Old Government Road 05/12/2008

They are my all-stars, the cream of the crop, those who rose above the rest. These are the ones that you can truly say Texas is better off for their service in the House. And for any of the five, the House could be but just a pit stop on their way up the chain. So in no particular order…

This East Texas lawmaker wasn’t even suppose to show up in Austin, just ask the Democrat incumbent he vested who held back on 250K of campaign funds thinking that spending it was not necessary. But Mr. Hughes rode the ‘02 Republican wave into the house, however, unlike some of his other ‘02 Republican friends, Mr. Hughes took advantage of the opportunity instead of squandering it.

I’m not with Bryan when it comes to his stance on tort reform, but I have yet to find a lawmaker anywhere who I am with 100 percent of the time. Making up for that disagreement are his strong stance on fiscal conservatism and the leadership he displays on the pro-life agenda. Mr. Hughes is also known for being everywhere at once despite his sprawling district. That claim has to be partly true, because since his initial election to the House, Mr. Hughes has not been legitimately challenged despite possessing a seat that, with the right opponent and a little luck, could be flipped.

I particularly put Mr. Hughes in my top five because of the way he conducted himself during the 2007 Speakers Race. While many of his colleagues were double and triple pledging Speaker candidates and crossing their fingers in hopes that it wouldn’t come down to an actual vote, Mr. Hughes was respectful and upfront with Speaker Craddick with his intention to support another candidate and with his reasons for doing so. Throughout that whole Speakers mess, Mr. Hughes was one of the few displays of true character.

Perhaps that upfront honesty with Speaker Craddick is why Mr. Hughes still passed 9 bills this last session, most of which dealt with notable changes in state law. If there was one area where he was punished, it would be in his 80th committee assignments. But look for Mr. Hughes to bounce back in that category next session, and to possibly even chair a committee of his own.

I know I have had my fun with Mr. Rose in the past, but the vile feeling he felt after denouncing Speaker Craddick only to find out that the votes to oust him still were not there remains as the only misstep he has had in a brilliant political career from the minority side of the isle. Like Mr. Hughes, Mr. Rose was never suppose to be here. But even the ‘02 Republican wave couldn’t keep him out of the House, making him the only Democrat challenger to an incumbent Republican to win a seat in the Legislature during that historic year.

Mr. Rose followed up his ‘02 upset with a convincing victory in ‘04, so convincing that he wasn’t even aggressively challenged in ‘06. And with his super-human fundraising capabilities, I don’t expect that he will be targeted by Republicans for some time to come.

But this list is more about what you did when you got here and not how you arrived and subsequently kept your foot in the door. In just his third term, the young Rose was tapped by Speaker Craddick to Chair the Human Services Committee, putting him at the forefront of shaping the policy side of an issue that ranks as the 2nd largest item on the state’s budget. In accepting the challenge, Mr. Rose took over a committee that inherited six new members, including himself. The program that he put forth in the face of that challenge was grueling, but it got he and his novice committee up to speed fast. Some say that his days as a chairman are numbered, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Mr. Rose found his way back into Speaker Craddick’s good favor.

Besides his political and legislative accomplishments, Mr. Rose is all around one of the more successful persons out there. He is a Princeton graduate who also holds a law degree from UT. He’s served 3 terms in the Legislature, one of which as a committee chairman. And he accomplished all this before his 30th birthday.

There is a reason why I said that Larry Phillips and Linda Harper-Brown would be qualified candidates for the Transportation Committee chair and not the best candidate. That is because in my eyes, Mr. Smith holds that distinction. Like Mr. Rose, Mr. Smith earned a committee chair post in just his third term, though it is a little known fact that he was technically a committee chair twice before that, both times the benefactor of being a Vice Chair when the sitting Chairman left the House.

With the permanent stay at the post as Chair of County Affairs, all Mr. Smith did was steal the thunder from Mike Krusee and orchestrate the passing of the most comprehensive piece of transportation legislation to come out of the House this last session. And Mr. Smith did so with a sense of finesse and deep understanding for the process that is not often seen from members who have yet to hang around long enough to qualify for retirement. But when he needed to, Mr. Smith dumped the finesse and got down and dirty, particularly when dealing with TxDOT, a state agency that today more closely resembles the mafia.

Krusee’s lapdog status for the transportation agency has given TxDOT the mindset that they can run over the leg at will, meaning that the next Transportation Chair is going to have to reestablish that sense of who really works for who here. Smith has already shown that he is not afraid to defy this agency gone awry, making him the best man for the job.

Of the five on this list, Mr. Smith is the one that I think most likely to wind up a career House Member, but the House is going to be better off with his continued attendance. And to think, if it weren’t for 24 votes in his initial election to the House, his distinguished career may never have been.

It is no secret that Mr. Gattis fancies himself as a State Senator and possibly one day as Governor, making his time in the House just a pit-stop, but Mr. Gattis has done well with that time. Possibly the biggest bill to come out of the 80th Legislature was Jessica’s law, but even though Debbie Riddle’s name was on the author line, most know and understand that Mr. Gattis was the one who truly kept the train on the tracks. And that wasn’t his first behind the scenes rodeo either. As a freshman he was Vice Chair of Civil Practices, a committee that crafted and eventually sent to the floor some little piece of legislation we call tort reform.

An accomplished debater, Mr. Gattis has a strong reputation for holding court on both the front and back mikes. He is a two time member of the Appropriations Committee. But probably his biggest contribution, in my eyes, is what he did to keep the House from imploding over HB 4068, which you all might remember as the Ryan Guillen bill whose calendar placing led to the first overturning of a Speaker’s ruling in Lord knows how long. During that entire debacle, while everyone else was lobbing bombs, instigating chaos, and licking their chops at the thoughts of seeping their claws into their wounded adversaries, Mr. Gattis kept his cool and went to the front mike to again keep the train on the tracks.

In doing so, he gave the House a much needed gut check by asserting that they (not the Speaker) were to blame for this, done so when the membership started going after each other’s local bills and painting Mr. Guillen into a corner where he felt that he had to get a favorable calendar placement just to get his local bill passed. Mr. Gattis went on to say that the Speaker has a tough job, particularly that session with trying to manage 149 members who were down each other’s throats. But Mr. Gattis also stood up for the rules and urged his colleagues to vote to overrule the Speaker. However, in doing so, he pleaded with the membership that once it was over, once the ruling was officially overturned, that individually they each take a good look at themselves in the mirror and that together they start over as a body and repair the fractured relationships.

Dan Branch

I know that Glen Hegar is already in the Senate and that I just said that Mr. Gattis fancies himself in the upper chamber, too. But if you ask me who from this historic class has best set themselves up for a future run for higher office, then unequivocally the answer is Dan Branch. Unlike his class members, Mr. Branch had to politically grow up fast in his first term when his appointment to Appropriations constituted all of the Dallas County representation to the budget crafting committee. He has held his seat on Appropriations ever since, making him one of just 11 to stick with the 29 member committee solidly throughout the last six years.

Mr. Branch’s legislative accomplishments are also widely regarded as being ahead of the underclassman curve. This last session he passed a constitutional amendment ensuring record votes in the Legislature. He closed the loophole that prevented ROTC students from qualifying for the B On Time college scholarship program. Had more members been at their desks to vote, he would have passed another constitutional amendment safeguarding against future increases to Texas’ business franchise tax. And his legislation creating a new law school for the North Texas region also would have made it if it weren’t for a technical imperfection with the bill that it was attached to.

In the interim, Mr. Branch has been Chairman Branch with his work on a select committee charged with better aligning public school preparation with the state’s overall goals for college and workforce readiness. Never one to allow an opportunity to go to waste, Mr. Branch has used this appointment to enhance his committee’s perspective by visiting many of our regions to assess first hand their individual educational needs.

Combine his work all across Texas with the statewide interest his constitutional amendment earned, and what you have is a lawmaker who is becoming just as well known outside of his district as inside. Add to his accomplishments mix his keen knack for fundraising and, as I said earlier, what you get in Mr. Branch is a practical shoe-in candidate for higher office, and a deserving candidate as well.

As I said at the onset of this series, there is much that can be said about this historic class of legislators. So much, that I would be far fetched to think that I covered it all, or even offered the majority opinion. Texas has evolved so much over the last five plus years, and so has this class. They have whittled away their numbers, but in doing so they have also sharpened their edge.

Only time will tell where they go from here, both individually and as a class. But regardless of the final destination, one thing is for sure. When the candle extinguishes on the last standing member of this class, many…many years from now, it will not only be writing the final chapter on a class of lawmakers, but also the final chapter of a unique era of Texas politics that has seen and will continue to see landmark occasions that will forever mark our time.

Go Back

The Takeover Class of 2002. . .3 Sessions Later

Monday, May 12, 2008 By Jake Hatlin ...what you can take to the bank is the last five on this list. They are my all-stars, the cream of the crop, those who rose above the rest. These are the ones that you can truly say Texas is better off for their service in the House. And for any of the five, the House could be but just a pit stop on their way up the chain. So in no particular order… Bryan Hughes This East Texas lawmaker wasn’t even suppose to show up in Austin, just ask the Democrat incumbent he vested who held back on 250K of campaign funds thinking that spending it was not necessary. But Mr. Hughes rode the ‘02 Republican wave into the house, however, unlike some of his other ‘02 Republican friends, Mr. Hughes took advantage of the opportunity instead of squandering it. I’m not with Bryan when it comes to his stance on tort reform, but I have yet to find a lawmaker anywhere who I am with 100 percent of the time. Making up for that disagreement are his strong stance on fiscal conservatism and the leadership he displays on the pro-life agenda. Mr. Hughes is also known for being everywhere at once despite his sprawling district. That claim has to be partly true, because since his initial election to the House, Mr. Hughes has not been legitimately challenged despite possessing a seat that, with the right opponent and a little luck, could be flipped. I particularly put Mr. Hughes in my top five because of the way he conducted himself during the 2007 Speakers Race. While many of his colleagues were double and triple pledging Speaker candidates and crossing their fingers in hopes that it wouldn’t come down to an actual vote, Mr. Hughes was respectful and upfront with Speaker Craddick with his intention to support another candidate and with his reasons for doing so. Throughout that whole Speakers mess, Mr. Hughes was one of the few displays of true character. Perhaps that upfront honesty with Speaker Craddick is why Mr. Hughes still passed 9 bills this last session, most of which dealt with notable changes in state law. If there was one area where he was punished, it would be in his 80th committee assignments. But look for Mr. Hughes to bounce back in that category next session, and to possibly even chair a committee of his own. Patrick Rose I know I have had my fun with Mr. Rose in the past, but the vile feeling he felt after denouncing Speaker Craddick only to find out that the votes to oust him still were not there remains as the only misstep he has had in a brilliant political career from the minority side of the isle. Like Mr. Hughes, Mr. Rose was never suppose to be here. But even the ‘02 Republican wave couldn’t keep him out of the House, making him the only Democrat challenger to an incumbent Republican to win a seat in the Legislature during that historic year. Mr. Rose followed up his ‘02 upset with a convincing victory in ‘04, so convincing that he wasn’t even aggressively challenged in ‘06. And with his super-human fundraising capabilities, I don’t expect that he will be targeted by Republicans for some time to come. But this list is more about what you did when you got here and not how you arrived and subsequently kept your foot in the door. In just his third term, the young Rose was tapped by Speaker Craddick to Chair the Human Services Committee, putting him at the forefront of shaping the policy side of an issue that ranks as the 2nd largest item on the state’s budget. In accepting the challenge, Mr. Rose took over a committee that inherited six new members, including himself. The program that he put forth in the face of that challenge was grueling, but it got he and his novice committee up to speed fast. Some say that his days as a chairman are numbered, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Mr. Rose found his way back into Speaker Craddick’s good favor. Besides his political and legislative accomplishments, Mr. Rose is all around one of the more successful persons out there. He is a Princeton graduate who also holds a law degree from UT. He’s served 3 terms in the Legislature, one of which as a committee chairman. And he accomplished all this before his 30th birthday. Wayne Smith There is a reason why I said that Larry Phillips and Linda Harper-Brown would be qualified candidates for the Transportation Committee chair and not the best candidate. That is because in my eyes, Mr. Smith holds that distinction. Like Mr. Rose, Mr. Smith earned a committee chair post in just his third term, though it is a little known fact that he was technically a committee chair twice before that, both times the benefactor of being a Vice Chair when the sitting Chairman left the House. With the permanent stay at the post as Chair of County Affairs, all Mr. Smith did was steal the thunder from Mike Krusee and orchestrate the passing of the most comprehensive piece of transportation legislation to come out of the House this last session. And Mr. Smith did so with a sense of finesse and deep understanding for the process that is not often seen from members who have yet to hang around long enough to qualify for retirement. But when he needed to, Mr. Smith dumped the finesse and got down and dirty, particularly when dealing with TxDOT, a state agency that today more closely resembles the mafia. Krusee’s lapdog status for the transportation agency has given TxDOT the mindset that they can run over the leg at will, meaning that the next Transportation Chair is going to have to reestablish that sense of who really works for who here. Smith has already shown that he is not afraid to defy this agency gone awry, making him the best man for the job. Of the five on this list, Mr. Smith is the one that I think most likely to wind up a career House Member, but the House is going to be better off with his continued attendance. And to think, if it weren’t for 24 votes in his initial election to the House, his distinguished career may never have been. Dan Gattis It is no secret that Mr. Gattis fancies himself as a State Senator and possibly one day as Governor, making his time in the House just a pit-stop, but Mr. Gattis has done well with that time. Possibly the biggest bill to come out of the 80th Legislature was Jessica’s law, but even though Debbie Riddle’s name was on the author line, most know and understand that Mr. Gattis was the one who truly kept the train on the tracks. And that wasn’t his first behind the scenes rodeo either. As a freshman he was Vice Chair of Civil Practices, a committee that crafted and eventually sent to the floor some little piece of legislation we call tort reform. An accomplished debater, Mr. Gattis has a strong reputation for holding court on both the front and back mikes. He is a two time member of the Appropriations Committee. But probably his biggest contribution, in my eyes, is what he did to keep the House from imploding over HB 4068, which you all might remember as the Ryan Guillen bill whose calendar placing led to the first overturning of a Speaker’s ruling in Lord knows how long. During that entire debacle, while everyone else was lobbing bombs, instigating chaos, and licking their chops at the thoughts of seeping their claws into their wounded adversaries, Mr. Gattis kept his cool and went to the front mike to again keep the train on the tracks. In doing so, he gave the House a much needed gut check by asserting that they (not the Speaker) were to blame for this, done so when the membership started going after each other’s local bills and painting Mr. Guillen into a corner where he felt that he had to get a favorable calendar placement just to get his local bill passed. Mr. Gattis went on to say that the Speaker has a tough job, particularly that session with trying to manage 149 members who were down each other’s throats. But Mr. Gattis also stood up for the rules and urged his colleagues to vote to overrule the Speaker. However, in doing so, he pleaded with the membership that once it was over, once the ruling was officially overturned, that individually they each take a good look at themselves in the mirror and that together they start over as a body and repair the fractured relationships. Dan Branch I know that Glen Hegar is already in the Senate and that I just said that Mr. Gattis fancies himself in the upper chamber, too. But if you ask me who from this historic class has best set themselves up for a future run for higher office, then unequivocally the answer is Dan Branch. Unlike his class members, Mr. Branch had to politically grow up fast in his first term when his appointment to Appropriations constituted all of the Dallas County representation to the budget crafting committee. He has held his seat on Appropriations ever since, making him one of just 11 to stick with the 29 member committee solidly throughout the last six years. Mr. Branch’s legislative accomplishments are also widely regarded as being ahead of the underclassman curve. This last session he passed a constitutional amendment ensuring record votes in the Legislature. He closed the loophole that prevented ROTC students from qualifying for the B On Time college scholarship program. Had more members been at their desks to vote, he would have passed another constitutional amendment safeguarding against future increases to Texas’ business franchise tax. And his legislation creating a new law school for the North Texas region also would have made it if it weren’t for a technical imperfection with the bill that it was attached to. In the interim, Mr. Branch has been Chairman Branch with his work on a select committee charged with better aligning public school preparation with the state’s overall goals for college and workforce readiness. Never one to allow an opportunity to go to waste, Mr. Branch has used this appointment to enhance his committee’s perspective by visiting many of our regions to assess first hand their individual educational needs. Combine his work all across Texas with the statewide interest his constitutional amendment earned, and what you have is a lawmaker who is becoming just as well known outside of his district as inside. Add to his accomplishments mix his keen knack for fundraising and, as I said earlier, what you get in Mr. Branch is a practical shoe-in candidate for higher office, and a deserving candidate as well. Conclusion As I said at the onset of this series, there is much that can be said about this historic class of legislators. So much, that I would be far fetched to think that I covered it all, or even offered the majority opinion. Texas has evolved so much over the last five plus years, and so has this class. They have whittled away their numbers, but in doing so they have also sharpened their edge. Only time will tell where they go from here, both individually and as a class. But regardless of the final destination, one thing is for sure. When the candle extinguishes on the last standing member of this class, many…many years from now, it will not only be writing the final chapter on a class of lawmakers, but also the final chapter of a unique era of Texas politics that has seen and will continue to see landmark occasions that will forever mark our time. Go Back

The Takeover Class of 2002. . .3 Sessions Later