August 1, 2019
Lauren McGaughy and James Barragan
Austin - One of the lawmakers (click here) who listened to a conversation that a conservative activist secretly recorded with top GOP leadership said the Texas House speaker suggested he would take floor access away from a credentialed media outlet.
Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, said he listened to the audio of the meeting between Speaker Dennis Bonnen, Texas House Republican Caucus Chairman Dustin Burrows and Michael Quinn Sullivan of Empower Texans, a political group that targets GOP lawmakers it deems not conservative enough.
Bonnen said he could strip House media credentials from Scott Braddock, editor of the insider political website and newsletter the Quorum Report, and give media access to Empower Texans' writers at its website the Texas Scorecard, Stickland said.
Sullivan had previously alleged the credentials were offered if Empower Texans agreed to target only Republicans the speaker wanted ousted.
At least two other GOP lawmakers, Reps. Steve Toth of The Woodlands and Travis Clardy of Nacogdoches, also said that they've heard the audio and that it backs up Sullivan's account. Toth has received donations from Empower Texans, but Clardy, who ran against Bonnen for speaker, has not been a favorite of the group....
