April 17 , 2006
Most Powerful Texas Lawmakers List Has Perennial
Players Minus a Few Big Names
By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor
On the brink of the fourth special session in the past two years, the Texas Legislature Power Rankings list for 2006 is a collection of usual suspects minus several perennial powerhouse names. While there are several conspicuous absences in light of impending retirements, re-election defeats and campaigns for higher offices, the majority of the highest ranked members are the same legislators who had seats at the tables where the high-stakes deals on schools and taxes were being negotiated last spring and summer.
Seven of the top 10 most powerful state Senate members from last year are ranked that high again on the updated list. Six of the House's top 10 from last year are members of that same lofty league this time around.
Republicans have a monopoly on the list of the 10 most powerful House members - and the GOP has eight out of the 10 top slots on the revised Senate rankings. Eighteen Republicans are ranked among the 20 most powerful House members on this year's list while GOP members take up 35 of the top 40 spots on the updated list. Republicans outnumber Democrats 57-23 on the overall list that includes slightly more than half of the House's 150 members.
Four Democrats are listed among the Senate's 13 most powerful members heading into the special session that convenes Monday afternoon. A total of seven Senate Democrats are ranked in the top 21. Three Republicans - State Senators Kim Brimer of Fort Worth, Kyle Janek of Houston and Kip Averitt of McGregor - have surged into the top 10 on the power list in the upper chamber for the first time. Brimer, whose promotion to the Senate came three years ago after 14 years in the House, vaulted from the 12th spot in 2005 to the number six position on the current list as a result of dual assignments he's drawn as the chairman of both the Senate Administration Committee and the Sunset Advisory Commission. Brimer's rapid rise to the new high station is a reward for the creative contributions he made in 2005 as the main brain behind a business tax plan that the Senate adopted as a potential way out from under the court's shadow on public school funding. Brimer's efforts landed him a seat on the conference committee that was appointed to try to hammer out a compromise on taxes with the House.
Janek, who arrived in the upper chamber a year before Brimer, became a go-to guy in 2005 with roles as a school finance conferee, the lead Senate player on eminent domain and the sponsor of an asbestos reform measure that tort reform advocates and arch-rival trial lawyers both thought was fair. Tied for 12th on last year's power list, Janek shot up to seventh on the updated version with a workload that includes jobs as the vice-chairman of the Business & Commerce Committee and the chair of a new subcommittee that's focusing on economic development potential in the high-tech industry.
Averitt - the third fresh face on the new list of most powerful state senators - has been quietly amassing power since showing up for work in the upper chamber after winning a special session in the spring of 2002. Averitt had big shoes to fill as David Sibley's replacement - and he met the challenge without fanfare or self-promotion while moving into key roles as an appointee to conference committees that negotiated with the House on the state budget and school taxes.
A member of the Senate Finance Committee, Averitt was one of Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst's choices for the new Select Committee on Education Reform & Public School Finance that will take centerstage during the special session. The sweetest plum, however, has been a recent appointment as chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee in the wake of Democratic State Senator Ken Armbrister's decision to retire from the upper chamber at the end of the year.
The Senate's most powerful list begins with the presiding officer, who's followed by State Senators Robert Duncan of Lubbock and Steve Ogden of Bryan in the second and third spots as the chairmen of the State Affairs and Finance committee respectively. The only difference there is that Duncan and Ogden have traded places this year as the West Texan has a key role in almost every major undertaking. State Senator Florence Shapiro - the Senate's point person on public education - has the fourth spot on the Senate power list all to herself this time around after being tied for that position in 2005 with Armbrister, who dropped off the chart when he decided to give up his Senate seat this year.
State Senator Jane Nelson, a Lewisville Republican who's ranked fifth, joins Democratic State Senators Judith Zaffirini of Laredo and John Whitmire of Houston as returning members on the list of 10 most powerful state Senate members.
The four most powerful House members - with Speaker Tom Craddick crowning the list - were all ranked in the top five last year. Ways and Means Chairman Jim Keffer of Eastland and Regulated Industries Chairman Phil King of Weatherford have both moved up the ladder of House power while Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts drops a couple of notches with no state budget due on the governor's desk until this time next year. If Keffer doesn't sponsor a major tax bill in the spring special session, he's in position to have a major impact on its trip through the process as the leader of the House tax-writing committee. King, who shepherded a congressional redistricting plan and landmark telecommunications legislation through mine fields in recent special sessions, will most likely be a key player both behind the scenes and out in the open in a variety of roles from strategist to enforcer when the pressure's on high this spring.
State Affairs Chairman David Swinford of Dumas, Calendars Chairwoman Beverly Woolley of Houston and Public Health Chairwoman Dianne Delisi of Temple are ranked among the 12 most powerful once again and can expect to be wielding their share of clout while providing institutional knowledge gained from more than 40 years combined experienced. With taxes on the special session front burner, State Reps. Warren Chisum of Pampa and John Otto of Dayton have catapulted into the top 10 on the power list for the first time as a veteran lawmaker and rookie who were named to the House's team of negotiators on taxes after emerging as all-stars during the floor debate. Chisum and Otto were ranked 21st and 37th respectively on the House power list last summer. Otto, a certified public accountant who's listed as the 10th most powerful state representative heading into the special session, is the highest ranked freshman by far on the list and one of only three first-term members in the House's top 80. Chisum, a former Democrat who's ranked seventh this spring, gained substantial clout during an all-pro season on offense as a deal-maker and on defense as a goalie at the front mike during the floor debate in 2005.
Dallas State Rep. Will Hartnett, the Judiciary Committee chairman, hurdled all the way from the 19th position to the number 12 spot on the chart after a year in which he defused potentially explosive situations as a master of discovery in a House election contest and the sponsor of a judicial pay bill that gave lawmakers an incidental boost in their pensions. Hartnett was ninth on the new list until several colleagues surged into the top ten with Monday's annoucement about House tax bill sponsors.
Higher Education Committee Chairwoman Geanie Morrison of Victoria jumped 10 spots up the list to the 14th position as a top-tier lieutenant who bypassed an opportunity to run for an open state Senate seat - and State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham shot all the way up from number 37 to 16th on the new list after a series of plum appointments and a decision to forego the same race for the upper chamber that her colleague passed up. Kolkhorst had moved up to the 13th spot and Morrison was ranked 11th before the shuffling that was spurred by developments with bill sponsors on opening day.
Republican State Reps. Dan Branch of Dallas and Rob Eissler of The Woodlands moved into the ninth and tenth spots respectively on the special session power list amid news that they would be teaming with Chisum as the sponsors of legislation to cut the property tax rate by 17 cents. House leaders have that moved that bill to the front of the line after breaking what began as a single tax measure into five separate parts. State Rep. Vilma Luna - a Corpus Christi Democrat who's vice-chair of the Appropriations Committee - regained the distinction of being the highest ranked Democrat when she vaulted past several House peers into the 13th slot after the speaker announced that she would be joining forces with Keffer and Otto as the sponsors of the business tax overhaul proposed by Governor Rick Perry and Texas Tax Reform Commission Chairman John Sharp. Luna had begun the day seven spots lower as the second most powerful House Democrat. With a couple of Democratic committee chairs on the way out and general election battles looming on the horizon, Speaker Pro Tem Sylvester Turner of Houston Luna are the only Democrats to crack the top 20 so far on the newly-revised House power list.
The power rankings will be revised as needed during the special session to reflect changes such as the possible replacement of committee chairs, appointment of conference committees and emergence of key players and bill sponsors on the major issues at hand.
State Reps. Sid Miller of Stephenville and Vicki Truitt of Keller both cracked the top 20 for the first time this spring. Miller has played a key leadership role as the vice-chairman of the House Republican Caucus at a time when its chair has been planning to give up his House seat while running for a court bench. Truitt won a major promotion to the job of Sunset Advisory Commission vice-chair.
Like all other outgoing members, State Rep. Kent Grusendorf, an Arlington Republican who was ranked third last summer, dropped off the list after his re-election bid was cut short in the primary by challenger Diane Patrick. State Rep. Peggy Hamric lost her spot among the House's top ten most powerful when she decided to give up her seat in order to run for the state Senate. She finished second behind primary winner Dan Patrick - no relation to the candidate who beat Grusendorf. Grusendorf can probably still expect to have considerable sway in the special session this spring as a longtime Craddick ally - and Hamric is likely to wield more power than the ordinary outgoing member as a player on a special team of leadership lieutenants. Grusendorf and Hamric are still the official chairs of the Public Education and Administration committees respectively - and the speaker hasn't hinted if he plans to change either one of those any time soon. But like State Senator Ken Armbrister in the Senate, the power they retain as lameduck lawmakers cannot really be compared to the kind of sway that legislators who will be back for subsequent terms enjoy when the future votes they will cast give them automatic leverage in a process where members have long memories and tend to take care of those who've helped them. This year's power rankings, as a result, have a separate category for lawmakers who are finishing out terms and participating in their last session unless subsequent special sessions are required on schools and taxes or other unforeseen issues between now and January. The category for outgoing lawmakers is a sort of reverse purgatory of power through which some very powerful lawmakers are moving in a transition back to lives on the outside as private citizens.