Texas Scorecard by Emily Medeiros | September 19, 2023
Both resolutions say Phelan has violated Republican Party of Texas principles and legislative priorities.Mere days after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was acquitted of the House’s impeachment charges, two county GOP’s are supporting the censure of Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan.
On Monday, the Harris County GOP and Dallas County GOP both voted to support a resolution passed by the Orange County GOP July to censure Phelan, citing his many failures and “abuse of power.”
“State Representative Dade Phelan, as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, has abused the power of his office and his authority as Speaker by taking more than three actions during this current biennium that are either in opposition to the core principles of the Republican Party of Texas, in opposition to the Republican Party of Texas Legislative Priorities, or both,” read Harris County GOP’s resolution.
Harris County GOP’s resolution directed its attention at Phelan’s appointment of nine Democrats to committee chair positions. They claim that his ‘conscious decision’ to appoint multiple Democrat chairs places Phelan in violation of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, and ninth core principles of the RPT 2022 platform.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/harris-and-dallas-county-republicans-support-censure-of-speaker-phelan/https://texasgop.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/4-Rules-Minority-Report-Bruce-Bishop-Rule-44.pdf
Rule No. 44 - Censure Process and Penalties
a. A County or Senatorial District Convention or a County or District Executive Committee may, after notice and invitation to the officeholder to appear and be provided time to speak before a County or Senatorial Convention or a County or District Executive Committee, by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of those present and voting, but in no case by less than a majority of the CEC in full, adopt a resolution censuring a Republican public or party office holder representing all or a portion of that County or District for three (3) or more actions taken during the current biennium in opposition to the core principles of the Republican Party of Texas defined in the Preamble of the Party Platform as described in Rule No. 43A or to the Legislative Priorities adopted at the most recent State Convention as described in Rule 34(c). Any resolution of censure that does not meet that criteria shall be subject to challenge by a point of order. Such a resolution may include a request, to the SREC or any State Convention held prior to start of the filing period of a Republican Primary Election while these rules are in effect, that the named officeholder be penalized. If such a request is included, after not less than 14 days’ notice and invitation opportunity to the officeholder to appear and be provided time to speak before the SREC or the State Convention in conformity with the request, the delegates of the State Convention by majority vote in the case of (a) below, or by a two-thirds (2/3) vote in the case of (b) below, or the State Republican Executive Committee by a three-fifths (3/5) vote of the full membership, may vote to concur with the resolution of censure and impose one or both of the following penalties:
1. declare that no Rule or Bylaw enacted by any division of the Party at any level that demands the Party be neutral in intraparty contests shall be observed with respect to the named officeholder, and no financial or other support shall be provided to their campaign by the Party except that which is required by law. In the event the penalty in Section a(2) is not applied to the officeholder and he or she files an application to run for any public or party office in the Republican Party primary following the censure resolution’s passage, the SREC shall be authorized to spend up to 12% of the Party’s general fund on voter education in the officeholder’s district, by republishing the original censure resolution verbatim, using a media format determined by the SREC.
2. declare that the named officeholder is discouraged from participating is not eligible to file to run for any office in the Republican Party Primary following the censure passage. In the event the officeholder files an application to run for any public or party office in the Republican Party primary following the censure resolution’s passage, the SREC shall be authorized to spend up to 12% of the Party’s general fund on voter education in the officeholder’s district, by republishing the original censure resolution verbatim, using a media format determined by the SREC.
Any above penalty imposed shall expire at the beginning of the State Convention following its adoption on the day following the date of the Primary runoff in which the officeholder would be up for reelection
