Over 90 local elected officials and activists from the Tarrant County area have signed an “Open Letter to Texas State House District 98 Representative” Giovanni Capriglione urging him to oppose any candidate for the House speakership that supports appointing Democrats to chair committees.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) narrowly won his runoff primary election to David Covey. Phelan has been in hot water due to his habit of appointing Democrats as committee chairs and leading the impeachment effort against Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“We are asking you to make it clear to your constituents that you will oppose any candidate for speaker of the Texas House who supports appointing Democrat committee chairs,” the letter reads under the banner of Southlake Families.
“We are also asking for you to commit to electing a Republican Speaker of the House through a Republican caucus election and opposing any candidate who first courts the support of Democrats,” the letter continues.
The letter was marked as a political ad paid for by Southlake Families PAC, which describes itself as “a group of local citizens committed to standing for our strong community values and tradition of excellence.”
Several local leaders and activists signed the letter, including Leigh Wambsganss, founder and president of Southlake Families; Bo French, chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party; Keller Mayor Armin Mizani; Andrew Yeager, vice president of the Carroll ISD Board of Trustees; and Colleyville Mayor Bobby Lindamood.
Wambsganss shared with DX that the signatories hope the letter will make Capriglione (R-Southlake) listen to his constituents and support change in the Texas House.
“Republicans want our Texas House leadership to stop handing committee chair positions to Democrats. We want our Republican speaker of the House to be elected through a Republican caucus, and we expect Republicans to reject any Texas House speaker candidate who first courts the support of Democrats and who willingly appoints Democrats to chair committees,” Wambsganss said.
“That principle alone rules out Dade Phelan’s eligibility to be the Texas House speaker. Phelan only won his runoff by a mere 366 votes because thousands of Democrat voters crossed over and voted in the HD 21 Republican primary runoff. We were also disappointed to see our HD 98 representative celebrating at that Democrat-induced victory party,” she added.
Phelan has previously defended the practice of appointing Democrats to chair committees, arguing that it shows that the House can function in a bipartisan manner.
“This has been going on for decades and decades and decades,” Phelan said, according to The Texas Tribune. “It keeps us from being like Washington, D.C., where everything shuts down. We don’t want the chaos that is in Washington, D.C. We want to get things done for the folks here in Texas.”
Still, Yeager and French echoed what Wambsganss said.
“House District 98 — covering Southlake, Keller, Colleyville, and Grapevine — leads the national movement to hold local school boards accountable. As one of Texas’s most conservative districts, we also expect our state representative to uphold our values. If Rep. Capriglione refuses to oppose placing Democrats in leadership positions within our Republican House, he clearly abandons the core principles of the Republican Party,” Yeager told DX.
“Republicans have made it crystal clear. We expect our elected officials to do everything in their power to pass Republican priorities. Voting for a speaker who will appoint democrat chairs, thereby killing most Republicans’ priorities, will undoubtedly upset the base. This is a no-brainer,” French told DX.
DX reached out to Capriglione but did not receive a response.
