Speaker's Race: Appendix 1

It hasn't been what I would call incredibly hot news, but there has been some discussion in the last few months over whether Craddick was really allowed to do some of the things he did as Speaker during the session. Perusing Kuff one day in mid-June (how's that for a wayback hat-tip?), I noticed his cursory examination of a request by Republican state reps Jim Keffer and Byron Cook for an opinion on Craddick's actions from Attorney General Abbott.

You don't have to be Dr. McPolitics to observe that, as Abbott, Craddick, Keffer, and Cook are all in the same party, this could make for an uncomfortable Labor Day barbecue. The fireworks from the last session showed that in the top tier of state legislatures, the Republican caucus is fractured, and that's putting it mildly.

Will an opinion either way from the AG really matter in the long run? I don't know. We won't get that opinion for at least several more weeks, and possibly several more months. Harvey Kronberg reported yesterday that the AG's office has extended the deadline on its request for opinions on the specific matter (on which Harvey has the original letter from Abbott to Cook, Keffer, and invitees for opinions) until August 3rd, and the due date for the opinion isn't until December.

With that much possible time in between, it is likely that something else may happen which will render the opinion, for all practical purposes, moot. Maybe Craddick will examine the burned bridges and scorched earth and decide against running for Speaker again. Maybe some sort of a deal in favor of top-tier unity will be struck and the issue will quietly go away; that is less likely, though, if Craddick decides to make a race of it. Maybe Craddick decides to run hard and this becomes a defining addendum to what took place in the last days before sine die as his Republican colleagues make the case against him. Or, maybe Democrats win a majority in the House and the problems all get solved at once.

One thing is for certain: this is the kind of thing that leads to bad press and bad blood, and it is another example of fractured Republican state leadership. It is a hard case to make that these guys can run the store effectively when they're all gunning for each other.