By Bud Kennedy
bud@star-telegram.com
Did you know the race is tight for speaker of the Texas House?
The Tea Party says so.
Because the Tea Party is trying to sell tickets.
In the first of what no doubt will be many bizarre moments in the 2013 Texas Legislature, Tea Party groups seem to be talking up a speaker's race primarily so their promoter can sell $75 tickets and fill $109-a-night hotel rooms.
There is no genuine indication that a majority of the 150 House lawmakers will vote Jan. 8 for anyone other than two-term incumbent House Speaker Joe Straus, an old-line Republican from a blueblood Alamo Heights family and a proud supporter of the Bush family, 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
That hasn't stopped Tea Party groups from ginning up support for second-term Rep. David Simpson of Longview, a Ron Paul libertarian-Republican and a Reformed Baptist seminary graduate, former church pastoral assistant and owner of a denominational publishing house.
Like wrestling promoters, Tea Party groups are taking a financial interest in stirring up a fight. They've invested in staging a two-day Austin political rally around the speaker's election and the opening of the Legislature.
Before Straus had an opponent, Austin-based
WomenOnTheWall.org was promoting "Speakers Showdown II," featuring a $600-a-table dinner with Fox News commentator Pat Caddell and a trade show with exhibit tables selling for up to $1,000 in a hotel next to the Capitol.
According to the website, few tickets or tables have sold.
One hotel room block is booked, but a second hotel arranged for the event is nearly empty, a desk clerk said.
So last week, readers of the
Burleson Star saw the local Texas Patriots Tea Party's full-page tirade against Straus, pleading the "race is not over" and urging state Rep. Rob Orr to support a challenger.
The last time we heard from the Patriots, they were campaigning for secession-minded Wes Riddle against U.S. Rep.-elect Roger Williams.
But they bought a table at the Showdown.
So now they need a showdown.
WomenOnTheWall.org has been involved at the Legislature before, and not in a good way.
Last year, co-founder Rebecca Forest of Austin told an immigration-enforcement rally that Texas doesn't have tougher immigration laws "because we have 37 -- no, 36 Hispanics in the Legislature. ... We need to do something about that."
These are not the folks to lead an overthrow.
Bud Kennedy's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 817-390-7538,Twitter: @budkennedy
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