January 26, 2007

Craddick Names Allies to Committee Chairs
while Giving Second Slots to 17 Opponents

Pitts Protests Appropriations Snub But Speaker Says
Leader of Failed Coup Declined Seat on Budget Panel

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

Speaker Tom Craddick rewarded his friends and gave consolation prizes to enemies when announcing the Texas House committee lineup for 2007 after darkness had fallen on Friday less than three weeks after a failed attempt to oust him from the chamber's top leadership post.

The Republican incumbent filled all 40 committee chairs with members who supported his bid for re-election while appointing legislators who'd opposed him to 17 number two slots on House panels. Craddick put new chairs at the head of the tables in 18 standing committees including five panels that will be led by Democrats who'd never had top level leadership posts until now.

Chisum was picked to replace State Rep. Jim Pitts, who was upset about being left off the Appropriations panel even though he'd led the attempted coup earlier this month. Pitts, a Waxahachie Republican who led the budget panel for the past two years, said that Craddick had blown an opportunity to show that he wasn't the vindictive leader that the opponents had portrayed him to be.

Pitts said the speaker had rejected offers that he'd made to continue as the Appropriations chairman or to serve on the panel as a subcommittee chair or simply as a member of the committee without a leadership slot. Pitts had to settle for a job as the vice-chair on the Government Reform Committee, which will be led by a new chairman, Republican State Rep. Bill Callegari of Katy.

"In spite of his repeated assurances to members of the House and the public that there would be no retribution, it appears that the speaker has chosen retaliation over reconciliation," Pitts said.

Craddick's Press Secretary Alexis Delee disputed the assertion, saying that Pitts was offered a seat on the budget panel and rejected it. Pitts' "statements to the contrary are not an accurate reflection of the exchanges" he'd had in several meetings with Craddick, Delee said.

State Rep. Brian McCall, a Plano Republican who'd launched a bid against Craddick before endorsing Pitts instead in the speaker's race, was named vice-chair of the House Higher Education Committee. But vice-chairmanships also went to several House freshmen who supported the speaker including Republican State Reps. Susan King of Abilene, Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills, Nathan Macias of Bulverde and Brandon Creighton of Conroe.

King was named to the number two job on Human Services while Hancock and Macias were tapped to be vice-chairs on Environmental Regulation and Rules & Resolutions respectively. Creighton landed two vice-chairmanships in his first session with appointments to the second slot on Local Government Ways and Means and General Investigating.

Even State Rep. Thomas Latham of Sunnyvale - the only first-term Republican to side with Pitts in the speaker's election - scored a vice-chairs job with his appointment to the Law Enforcement Committee's number two job. Latham had a long career as a police officer before retiring from law enforcement.

Craddick named a total of 10 Democrats to chairmanship posts - the same number of Democratic members he had leading standing committees at the start of the 2005 regular session. The new Democratic chairs are State Reps. Joe Deshotel of Beaumont on Economic Development, Tracy King of Batesville, Ruth McClendon on Rules & Resolutions, Aaron Peña of Edinburg on Criminal Jurisprudence and Patrick Rose on Human Services.

The list of new committee chairs includes Republican State Reps. Rob Eissler of The Woodlands on Public Education, Tony Goolsby of Dallas on House Administration, Sid Miller of Stephenville on Agriculture & Livestock, Byron Cook of Corsicana on Civil Practices, Leo Berman of Tyler on Elections, Vicki Truitt of Keller on Pensions & Investments, Bill Callegari on Government Reform and Charlie Howard of Sugar Land on Local & Consent Calendars.

State Rep. Kevin Bailey, a Houston Democrat who backed Craddick in the speaker's election, was shifted from the chair of the General Investigating Committee to the top job on the Urban Affairs Committee. Bailey replaced Republican State Rep. Robert Talton, a former Craddick ally who sided with Pitts in the speaker's race, in the Urban Affairs chair. Republican State Rep. Larry Phillips of Sherman was named General Investigating chair.