July 17, 2018      11:59 AM

HK: A primer on past speaker races and a few observations about this one

The GOP caucus route sounds good but has little upside and much downside

Back in 1964 a two term Texas House member from De Leon decided he wanted to run for speaker but one term incumbent Speaker Byron Tunnell had his re-election all but locked down. Undeterred, this member went across the street from the Capitol to seek the advice of a former one-term member turned lobbyist at the Texas Auto Dealers Association. The lobbyist agreed that Tunnell had a lock on re-election and said the best the wannabe could do was collect “second-vote” pledges which would be easy because there was virtually no chance of a second vote.

Turns out that then-Governor John Connally wanted Tunnell out as Speaker but this quintessentially internal House decision was beyond his ability to impact. Instead, after Tunnell was re-elected in his district, Connally offered him an appointment to the Railroad Commission basically just to get him out of the Speaker’s office. 

Tunnell accepted and suddenly there was only one lawmaker to whom virtually every House member had pledged. His name was Ben Barnes and in 1965 he became the youngest Speaker in Texas history.  The lobbyist whose advice proved prescient was Bob Bullock who later became Comptroller and subsequently Lt.  Governor.

The point is that there is no such thing as a typical Speaker’s race. So, what could be about to unfold now?

By Harvey Kronberg

Copyright July 17, 2018, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved