Texas

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Texas is the second largest state in total territory in the United States with 268,601 square miles. Alaska is the largest with 656,425 square miles. Texas is also second largest in population with 20,851,820 people (2000 Census). California is the largest in popualtion with 33,871,648 people (2000 Census).

Texas has an increasingly ideologically conservative reputation, but it is not entirely Republican. Many observers cite Austin, the state capital, as a liberal oasis, and there are many other strongly Democratic areas of the state such as El Paso, parts of San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas, and heavily Latino South Texas, near the Mexican border.

To date, 241 Texans have been killed in the War in Iraq.

1 Government
2 Texas Congressional Delegation
3 Texas State Government
4 Texas Cities & Counties
5 Elections
6 Texas News, Etc
7 Political Blogs
8 Links
9 External links
10 See also

Government

To understand Texas State Government one must firmly grasp two key aspects of 19th century Texas history:

1. Reconstruction

2. The desperate need for entertainment in small, isolated agrarian communities

1. The experience of reconstruction and how this led to the Constitution of 1876 is throughly covered elsewhere. As a reaction to Occupation by the Union Army and the "Radical" policies of the Republican administration Texas Democrats drew up the Constitution of 1876 with the explicit intent of limiting government power, and the power of the Governor in particular. Hence the quip that the governor is the "third most powerful" person in Texas government, after the Lieutenant Governor (who leads the state senate) and the Speaker of the House. By design, the governor can do little without the consent of the Legislatative leaders. Even powers of appoitment, like judgeships, are denied the governor. The Democrats of 1876 went further, however. They also created a weak Legislative branch by only allowing the Legislature to meets fives months every two years, and by making it difficult for Legislators to be paid more than nominal amounts. As a result the Legislators have generally been something else first (eg. business proprietors or lawyers) and lawmakers second. Add in an executive branch perpetually and intentionally starved of revenue and one has precisely what those 1876 Democrats sought: a weak government divided against itself.

2. Point 1 can be found in any decent Texas Government textbook. Having grown up in a small Texas town I'd like to add another aspect of Texas State governance that sets Texas apart from its fellow members of the former confederacy. An odd quirk of living in a small Texas town was the immense number of elections. When I was growing up, it was unusual to go three months without voting on something. School board elections were held at a different time from City Council elections which were held distinct from the "partisan" offices like State and Federal contests. Or I should say, odd to a modern, truck-drivin' movie watchin' city-dweller. In the 19th century, Texas counties were generally laid out so that the principal towns/county seats were a day's horse ride apart. Telegraph wires did not reach these places, nor did much else. So Texas communities had to rely on their own resources for entertainment — and it's hard to come up with a more reliable and cheaper form of entertainment than the local election. Speeches, debates, editorials in the town paper, gossiping with friends. Each election promised weeks of diversion.

But what does 19th-century isolation have to do with a 21st century Texas blessed with superhighways, cable TV and a streamlined electoral calendar? The ethos that politics should be as much about diversion as governance still echoes. The only unforgivable sin in Texas politics may be to be boring — with Dolph Briscoe being the exception that proves the rule. From John Nance Garner declaring the Vice-Presidency was "an office not worth a bucket of warm spit" to LBJ showing his surgery scar to Jim Hightower getting his own radio show to Democratic Legislators fleeing to Oklahoma pursued by Texas Rangers, Texas politics and its politicians still relish the theatrical and are, if nothing else, entertaining.

Which, if you pay attention to what happens in Austin, would seem to explain a lot.

Texas Congressional Delegation

Senate
- Senior Senator:John Cornyn (R)
- Junior Senator:Kay Bailey Hutchison (R)

House of Representatives
- TX-01 Rep.: Louie Gohmert (R) of Tyler
- TX-02 Rep.: Ted Poe (R) of Humble
- TX-03 Rep.: Sam Johnson (R) of Plano
- TX-04 Rep.: Ralph M. Hall (R) of Rockwall
- TX-05 Rep.: Jeb Hensarling (R) of Dallas
- TX-06 Rep.: Joe Barton (R) of Ennis
- TX-07 Rep.: John A. Culberson (R) of Houston
- TX-08 Rep.: Kevin Brady (R) of The Woodlands
- TX-09 Rep.: Al Green (D) of Houston
- TX-10 Rep.: Michael McCaul (R) of Austin
- TX-11 Rep.: Mike Conaway (R) of Midland
- TX-12 Rep.: Kay Granger (R) of Fort Worth
- TX-13 Rep.: Mac Thornberry (R) of Clarendon
- TX-14 Rep.: Ron Paul (R) of Surfside
- TX-15 Rep.: Rubén Hinojosa (D) of Mercedes
- TX-16 Rep.: Silvestre Reyes (D) of El Paso
- TX-17 Rep.: Chet Edwards (D) of Waco
- TX-18 Rep.: Sheila Jackson-Lee (D) of Houston
- TX-19 Rep.: Randy Neugebauer (R) of Lubbock
- TX-20 Rep.: Charles A. Gonzalez (D) of San Antonio
- TX-21 Rep.: Lamar S. Smith (R) of San Antonio
- TX-22 Rep.: Nick Lampson (D) of Missouri City
- TX-23 Rep.: Ciro D. Rodriguez (D)
- TX-24 Rep.: Kenny Marchant (R) of Coppell
- TX-25 Rep.: Lloyd Doggett (D) of Austin
- TX-26 Rep.: Michael C. Burgess (R) of Flower Mound
- TX-27 Rep.: Solomon P. Ortiz (D) of Corpus Christi
- TX-28 Rep.: Henry Cuellar (D) of Laredo
- TX-29 Rep.: Gene Green (D) of Houston
- TX-30 Rep.: Eddie Bernice Johnson (D) of Dallas
- TX-31 Rep.: John R. Carter (R) of Round Rock
- TX-32 Rep.: Pete Sessions (R) of Dallas

US Congressional Delegations from Texas (Wikipedia)

Texas State Government

Executive Branch
- Governor: Rick Perry (R)
- Lt.Gov: David Dewhurst (R)
- Secretary of State: Roger Williams (appointed by governor)
- Comptroller: Susan Combs (R)
- Attorney General: Greg Abbott (R)
- Auditor: John Keel (appointed)
- Agriculture Commissioner: Todd Staples (R)