Who is Dan Patrick?
He’s the former Danny Goeb, a Baltimore-born sportscaster (not to be confused with the much nicer Dan Patrick formerly of ESPN) who reinvented himself as the burning radical of Texas’ religious right.
Patrick has made a career out of getting little done, but doing it loudly, and getting promoted because of it. In his first term in the Texas senate, he passed the lowest number of bills out of any in his freshman class (three) but made a permanent mark on the Capitol by having “In God We Trust” carved into the Senate wall. Since then, he’s loudly pursued every Evangelical conservative talking point, insulted the president, attacked voting rights at every turn, spearheaded the fight on reproductive health care, and refused to share the room with Muslims.
He’s been accused of being a snake oil salesman and had his sanity questioned – and that’s by ranking members of his own party. In turn, he’s accused Gov. Greg Abbott and Speaker Joe Straus of picking on him. And yet, in spite (or maybe because of all that) he’s become lieutenant governor of Texas, the second most powerful position in the state.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Dan Patrick. – Richard Whittaker
This article appears in July 15 • 2016.