In the flurry of responses from the GOP to Attorney General Greg Abbott‘s request for opinions on the whole Speaker Tom Craddick unlimited power thing, there was a strange absence.
Where were all the Dems? After all, there’s a lot of them in the House, and they’ve probably got an opinion on this.
According to the office of Dem House caucus chief Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, he put out his public letter in late May about the speaker’s power grab. After Abbott asked for opinions, Dunnam sent him a letter that basically said, “see what I wrote earlier.” There was a weird moment of unexpected synergy with some Craddick boosters, but only on the issue of whether Abbott should be rendering an opinion at all. However, while the GOPers claim it’s a “separation of powers” question, Dunnam’s concerned that that, as an elected Republican, Abbott should not be making a decisions with far-ranging political consequences.
Meanwhile, Speaker Pro Tem and notorious “Craddick D” Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, seems to have been strangely restrained on the issue.
This article appears in August 3 • 2007.
