From the diaries by Erick

For those of you watching the race for Speaker of the House in Texas, this week saw some fantastic events where local tea party groups gathered in front of their State Rep’s offices and asked them to vote for Ken Paxton over Joe Straus. I love it. This is what our democratic republic is built on-the freedom of assembly and the right to petition our elected officials.

The Lake Fork Tea Party Patriots have a great write-up on the events here.

Some of my favorite parts of the story: Protesters at State Representative Angie Chen-Button’s office arrived to find a note on the door that read, “Sorry we missed you, we will return at 1:30PM” (this after the tea party groups sent out a press release saying they would be at state rep’s offices on December 13th from 12-1pm). State Representative Linda Harper-Brown, elected by the hard work of many tea party members, didn’t even show up at her office on December 13th, completely avoiding what has to be an awkward situation for her-“Do I go with the folks that got me elected or do I go with Joe Straus, who had his allies send me over $200k in campaign contributions this fall?” Linked to the latter question is the timing as to when Harper-Brown’s pledge card in support of Straus was mailed.

Yet the best message delivered was the one left on the door of State Representative Burt Solomon who locked his office doors and turned the lights off: “Burt, 2012 Primaries are in 14 months!”

The tide is turning, slowly but surely, here in Texas. As Ken Paxton quietly picks up more and more support, Straus’ camp is panicking, not just at the loss of support but for the scenario Straus could be facing very soon-a secret ballot caucus to decide who Republicans will support on the floor before the full chamber votes.

Here is an updated list for those of you here in Texas of State Representatives who need a call telling them to support Ken Paxton for Speaker. The message left on Burt Solomon’s door must be delivered to them if they stick with Joe Straus: the 2012 primaries are just around the corner.