April 15, 2019      9:41 AM

SB: The Senators' Senate

Patrick pledges allegiance to the Texas Senate as senators prepare to burn it down at his behest; as divisive a figure as he is, Patrick should neither be given credit nor receive blame for what may happen on the floor this week

Time and again since the beginning of the session, when he was notably absent, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has answered questions about a possible jump to the Trump Administration – as DHS Secretary or something else – by saying that he already has the best job in government he is ever going to have.

This past week, he went so far as to tell our friend Chad Hasty of KFYO Radio in Lubbock that he’s already announcing his bid for reelection in 2022. The promises, though, rang hollow to Texas Capitol observers on the eve of Patrick’s plan to invoke the “nuclear option” to pass Senate Bill 2, the property tax “reform” legislation, by first moving the “blocker bills” out of the way with a simple majority.

One GOP senator on Thursday admitted that at least four Republicans were not yet willing to go along with the plan, under consideration since February, which is why it didn’t happen last week or sooner. But now at least one top Republican is privately saying they do have 18 votes, more than enough even with a lone GOP holdout, to move the “blocker bills” ending decades of Senate tradition.

To be clear, Patrick is operating within the rules and not changing them as some have reported.

This is brute force not craftiness.

By Scott Braddock

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