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May 15, 2007
Profile In Statesmanship
Once upon a time, Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst seemed the only member of the Republican triumverate running the show in Austin who cared about bipartisanship and cooperation. In contrast to Governor Rick Perry and Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, Dewhurst embraced the collegial tradition of the Texas Senate during his first two legislative sessions by seeking compromise and preserving the rules (with one big exception on redistricting, courtesy of some serious strongarming by Tom DeLay.)
The "two-thirds" rule is an important Senate tradition that has protected the minority party for decades. It in effect requires a two-thirds vote of the body to suspend the rules and consider each bill. Republicans currently hold a 20 to 11 advantage in the Senate, one short of the required two-thirds majority. Dewhurst has been under tremendous pressure from GOP activists to break with tradition and do away with the two-thirds rule and ease passage of the party's legislative agenda. Dewhurst, to his credit, has largely resisted, which has put him on less than solid footing with his party's conservative base.
This session, however, it's been a different David Dewhurst. He is clearly interested in a 2010 gubernatorial run, and much of his behavior during the 2007 session seems colored by that ambition. For one thing, Dewhurst has been obsessed with passing Jessica's Law -- a perhaps well-intentioned, but poorly crafted piece of legislation aimed at executing child sex predators. Prosecutors and criminal experts have decried the bill's potential to reduce reporting of such heinous crimes, most of which are committed by family members, but no matter. Dewhurst must have his Jessica's Law. His tactics on CHIP, the Texas Youth Commission scandal, and recently trying to snuff Houston Mayor Bill White's (another potential 2010 rival) anti-pollution policy have shown him a much harsher partisan light.
Today, Dewhurst simply crossed the line. After Democratic Senator Carlos Uresti notified colleagues that he was too ill to make it in this morning, the Lite Guv allowed a vote on the controversial voter ID bill and all hell broke loose. Once again, Burka Blog has the skinny.
Dewhurst, desperately trying to shore up Republican primary support for a future election, sold out Senate tradition and damaged his credibility as head of that body. And for what? Mr. Dewhurst might consider the recent example of one John McCain, a GOP presidential hopeful who played right wing pander bear to the hilt in recent months. McCain's transparent ploy got him nowhere -- he cratered in the polls; in fact he's recently eschewed these tactics in favor of returning to his maverick roots.
The problem for Dewhurst is his first two sessions defined him in the eyes of GOP party faithful, and they simply don't like him (which listening to the Dan Patrick radio show will confirm). So pulling stunts like today isn't likely to help him much in the primary anyway, but damages his mainstream credibility as an elected official.
Which is why David Dewhurst gets our Profile in Statesmanship award for this session.
Posted by houtopia at May 15, 2007 10:25 PM