- Analysis: Endorsements, Loyalties — and Getting Things Done.
Endorsements seem harmless enough, but several state senators will have to eat some crow to get their legislation passed next year.
They committed the insiders’ sin of endorsing challengers to sitting members of the Legislature. Worse, their candidates lost, and now they will have to deal with the people they opposed when it comes time to govern.
From outside, where most sane people live, it makes perfect sense to throw your political weight and reputation against candidates with whom you disagree and in favor of the ones you like.
Republicans oppose Democrats, Democrats oppose Republicans. What’s new?
The same tensions exist in party primaries: Endorsers go with the people they think would do the best job, or who they think will be most helpful to them. In the divided Republican Party in particular, the leaders of one faction oppose the candidates from another.
But there are some invisible lines, and Republican state Sens. Paul Bettencourtof Houston, Konni Burton of Colleyville, Bob Hall of Edgewood and Don Huffines of Dallas danced across them this year. Each plunged — or at least dipped their toes — into efforts to unseat Republican House incumbents.
One of those lines is, or was, Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” That’s more of a historical marker than a real rule— it has more or less gone by the wayside as internal fights in the GOP have intensified.
Legislative tradition is another line: Legislators are in some ways more loyal to their chambers than to their parties. Senators stay out of House business. House members stay out of Senate business.
