On the heels of a state legislative session rife with party in-fighting, Texas GOP chairman Matt Rinaldi took aim at House Republicans last week.
Appearing on The Salcedo Storm podcast Wednesday, Rinaldi excoriated the House, led by Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), for allegedly underdelivering on the Republican agenda because leadership was too focused on joining with House Democrats to bring down a Republican attorney general.
He blamed Phelan’s House for a “watered down” border security bill and for declawing a bill meant to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and jobs in state colleges and universities.
“The Senate passed the bill. … It was an absolutely fantastic bill. It goes over to the House. They add an amendment that requires all of the diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucrats that are fired when you close the department to be rehired by other departments with the same salary. … They added another amendment requiring every student at a university to get a questionnaire on their gender identity,” Rinaldi said.
He blamed these alleged failings on a House Republican focus on bringing down Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was impeached by the chamber and is currently suspended as he awaits trial in the Senate.
“It was absolutely a disgrace. It was done with zero [due] process,” Rinaldi claimed of the impeachment. “It was entirely political. It was a political hit job on the attorney general. And it was an absolute disgrace, and voters need to take note.”
Though the Texas legislature is no stranger to intra-party feuding, this session was exceptionally quarrelsome when it came to the party in the majority. The more populist wing of the party, led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the currently suspended Attorney General Paxton, clashed with House Speaker Dade Phelan and his coalition.
“House Republicans, whether they admit it or not, sided with Phelan because the Speaker whipped the vote, indicating failure to do [so] would be punished. It’s revealing that not a single Republican was talking about impeachment before the Speaker first brought it up 48 hours before the vote,” said Rinaldi.
“It’s inexcusable that the House is engaging in a sham impeachment of the Republican Attorney General at the same time they are blocking property tax relief and border security legislation,” he added.
For his part, Gov. Greg Abbott has had to negotiate a balancing act between the popular Patrick on his political right flank and Phelan, who controls the House gavel. Abbott has met with both men and appears to favor Speaker Phelan’s House property tax relief plan, but the gap with the Senate’s plan backed by Patrick shows no sign of narrowing.