With Joe Straus retiring, Texas House Republicans are trying to come up with a system to insure that the new Speaker will be as conservative as many of the House members. But News Radio 1200 WOAI reports, the effort being undertaken has resulted in ethics allegations that Republicans are violating bribery laws.
The House Republican Caucus is circulating a 'Speaker Commitment Pledge.' Texas Republican Chairman James Dickey says the goal is to make sure the members who are elected next year will back the candidate chosen by the Republican caucus for Speaker.
"We have a form asking them to commit to vote for the choice of the caucus when it comes to the floor," Dickey said.
The issue is, the Republican candidates are being threatened with loss of campaign funding and other services from the Republican Party if they don't sign the pledge.
And Charles Kates, who wrote Texas ethics laws, says those tactics are questionable.
"With the intent to influence their vote on a Speaker's race, you can't threatened somebody," he said.
A complaint has been filed with the state Ethics Commission, a move which Dickey calls 'laughable.'
Strauss was regularly criticized by members of the House Freedom Caucus and other Tea Party affiliated members with being insufficiently conservative. Straus blocked several key movement conservative issues, like restrictions on bathroom use, limits on local government property taxation, and a bill to restrict the activities of state employee and teacher unions.
Republicans are trying several different tactic to make sure Straus' successor is conservative. Another idea is to change the rules and allow only the Majority Party in the House, in all likelihood the Republicans, to select the Speaker, as is done in the U.S. House. Currently, all Texas House members vote on a Speaker, leaving Straus open to criticism that he service as Speaker due to support from minority Democrats.