{"id":160,"date":"2013-05-26T13:14:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-26T13:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/2013\/05\/26\/what-would-bullock-do"},"modified":"2013-05-26T13:14:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-26T13:14:00","slug":"what-would-bullock-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=160","title":{"rendered":"What would Bullock do?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Texas Monthly\u2019s Paul Burka wrote a fascinating blog about how Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has squandered the immense power of his office.
http:\/\/www.texasmonthly.com\/burka-blog\/regarding-david-dewhurst#.UaE6Kve1C28.twitter<\/a>
I cannot stop thinking of one of Dewhurst\u2019s predecessors, the late Bob Bullock.
Bullock was the crusty Democratic lieutenant governor who made quite habit out of chewing up governors and legislators whenever the spirit moved him, or when he thought matters weren\u2019t going the right way. Dewhurst, one of the more detail-oriented politicians I\u2019ve ever met, has been steamrolled, according to Burka. I\u2019m trying to imagine Bullock allowing that to happen. I can\u2019t draw that picture in my mind\u2019s eye.
It\u2019s a shame, really. I\u2019ve met few public officials who work as hard as Dewhurst. My most recent conversation with him was right after the start of the 2011 Legislature. We spoke on the phone and he spent nearly 20 minutes \u2013 without hardly taking a breath \u2013 giving me the nuts-and-bolts details of some piece of legislation on which he was working. My sources in the Legislature have told me he isn\u2019t particularly well-liked by his legislative colleagues \u2013 the lieutenant governor, after all, presides over the state Senate \u2013 but they at least used to respect his work ethic.
Even that\u2019s changed, or so it seems. Burka, who\u2019s been watching Texas politics for longer than just about anyone, believes Dewhurst has been neutered. \u201cThe whole Capitol is scoffing at him,\u201d Burka writes.
Bullock wasn\u2019t wired for scoffing, either to receive it or to give it. He was one tough dude.
I didn\u2019t know Bullock well. He left office in 1999 \u2013 the same year as his death \u2013 but his reputation as a tough dealmaker was legendary. He also knew how to work with Republicans, such as then-Gov. George W. Bush, with whom he built a marvelous political relationship.
That was a different time. Democrats controlled both legislative chambers. Bush had to find a way to do business with them. Bullock was his go-to guy in the Senate, while Democratic Speaker Pete Laney of Hale Center was the Man of the House.
But reading about how Dewhurst has been mauled by the now-minority party in the Senate reminds me of how times and circumstances have changed in the Lone Star State.
As Bullock was fond of saying: God bless Texas.<\/p>\n\n

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Texas Monthly\u2019s Paul Burka wrote a fascinating blog about how Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has squandered the immense power of his office.http:\/\/www.texasmonthly.com\/burka-blog\/regarding-david-dewhurst#.UaE6Kve1C28.twitterI cannot stop thinking of one of Dewhurst\u2019s predecessors, the late Bob Bullock.Bullock was the crusty Democratic lieutenant governor who made quite habit out of chewing up governors and legislators whenever the spirit moved … Continue reading What would Bullock do?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}