|
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - In the early years, Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick's Republican underlings did exactly as they were told. After all, Craddick got most of them elected and he could darn well get them unelected. To oppose him would be tantamount to signing their own political death warrants.
Countless votes on Craddick's pet issues — congressional redistricting and lawsuit restrictions, among them — routinely went his way. Rarely did a Republican dare to oppose the man who had become the godfather of the House GOP and, some say, the most powerful man in Texas politics.
But that was a few years ago.
|