Senate Boss Could See Hall as Enforcer
as Shakeup Confirms Hancock Grace Fall
Capitol Inside
June 11, 2021
A pair of high-ranking Republican state senators got a chance to say hello in the revolving door to and from the upper chamber doghouse on Friday when Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick demoted one and rewarded the other with a surprise reshuffling of committee chairs.
State Senator Charles Schwertner of Georgetown emerged as a major winner in the leadership lineup changes with his selection by Patrick to be the new chairman of the Business & Commerce Committee.
Patrick cleared the way for the Schwertner promotion with the relegation of State Senator Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills to the chairmanship of the less prestigious Veterans & Border Security Committee after leading the business panel during the past three regular sessions.
Hancock and Patrick appeared to have a falling out in an unexpected fight on the costs of the Texas electric grid collapse during a record winter storm in February. Schwerter had been busted from a coveted leadership post two years ago as the price for a sexy texting saga. Schwertner's elevation in status today appeared to confirm that he's done the time for the error of his ways and gained redemption from Patrick.
But the chief beneficiary of the Senate leadership lineup changes had to be Republican State Senator Bob Hall of Edgewood with an appointment from Patrick as Schwertner's replacement at the head of the Administration Committee.
Hall is a tea party ideologue who's been widely regarded as the Senate's most conservative member during four regular sessions in Austin. Hall had been left out in the cold two years ago when Patrick merged an Agriculture Committee that he was chairing into a separate Senate panel in the early stages of the regular session in 2021. The panel that Hall is chairing now could give the lieutenant governor a weapon to keep Republicans in line through the regulation of their Capitol offices.
But Hancock was the only Senate Republican to have the power clipped in the Patrick shakeup that cleared the way for the lieutenant governor to replace him with Schwertner as the Business & Commerce Committee boss.
The first sign of bad blood between Patrick and Hancock came when the lieutenant governor tapped Schwertner to take the lead on a sweeping package of power system reforms in the aftermath of the Arctic freeze and the blackouts that it caused across the state for a week in February. Hancock broke ranks with the lieutenant governor on a bill that he'd treated as an emergency in a bid to reverse charges for electricity that he found to be excessive in the catastrophic weather event.
Hall landed the sweetest plum on paper in the leadership realignment with the Administration Committee chair. But Republican State Senator Joan Huffman of Houston reaped a substantial power boost when Patrick said that he's expanding the score of the Jurisprudence Committee to include oversight on issues pertaining to pensions and insurance.
Republican State Senator Donna Campbell of New Braunfels may have received a slight bump in clout on paper with her relocation to the chairmanship of the Nominations Committee that GOP State Senator Dawn Buckingham of Lakeway had been leading. Campbell served during four regular sessions as the chair on the Veterans & Border Security Committee that Hancock has been assigned to lead now. She could see the new assignment as a lateral move or downgrade as a result of the large number of veterans that she represents in a district that stretches from San Antonio to Austin.
Buckingham announced her plans this week to run for Texas land commissioner in 2022 in a move that Patrick used as the catalyst for the shuffle. Patrick heaped praise on Buckingham without an explanation on the reasoning for the other appointments from which Democrats were excluded.
“I want to thank Dawn for doing an excellent job as Chair of the Senate Nominations Committee," Patrick said in an email. "She has been committed to the people of her district and the people of Texas. I wish her the very best as she moves on to the next challenge.“ |
