October 15, 2019      5:44 PM

HK: Bonnen tape sadly confirms duplicity and willingness to purge Republicans based on one litmus test vote

Criminal investigation is the least of his problems; besides targeting Republicans the tape confirms that as Speaker his primary mission next session would be to silence local governments

The Bonnen/MQS tape has finally seen the light of day.

To a large degree, it confirmed the secondhand reports of those who had been previously privileged to hear it.

In a matter-of-fact conversation with a group that lives and dies on purging Republicans who do not meet their “standards,” Bonnen betrayed the members and particularly the Republicans who elected him.

Within seconds, the Speaker’s office issued a statement: “I have repeatedly called for the recording to be released because it will be immediately clear that no laws were broken. This was nothing more than a political discussion – the problem is that I had it with that guy. My colleagues have always deserved the facts and context this recording provides, and with clear evidence now disproving allegations of criminal wrongdoing, the House can finally move on.”

But for 149 other House members, criminal allegations are less of an issue than outright betrayal. Most damning was the stinging hypocrisy of writing in the rules that incumbents could not campaign against other incumbents while the Speaker is paving the way for outside groups to go after targeted Republicans. We learned that Speaker Bonnen thinks he has some control over how Texans for Lawsuit Reform spends its campaign dollars, less so with Associated Republicans of Texas.

By Harvey Kronberg

Copyright October 15, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved