Straus ends first session with praise, criticism

AUSTIN – Joe Straus literally came out of the blue – little known and indebted to Democrats.

As his first session as House speaker ends tonight, though, Straus stands taller in red precincts of the House than most expected, thanks to a firm stand against Democrats' pressure tactics in the showdown over voter ID.

"He has now proven himself to Republican members," said Corsicana GOP Rep. Byron Cook, a Straus ally.

Even though Republicans lost on the super-charged partisan question of requiring more identification at the polls, Cook said, the House GOP caucus stayed calm but defiant like Straus – and is now more united than at any time in the past six years.

"He came out solid," said Cook, who predicts the San Antonio Republican is almost a cinch for a second term as speaker, provided Republicans can hold their slender majority in next year's elections.

Other members, however, say that simply being congenial isn't enough. They say Straus hasn't provided enough direction, resulting in end-of-session chaos.

"I like Joe personally, I just am not sure a total hands-off leadership style works," said Houston Republican Rep. Beverly Woolley, a key player under former Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland. "Both sides, Republican and Democrat, feel a little frustrated – what have we really done? ... Somebody's got to be looking at the big picture and making sure it's all coordinated."

It's a familiar issue in the House – how much the leadership should control the flow of legislation and push a particular agenda. Over three terms, Craddick dominated what the House did and how it worked, and enough members chafed that Straus, one of the House's most inexperienced members, beat the four-decade veteran for the speakership in January.

Straus said Sunday that he has restored calm and good will to the House, while helping to forge bipartisan unity on the budget, the session's only must-pass bill.

He claimed credit for defusing potential strife over federal economic stimulus money "that had to be carefully laid into the budget to avoid a budget shortfall" next session.

Straus also touted breakthroughs in higher education funding, such as more financial aid and the seed money to eventually create more top-tier research campuses.

"There may be a few voices out there who want to rewind the clock," he said. "They miss the point that leadership by encouragement can be more successful than leadership by full frontal force. Members who sit in their seats waiting to be told what to do will never be happy in my administration."

Straus has reduced tensions stoked by Craddick, who rammed through a lengthy conservative agenda after Republicans captured the chamber in 2002.

"The stress level is a lot less," said Rep. Gary Elkins, R-Houston. "We can all be proud that civility has returned to the Texas House."

Elkins, one of the first Republicans to jump to Straus' side as soon as Craddick released his backers in early January, said the speaker's agenda has been modest.

"Really, other than the budget there was nothing from leadership that they were promoting," he said. Elkins quickly added that Straus' late emergence as a candidate for speaker had left him scrambling through the session's early going, and that limited Straus' options.

"Next time, assuming the Republicans are still in control, it'll be a whole different ballgame," he said.

Straus, 49, is the unlikeliest of speakers. He had only two terms under his belt and was largely unnoticed beyond the Bexar County delegation before he emerged Jan. 2 as the choice of 11 anti-Craddick Republicans. Sixty-four Democrats, also disaffected with Craddick, agreed to back their choice.

Speakers wield great clout through committee appointments and procedural rulings during floor debates. But herding 149 other state representatives and defending the House in negotiations with the Senate and the governor is an art.

"There's probably never been a speaker come in with as little legislative experience," said former Speaker Pete Laney, a West Texas Democrat. He said Straus "had a task that was very challenging. I had been there 20 years and been a chair of two major committees – and it was still a challenging task for me."

Until the voter ID fight, Republican unease with Straus had simmered throughout the session. For instance, Rep. Warren Chisum of Pampa, one of Craddick's closest allies, said that by delaying action on major bills until late in the session, Straus strengthened Democrats' hand on voter ID.

Straus said he has no regrets about the pace. Voter ID "proved not to be solvable through compromise." While the talk-a-thon that Democrats used to slow action and push voter ID beyond House deadlines was permitted by rules, he said, he refused to negotiate with Democrats to rescue some, though not all, of the bills being killed by the stall tactic.

"I held firm in respecting the rules," he said. "It so happened the Republican caucus agreed with my position and saw that I was with them at a time in this session when it mattered the most."

While admirers say Straus proved his mettle, some Democrats expressed surprise.

Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, said there were Craddick-style overtones to the speaker's refusal to recognize motions to skip around on the House calendar and his "unilateral" decisions about which measures added by the Senate to House bills strayed too far from a bill's original scope.

"Leave it to the will of the House," Raymond said. "That's part of what we were all working toward, and that happened a lot during the session. But on two important moments, it didn't."

Straus responded: "I stood up for the process and a strict interpretation of what is in the best interest of the House. The Senate is known to be undisciplined, and the House needs discipline in order to accomplish our work and to set the rules of engagement with our friends in the Senate."

Straus acknowledged he took the GOP's welfare into consideration as he assigned lawmakers to committees, presided through the voter ID flap and fought against getting Republican members cut up on insurance reform votes they didn't want to take.

"I want more Republicans here," he said. He quickly pledged, though, not to work against incumbents in next year's campaigns.