This Should Scare All Texans

We were warned about a month ago that this might happen, but now Panhandle State Rep. Warren Chisum has made it official.   Chisum has sent a letter to all his Republican colleagues running for election to the House this year announcing his candidacy for the speakership of the Texas House.   Chisum is one of those Republicans who are upset because the current speaker, Joe Straus of San Antonio, is a moderate Republican who generally treats both sides of the aisle fairly.

Chisum is not just a Republican -- he is on the far-right fundamentalist fringe of the party who thinks bills written by moderates and liberals shouldn't even get out of committee and definitely shouldn't be allowed a vote on the House floor.   His one claim to fame in the last session of the Texas legislature is getting a bill passed that forces all Texas high schools to offer a Bible course.  

He wanted to make it a mandatory course for all students, an effort to proselytize students for his own religion, but his fellow House members wouldn't go that far. They watered the bill down and made the course an elective (so a student didn't have to take it if he/she didn't want to).

Chisum has also introduced in the past a bill that would prevent schools from teaching sex education to any student without written permission of the student's parents.   And he is in favor of teaching the religious concept of creationism in science classes to break "the evolution monoply in the schools."

He is a homophobe who has come out in the past against any kind of hate crimes legislation. He has also increased a bill to double the waiting time in Texas before a divorce decree could be granted.   He is a member of the Texas Conservative Coalition, agroup of far-right House members.

But the really scary part is that this nut, a member of former speaker Craddick's inner circle, may have a chance of getting elected to the speaker position.   It all depends on how the November election comes out.   If Democrats win a majority in the House there will be a Democrat elected speaker.   If Democrats maintain their present strength, then Speaker Straus will be re-elected.   But if the Republicans are able to significantly increase their margin in the House this November, then Chisum stands a good chance of getting elected speaker.

This makes it very important to vote for Democrats in House races wherever possible in November.   It's bad enough that Republicans hold majorities in both legislative bodies, but having a Speaker Chisum would be disastrous for Texas.