Patrick gives grass-roots activists a seat at Senate table

AUSTIN - Like a teacher chastising her students, JoAnn Fleming called out the four Republican candidates for lieutenant governor for talking too long, for interrupting each other, for not answering the questions asked.

When it was over, some of the candidates griped to reporters about how little they appreciated her approach, so much so that some said they did not plan to participate in any other forums she would moderate.

Fleming, a Tyler activist and director of Grassroots America: We the People, was unrepentant.

"These people are here for a job interview with the people who hire them, the people of Texas, and so we should be able to ask them the hard questions and expect straight answers," she said. "If they don't answer the questions, they shouldn't get the job."

Among the participants in that October 2013 forum was Dan Patrick, the Houston state senator who later got Fleming's endorsement and went on to be elected lieutenant governor.

Last week, he named Fleming the chair of a new grass-roots advisory committee that drew surprise in various quarters – a first such advisory group, composed of conservative activists that not so long ago were critics of the very state government with which they now are expected to work.

"I appreciate the opportunity to have a voice ... and being on the advisory board is not going to change my views," Fleming said Friday. "I know most of the people on the board. We are going to advise. Listening to the people of Texas is what government doesn't do enough of."

Even so, Patrick's move caught by surprise some tea party activists across Texas, as became quickly evident on social media messages, even among some of his closest allies who wondered aloud whether this group of independent-minded activists may, at some point, turn on him, or perhaps House Speaker Joe Straus who has been a target for tea party criticism in the past.

Even if they may not all agree on every issue, the advisory board members are likely to find friendly ears in the Senate, which took a hard turn to the right in last November's elections after tea party supporters grabbed several seats.

"I feel like the dog that finally caught the car he's been chasing. What do we do with it now?" said Chuck McCall, a Williamson County tea party supporter who often attends Capitol hearings to monitor what his government is doing. "After years of no one listening to the conservative majority in this state, I'd say this is a big step forward. Thanks to Dan Patrick, we have an opportunity."

Just how things play out remains to be seen, with the advisory board's first meeting probably to come within the next two weeks, Fleming said. Such topics as border security, tax relief and education reform will be priorities, she added.

For his part, Patrick said the new panel would continue his long-standing practice of coordinating with grass-roots leaders, though the panel marked a first at the State Capitol.

"It's very unusual, because normally these things are done in private," said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political scientist who follows Texas politics. "This is a political ploy for Dan Patrick to show that his bona fides with the tea party are strong."

He and others predicted that in a Capitol environment the group could find that its members may not all agree on the same thing. Royce Carroll, a Rice University political scientist who studies legislating and coalition politics, said the board is giving tea party activists an unusual seat at the table in the state Senate.

"They're not used to having that kind of power," he said, echoing the sentiments of colleagues who said they will be watching closely to see how Patrick's advisory boards work out. "No one has seen anything quite like it."

For Austin lobbyists who generally were supportive of Patrick's business advisory groups, which they said would bring private-sector expertise more actively into the formulation of state policy to make Texas government more efficient and innovative, the grass-roots advisers mostly drew question marks. All questioned whether the activists' panel could backfire if their recommendations are not followed.

For her part, Fleming said she expects her board will "offer advice and help" on various issues, a unique chance for "real folks in Texas" to help balance the strong voice that special interests already have.

"We want to create the maximum opportunity for everybody in Texas to achieve success, in everything from education to entrepreneurship," she said. "And I mean everybody. That's one thing I think every Texan will agree on."

For the Tyler activist and former small business owner, whose only experience in public office was a four-year stint as a Smith County commissioner, Fleming said her board also agrees on advancing conservative state policies, a bedrock of Patrick's political position.

"Our goal is going to be to help find solutions," she said, "and even though, yes, there are some Type A personalities on this advisory board, I know we have a forward-thinking committee. ... We're not there to clothesline people. We're there to make Texas better."