In Texas’ legislative session this spring, the House leadership coalition of Democrats and liberal Republicans tried to pass unconstitutional legislation that would bully churches into silence and essentially revoke the First Amendment.

Legislation was pushed by House Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) and his top lieutenants like Byron Cook (R-Corsicana) and Charlie Geren (R–Fort Worth). Disgustingly, House members went along with their plans to silence citizens. (Click here to see who voted wrong; red Xs are votes against the First Amendment. Or see the list at the bottom.)

Fortunately, the Texas Senate refused to go along with what Gov. Greg Abbott called an “unconstitutional” effort.

Well, it turns out that the unethical crooks at the Texas Ethics Commission are already busy at work silencing churches in the Lone Star State. In fact, Straus’ appointee to the TEC, Democrat Paul Hobby of Houston, recently wrote at length on the state’s ethics laws, touching several times on the issue of how far his agency can go to regulate churches that choose to be engaged in their community.

You might recall how Houston’s liberal mayor, Annise Parker, used city resources this spring to attack churches that spoke against her “bathroom” ordinance requiring that businesses let men use women’s bathrooms, as part of her radical LGBT agenda.

Hobby and his merry band of speech regulators will be discussing this week their strategy to press against three Texas churches located in San Antonio and Houston. Those churches are under threat of being censored by Hobby and his pals because they want to speak out on actions that contradict their religious beliefs.

(Speaking of strange marriages… A Democrat consultant last week said Joe Straus’ speakership is a national model for how Democrats can control (and thwart) the conservative agenda.)

If your “Republican” state representative voted for the House leadership coalition, that’s what they voted for: silencing churches, attacking conservatives, abridging the First Amendment, and thwarting reform.

It’s time for a House cleaning in Texas.

Texas House members who voted to abridge First Amendment Rights: