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Wednesday, site founder and CEO, Evan Smith, welcomed to the stage Texas Speaker of the House, Joe Straus, who celebrated the anniversary of his surprise appointment as speaker.
"It was exactly one year ago today that Joe Straus was chosen to be the 75th speaker of the Texas House," said Smith to a house full of Tribune supporters, journalists and political enthusiasts. "He seems safely on his way to being elected to a third full term as he has no opponent on the ballot. We're very honored and lucky to have him for our first conversation to talk about the state of the house and the state of the speakership and what happens next."
The event, dubbed TribLive, aims to bring political figures to an informal, but on the record, chat with the witty CEO, who looks more like an old western movie doctor than a tech-savvy social media political news editor.
Smith began by asking Speaker Straus if he regretted being chosen as Speaker of the House after Tom Craddick was shown the door by his Republican and Democratic colleagues last January. "Was there a point at which in the last year or today, maybe in fact at this very moment, you go back and you think about that night and you wish somebody else's name had been pulled out of the Harry Potter sorting hat, not yours, but somebody else's?" asked Smith.
"Well, there are times maybe where you should have considered having a bigger hat to pull the names from. (laughter) No, never. It was a real surprise to me. I told people before, until I arrived at that meeting, I hadn't really arrived at the conclusion that I should put my name into consideration. I hadn't filled out papers to run for speaker until I got to the meeting and we discussed the rules in which we were going to choose one of the 11 who were there. As it turned out, I think it was eight of the 11 who put our names in and when they got to me, I paused, I swallowed hard, and I thought maybe they'd think less of me if I said no and declined. So I said 'sure, I'm in.' As it turned out I was the compromised choice."
But the 75th speaker of the Texas house feels modest about becoming the popular choice for the job, and calls it an incredible responsibility.
In a legislative session with a few big debates, like the controversial voter ID bill which requires Texans to show a photo ID before voting, Smith called it the "Seinfeld" session, claiming that nothing really happened. But Straus contended that the House faced many challenges, and that he accomplished his job by working conversations out.
"Was it worth it in the end? Can you look back and said it was worth spending that much time on the issue if all the other issues didn't get looked at?" questioned Smith.
"Seinfeld's ratings were awfully high, as I recall." said Straus with a smile. Straus credits his skill of being able to turn down the heat in the house and smoothing things out among the representatives.
"With all due respect, Mr. Speaker, process doesn't put food on the tables for people in Texas. So the question is while it may be from an insider's perspective the heat was turned down and the process was smoothed out, from a concrete outcome standpoint, what did the House accomplish that you can point to that you would say this made the lives of Texans, not just people in the legislature, but Texans better?" prodded Smith.
"We accomplished a great deal I think. We funded priorities adequately. We turned our attention to public education to almost $2 billion more funding there in a difficult budget year. We spent a lot of time on higher education" said a determined Straus.
He went on to list a balanced budget, an untouched rainy day fund, inclusion of Democrats in the House, and the passage of a substantial education reform bill as large accomplishments during the session.
On to new business, Smith wondered what Straus felt about the Governor's mansion, which was largely damaged in a 2008 fire. Repairs are currently underway, but the state's Preservation Board is rumored to be recommending to the Historic Commission that a wing be added to the historic building. A private citizens group, the Heritage Society of Austin, opposes the plans and says the mansion deserves better.
"I do have a point of view," said Speaker Straus. "I'm not a historic preservationist, but I do care about the mansion. I care about addressing the concerns of people who are experts in that field." Straus says he's committed to taking the time to renovate the mansion the right way. "I would hate to make a big mistake," he said. "I would ask that we put it on hold. We owe it to taxpayers to get it right."
As far as the race for Texas governor, the March 2 primary is around the corner. Speaker Straus would only say he's worked very well with both of the Republican front runners, incumbent Governor Rick Perry and U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. He said 2010 will be kind to Republicans. "Republicans will have a good year," he said. "We'll be able to pull together."
The next TribLive event will be held February 17, "same bat time, same bat place," according to Smith, and will feature San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro.
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