Five business partners control the operations of the Texas House: Dennis Bonnen, Greg Bonnen, Dustin Burrows, Cody Harris, and Dade Phelan. They are also business partners together in a bank. 

Many House members may not have known that and how their personal connection controls the House. There is nothing illegal about it. Texas legislators earn $600 a month. They need to make a living. 
 
But collectively, these 5 have held the 3 most important positions in the Texas House for most of a decade: Texas House Speaker, House Appropriations Chair, and House Calendars Chair. These 3 positions control the Texas House. They pass around those positions to each other in a revolving door of power year after year. They run the House like it’s their own personal business. 
 
Stated another way – the Texas House has become an oligarchy.
 
Together, they run a profitable Texas banking business. Together they decide what legislation lives and dies in the Texas House and how billions of taxpayer dollars are spent. 
 
It’s a closed shop. There’s no power sharing in the Texas House unless you are with them. They treat members like employees, not like equally elected House members. 

These 5 are a non-criminal version of the “Goodfellas.” If you don’t support them, you are locked out and sometimes punished for not supporting them by getting bad committee assignments, having your bills killed or never even heard.
 
Why would so many members allow the same 5 to run over them year after year and box them out?
 
I’ve said many times I don’t care who the Republican Speaker is. Gov. Abbott and I have stated we support the caucus nominee. Burrows lost that race, and now the 5 are desperately trying to hold onto power. 

Not since 2019 have Texas House members had the opportunity to break free and elect their own Speaker. Republicans and Democrats have a clean shot at a new way of doing business. They can keep the “Goodfellas” in power or return power to themselves and the voters of their Districts. #txlege