December 3, 2004

Ex-Texas Speaker Laney Spends
Another Night at the White House

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

Pete Laney may be a Democratic state legislator from a small town in the Texas Panhandle, but that hasn't stopped him from going in style when he's been in the nation's capital the past few years.

According to the word on the street - Pennsylvania Avenue, that is - the former Texas House Speaker traveled to Washington D.C. this week and spent the night at the home of an old friend, President George W. Bush. If the rumor holds true, it would have been at least the second time that Laney and his wife, Nelda Laney, have been overnight guests at the White House since Bush moved into the world's most famous residence in early 2001.

The Laneys were apparently in town Thursday for the opening night of the Christmas Pageant for Peace and the annual lighting of the national Christmas Tree - a celebration that former First Lady Grace Coolidge initiated 81 years ago. The timing of the reunion is significant in light of the fact that it's been almost exactly four years since Laney introduced Bush to the nation as its 43rd president in an internationally-televised ceremony on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives.

Laney's role then had both practical and symbolic value. was symbolic. It was there in the Legislature's lower chamber where Laney and Bush had put political associations aside in order to forge a bipartisan trust that the Texas governor would use as the foundation for an initial White House campaign as a "uniter" who would bring an end to the partisan divide in Congress. While Laney was evidence of Bush's bipartisan record, the Hale Center Democrat also represented an olive branch that Bush was extending to a nation that was bitterly divided over the Florida recount.

The promise of a bipartisan Washington fizzled quickly, but the friendship between the president and the ex-speaker survived. The Laneys spent a night in the Lincoln Bedroom in the summer of 2001 after staying at the president's Camp David retreat for the first two nights of their initial visit to the Bushes in Washington. The Laneys were reportedly flown by helicopter from Camp David to their friends' primary residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue during that initial visit three years ago. According to the Amarillo Globe-News, Nelda Laney and Laura Bush stayed up until the wee hours of the morning walking around the White House.

The Laneys aren't the only Texas Democrat to stay overnight at the Bush White House. Former State Senator Ray Farabee was a guest there during the early Bush years. So was Jan Bullock, the wife of the late Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock. Bullock, Laney and Bush formed the triad of power in Texas government from the time Bush won the Governor's Office in 1994 until Bullock's retirement in early 1999. Jan Bullock had placed Bush's name in nomination for president during a speech at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 2000 - and Bush mentioned her late husband frequently when touting his bipartisan credentials during that first White House campaign.

Laney isn't the only speaker of the Texas House to hobnob with the president. Speaker Tom Craddick and his wife Nadine Craddik had dinner with the President and First Lady in 2003. Craddick had ousted Laney from the state House's top job when Republicans took control of the lower chamber earlier that year.

Other Texans who've spent the night at the Bush White House include singer and novelist Kinky Freidman, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza, gold pro Ben Crenshaw, singer Larry Gatlin and former Ambassador to Great Britain Anne Armstrong and her husband, Tobin Armstrong. U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Teel Bivins was still a state senator from Amarillo when he and his won Will Bivins were overnight guests at the White House. Austin lobbyist David Sibley was also a member of the Texas Senate when he spent the night at the Bush White House. Garza was a Texas Railroad Commissioner at the time he was an overnight guest.