Debra Medina – Joe Straus
It is difficult to accept the fact that Debra Medina endorsed Straus, calling him “steadfast in his commitment to wield the gavel in a fair and just manner” and “committed to making sure that the will of the members and of the citizens of Texas be done in the coming session.”
In the eyes of true conservatives, supporting Speaker Straus in indefensible?
More times than I can recall, I have heard Rush Limbaugh say, “It’s not what they say, It’s what they do that matters”.
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Have you noticed that when someone criticizes Medina, instead of attempting to defend Medina, many of her supporters attack the messenger. What’s up with that?
No matter what the future holds for Medina, it would be difficult to deny that her JUDGMENT is cause for serious concern.
Please read the following article by Tony McDonald.
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From EmpowerTexans, by Tony McDonald, 12/04/13 – After months of speculation that she might run for office, Debra Medina – who finished in third place in the race for the Republican nomination for Governor in 2010 – threw her hat in the ring for Comptroller. Her bid had been the subject of much speculation, including discussion that she would run as an independent for Governor and play spoiler to Attorney General Greg Abbott in favor of Democrat Wendy Davis.
Medina put that speculation to rest by filing for Comptroller. But why Comptroller? Why not run for the Texas House, where candidates are needed if conservatives are going to wrest control of the House agenda from moderates and liberals?
Maybe Medina doesn’t have a problem with the current liberal and moderate stranglehold on the house policy agenda.
During the 2011 battle for House Speaker between Democrat-backed Joe Straus and conservative Ken Paxton, Medina proudly endorsed Straus. She called supporters of Paxton a “circular firing squad” and said that support for Paxton came from “out of state” and “from the shadows.”
Debra Medina endorsed Straus, calling him “steadfast in his commitment to wield the gavel in a fair and just manner” and “committed to making sure that the will of the members and of the citizens of Texas be done in the coming session.”
For two sessions GOP moderates – like Straus – and Democrats have controlled the House agenda with an iron fist against the efforts of fiscally responsible conservatives and against the kind of reforms Medina has claimed to support.
Perhaps candidate Medina should be asked to square her support of Joe Straus with her support of the very reforms Mr. Straus’s cronies have squelched during his speakership.
What makes her run more of a shame is that Medina – were she truly interested in changing government for the better – had an opportunity to help right things in the Lone Star State in her own backyard. Rather than run for Comptroller, a race already occupied by TFR-endorsee Glenn Hegar, Medina could have competitively run against her hometown state representative, Phil Stephenson.
Stephenson had an extremely disappointing first session. He followed Straus’s lead, earning an “F” (39.7) on the Fiscal Responsibility Index. On his way to earning that grade, Stephenson voted to increase session-to-session spending 26.9%, broke his pledge with the voters by increasing taxes at the request of big tobacco, raided the rainy day fund to support more local water debt and to buy off Democrat votes, put administrators ahead of students by opposing choice in education, chose to fund the “bingo police” over volunteer firemen, supported licensing interior designers, voted to criminalize teeth whitening and rainwater harvesting, and voted against limiting government drone surveillance, amongst other terrible votes.
But Stephenson didn’t just fail TFR’s scorecard. He also scored a 55 on the legislative ratings produced by Young Conservatives of Texas.
If Medina doesn’t have a problem with Straus and his team, then maybe that’s why she doesn’t have a problem with her hometown rep’s horrible record. But if that’s the case, why would Texans want her as Comptroller?
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Tony McDonald serves as General Counsel to Empower Texans. A licensed and practicing attorney, Tony received his J.D. in 2012 from UT Law School. While in school, Tony served as Senior Vice Chairman for Young Conservatives of Texas and helped manage its legislative affairs. After law school he served during the 83rd session as Chief of Staff for Rep. Jonathan Stickland. Tony resides in Austin and attends St. Paul Lutheran Church. In his spare time he enjoys mixology and smoking meats on his Big Green Egg.
Parker County Blog 
Politics certainly makes ” strange bedfellows ” at times . And Limbaugh is correct to say “It’s not what they say, It’s what they do that matters”. I have pounded that mantra for too many years to count and I have always said – ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.
Empower Texans makes reference above to the poor voting record of a Stephenson in the Texas House. One issue noted is ” raided the rainy day fund to support more local water debt ” , and if you click on the embedded link, it takes you to past articles by Empower which (rightly) excorciate those who co-sponsored , supported and voted FOR the $2 billion raid on the Rainy Day Fund via HB 11.
To refresh the memory of readers here, so-called ” conservative ” Phil King was a co-author of this $$ raid – here are 2 snips from EmTex
“Busting the Budget Cap
April 10, 2013 by Dustin Matocha
How much will the Legislature end up spending on the budget? That depends on if they vote to bust the spending cap. With only $685 Million of room to spare, they’ll need to if they still want to spend an additional $2 Billion on water.
With reckless disregard for any priorities over spending, the House passed HB 4 two weeks ago that set up the funding mechanism for a new debt-creation machine in order to show how serious they are about “funding water.” It’s the House’s intention to fill that mechanism via HB 11, which appropriates $2 Billion from the Economic Stabilization Fund in order to get it started.”
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Evaporating Commitments
March 28, 2013 by Andrew Kerr
Despite widespread commitment from Republicans during last year’s election cycle to ‘preserve a strong Rainy Day Fund’ as part of the conservative Texas Budget Compact, only 15 representatives put their legislative votes where their political mouths were months before.
Legislators have displayed a willingness to spend and grow government instead of promoting the conservative fiscal policies.
During debate on HB 4 this week, a boondoggle debt-funding mechanism purportedly to kick start the state’s current water infrastructure development plans with $2 Billion of state funds, State Rep. Van Taylor rightly proposed an amendment to protect the state’s Rainy Day Fund by requiring that when funding HB 4 (via HB 11), the legislature would be restricted from using money from the RDF.
The contention that HB 4 will address the state’s water issues is false. It is yet another example of government spending more tax dollars instead of working for systemic reforms.
However, when the motion was called to a vote, only 14 Republicans stood with Mr. Taylor indicating their intention to follow through on their campaign commitments to ‘Preserve a strong Rainy Day Fund’.”
As you can see, “CONSERVATIVE” “fiscal champion” etc ad nauseum Phil King was NOT among the 14 Republicans referenced above, but in effect, led the raid on the state treasury for this boondoggle. He has a rather consistent track record of voting FOR other raids on the treasury , but he keeps telling you the voter that he is ” conservative “, TEA party type…….uh, NO he is not.
Repeat – “It’s not what they say, It’s what they do that matters”.
Voters in our district need to look behind the facade of false conservatism foisted upon us by Phil King and Craig Estes. NEITHER are genuine small government conservatives , but they continue to bray that false cliche`. They will continue to vote for whatever their “corporate sponsors” tell them to. And from Kings’ website ” Those in public office must have the moral courage to do the right thing with integrity above all.”…………sad he doesnt practice what he preaches.
So let us watch and see what Debra Medina has to offer vs the “conservatives”? Hegar and Combs.