Embattled Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick is cynically encouraging critical news reports and investigations about members of the Legislature who compensate some employees by making health care coverage available to them. Last week, Craddick said "If some legislators are paying employees with taxpayer dollars who are performing little or no work, that is an egregious misuse of state money." (Austin American-Statesman, May 02, 2008)
Craddick did not acknowledge, however, that he personally supported and helped pass special legislation providing health care coverage to his adult daughter Christi Craddick, even though Christi makes hundreds of thousands of dollars working for her father’s political operations and provides no service to the State of Texas.
As Speaker, Tom Craddick is ultimately responsible for administering and enforcing the rules of the House. It is his job to appoint competent colleagues to the Committee on House Administration and provide members accurate information on employee health care eligibility. Clearly, the same Speaker who worked to deny health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of children, failed in his responsibility to manage the House properly. (Fort Worth Star Telegram, January 25, 2005) Rather than take responsibility for his failure, he is lashing out at his political enemies.
The only way to get rid of this miserable bastard is to elect a Democratic majority in the Texas House.
