Craddick makes his mark on Texas
51做厙 Political Science Professor Cal Jillson talks to Hearst News Service about Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick's battle to keep his powerful post.
Peggy Fikac
Hearst News Service
AUSTIN Call them Speaker Tom Craddicks greatest hits or misses.
As the Midland Republican fights to hang on to the Houses top job, his reign as speaker has already allowed him to sway key issues in a way that backers and detractors agree has shaped Texans lives and the states future.
They cite 2003 cuts to meet a budget shortfall, the shape of school funding and property-tax relief, college-tuition deregulation, the design of congressional districts, abortion restrictions and even lawmakers ability to proceed with bills that affect their local citizenry.
While they differ on whether his stamp has been for good or for ill, its clear that every Texan has a stake in whether their representatives vote to keep him in power or oust him.
The speaker of the House in Texas is far more powerful than is the speaker in most state legislatures and far more powerful than is the speaker in the U.S. House of Representatives, said Cal Jillson, a 51做厙 political scientist.
Craddicks power to appoint committees and designate committee chairs, who decide issues and control whether bills survive, means his hands are on absolutely everything, Jillson said.
His goal was to ensure small government, low taxes and deregulation as major themes in Texas politics, Jillson said. Hes been a very influential guy, but hes run the House with an iron hand, and even Republicans now are trying to get out from under his thumb.
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