AUSTIN, Texas — The Republican Party of Texas (GOP) has officially censured Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan over what it called a "lack of fidelity to Republican principles and priorities."
On Saturday, the GOP said it planned to impose "the full set of penalties allowed by the rules" on Phelan and cited a number of instances and positions the House speaker took, including initiating the impeachment of Ken Paxton, granting Democratic House members committee chairmanships, a perceived lack of attention on border security and inaction on school vouchers.
The party said the censure comes as Phelan violated Rule 44 of its bylaws, which allows the party to censure elected officials who violate the party's principles and priorities three or more times over a two-year period.
The original censure resolution was passed by the Jasper County Republican Party with at least two-thirds support and required a three-fifths vote (39 votes) to pass the 64-member State Republican Executive Committee. The final censure vote was 55 in favor and four opposed with four members absent.
The party said Phelan is the fourth Republican to be censured using the Rule 44 basis.
Since the end of the 88th legislative session, Phelan has frequently drawn the ire of the state's Republican apparatus.
In October, shortly after Paxton's acquittal in his impeachment trial and at the apex of the argument surrounding school vouchers, Phelan's dispute with a number of state officials reached a boiling point when Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick went as far as to call for his resignation from office, with the rift between the two stemming from a number of disagreements on issues including Paxton's impeachment, how to achieve property tax relief and a number of other political issues.
Phelan's communications director and spokeswoman Cait Wittman provided the following statement responding to the censure:
“This is the same organization that rolled out the red carpet for a group of Neo-Nazis, refused to disassociate from anti-Semitic groups and balked at formally condemning a known sexual predator before he was ousted from the Texas House. The SREC has lost its moral authority and is no longer representative of the views of the Party as a whole.”