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October 21, 2019 11:17 PM
Flynn says he can't support him anymore; Davis says caucus should go ahead and vote on that resolution to call for his resignation
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Copyright October 21, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 21, 2019 9:52 PM
Says workaround for ministerial functions can be found
A short time ago, senior Republican and chairman of the Redistricting Committee told Quorum Report, "I have been hesitant to announce this because I was a speaker candidate and I did not want it to be misconstrued as sour grapes. But I strongly encourage Speaker Bonnen to resign as speaker and obviously withdraw all support for any effort by him to serve next session as speaker.
"I recognize there are ministerial functions incumbent to the office of speaker however I am confident that in those limited matters a workaround could be set in place."
By Harvey Kronberg
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Copyright October 21, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 21, 2019 9:01 PM
Some top chairman abandon the speaker: "As long-serving members of the Texas House, we informed Speaker Bonnen earlier today that we no longer support him as our Speaker."
Here is the full
statement.
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Copyright October 21, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 21, 2019 5:19 PM
After a caucus showdown, Bonnen lived to fight another day but in doing so placed the members in the same box many faced toward the end of Straus’ tenure with grassroots activists demanding to know if they’ll continue to support the speaker
BARTON CREEK RESORT –
“There will be a speaker’s race,” said a senior Republican amid a
two-day caucus retreat that saw Speaker Dennis Bonnen live to fight
another day while grassroots activists and a growing number of members called
on him to relinquish the gavel. Even some who are not part of “The X Men”
have started to come out against him. Those announcements will no doubt continue
to trickle in.
Despite the standing
ovation for Bonnen at the gala dinner headlined by Karl Rove, genuine
anger was roiling under the surface and the Bonnen camp seemed more concerned
about the potential of criminal charges than they’d admit publicly, per several
Republican members. Among other reasons, some theorized that perhaps a scandal involving
such hostility toward cities and counties won’t be overlooked by a District
Attorney whose husband is the city manager in Lake Jackson.
“I think they’re pretty
pro-local government in that household,” said one longtime observer of Brazoria
County politics.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright October 21, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 21, 2019 4:25 PM
He voted no because “I did not believe such action sufficient to address the serious division, distrust, and harm caused by both men. Even that statement, though, provides indication that Speaker Bonnen and Representative Burrows have been rendered ineffective to continue serving in leadership positions.”
Full statement from Rep. Steve
Allison is
right here.
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Copyright October 21, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 21, 2019 4:05 PM
"It was clear from the discussions at the Republican Caucus Retreat that the level of distrust and division within our ranks can only be healed by new leadership..."
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Copyright October 21, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 18, 2019 6:01 PM
Here is the full
statement from the Texas House Republican Caucus
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Copyright October 18, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 18, 2019 4:06 PM
The report is not back yet. In the meantime, the committee is preparing to fully understand the findings
Here’s the
statement from the General Investigating Committee.
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Copyright October 18, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 17, 2019 4:55 PM
“Sadly, it has become evident that by his actions, speaker Bonnen has not only lost the trust of his colleagues, more importantly, he has lost the trust of the people of Texas. Maintaining the trust and confidence of the people of Texas is paramount and the speaker has betrayed that trust. Therefore, he has no option other than to step down as speaker so that we can begin the important work of restoring the people’s faith in the Texas House of Representatives and in our state government.”
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Copyright October 17, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 17, 2019 4:54 PM
"To plot against and speak ill of colleagues is reprehensible and their subsequent denials are inexcusable. They will be held accountable and trust will be restored with new leadership."
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Copyright October 17, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 17, 2019 4:19 PM
We are told he tearfully made the announcement during a policy shop staff meeting. Apparently taking Julie Frank with him
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Copyright October 17, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 17, 2019 4:02 PM
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Copyright October 17, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 17, 2019 2:00 PM
SREC member Mark Ramsey, who previously helped broker deal to keep the Republican Party of Texas from condemning Bonnen, now writes that he "should appoint a conservative Republican who will support the RPT platform and legislative priorities as Speaker Pro Tempore, replacing the current Democrat Speaker Pro Tempore. House GOP Caucus members should select a new Speaker at their Friday, October 18th meeting."
Here
is the Facebook post from Ramsey and other members of the State Republican
Executive Committee. Depending on your browser, you may have to right click the link and open it in a new tab.
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Copyright October 17, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 17, 2019 1:55 PM
Here is the full
statement from Rep. Richard Raymond.
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Copyright October 17, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 17, 2019 11:13 AM
"This has gone on for too long. It is time for the House to begin to heal and rebuild trust, and that can only be accomplished when Speaker Bonnen and Representative Burrows are no longer in leadership positions."
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Copyright October 17, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 17, 2019 8:49 AM
"While I believe that trust should be the cornerstone of the relationship between a Speaker and the membership of the House, it has become abundantly clear that trust no longer exists. Therefore, I believe it to be in the best interest of the Texas House to take action to regain the trust of the body, as well as that of our constituents, and do so under new leadership."
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Copyright October 17, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 16, 2019 7:31 PM
Not enough members were there for quorum. Chair Chris Turner, however, said that “No one in the room voiced any support or defense of the speaker today.”
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Copyright October 16, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 16, 2019 5:41 PM
Communications could include how Michael Quinn Sullivan characterized meeting to Empower Texans donors like Tim Dunn
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Copyright October 16, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 15, 2019 5:44 PM
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.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Harvey Kronberg
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Copyright October 15, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 15, 2019 5:41 PM
"As we continue to process the revelations from the tapes, I will only ask my colleagues to remember that this institution is greater than any one individual. We will be defined by how we choose to resolve this incident—not as Republicans or Democrats, but as elected members with a responsibility to protect the dignity of the House."
Full statement here.
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Copyright October 15, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 15, 2019 9:13 AM
Here is the link
to the page where it is posted. Scroll down to “full audio” to listen to it
in full. It is easier to find right
here on the Chris Salcedo webpage at WBAP radio.
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Copyright October 15, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 14, 2019 12:50 PM
Lawsuit headed to court that afternoon isn’t solely focused on the June 12 audio; plaintiffs are also seeking any other recordings Empower Texans may have of Bonnen and Burrows as well as documents related to this controversy
It’s all coming to a head
now, apparently.
After months of a political
fan dance that weeks ago lost the interest of even some Texas Capitol
observers, we are now told the audio of Speaker Dennis Bonnen’s controversial June 12 Empower
Texans meeting will be released Tuesday morning.
Chairman Tim Dunn’s
spokesman, Michael Quinn Sullivan, said in an email today that the full audio
will be released online around 9am Tuesday. Right around that same time,
Sullivan is also slated to appear on WBAP radio in Dallas/Fort
Worth to talk about the controversy and play clips of the audio.
Being prepared with specific
portions of the audio ready to air on the radio would suggest at least some collaboration
with the radio host, Chris Salcedo, whose show also airs on the Houston radio
station owned by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright October 14, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 14, 2019 8:46 AM
Here is the
announcement from the campaign of Elisa Tamayo.
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Copyright October 14, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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October 14, 2019 8:24 AM
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Copyright October 14, 2019, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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