Here’s a quick recap of what happened over the last week: Fifth, Sixth Speaker Candidates Join Race Amarillo Republican Rep. John Smithee has become the 5th Republican House member to join the race for Speaker of the Texas House. Smithee was an outspoken critic of the...

Here’s a quick recap of what happened over the last week: Fourth Speaker Candidate Joins Race Republican state Rep. James Frank of Wichita Falls became the fourth declared challenger to incumbent Dade Phelan in the race for Speaker of the Texas House.  Frank said in a...

Speaker Phelan Hires Chief of Staff Speaker Dade Phelan has hired lobbyist and former House member Mike Toomey to be his new chief of staff.  Toomey served three terms in the Texas House, first elected in 1982.  He then served as former Governor Bill Clements’ chief...