(The Center Square) – Two county GOPs have censured Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, for opposing what they say are core principles of the Republican Party of Texas. They include Phelan nominating Democrats as committee chairs who killed conservative bills, as well as failing to pass key legislation to secure the border, advance parental rights and school choice. They also cite his advocacy of organizations that oppose traditional family values and mock RPT legislative priorities.
The Republican Party of Orange County, the largest county in Phelan’s district in deep East Texas, censured him last month. The Republican Party of Ellis County recently censured him, and more are expected to follow.
Phelan already has two challengers in his district hoping to unseat him from the state House altogether after another legislative session where conservative bills died. And after he required members of the House to vote on impeaching Attorney General Ken Paxton within 48 hours of receiving a report from a committee that heard no sworn witness testimony or produced evidence to support its claims.
Fourteen precinct chairs in the Orange County GOP passed the resolution requesting the RPT to concur with its resolution of censure and impose penalties on Phelan. This includes demanding the RPT be neutral in his reelection bid, not provide financial support other than what is required by law, and implement voter education that republishes the censure resolution verbatim. It also requests the RPT to discourage Phelan from running for reelection.
They list four out of 12 RPT legislative priorities the precinct chairs allege Phelan violated, including numbers 2, 5, 6, and 8. These relate to securing the border, banning Democrats from chairing committees, abolishing abortion, and expanding parental rights and school choice.
The Ellis County GOP passed its resolution nearly unanimously. It alleges Phelan violated 8 of 12 RPT principles, including the “first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth core principles of the RPT Platform.”
They also cite Phelan’s repeated appointment of a former President Barack Obama appointed attorney to act as the House Parliamentarian, who helped facilitate, through a procedural maneuver of points of order, to block conservative bills from advancing, effectively killing them.
“State Representative Dade Phelan, as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, has abused the power of his office and his authority as Speaker by taking more than three actions during this current biennium that are either in opposition to the core principles of the Republican Party of Texas, in opposition to the Republican Party of Texas Legislative Priorities, or both,” Ellis County’s censure states.
Phelan’s popularity has dropped in his district after this legislative session and after pushing through what many conservatives argue is a sham and politically motivated “kangaroo court” of impeachment. The Texas GOP condemned the House vote, saying it was “illegal.”
Phelan schedule the proceedings after Paxton called on him to resign after it appeared Phelan was intoxicated while presiding over official business. And after an alcoholic bar was set up outside of the Speaker’s office when the legislature was in session for members while debating on billions of taxpayer funded programs.
Both the Executive Committee members of the Orange and Ellis County GOPs said they provided notice and invited Phelan to meet with them and respond to the charges, which he ignored. Phelan’s office has also repeatedly refused to respond to requests for comment from The Center Square about his alleged drunken behavior, failing to pass key RPT legislative priorities, or to respond to constituents’ criticisms over impeachment.
