In a recent interview State Rep. Mike Villareal noted what is already common knowledge about the coming 83rd Legislature – that a Straus-led House will be the moderate obstacle to an otherwise conservative state government.
Voters and Lt. Gov. Dewhurst have taken the Senate in a decidedly conservative direction. Gov. Perry is more in line with grassroots than ever, as evidenced by his Budget Compact.
This creates a situation in which a speaker vote for Joe Straus is a vote to create an obstacle to the grassroots, the conservative movement, the Governor, the Lt. Governor, the Senate, and a growing conservative House contingent in 2013.