Mike
Site Co-Founder
http://r3publican.wordpress.com/201...a-endorses-ken-paxton-for-texas-house-speaker
Fellow Texans:
Those of you following the Texas House Speakers’ race may be interested to know that Gun Owners of America has endorsed Ken Paxton for Texas House Speaker.
GOA’s message of endorsement is included below.
_____
Gun Owners of America E-Mail alert
Friday, November 19, 2010
In spite of Texas being such a pro-gun state overall, the current Speaker of the House, Joe Straus, has impeded getting pro-Second Amendment legislation passed.
Although nominally a Republican, he is in bed with Democrats and liberals of both parties. In fact, when he was elected Speaker last session, only 11 Republicans voted for him! Most of those were liberals. The other 65 votes for his Speakership came from Democrats.
That’s right. When Republicans held a majority in the House (albeit a slim one), Straus “reached out” and got more than five times the votes from the other party.
So how did he reward those who took part in this collusion?
With committee chairmanships, of course. Such is the power of the Speaker. Ways and Means — which controls your money — went to a far-left liberal Democrat. And more than a dozen other chairs were given to Democrats as well. But probably the most damaging was installing Brian McCall as Chair of Calendars. That’s a very powerful position, as Calendars basically decides when (if ever) a given piece of legislation makes it to the floor. If you want to avoid recorded votes on pro-gun bills, make sure you have a liberal lackey as Chair of Calendars.
And that’s exactly what RINO Joe Straus did.
For gun owners, it has been a tough two years. As just the most recent example, Straus and his lieutenants made sure that open carry legislation would get stalled. In a typical and disgusting manner, they took pains to run out the clock before action could be taken on the floor of the House.
Unfortunately, it gets even worse.
. . .
Please understand that while GOA is a single-issue (gun rights) group . . .
You can make of that what you will — GOA’s position is that conspiring to block open carry ALONE is reason enough to demand a new Speaker. We’re a gun rights group.
. . .
And there’s an excellent alternative. Representative Ken Paxton, A-rated by GOA, is seeking to defeat Straus.
Please urge your Republican representative to vote for Paxton. There is a lot that needs to be brought to a vote in addition to open carry. Texas needs constitutional carry as in Vermont, Alaska and Arizona. In those states citizens can carry a concealed firearm without seeking permission from a bureaucrat.
. . .
Please contact your Republican state representative right away, and urge others to do so, also. Even though the new Speaker will not be officially elected until January, misguided Straus supporters need to be pressured to withdraw their pledges as others have already done.
Massive pro-gun gains were made in the Texas House this election cycle. Let’s not let those go to waste by keeping a RINO as Speaker!
A complete contact roster appears at the end of this alert. Please pay particular attention to those who do not have “house.state.tx.us” in their contact information. These people are generally the true incoming freshmen, who haven’t had time yet to be sucked in by the Straus political machine in Austin.
You can identify your district number at http://www.house.sta…stions/#who_rep but that may not reflect the election results, so please refer to the list below once you know your district.
Also, a pre-written letter is provided for your copy-and-paste convenience. Feel free to add your own thoughts. Regardless, insist that your representative support solidly pro-gun Ken Paxton for Speaker, rather than liberal obstructionist Joe Straus!
—– Pre-written letter —–
Dear Representative,
Now that the electorate has emphatically insisted that the core values defining our great state should reign supreme in the Texas House, it is up to you to make certain that those values are respected.
One such core belief is that of Second Amendment rights. It is simply unacceptable for you to elect someone who is not solidly pro-gun to the position of Speaker of the House!
It is apparent to me that Joe Straus puts his personal ambition before my gun rights.
On the other hand, Ken Paxton is unabashedly pro-gun. He should get your vote for Speaker.
Even if you have already pledged support for Straus, you will not be alone in withdrawing that support, especially in light of recent events.
I will consider a vote for Straus as Speaker to be a direct vote against my Second Amendment rights. I urge you to vote for Rep. Paxton instead.
Sincerely,
—————————–
To contact your State Representative:
http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/
Fellow Texans:
Those of you following the Texas House Speakers’ race may be interested to know that Gun Owners of America has endorsed Ken Paxton for Texas House Speaker.
GOA’s message of endorsement is included below.
_____
Gun Owners of America E-Mail alert
Friday, November 19, 2010
In spite of Texas being such a pro-gun state overall, the current Speaker of the House, Joe Straus, has impeded getting pro-Second Amendment legislation passed.
Although nominally a Republican, he is in bed with Democrats and liberals of both parties. In fact, when he was elected Speaker last session, only 11 Republicans voted for him! Most of those were liberals. The other 65 votes for his Speakership came from Democrats.
That’s right. When Republicans held a majority in the House (albeit a slim one), Straus “reached out” and got more than five times the votes from the other party.
So how did he reward those who took part in this collusion?
With committee chairmanships, of course. Such is the power of the Speaker. Ways and Means — which controls your money — went to a far-left liberal Democrat. And more than a dozen other chairs were given to Democrats as well. But probably the most damaging was installing Brian McCall as Chair of Calendars. That’s a very powerful position, as Calendars basically decides when (if ever) a given piece of legislation makes it to the floor. If you want to avoid recorded votes on pro-gun bills, make sure you have a liberal lackey as Chair of Calendars.
And that’s exactly what RINO Joe Straus did.
For gun owners, it has been a tough two years. As just the most recent example, Straus and his lieutenants made sure that open carry legislation would get stalled. In a typical and disgusting manner, they took pains to run out the clock before action could be taken on the floor of the House.
Unfortunately, it gets even worse.
. . .
Please understand that while GOA is a single-issue (gun rights) group . . .
You can make of that what you will — GOA’s position is that conspiring to block open carry ALONE is reason enough to demand a new Speaker. We’re a gun rights group.
. . .
And there’s an excellent alternative. Representative Ken Paxton, A-rated by GOA, is seeking to defeat Straus.
Please urge your Republican representative to vote for Paxton. There is a lot that needs to be brought to a vote in addition to open carry. Texas needs constitutional carry as in Vermont, Alaska and Arizona. In those states citizens can carry a concealed firearm without seeking permission from a bureaucrat.
. . .
Please contact your Republican state representative right away, and urge others to do so, also. Even though the new Speaker will not be officially elected until January, misguided Straus supporters need to be pressured to withdraw their pledges as others have already done.
Massive pro-gun gains were made in the Texas House this election cycle. Let’s not let those go to waste by keeping a RINO as Speaker!
A complete contact roster appears at the end of this alert. Please pay particular attention to those who do not have “house.state.tx.us” in their contact information. These people are generally the true incoming freshmen, who haven’t had time yet to be sucked in by the Straus political machine in Austin.
You can identify your district number at http://www.house.sta…stions/#who_rep but that may not reflect the election results, so please refer to the list below once you know your district.
Also, a pre-written letter is provided for your copy-and-paste convenience. Feel free to add your own thoughts. Regardless, insist that your representative support solidly pro-gun Ken Paxton for Speaker, rather than liberal obstructionist Joe Straus!
—– Pre-written letter —–
Dear Representative,
Now that the electorate has emphatically insisted that the core values defining our great state should reign supreme in the Texas House, it is up to you to make certain that those values are respected.
One such core belief is that of Second Amendment rights. It is simply unacceptable for you to elect someone who is not solidly pro-gun to the position of Speaker of the House!
It is apparent to me that Joe Straus puts his personal ambition before my gun rights.
On the other hand, Ken Paxton is unabashedly pro-gun. He should get your vote for Speaker.
Even if you have already pledged support for Straus, you will not be alone in withdrawing that support, especially in light of recent events.
I will consider a vote for Straus as Speaker to be a direct vote against my Second Amendment rights. I urge you to vote for Rep. Paxton instead.
Sincerely,
—————————–
To contact your State Representative:
http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/
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