Republican Texas Rep. Travis Clardy defends voting restrictions House Democrats are killing in current special session.

 

 

Phelan Teamers Portray Voting Bill as Liberal
as Oregon GOP Leader Backs Texas Walkout

Capitol Inside
July 18, 2021

Faced with the prospect of losing independent voters whose numbers are mushrooming in suburbia, Texas House Republicans sought to reframe the narrative on a quorum-killing boycott by Democrats with claims on Saturday that the GOP election bill would expand access to the ballot box in a state with liberal voting laws.

The voting bill battle took several wild turns as the weekend progressed - with three Democrats who'd been vaccinated testing positive for COVID-19 in Washington D.C. as the top headline in a development that could prolong the rogue representatives' stay amid uncertainty on air travel safety protocols for people who've been exposed after receiving the vaccine.

The Democrats who fled the state six days ago to block a vote on the election measure gained an improbable ally this weekend when Oregon Senate Minority Leader Fred Girod defended the tactics that the Texans from the rival party are using to fight the elections measure as a legitimate weapon for keeping the majority from going extreme.

Girod can empathize in a deep blue state where Senate Republicans were excoriated by the ruling Democrats for abandoning their constituents with walkouts that deprived them of quorums during the past three years for votes on climate change, prekindergarten funding and vaccine mandates. But the Oregonian Republican seized on the Texas Democrats theatrics as a billy club to swing out at Democratic leaders in his own state for saying the exact things about the Republicans there as Governor Greg Abbott and GOP lawmakers here are saying now about the Democrats who've been absent without leave for almost a week.

With the Texas House in the eye of the storm, GOP Speaker Dade Phelan changed his tune dramatically on Saturday when he said he was praying for the Democratic colleagues with covid. But Phelan kept his eye on the prize despite the sudden show of compassion - announcing that he had the state's top official investigating new rules and safety standards for flights with lawmakers who've been vaccinated.

The House leadership team launched a new messaging campaign in the meantime that appeared to be aimed at moderates and independents who've been leaving the party in droves in recent months in the major suburbs in and around the largest cities that have been red in the past.

State Rep. Briscoe Cain - a Deer Park Republican who's the voting bill's original author - went ballistic on Democratic colleagues in a Fox News interview on Saturday when he accused them of acting in bad faith, gamesmanship, deception and admitting privately to him that they'd been dishonest with the public about the measure. Cain gave the Phelan an opportunity for a choir pitch with nothing to lose on Fox.

But State Rep. Travis Clardy of Nacogdoches faced a more imposing challenger with an appearance on CNN on Saturday as the messenger for independents who outnumber Republicans and Democrats now in many of the major suburbs in and around the largest Texas cities. Clardy - a key player on a select panel that Phelan appointed to handle the legislation in special session - raised eyebrows from coast to coast when he portrayed the voting measure as progressive piece of legislation that's been unfairly characterized.

"We have great, I will even use the word 'liberal,' voting laws in Texas," Clardy told CNN anchor Pamela Brown. "That's not true," Brown appeared aghast by the remark. "The voting laws are not liberal in Texas," she snapped back. "Texas has some of the strictest laws on the books."

But Cain - having been relieved of his chief House sponsor duties after an unsuccessful run this spring - spring - explained without fear of being challenged why the Texas election bill should have strong bipartisan support.

"Anyone that reads it realizes it doesn’t criminalize mistakes." Cain asserted. "It expands voting access. It expands hours, and protects our elections. That’s it."

more to come ...

 

 

 

 

GOP Voting Record Average Based on Texans for Fiscal Responsibility Index and Rice University Political Scientist Mark Jones Liberal-Conservative Scale. Ties are Broken Based on Reputations and Other Individual Factors.
CI MJ MQS REPS
1 1 2 Lyle Larson
2 2 4 Dan Huberty
4 4 2 Charle Geren
5 5 1 Kyle Kacal
6 6 4 J.M. Lozano
3 3 8 Morgan Meyer
9 9 4 Ken King
8 8 8 Todd Hunter
7 7 10 Jim Murphy
10 13 4 Chris Paddie
11 12 10 Steve Allison
12 11 12 Angie Button
13 10 13 John Raney
14 14 13 Drew Darby
15 15 15 Ernest Bailes
16 18 15 Travis Clardy
17 19 17 John Kuempel
18 16 20 Geanie Morrison
19 17 22 Phil Stephenson
20 23 17 Dustin Burrows
21 20 22 John Frullo
22 26 17 Four Price
23 22 21 Stan Lambert
24 21 22 Jacey Jetton
25 24 26 Hugh Shine
26 25 26 Ed Thompson
27 29 25 Glenn Rogers
28 27 26 Doc Anderson
29 31 26 Gary VanDeaver
30 28 34 Trent Ashby
31 35 26 John Smithee
32 32 32 Sam Harless
33 33 32 Brad Buckley
34 30 40 James Frank
35 36 34 Tom Craddick
36 34 37 Jake Ellzey
37 38 35 Lynn Stucky
38 39 37 Tan Parker
39 40 37 Gio Capriglione
40 45 33 Craig Goldman
41 41 41 Stephanie Klick
CI MJ MQS REPS
1 3 1 Bryan Slaton
2 2 4 Briscoe Cain
4 4 5 Steve Toth
5 1 8 Matt Schaefer
6 6 6 T. Tinderholt
3 11 2 Jeff Cason
9 5 10 Cody Vasut
8 9 7 M. Middleton
7 7 9 Terry Wilson
10 14 3 K. Biedermann
11 8 11 Cole Hefner
12 10 12 Jared Patterson
13 12 14 Shelby Slawson
14 13 14 V. Swanson
15 15 13 Matt Shaheen
16 16 16 Matt Krause
17 17 19 Justin Holland
18 19 17 Andrew Murr
19 18 21 Ben Leman
20 22 20 Jeff Leach
21 34 18 David Spiller
22 20 25 Will Metcalf
23 27 20 Brooks Landgraf
24 29 22 Reggie Smith
25 23 29 Candy Noble
26 26 27 Scott Sanford
27 28 25 Gary Gates
28 30 23 Dennis Paul
29 24 29 David Cook
30 25 31 Tom Oliverson
31 31 27 Cecil Bell
32 21 38 Cody Harris
33 33 34 John Cyrier
34 37 31 James White
35 32 39 Jay Dean
36 40 31 Phil King
37 36 35 Lacey Hull
38 39 36 Mike Schofield
39 35 41 Greg Bonnen
40 41 36 DeWayne Burns
41 46 36 Keith Bell

 

 

 

Copyright 2003-2021 Capitol Inside