Being Tom Craddick

Via Matt Glazer at Burnt Orange, Quorum Report, and the Statesman comes the news that Texans for Public Justice have filed an official complaint against Tom Craddick, alleging that he is more or less trying to bribe his way to re-election as Speaker of the Texas House.

This is bad news in an already bad year for Craddick, who is seemingly failing normative tests of legitimacy among voters and in the press. This kind of overt action signals that Craddick isn't really exercising caution or restraint and is instead sticking to being brazen. From the Statesman piece:

McDonald’s complaint suggests Craddick violated state law by channeling money to the three Democrats last month.

On Jan. 10, according to campaign finance reports, Craddick revitalized a dormant political committee, Texans for Jobs & Opportunity Build a Secure Future, with a $250,000 donation from his campaign account.

It was the only money the political committee had when it made the $50,000 donations the next day to Reps. Aaron Pena of Edinburg, Ismael “Kino” Flores of Palmville and Kevin Bailey of Houston, according to campaign finance reports cited in the complaint. The three men are past supporters of Craddick, who appointed them chairmen of House committees.

Over at Quorum Report, Harvey has the TPJ complaint. Obviously this story is still developing, so expect to hear more.