Texas Senate to lose a giant

Texas Tech University’s huge gain is the Texas Senate’s equally huge loss.

Republican Bob Duncan is leaving the Senate soon to become chancellor of the Tech System. He won’t disappear from the State Capitol, as my pal Enrique Rangel writes for the Amarillo Globe-News. He’ll be visiting the Capitol looking for funds to keep the myriad academic programs and extracurricular activities going at Texas Tech, which is what a university system chancellor is supposed to do.

But a legislative body that benefited greatly from Duncan’s expertise and decided lack of showmanship will be a lesser place once he takes up his new job in Lubbock.

Erica Greider, writing for Texas Monthly, took note of Duncan’s reputation recently. Here’s what she wrote:

Duncan has been a genuinely superlative senator. When we were working on last year’s Best List, we crunched the numbers, and found that he was the most honored legislator in the history of the project—it was his fifth time being named a “Best Legislator,” and he also had an honorable mention and a rookie of the year notice. Beyond that, Duncan is the kind of legislator who illustrates the reason that we spend so much time researching the Best List. He’s not particularly high profile, and he’s not at all a showman. If you had watched every minute of proceedings on the Senate floor last year, you probably wouldn’t even have noticed him. And yet if you started talking to legislators, staffers, lobbyists, and advocates, you would hear Duncan cited consistently, warmly, and across party lines as one of the most thoughtful, trustworthy, and effective people in the building. As a senator, he’s tackled serious but unglamorous issues, such as the solvency of state pension funds; he’s also provided critical, behind-the-scenes assists to colleagues of both parties. An example would be last year’s equal pay bill. His departure from the Senate will be a loss for that chamber, because he’s been a real credit to it — because of the laws he helped pass, and because of the example he set.

What’s next for Senate District 28? Voters will take part in a special election that Gov. Rick Perry will call. They’ll elect a Republican from the district, which is a given in one of the most GOP-centric Senate districts in Texas.

With Duncan’s departure, though, the Senate is losing one more voice of reason. I have no clue who’ll take his place. Rangel has suggested that state Rep. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, is a likely candidate to succeed Duncan. I don’t know much about Perry, other than he appears to be among the cadre of conservatives who seem intent on getting things done their way … or else.

I just hope the Texas Senate doesn’t gain a show horse who’s replacing a serious work horse.