A proposed deal that blew up in Texas House Speaker's face

NY Times:

In Texas, they are calling it the case of “The Speaker and the Creeper.”

The political imbroglio started last month, when Michael Quinn Sullivan, a conservative pit bull who routinely antagonizes establishment politicians, accused the Republican House speaker, Dennis Bonnen, of offering his organization coveted House media credentials if it would work to defeat 10 incumbent House members from Mr. Bonnen’s own party.

Mr. Bonnen denied it, and the bombshell was initially greeted with some skepticism. Why would one of the state’s top politicians court a back-room deal — to undermine his own bench — with a man Texas Monthly recently described as “one of the biggest snakes in Texas politics”?

Except there was a tape.

Now Mr. Sullivan’s accusations are at the heart of the biggest scandal to hit Texas in years, one that is throwing the state’s Republican-led House of Representatives into turmoil and threatening to bring down the speaker.

Mr. Sullivan had rocked the Capitol with his initial accusations about the purported offer, but with his declaration that he had secretly recorded the June meeting with Mr. Bonnen and the House Republican Caucus chairman, Dustin Burrows, the claims suddenly had traction.

Mr. Sullivan has not yielded to demands for the tape’s release but instead has permitted lawmakers who felt they were “impacted” by what it contained to listen to the recording in the presence of his lawyer. Those who have done so say they were stunned to learn that it confirms Mr. Sullivan’s account.

After initially denying the accusations, Mr. Bonnen sent out an emailed apology to House members about the “terrible things” he said during the meeting, but his future as leader of the 150-member House remains uncertain. The House General Investigating Committee voted unanimously on Monday to order a Texas Rangers investigation into the alleged quid pro quo offer that raises the specter of bribery.
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After graduating from Texas A&M, Mr. Sullivan was a small-town newspaper reporter and wrote for the journal Texas Republican. He moved into politics in the mid-1990s when Ron Paul hired him as a congressional aide in Washington. He returned to Texas to become vice president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a powerhouse conservative think tank. Mr. Dunn, the West Texas oil executive who serves as vice chairman of the foundation’s board, named Mr. Sullivan to head Empower Texans when he created the conservative nonprofit in 2006.

The organization has both paralleled and advanced the tea party movement across Texas and until recently was instrumental in replacing moderate Republican incumbents with conservative outsiders who have often rebelled against the House leadership. Mr. Sullivan steadfastly — and unsuccessfully — pushed for the ouster of the moderate House Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio from the time Mr. Straus became leader in 2009 until he voluntarily stepped aside at the start of this year, opening the door to Mr. Bonnen’s speakership.
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Bonnen was a significant improvement over Straus who too often aligned with Democrats to thwart the conservative agenda that made Texas a stronger more prosperous state.  Getting rid of Straus opened the door to several important legislative accomplishments in the last session.  Why Bonnen felt the need to attack the members he attacked is not adequately explained in this article.

Sullivan has been the subject of attacks by liberals in Texas for some time.  They tend to use government to take revenge on their political enemies.  The bogus indictments of Kay Bailey Hutchison and Gov. Rick Perry are examples of Democrat abuses of power.  Texas Monthly often sides with the liberals in Texas as do other media outlets like the Houston Chronicle.  Their opinion of Sullivan should not be given much credibility.