Drew Darby Alienates Hometown Voters

"He who walks with wise men will be wise,
But the companion of fools will be destroyed."
Proverbs 13:20

Never a good idea to treat your own constituents like garbage:

Some Tea Party members, including members of the San Angelo Tea Party (SATP), want a new Speaker of the Texas House too, vowing a concerted effort—and floor vote—to replace incumbent Speaker Joe Straus, a Republican from San Antonio. They are backing a fresh face and Tea Party Republican: One-term Texas House member Rep. Scott Turner from Frisco.

State Rep. Drew Darby represents the Texas House District 72 that contains San Angelo and the surrounding communities and he isn’t excited about a Turner speakership.

Darby is a close ally of Straus, and in conservative west Texas, he has received criticism for that, particularly from members of the SATP. The local Tea Party hasn’t found anyone who can oust Darby, however. Darby enjoys widespread support regardless of SATP complaints. He won the 2014 Republican primary election with 79.46 percent of the vote.

Darby says he likes Turner, but doesn’t think he is ready to be speaker. Digging deeper, Darby’s objection to Turner runs into process and ideological differences too. Those differences come from a seasoned understanding of governance, Darby contends. “He’s against water, against transportation, and against the public schools,” Darby said. When Darby says “against”, he means against spending state tax dollars on them.

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It’s the issue of the public schools that reveals the only stark ideological difference Darby has with Turner’s supporters.

Turner is for school choice and vouchers. Darby doesn’t think school vouchers are good for west Texas. “Our communities out here are defined by the school districts,” he said. Darby wants you to think about high school football. What kind of community would Wall, Christoval, Miles or Winters be if everyone was driving their kids to different private schools? “Vouchers are a way for the city folks to get the state to finance their own private schools,” Darby said.

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On Jan. 13, members of the SATP are chartering a bus to Austin to show support of Turner and attempt to persuade Darby to vote against Straus. Darby says he isn’t budging, but will listen to constituents who call.

 Read the whole thing here.