Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Rep. Tom Craddick

As the Midland Republican fights to hang on to the House's top job, his reign as speaker has already allowed him to sway key issues in a way that backers and detractors agree has shaped Texans' lives and the state's future.

They cite 2003 cuts to meet a budget shortfall, the shape of school funding and property tax relief, college-tuition deregulation, the design of congressional districts, abortion restrictions and even lawmakers' ability to proceed with bills that affect their local citizenry.

While they differ on whether his stamp has been for good or for ill, it's clear that every Texan has a stake in whether their representatives vote to keep him in power or oust him.

“The speaker of the House in Texas is far more powerful than is the speaker in most state legislatures and far more powerful than is the speaker in the U.S. House of Representatives,” said Cal Jillson, a Southern Methodist University political scientist.

Craddick's power to appoint committees and designate committee chairs who decide issues and control whether bills survive means “his hands are on absolutely everything,” Jillson said.

“His goal was to ensure small government, low taxes and deregulation as major themes in Texas politics,” Jillson said. “He's been a very influential guy, but he's run the House with an iron hand, and even Republicans now are trying to get out from under his thumb.”

Craddick routinely disagrees with his image as autocratic, dictatorial, even — by some accounts — tyrannical, and that hasn't changed as he faces the latest assault.

“The speaker has enjoyed a bipartisan majority and Texas has seen tremendous achievements during his tenure,” said his spokeswoman, Alexis DeLee. “The speaker does not interfere with the judgment of his or her committee chairmen, and every member is independently elected and can vote as he or she desires.”

That said, she had no trouble citing the “three most important reforms” since his election as speaker in 2003 — “a balanced budget, tort reform and property tax reductions.” Craddick supporters and foes alike cite his approach to the budget.

“We had to make some tough decisions. We had to make some cuts, and we've restored some of those cuts,” said Rep. Frank Corte, R-San Antonio. As a result, he said, “We in Texas have done well in our economy, whereas the rest of the states haven't.”

Health insurance advocates say the pain to those in need was incalculable after cutbacks.

“Health and human services were cut drastically,” said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston. “That was something that Craddick wanted to do.”

School funding

Some see the school funding battle as emblematic of Craddick's style.

During one fight to put more money into classrooms and drive more property tax relief to middle- and lower-income homeowners, Rep. Scott Hochberg and other Democrats got enough support from Republicans to put that approach into a House bill. Craddick promptly presided over the bill's death.

“The House voted to take one approach, and as a result, the speaker killed the legislation,” said Hochberg of Houston, a speaker candidate. “Running his own agenda contrary to the House's agenda has been a problem on more than one occasion.”

Craddick's spokeswoman described the school property tax relief that resulted from the final education finance bill as “the largest property tax cut in state history...By reforming the franchise tax and lowering the property tax, the Legislature gave Texans a net tax cut, and avoided calls to raise taxes on Texans, which would have hurt our strong economy, which remains the envy of the nation.”

Tort reform is another issue cited by both sides.

Craddick's spokeswoman said reining in “frivolous lawsuits” by capping non-economic damages has turned what had been a drain of doctors into a gain.

Appropriations Committee Chairman Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, agreed that Texans “especially in the Valley, were in danger of having their large hospitals close because they didn't have doctors that would practice. We reversed that.”

Coleman said some who found limited damages for great wrongs “are not happy.”

As for other Craddick hits or misses, they differ, depending on who's doing the tallying.

Rep. Pete Gallego of Alpine, a Democratic speaker candidate, cited tuition deregulation and subsequent higher college costs.

“A lot of people in the middle class can't afford to send their kids to college any more,” he said. Supporters say deregulation gave universities money they needed to function.

Redistricting

Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco, head of the House Democratic Caucus, said GOP-friendly redistricting was the biggest deal: “Not only did it set the tone of extreme partisanship, if it had not occurred, Texans would chair the congressional committees” on homeland security, agriculture and rules.

Rep. Tommy Merritt of Longview, a Republican speaker candidate, and Hochberg also said there were local measures they couldn't get to the House floor for a vote, with Hochberg saying Craddick refused to allow him to save a colleague's local proposal.

On the plus side, Republican Corrections Chairman Jerry Madden cited major legislation that sought to fix chronic problems at the Texas Youth Commission: “It passed, at least in part, because of the leadership of the speaker and the backing he gave me and the free hand to do what we needed to fix that problem.”

Corte cited his “woman's right to know” measure, which requires women seeking abortions to receive specific information 24 hours before the procedure.

“It was a measure that had been in the Legislature for a long time,” Corte said. “I champion Tom because of his courage to raise the issue.”

Some lawmakers, even those who want to be speaker themselves, had no interest in assessing Craddick's tenure.

“I'm just looking forward to what we should be doing in the future sessions...I'd rather just forget the past,” said Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock.