Goodman Floated as GOP Alternative
to Craddick for House Speaker's Job

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

The Travis County grand jury's decision to indict three Republican fundraising consultants and several corporations on election law violations has sparked speculation at the Texas Capitol about a potential mutiny that could conceivably lead to the overthrow of House Speaker Tom Craddick.

With Craddick still under investigation as part of a sweeping probe that produced 32 indictments this week, there's been talk on both sides of the partisan aisle about the possibility of a Republican alternative who could gain enough support among disgruntled Democrats and GOP members to oust the current speaker from the job he's held for almost two years. Sources say the name of Republican State Rep. Toby Goodman of Arlington has been floated most prominently in informal, behind-the-scenes discussions about a possible challenge to Craddick between now and the time House members cast votes for speaker at the start of the regular session in January.

Craddick's office on Thursday dismissed rumors that his lawyers have proposed a deal that would keep the speaker from being indicted if he would agree to step down from his leadership post at some point before the next speaker's election four months from now. Craddick's press secretary, Bob Richter, said the speaker intends to run again for the job and to win. The proposal was rumored to be a topic of discussion between Craddick's defense attorney, Roy Minton, and Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle.

But Minton on Friday called the rumor "a damn lie." The famed Austin lawyer said he'd never had a conversation with anyone in the district attorney's office about such a deal. "The subject's never come up," Minton said. "It's never been hinted at."

Earle this week refused to rule out the possibility that additional criminal charges might be leveled against other targets of the ongoing grand jury investigation that led to indictments this week against three associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and eight corporations that gave to DeLay's political action committee known as the Texans for a Republican Majority. Grand jurors have also examined Craddick's ties to TRMPAC and how they might have affected his race for speaker two years ago. The grand jury, for example, indicted a nursing home corporation for making an unlawful contribution to TRMPAC with a $100,000 check it allegedly gave to Craddick to pass on to the political action committee.

In the event that a coalition of Democrats and Republicans get behind an alternative candidate for speaker, the signs so far point to Goodman as the top choice. A 55-year-old attorney who's served in the House for the past 14 years, Goodman was the chairman of the House Juvenile Justice and Family Issues Committee for eight years before he was demoted to vice-chair after Republicans won a majority in the lower chamber and elected Craddick as the new speaker in January 2003. A former Republican precinct chair, Goodman was generally considered to be among the ABC's - a group of about a dozen representatives who would have supported "anybody but Craddick" for speaker before the veteran Republican from Midland made it clear that he had sufficient support to oust Democrat Pete Laney from the House's top leadership post following the general election in 2002. Sources say that some House Democrats discouraged Democratic activists from attempting to field a top-flight candidate against Goodman in his re-election campaign this year because of personal friendships as well as because they viewed him as the most viable Republican alternative to Craddick if such an opportunity presented itself before the speaker's election next year. Goodman faces Democrat Mike Gregory in the November 2 general election. The House District 93 contest is a rematch from 2002 when Goodman won with 57 percent of the vote.

According to one school of thought, Goodman would have a fair chance of peeling off support from at least 20 Republicans who've seen their power diminished under Craddick if he could demonstrate that he had at least 55 Democrats in the 150-member House in his corner before the next speaker's election on opening day of the regular session. Others believed to be interested in the speaker's job are Republican State Reps. Mike Krusee of Round Rock and Phil King of Weatherford, although neither one of those lawmakers has indicated any desire to challenge Craddick head-on. Both Krusee and King are members of Craddick's current leadership team. Krusee chairs the House Transportation Committee while King leads the House Regulated Industries Committee as its chair.

The last race for speaker came to a screeching halt the day after Republicans seized control of the House in November 2002 when more than a dozen Democrats abandoned their support for Laney in order to get on the Craddick bandwagon. But Craddick found his support within the opposition party seriously eroded earlier this year when state Democratic Party leaders led an internal revolt that caused a handful of the speaker's allies to lose their re-election bids in the primary elections this spring.

The 88-62 advantage that Republicans currently hold over Democrats in the House isn't expected to be significantly altered by the upcoming November election. While Democrats are predicting that they will cut that deficit with some upsets on the state House map, few incumbents on either side appear to be in obvious trouble this fall. Republicans think they might gain a few seats on the strength of President George W. Bush's coattails if for no other reason.