Burnt Orange Report
By Matt Glazer
Every two years, Texas Monthly does a recap of the Texas Legislature and ranks what they consider to be the 10 best and worst of the session.
And so another session is on the books. This legislative wrap-up marks the nineteenth time, beginning with the Sixty-Third Legislature, in 1973, that we have compiled our list of the Best and Worst lawmakers. Our criteria are those that members apply to one another: Who is trustworthy? Who gets things done? Who brings credit upon the Legislature and who brings shame? Who does his homework? Who looks for ways to solve problems and who looks for ways to create them? Who is hamstrung by ideology and partisanship and who can rise above them? Politics is not just about conservatives and liberals and Republicans and Democrats. It is and always will be about personality and relationships and comportment-not that there's anything wrong with that.
So here is the Texas Monthly list (Democrats bolded for your reading pleasure):
Best Legislators
Senator John Carona Senator Robert Duncan
Craig Eiland
Rob Eissler
Brian McCall
John Otto
Jim Pitts
Senfronia Thompson
Senator Kirk Watson
John Zerwas
Worst Legislators
Wayne Christian
Yvonne Davis
Jim Dunnam
Allen Fletcher
Kino Flores
Senator Troy Fraser
Senator Mario Gallegos Jr.
Richard Peña Raymond
Debbie Riddle
Senator Tommy Williams
Also worth noting, three other Democrats made the honorable mention list-- Ruth Jones McClendon, Mark Strama, and Michael Villarreal.
This wasn't the only 10 best list put out this year though. Democrat Harold Cook and Republican Ted Delisi did something interesting. Cook, the Democrat, picked the 5 best Republicans. Delisi, the Republican, picked the 5 best Democrats.
There list looked a lot different than Texas Monthly's.
Representative Garnet Coleman
Representative Todd Smith
Senator Leticia Van de Putte
Senator Bob Deuell
Representative Scott Hochberg
Representative Warren Chisum
Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa
Representative Craig Eiland
Representative Jim Pitts
Senator John Carona
The fun thing to do is line the two lists up side by side and see the overlap. The Letters from Texas list and Texas Monthly list have some interesting overlap with John Carona, Craig Eiland (an easy pick), and Jim Pitts. Bob Deuell finds himself on the Texas Monthly honorable mention and on Cook's list.
I am sure we could put together 30 different lists from 30 different people and 3 to 5 names would consistently come up.
Yes, there are some names I disagree with on both lists. Yes there are some names I think were left off both lists.
The simple fact of the matter is, the people that made huge mistakes in moderate to swing districts are going to have a challenger. They were going to have a challenger regardless of any list. Do these lists may have some affect on things, but not much.
They are fun. They are interesting. To those not reading blogs and tuned into politics 365 days a year, every year, nobody will know.
With that, I ask you, who is missing from these lists? Did Texas Monthly get it right? Did Letters from Texas? What would your list look like? Take off your partisan hat and give it a try.