Incumbent House Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio now faces two opponents in the race for the speakership: Warren Chisum of Pampa and Ken Paxton of McKinney. How do these three Republicans compare on taxpayer issues?

Political peace and quiet would be the worst possible sign for Texas voters right now, so we should be very encouraged by the Speaker’s race fight. The old guard will do everything it can to convince us the conservatives we sent to Austin are causing problems, but it’s exactly the opposite. They’re causing solutions.

House Speaker Joe Straus is lashing out at “outside forces” engaged in the discussion about who should be speaker of the 99-seat Republican majority. Would those outside forces be lobbyists and consultants? Business insiders? Major contributors? Nope. The “outside forces” that seem most disturbing are, well, you.

Last week Texas Republicans did exceptionally well and defeated 22 liberal state legislators, bringing about a new way of running things in Austin. Election results on November 2nd were a clear mandate from the people of Texas for conservative leadership in the the state House, and I hope Speaker Joe Straus was listening.

On election day, lawmakers were issued a mandate to legislate conservatively. In Texas, public policy starts with the committee chairs. We thought the average score of Speaker Joe Straus’ chairs would go up, since some of the chairs had been held by liberal Democrats who lost. Actually, their average went down.

Politicians are judged primarily on their philosophical commitments and voting record. Other things that determine the effectiveness of a politician, like agenda-setting and toughness, need more attention.

How does a party, with as powerful a mandate as the Texas GOP just acquired, motivate for election day 2012? After all, nobody is afraid of the liberals right now. In one day, American liberals went from tigers to orange tabbies.

Texans sent two dozen liberals packing in races up and down the ballot last night. From Rick Perry’s landslide victory to unprecedented upsets in the Legislature, voters have clearly made their policy choices known. Will this affect the speakership of the Texas House?

With Rick Perry’s decisive victory and conservative Republicans picking up seats in the Texas House, voters have made a clear policy choice, says the president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. Meanwhile, House Speaker Joe Straus has little choice but to quickly name a very different, and much more conservative, leadership team.

The issues facing our state and nation are big, the weight of policy problems heavy. These will only be solved correctly by engaged citizens working through right-thinking men and women in the Texas Legislature. There is only one outstanding question: Will you be a visible part of the solution?