Clearly still smarting from electricity repricing fight, Lt. Gov. Patrick doubles down on slamming former Chair Paddie for his lobby business
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday again lashed out at former Texas House State Affairs Committee Chairman Chris Paddie , this time by calling out Paddie’s lobby clients by name. Of course, it all goes back to Patrick’s fight with Paddie last session over Patrick’s failed bid to reprice the electricity market in the wake of Winter Storm Uri . That entire episode was a rare embarrassment for Patrick in the legislative process. Patrick melted down the Texas Senate , bent every rule to pass a bill aimed at repricing the market, and held multiple news conferences claiming it was an emergency. Texas House leadership, including Paddie, shrugged it off and the bill died.
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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick
on Wednesday again lashed out at former Texas House State Affairs Committee Chairman Chris Paddie , this time by calling out Paddie’s lobby clients by name. Of course, it all goes back to Patrick’s fight with Paddie last session over Patrick’s failed bid to reprice the electricity market in the wake of Winter Storm Uri .
That entire episode was a rare embarrassment for Patrick in the legislative process. Patrick melted down the Texas Senate , bent every rule to pass a bill aimed at repricing the market, and held multiple news conferences claiming it was an emergency.
Texas House leadership, including Paddie, shrugged it off and the bill died.
Gov. Patrick today took to Twitter to say Paddie “has no credibility & (is) not welcome in my office for his disingenuous & unprofessional conduct last session on the grid.” In his tweet, Patrick not only promoted a screenshot of Paddie’s most recent lobby report, but he also put some of Paddie’s clients on notice by tagging their Twitter accounts.
Back in December, Patrick had said on Twitter that Paddie’s “actions last session on ERCOT grid failures were disingenuous & unprofessional, some say underhanded. Vistra leadership & shareholders should know he’s lost his credibility & not welcome in my office.” A quick check of lobby reports indicates that none of Paddie’s clients dropped him after the first attempt at intimidation.
Meantime, a veteran of the process told Quorum Report that Patrick’s actions are “tantamount to calling Paddie’s clients directly and demanding that they fire him and then putting out a news release about it.” It is safe to say that it is unprecedented for someone in such a high office in Texas to use social media to intimidate a lobbyist and his clients so publicly. And following their very public clash over electricity policy in 2021, is there anyone who really thinks that Paddie’s clients were ever under the impression that Paddie had a good relationship with Patrick?
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