{"id":758,"date":"2012-12-11T12:07:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T12:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/11\/no-more-go-along-to-get-along"},"modified":"2012-12-11T12:07:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T12:07:00","slug":"no-more-go-along-to-get-along","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=758","title":{"rendered":"No more \u2018go along to get along\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/texas-house-of-representatives\/speaker-of-the-house\/simpson-files-speaker-texas-house\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The late state Sen. Teel Bivins of Amarillo used to say that redistricting every decade was a time when \u201cRepublicans eat their young.\u201d <\/p>\n

It appears that the GOP cannibalism occurs every more frequently these days, such as every two years when the Legislature gets ready to convene. The 2013 session is set to begin in less than a month and Republicans are seeing another challenge to House Speaker Joe Straus\u2019 leadership. Straus, R-San Antonio, is facing a challenge from state Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, who says the time for \u201cgo-along to get-along\u201d leadership must come to an end.<\/p>\n

Seems that Simpson doesn\u2019t like Straus\u2019 habit of cooperating with legislative Democrats to get things done for the state. Straus isn\u2019t conservative enough for many members of his Republican caucus and once again they intend to show their distaste for Straus\u2019 leadership by trotting out another challenger to his speakership.<\/p>\n

Can they be serious? Apparently they\u2019re as serious as the proverbial heart attack.<\/p>\n

Republicans have seen their power increase for the past two-plus decades. Democrats cannot break the GOP vise-grip on statewide offices. The GOP has a near-supermajority in the state House of Reps, as well as a significant majority in the state Senate, which thankfully still is governed by the two-thirds rule that requires bipartisan support if bills are going to be put to a vote.<\/p>\n

The House continues to be a more fractious body. Nothing wrong with legislators airing their differences. But what strikes me as weird is how the speaker \u2013 who\u2019s supposed to lead the entire House, not just the segment of the body made up of folks from his own party \u2013 keeps getting these challenges from the hard-core wing of his caucus.<\/p>\n

Texas is a wildly diverse state and its Legislature comprises individuals who represent that diversity. Whether it\u2019s lieutenant governor (who runs the Senate) or the House speaker, the leaders of both legislative chambers \u2013 be they Republican or Democrat \u2013 need colleagues from both parties on board if they intend to help rank-and-file Texans.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s hoping Joe Straus keeps his job.<\/p>\n\n

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http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/texas-house-of-representatives\/speaker-of-the-house\/simpson-files-speaker-texas-house\/ The late state Sen. Teel Bivins of Amarillo used to say that redistricting every decade was a time when \u201cRepublicans eat their young.\u201d It appears that the GOP cannibalism occurs every more frequently these days, such as every two years when the Legislature gets ready to convene. The 2013 session is set to begin … Continue reading No more \u2018go along to get along\u2019<\/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-758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758","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=758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}