May 31, 2022      3:40 PM

HK: Whipsawed with bad press, no upside for Abbott in calling a special session

It starts with Beto disrupting the “Thoughts and Prayers Tour”; Abbott was subsequently booed in Uvalde and the mechanics of a special session offer him no refuge. Not to mention the Republican Party of Texas Convention is right around the corner

It started going south for Greg Abbott when Beto O’Rourke intruded on the Governor’s “Thoughts and Prayers Tour,” this time in Uvalde. There were the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker in their “State of Texas” shirts with official seals offering the same platitudes that helped leadership politically survive previous gun violence horrors.

Abbott would not look at O’Rourke while the Lt. Governor called the Democrat “an embarrassment.” His controversial appearance was initially uncomfortable but is now seen by many as channeling the outrage of the community.

To compound the rapidly crashing PR nightmare, Sen. Roland Gutierrez appeared at the next photo op to directly confront the Governor about a special session. Like all second attempts to create a first impression, this one also fell flat as Abbott used state agency executives as props in an effort to demonstrate sincerity and that the full resources of state government were there to help the Uvalde survivors.

Then, like his appearance with former President Donald Trump in Montgomery County in January, Abbott found himself loudly booed Sunday as President Joe Biden was cheered at their joint appearance.

Now at least two Republicans, retiring Sen. Kel Seliger and House Chairman Jeff Leach, have joined Democrats in calling for a special session to “do something.”

The odds of the notoriously risk-averse Governor Abbott bringing the Legislature back into session a little more than five months before an election are slim and none.

This is the same Governor who jumped each time longshot GOP primary challenger Don Huffines barked. It became a standing joke at the Texas Capitol that Huffines had become Abbott’s de facto policy director and if you wanted to predict Abbott’s policy proposals you needed to follow Huffines and read the Miami newspaper to see what the current 2024 frontrunner – presuming Trump does not run – was doing.

But it’s more than just public relations. Single subject special sessions are unique animals.

By Harvey Kronberg

Copyright May 31, 2022, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved