You’re known by your Friends, or in Politics your Endorsements

I posted a couple of days about the Empower Texan scorecards for Ken Paxton and Dan Branch. Well being the political nerd I am I decided to dig a little further. So I looked into their endorsements. Ken Paxton has 23 House endorsements and Dan Branch has 53.

Now to the average observer, even the conservative type, they might think that means that since Branch has more Republican support he must be the more conservative candidate. If you think that then please stick around because you have a lot to learn about Texas politics (I did to so don’t feel bad).

Just because you have more endorsements doesn’t mean you have more QUALITY endorsements. As a matter of fact, I’d argue if you look at the endorsements you might realize that they actually hurt Branch.

Below I post all of their House endorsements, but I’d like to share that while I’m much better acquainted with Ken Paxton’s endorsees (I don’t think that is a real word) I have respect for several folks that endorsed Den Branch and have publicly praised some on this blog. The point I want to make is that when you take a bird’s eye view of who all the endorsements together you get a pretty clear picture of who is most likely to protect Texas voters.

When you average all 23 of Paxton’s endorsement’s scores from Empower Texans you get 91.6, but when you average all of Branch’s up you only get a 50.7. In other words, their supporters get roughly the same overall score as the candidates themselves (Paxton received a 100 and Branch received 58.2). Paxton also has 15 endorsements that received an A or A+ from Empower Texans and Branch has none.

While I have not done the math on the others you’ll find similar statistics for Young Conservatives of Texas, Heritage Alliance and Eagle Forum.

If you’re paying attention this should speak volumes! Texas needs a great attorney general to stand up to Washington and to defend legislation like HB 2. Half hearted attempts will not be good enough. I urge you to support Sen. Ken Paxton today!

Twistedly Yours,

Jason Vaughn, The Twisted Conservative

@JasonVaughn

Owner of Pro-Life Texas and Pro-Life Minutemen

P.S. Some other endorsements for Sen. Paxton include:

Kelly Shackelford, President and CEO of Liberty Institute*; Statewide Leadership Team Chairman, Ted Cruz for Senate
Tim Lambert, President, Texas Home School Coalition*; Former Republican National Committeeman for Texas
Cathie Adams, President, Texas Eagle Forum*; Former Chairman, Republican Party of Texas
Peggy Venable, Texas Director, Americans for Prosperity*
Ann Hettinger, Former State Director of Concerned Women for America of Texas*
Jonathan Saenz, President, Texas Values*
Rick Green, Former Texas State Representative and Host of WallBuilders* Live
Carol Everett, Texas Pro-Life Leader; Founder and CEO of The Heidi Group*
Michelle Smith, State Director of Concerned Women for America of Texas*
Michael Quinn Sullivan

And as of yesterday, Sen. Rick Santorum.

If you’d like to see the full list of endorsements I have posted them below with their Empower Texan scores. The format is off because I copied them from the candidates press releases or website.

Ken Paxton’s Endorsements:

Rep. Giovanni Capriglione 94.4

Rep. Tony Dale 64.7

Rep. Pat Fallon 98.3

Rep. Dan Flynn 86.3

Rep. James Frank 81.1

Rep. Craig Goldman 93.5

Rep. Bryan Hughes 92.5

Rep. Phil King 87.0

Rep. Stephanie Klick 99.0

Rep. Matt Krause 100

Rep. Jodie Laubenberg 100

Rep. Jeff Leach 93.7

Rep. Rick Miller 77.4

Rep. Charles Perry 83.4

Rep. Scott Sanford 97.6

Rep. Matt Schaefer 100

Rep. Ron Simmons 85.8

Rep. Jonathan Stickland 100

Rep. Van Taylor 99.9

Rep. Steve Toth 91.5

Rep. Ed Thompson 80

Rep. Scott Turner 100

Rep. Bill Zedler 100

 

Dan Branch’s Endorsements:

1. Representative Jimmie Don Aycock (Killeen) 36.2

2. Representative Cecil Bell (Magnolia) 71.6

3. Representative Dwayne Bohac (Houston) 74.9

4. Representative Greg Bonnen (League City) 82.0

5. Representative Cindy Burkett (Garland) 65.4

6. Representative Angie Chen Button (Richardson) 75.4

7. Representative Bill Callegari (Houston) 39.0

8. Representative Travis Clardy (Nacogdoches) 49.3

9. Representative Byron Cook (Corsicana) 42.0

10. Representative Drew Darby (San Angelo) 35.7

11. Representative John Davis (Houston) 29.7

12. Representative Sarah Davis (Houston) 44.7 (also the only Repulican to vote against HB 2

13. Representative Gary Elkins (Houston) 72.8

14. Representative Marsha Farney (Georgetown) 39.6

15. Representative Allen Fletcher (Cypress) 81.0

16. Representative John Frullo (Lubbock) 62.6

17. Representative Charlie Geren (River Oaks) 37.0

18. Representative Lance Gooden (Athens) 89.1

19. Representative Patricia Harless (Spring)50.2

20. Representative Linda Harper-Brown (Irving) 64.8

21. Representative Dan Huberty (Kingwood) 49.4

22. Representative Todd Hunter (Corpus Christi) 51.0

23. Representative Jason Isaac (Dripping Springs) 88.9

24. Representative Kyle Kacal (Bryan) 33.6

25. Representative Jim Keffer (Granbury) 35.3

26. Representative Ken King (Canadian) 38.6

27. Representative Susan King (Abilene) 46.4

28. Representative Tim Kleinschmidt (Lexington) 66.1

29. Representative Lois Kolkhorst (Brenham) 63.3

30. Representative John Kuempel (Seguin) 52.2

31. Representative Lyle Larson (San Antonio) 39.0

32. Representative George Lavender (Texarkana) 62.6

33. Representative JM Lozano (Kingsville) 32.9

34. Representative Doug Miller (New Braunfels) 46.9

35. Representative Jim Murphy (Houston) 50.6

36. Representative John Otto (Dayton) 35.5

37. Representative Chris Paddie (Marshall) 55.5

38. Representative Diane Patrick (Arlington) 36.7

39. Representative Larry Phillips (Sherman) 75.1

40. Representative Jim Pitts (Waxahachie) 29.7

41. Representative Four Price (Amarillo) 41.6

42. Representative John Raney (College Station) 36.3

43. Representative Bennett Ratliff (Coppell) 41.6

44. Representative Debbie Riddle (Tomball) 52.9

45. Representative Allan Ritter (Nederland) 37.0

46. Representative Kenneth Sheets (Dallas) 68.4

47. Representative J.D. Sheffield (Gatesville) 27.5

48. Representative Ralph Sheffield (Temple) 52.3

49. Representative Wayne Smith (Baytown) 31.4

50. Representative Phil Stephenson (Wharton) 39.7

51. Representative Jason Villalba (Dallas) 48.1

52. Representative Paul Workman (Austin) 52.9

53. Representative John Zerwas (Simonton) 25.3

For those

The Texas Nemesis: Speaker Joe Straus

The last time I had a nemesis was in college. I was a dumb kid trying to start different political groups and not doing a great job and another guy was also somewhat campaigning for those same positions. In reality I’m just a nerd and kinda thought it was cool to have a nemesis. If I was smart I’d have come up with the idea pitched them to him and let him run with it as we would have done more together. I’ve since apologized to him and consider him a friendly acquaintance and I’m really proud of what he has gone on to accomplish. His name is Josh Kimbrell and he has a radio show now called Common Cents. You should check it out.

Today I have a new nemesis, but I doubt he knows my name.  That is good for me as he is quite powerful and I’m just a guy at a computer trying to get information out.

His name is Joe Straus and he is the current Speaker of the House in Texas. Speaker Straus is what many would call a moderate Republican. That isn’t really a surprise since it takes a majority to gain the speakers seat and you must have democratic support, but Speaker Straus goes even farther.

There are really 3 parties in the Texas House: Democrats, moderate Republicans, and Conservative Republicans. Sadly, Conservative Republicans are the smallest number of the three groups though we hope to grow that sector.

Speaker Straus is a master of the political game and he will make every effort to stay in power and only pass what he deems fit. I could go into many issues of his lack of true leadership, but let us focus on the issue of abortion.

• In the 90’s Speaker Straus’s wife was on the board of Planned Parenthood San Antonio
• In 2007 Straus co-authored a sex-ed bill endorsed by Planned Parenthood
• In 2008 Straus received re-election campaign funds from Planned Parenthood
• In 2009 Planned Parenthood thanked Speaker Straus for his tireless efforts

• And when Gov. Perry encouraged Wendy Davis for all she had done because her mother had chosen life it was Speaker Joe Straus that decided to attack him.
• Speaker Straus did not show support at a single pro-life rally and didn’t even attend the bill signing of HB 2.

Also, while I have no proof I do know that multiple staffers and representatives told me that Joe Straus purposefully delayed the abortion bill. This gave time for Wendy Davis to filibuster. In other words, Wendy Davis is a national star today because of the failed leadership of Speaker Joe Straus.

Even this article on my friend Jonathan Stickland points out that Speaker Straus would rather work with democrats than conservative republicans.

Because of these issues and many other issues it is my primary goal this election cycle to fight against him in the primary and to take aim at his lapdogs in the house. In other words, It’s time to take down the squishy root of the Republican party at it’s base and every “Branch” along with it.

We don’t win and protect life just because we elect people with an R by their name and just vote properly on the bills. We need warriors and leaders that sincerely hold to our beliefs. We must pay attention and vote out those that do not support our beliefs. Get involved in the primaries now and support true conservative candidates. Waiting until November leads just leads us down the road to Hell (aka becoming like California).