A group that was hatched last month is portraying GOP State Rep. David Cook of Mansfield as an enemy of the oil and gas industry in a new ad for social media after slamming the Texas House speaker hopeful for voting to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton and skipping a critical school vouchers vote.
The Texas Leadership Initiative was created on GOP Speaker Dade Phelan's behalf for the singular purpose of attacking Cook as the consensus candidate for the leadership post that the incumbent decided to give up without a fight late last week.
The TLI describes itself as a "501c4 dedicated to advancing conservative values and enacting legislative reforms that secure the southern border, reinforce individual freedoms, promote government accountability, and drive economic growth across Texas." The group gives no clues on its web site on the source of its funding.
The organization presumably supports State Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock in the competition for speaker that took a significant turn during the weekend when Cook claimed the House GOP Caucus endorsement with 53 percent of a vote that was closer than expected. The TLI apparently isn't allowed to advocate a specific candidate's election on the House floor in January - however - as a result of the way it's set up.
But it's going for the jugular in an attempt to expose Cook as an untrustworthy opportunist who's a convenient conservative with a history that puts him more in line with liberals than Republicans on the right in the Lone Star State.
The TLC rips Cook on the first page of its web site for his vote for Paxton's impeachment on the final weekend of the regular session in 2023. The group has depicted Cook as a closet RINO in texts based on the position he took earlier that year on a state budget amendment that prohibited the use of taxpayer funds on a school choice plan that would siphon money from public education in Texas.
While Cook voted against the amendment, he registered as "present but not voting" on a previous motion to table it. Cook was one of 10 House Republicans who abstained from the vote that would have put the vouchers appropriations ban to rest before a second tally. The motion to table failed by seven votes thanks to the surprising number of white lights by Cook and other Republican names on the House scoreboard. Cook ended up on the losing end of an 86-52 vote that incorporated the private tuition spending prohibition into the House's proposed appropriations bill for the current cycle.
The TLI ad that popped up on X on Thursday contends that Cook has a record of "destroying Texas energy jobs" in a state where 2.5 million people are employed by oil and gas interests. The 30-second spot says Cook backed a ban on fracking as the Mansfield mayor before his election to the Legislature's lower chamber in 2020.
The advertisement claims that Cook is no different from President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris when it comes to fracking based on his actions as a mayor in the Fort Worth suburb where he resides.
"David Cook and his anti-energy views can't be our speaker." a narrator says. "Tell your legislator to stand strong for Texas energy" and vote no on Cook for House speaker.
The TLI sums up its position on the web site.
"Cook is supported by taxpayer-funded lobbyists and voted against a measure that would have ended tax incentives for companies that fund out-of-state abortions and gender modification surgeries on children," the group claims online. "Cook also voted to raise property taxes. And even said, “If you cut taxes, you give up quality of life. We can’t have a liberal like David Cook in power. We need consistent conservative leadership to keep the conservative victories in Texas.
"And that’s definitely not opportunist David Cook."
