Happy Friday TTP Citizen Advocates!

Did you know that back in May, 46 members and nominees for the 89th Legislature of the Texas House signed the following statement?

“In a collective effort to respond to Republican voters and reform the Texas House, we will only vote for a candidate for speaker pursuant to the Platform and the Caucus By-Laws, who will only appoint Republicans as committee chairs”.

All of the signers of the Contract With Texas have also signed this pledge.  Only voting for a Speaker who will not appoint democrat chairs is the first item on the Contract With Texas, so at least it's a start for these members and nominees.

Last Friday Message we asked you to contact those who have and those who have not signed the Contract asking them to take the extra step of signing their ballot in the vote for Speaker so that we can know who has kept their pledge and who has not.  The caucus vote for speaker became a secret ballot back in 2017 when efforts were afoot to get rid of Joe Straus as Speaker.  The thinking was that if it was a secret ballot, people could avoid recriminations from Straus, and they would be more inclined to vote for someone not Straus.  It didn't work!  And it didn't work in 2019, 2021, or 2023.  It's time for representatives to declare their intentions, and stand by their vote by signing the ballot.

The  Google Sheet with the list of signers and non signers has now been updated to also indicate who has signed this pledge about no Democrat chairs.  Those names are highlighted in yellow.  There are two tabs in the sheet (see the bottom tabs).  One for "signed contract" and one for "not signed contract"

This week's ACTION ITEM is to contact the non signers who have signed the No Democrat chairs pledge, and ask them to go the extra step of signing their ballot when they cast the vote in caucus.  I've provided email addresses for all of them.  Please thank them for pledging to only vote for a speaker who will not appoint Democrat chairs, and ask them to go the extra mile by committing to signing their ballot and standing behind their vote.  We are asking everyone to send messages to these people, whether you live in their district or not.  Our aim is to flood their inboxes with message requests to sign the ballot.  If you would like to write a hand written request, the mailing address for all House Members is:

Representative _________

Texas House of Representatives

P.O. Box 2910

Austin, TX  78768

Here is a sample message: (please put it into your own words)

Dear Representative __________,

I want to thank you for signing the pledge to only elect a Speaker of the Texas House who will not appoint Democrat chairs.

Since the caucus vote for speaker is traditionally a secret ballot, I would like to ask you to take one step further by pledging to sign your ballot when you cast your vote.  That way you go on record with your vote and it can be verified.  Voters deserve to know who kept their promise and who did not.

This caucus vote is such an important one, we are counting on you to make it transparent and fair. Please respond with your commitment to sign the caucus speaker ballot when you cast your vote.

If you get a reply beyond the standard "thanks for contacting us", I'd love to hear about it.  So far I have only one commitment to sign the ballot.  That came from Nominee for HD 113, Stephen Stanley.  If you have time, you might send Mr. Stanley a thank you for that.

That's all I have for this week.  Thanks for always being committed TTP Citizen Advocates.

Stay Engaged!

Fran Rhodes, President