A Republican state lawmaker in Texas accused the state’s GOP chairman of illegally threatening and intimidating lawmakers who don’t support the preferred candidate for state House speaker.
Republican State Rep. Cody Harris filed a complaint to the Texas Ethics Commission on Wednesday, alleging the Republican Party of Texas Chairman Abraham George violated ethics rules.
George allegedly threatened to send mailers or censure lawmakers who support state Rep. Dustin Burrows for House speaker, when state Rep. David Cook is his preferred choice.
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Burrows has had a contentious relationship with Cook, who has more support within the state’s House GOP. Burrows says he has more bipartisan support, and has relied on Democrats to cross the aisle to vote for him.
Relying on and working with Democrats has frustrated George, who has threatened to censure Burrows, a move that would prevent him from appearing on a primary ballot for two years.
Harris says George’s move to “expend funds on mail pieces” amounts to an “economic benefit” for a primary opponent who could run against him, which could be considered a bribe. The Republican is opposed to Rule 44, which made it so censure can lead to a lawmaker not being able to appear on a primary ballot for two years.
“While the constitutionality of amended Rule 44 is doubtful,” Harris wrote, “the rule in conjunction with the respondent’s threatening rhetoric amount to a violation” of the Texas government code’s section on legislative bribery.
George condemned the complaint on Wednesday, accusing Harris of seeking to imprison George and calling it a “baseless complaint.”
“The delegates of the 2024 Texas Republican Convention adopted our rules and legislative priorities and I will continue to serve as a strong advocate of our party and our rule of law,” George said.
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The 150-member chamber will need to vote to elect its next speaker to advance Republican priorities. Attorney General Ken Paxton is backing Cook for speaker and is going around the state to pressure lawmakers to vote for him.
“If the speakership is controlled by a block of Democratic votes … then it prevents Republicans who are elected to get certain things done, from getting their priorities done and that’s been happening for the last 16 years,” Paxton told reporters after the event. “It’s important because if we’re going to represent our districts we need to make sure that we have our agenda front and center instead of the Democrats’ agenda.”