. . . the Wall Street Journal:
Michael Quinn Sullivan is a proud Lone Star son -- on his desk he keeps a map that shows "Texas" and "Not Texas." That helps explain why the conservative activist is leading a charge to use this year's election to "trade up" Texas politicians, replacing the state's already conservative majority with new Republicans, all raring to propel Texas to the front of the state-reform movement.
"Texas has things to be proud us," says Mr. Sullivan, who runs Empower Texas, a political group that is playing big in the state's primaries. "Then again, we're like the least drunk guy at the bar. California is drooling on itself, Illinois is passed out in the corner. We look good simply because we can walk a straight line. We should be leading the way."
. . . .
Empower Texas and other free-market groups have focused their ire on moderate Texas House Speaker Joe Straus and his coalition for dragging their feet on budget, social and education reforms -- failing to flex powerful House and Senate GOP majorities. Facing a voter uprising, eight Straus-aligned Republicans chose not to run for re-election, leaving open seats in red districts to be filled by more conservative candidates. Another seven were routed in Texas's March primary. The grass roots also defeated one moderate Senate incumbent outright and pushed another into a May 27 runoff.
Scott Turner, a charismatic young House Republican from Fisco (north of Dallas), has meanwhile announced that he's running against Mr. Straus in January. Whatever the outcome, Mr. Sullivan argues that athe flood of new conservative members, sent by unhappy voters, will dramatically raise the pressure on the Texas chamber to perform. With Republican Greg Abbott well positioned to win the governor's mansion this fall, reformers are starting to think big on spending limits, property tax reform and a charter-school agenda.
(Kimberley Strassel, "Potomac Watch: The GOP's 'Trade-Up' Election," wsj.com, May 16, 2014)
File this under "Houston Chronicle, More Stuff That You Will Not Read In the . . . ."
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