The battle over government-mandated power prices that have left ratepayers on the hook for billions of dollars has put Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick at odds with Gov. Greg Abbott. Abbott is also teaming up with House Speaker Dade Phelan to keep the Texas House from being allowed to take a position on this policy.

State Rep. Cole Hefner, a member who is very close to Dade Phelan, decided it was time for him to prioritize the GOP agenda. The Republican Party of Texas has 9 priorities, and most legislators have kept from supporting them. Hefner recently announced that he was authoring, or co-authoring, 8 agenda items. What was strange was that, instead of co-authoring 1 or all 3 of the currently filed constitutional carry proposals, Hefner copied and pasted State Rep. Kyle Biedermann’s bill into his own bill. Similarly, instead of co-authoring Bryan Slaton’s monument protection bill, he copied and pasted and filed the same bill with his name on it. Hefner also copied State Rep. Steve Toth’s legislation regarding banning sex-change surgeries on minor children.

It’s times like this that reveal a truth that we all know. For house leadership, personality trumps policy. Honestly, I don’t know if we will actually protect monuments this year, but more important to many politicians is who gets the credit.

Recently State Rep. Matt Krause tweeted out an antithetical message to that of Cole Hefner:

5th Session in a row we’ve been working on that concept. Thanks for the acknowledgment @JasonVaughn! But I don’t care how we get it done – as long as it gets signed into law. It’s good policy! https://t.co/jwV1yNCkdc

— Matt Krause (@RepMattKrause) March 20, 2021

Ronald Reagan famously kept this quote on his desk:

“There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he does not mind who gets the credit.”

Hopefully, the Texas House gets past this personality contest and starts to focus on actually delivering conservative results. Texas needs it, and we’re done with the excuses we keep hearing every session.

I hope you enjoy this week’s episode.