than just cause for a little two-step on the proverbial coffin.
What imminent demise, you ask? Well, when Democratic State Rep. Sylvester Turner announced his candidacy for Speaker last week, the die was officially cast. Whether the Midland Republican decides to seek re-election or not really makes no difference. With a staunch Craddick loyalist like Turner jumping ship, the Speaker's fate is sealed. He can either go quietly into the night or face certain defeat when the House reconvenes in 2009. Either way, with six announced candidates now in the race, Texas will be getting a new Speaker of the House and will be far better for it.
As the old saying goes, those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it. What's extraordinary about this scenario is that the history Craddick needed to be studying was so incredibly recent. Surely, he noticed what happened to his old buddy Tom DeLay when he decided the rules no longer applied to him. The majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives soon found the word "former" attached to his once esteemed title.
The American people, regardless of political leanings, have little patience with leaders who repeatedly thumb their noses at the rules.
The similarities between DeLay and Craddick are striking. Both adopted the attitude that they were right and anyone who dared to disagree was wrong. They both became self-appointed dictators unwilling to budge from their far-right agendas. You would think that DeLay's downfall and the challenge he received at the beginning of the legislative session would have been enough to awaken Craddick to the need to change his ways. Instead, he plowed forth in the same unyielding fashion, only to spend the closing days of the session guarded pathetically by two lobbyists turned "parliamentarians." When all was said and done, he saved his title but little else.
For Turner and other Democrats who had remained loyal to Craddick, he made the decision about what to do in the future much easier. It's now no longer enough to simply argue that they can be more effective for their districts working from inside the tent rather than outside. Now, with the tent folding, they have to acknowledge the damaging effects of the Craddick agenda.
Texas can no longer afford a speaker who places such unpopular far-right initiatives as private school vouchers above all else. Our state is deserving of a Speaker who will seek to build consensus, who will listen to both sides and work to bring lawmakers together rather than constantly tear them apart.
In the closing days of the session, much was written about House members revolting against Craddick. But in the end, it was Craddick who most found truly revolting.
So, what does that say about Aaron Pena's voting record?
