State Sen. Kel Seliger won’t like these next few words, but I feel this need to get something off my chest.
I’m beginning to wonder if the Amarillo Republican is in the wrong political party. In Texas. At this time.
The lawmaker from Amarillo has served in the Texas Senate since 2004. He’s been a reliable Republican vote among the GOP senators who comprise the upper chamber’s majority. However, looking ahead to what might transpire in the mid-term elections this fall, I’m starting to wonder about Seliger’s place in an increasingly partisan and bitter legislative body.
For one thing, Seliger was effectively re-elected this spring when he beat back a challenge from former Midland Mayor Mike Canon. Canon is a nice enough guy. He’s actually quite intelligent. But when you turned on the microphone and asked him to speak about the issues of the day, he spoke almost exclusively in tea party clichés, sound bites and talking points.
Canon came within a couple of percentage points of knocking Seliger off in the GOP primary in March. Seliger has no Democratic opponent this fall, so he’ll take his seat next year.
Now comes the lieutenant governor’s race featuring Republican state Sen. Dan Patrick and Democratic Sen. Leticia Van de Putte. Patrick isn’t quite a shoo-in to win the race, but he’s a heavy favorite in this Republican state.
Seliger makes no attempt to hide his disdain for Patrick or the people who are backing him. So if Patrick wins the election, he’ll preside over a Senate that contains at least one lawmaker from his own party — Seliger — who can’t stand him.
What’s more, there well might be other right-wing demagogues like Patrick who’ll win their races this fall, which tells you plenty about where the Texas Republican Party has gone in the Era of Rick Perry.
That two-thirds rule — which requires at least 21 Senate votes to bring a bill to a vote on the floor — would be trashed by a Lt. Gov. Patrick. Seliger long has supported that rule. Patrick also has made it known that he dislikes giving committee chairmanships to Democrats, something Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has done over the years. Some of Seliger’s better friends in the Senate happen to be Democrats.
What do you suppose will happen when Patrick ventures to the Panhandle to campaign for the office he seeks? Will he ask Seliger to join him? Would the Amarillo lawmaker accept the invitation to introduce Patrick to an adoring crowd? Would the senator even be welcome at such an event?
The state Republican Party is being overrun by individuals who do not fit the Seliger model of good-government Republicanism, in my humble view.
No, I don’t believe Seliger is a closet Democrat. I know him to be one of those “establishment Republicans” who believes the key to legislating successfully is joining hands with Democrats whenever possible. The folks who are now running his Republican Party — and that includes Dan Patrick — think quite differently.
As former state Rep. Warren Chisum of Pampa said when he left the Democratic Party to become a Republican many years ago, Kel Seliger never left his party — the party has left him.