And then there were three

Rep. Jim Pitts, who ran against Tom Craddick for Speaker in January, is once again a candidate.

Pitts, R-Waxahachie, said he filed for speaker "in case a motion to vacate would be successful."

Pitts said he doesn't plan to make the motion himself to vacate the speaker's chair, and he doesn't know if such a motion will be made tonight, as some speculate.

And Pitts starts his campaign off by complaining about Craddick's tactics and the effect they've had on House business.

He claimed that Craddick, R-Midland, has been meeting with members one-on-one and offering them favorable treatment in the budget if they stick with his leadership.

"The budget is not finished because of the deals that are being made," Pitts charged. "We're going to pass the budget the last day with a lot of questions."

Craddick could not be reached immediately for comment, but his press secretary denied the charge. "That is not happening," said press secretary Alexis DeLee.

Pitts said lawmakers had informally agreed to set aside $3 billion to pay for school property tax cuts in the next biennium, 2009-2010, and is worried that much of it will be given away in connection with the speaker's race.

You know, I almost can't say that's a bad thing. Almost.

Gardner Selby and Vince hear that a motion to vacate may be made tonight, but Harvey Kronberg is hearing later in the week, like Thursday. Karen Brooks says that Speaker Craddick has been keeping the House on a relaxed schedule in part to stave off that motion to vacate, while also working the room to firm up his position; Clay Robison notes the same thing. Burka thinks the insurgency is losing steam.

What next? Who knows? Whatever I type now will be obsolete by tomorrow anyway, the way things are going. At least now I know that I'm not the only one to have the Go-Gos in mind when blogging about this. So I've got that going for me.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 21, 2007 to That's our Lege