Texas House Speaker Likely Targeted Rep. Drew Darby for Defeat

AUSTIN, TX — Does House Speaker Dennis Bonnen want to target State Rep. Drew Darby for defeat in the next election? Darby is among 10 Republican state representatives named in a hit list purportedly handed to conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan, the head of Empower Texans. In return for “popping” the 10 Republican representatives, Bonnen told Sullivan the House would issue press credentials to Empower Texans staff reporters, giving them easy access to House members when the Texas Legislature was in session.

Sullivan wrote extensively about his meeting that happened over six weeks ago on June 12, claiming that he recorded it. Rep. Dustin Burrows attended the meeting also. He is the current GOP Caucus Chairman and a Bonnen ally. Sullivan said it was Burrows who read to him the list of names he wanted his conservative group to target for electoral defeat.

Bonnen’s Faustian bargain was basically this: Sullivan could help recruit conservative candidates to run against each of those Republican representatives on the hit list. Then, Sullivan said, “He wanted us to spend [money] against Republicans he saw as not being helpful.” See Bonnen’s Backroom Offer.

“As previously reported, Burrows read the full list of who to target—and not target—after being instructed to do so by Bonnen. However, at one point in the meeting Bonnen could not help himself; he started naming Republican names to be targeted, before catching himself and deferring to Burrows to complete the task,” Sullivan wrote on ET’s Texas Scorecard on July 31.

Who was on the list beside Darby? Sullivan said, Reps. Steve Allison, Trent Ashby, Ernest Bailes, Travis Clardy, Kyle Kacal, Stan Lambert, John Raney, and Phil Stephenson. Burrows stressed that he wanted his predecessor GOP Caucus Chair, State Rep. Tan Parker of Denton, targeted as well.

In return, Sullivan was promised to be recognized by the Texas House as a media organization and his staff would be provided press credentials, something his reporters for the Texas Scorecard online conservative opinion and news website have been denied by the House in past sessions. This past session, in 2019, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick allowed Scorecard press credentials. Sullivan said he filed a lawsuit in federal court against the House. The case is pending before the U.S. 5th Circuit of Appeals in New Orleans.

When Sullivan revealed the meeting in an opinion piece on his Texas Scorecard website on July 25, the establishment press didn’t believe what Sullivan wrote. Besides, his website, The Dallas Morning News editorial board said, was “Sullivan’s nakedly partisan blog.” The News hit harder, naming Sullivan’s “fire-breathing Twitter warriors” he recruits and finances to run for the Texas House and Senate who usually get ousted after winning only the first election. Sullivan is no good for Republicans, The Dallas Morning News instructed us.

“[Republican leaders] must speak up with GOP voters to marginalize Sullivan and Empower Texans. The never-compromise philosophy of this sort of blogger/activist politics might taste sweet to certain voters. But it is poison to good government,” the News editorial board concluded.

Texas Monthly opined in a piece that is packaged as a news story that, “Sullivan’s account seems implausible at first glance.”

Liberals went wild on Twitter defending the Republican Speaker of the Texas House sharing the Dallas Morning News and Texas Monthly pieces. After all, according to Texas Monthly, Sullivan is “one of the biggest snakes in Texas politics.”

Sullivan offered his retort to The Dallas Morning News op-ed board on Twitter. “An opinion piece attacking news gathering - something the DMN doesn’t do, in favor of left-wing emoting. The official position of the @DallasNews is that whistle blowers should be attacked for calling out government corruption,” he tweeted.

July 31, Sullivan dropped the other shoe. He said he made a secret recording of the meeting. He said he would allow some to listen.

“Republican legislators, party officials, and conservative movement leaders who may feel they are impacted by the recording are welcome to contact my office and we will make arrangements for them to listen to the audio in the presence of my lawyer,” wrote Sullivan.

Sullivan has spent most of the day August 1 denying establishment Texas reporters a chance to listen to the recording with snarky retorts on Twitter. Allie Morris, a reporter for the San Antonio Express-News, over Twitter requested to chance to “listen to the tape.” Sullivan replied, “There is no ‘tape,’ it’s the 21st Century. And, no you cannot.”

Also by August 1, some lawmakers accepted the offer and listened to the recording in Sullivan’s attorney’s office. The contents of the recording were damning, some concluded. Rep. Steve Toth told the Texas Tribune that Bonnen wasn’t truthful in his denial of the contents of the meeting as Sullivan described July 25. Rep. Travis Clardy, who is on the target list, told The Dallas Morning News the recording was consistent with Sullivan’s account.

Harvey Kronberg, publisher of the Quorum Report, and not a fan of Sullivan, said it appeared that Sullivan has played his cards well. Kronberg believes there is a recording backing up Sullivan’s account of the meeting, but like the rest of the Texas press, he hasn’t heard it. If true, Kronberg is concerned about Bonnen. The Dallas Morning News reported Aug. 1 that in the recordings, Bonnen promised to banish Kronberg’s Quorum Report reporter Scott Braddock, denying him press credentials.

At the very least, Kronberg said, the presence of the recording and the likelihood the contents of those recordings match the allegations Sullivan made late last month “are credible concerns.” If Bonnen’s Faustian bargain pitched to Sullivan is true, Kronberg doesn’t see how Bonnen survives as speaker.

Ross Ramsey, a political analyst and columnist with the Texas Tribune, wrote Aug. 1, “Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen isn’t cooked, yet — but the water is boiling.” The allegations pose a critical political problem for the speaker, Ramsey said. “Protection for power. It’s not a complicated transaction.”

If the house speaker is targeting fellow Republican members for defeat, it goes well beyond failing to protect. Sullivan’s allegations accuse Bonnen of being a sell out.

Kronberg said insiders at the State Capitol are quarterbacking what the next play can be and the scandal couldn’t come at a worse time for Texas Republicans. Suburbs, once solidly red Republican strongholds, have shifted towards Democrats. They’ve turned purple. The 3rd Court of Appeals flipped to Democrats in November because formerly solid red counties around liberal Austin voted with Democrat senatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke who almost toppled Republican Senator Ted Cruz. The next election is as critical as it will be more difficult than any election cycle in the past decade for holding Republican seats in the Texas House and Senate. And it is the house speaker’s job to campaign and fund raise for Republicans running for the House.

Kronberg said removing a speaker of the House is unprecedented. “How could you remove him and replace him when the House isn’t going to be in session until the 87th Legislative Session that starts in January 2021?” And if there was a way to call an emergency session now, it is Bonnen’s prerogative as to what bills are introduced on the House floor. “What if Bonnen refuses to allow a vote on his own removal as speaker?” Kronberg asked. The other possibility is Bonnen resigns. “How do you replace a speaker in the off-season?” Kronberg continued.

And if Bonnen is ousted, or if he resigns, does Rep. Drew Darby have a shot at replacing him? Darby was the last man standing opposing Bonnen for Speaker at the end of 2018.

We reached out to Sullivan on Twitter, email and voice mail requesting to hear the recordings. He has not answered us. We also reached out to Rep. Darby. He has not returned our call or text either.

Quorum Report’s Scott Braddock said this morning that Bonnen may have a news conference or announcement sometime today to address the allegations. His previous denials were issued before Sullivan played the recordings for select legislators.

During the 2018 cycle, Darby ran unopposed. His announced Tea Party primary opponent, Lynette Lucas, failed to file to run against Darby with the Texas Secretary of State. Her name didn’t even make it to the ballot.

If this is how Tea Party activists aligned with Sullivan operate, even with Bonnen’s blessings, defeating Darby will be next to impossible.