Republicans taking a look at 'their' Senate

By MICHAEL HOLMES / Associated Press

AUSTIN - The Texas Senate had a new look Wednesday. A Republican reflection. A GOP pose.

But just because there's a new party in control, don't look for big changes in the way the place runs, the senior Republican senator said.

"I think Republicans respect the Senate as an institution," said Sen. J.E. "Buster" Brown, R-Lake Jackson, who chairs the Senate GOP caucus.

A senator since 1981, Brown is the longest-serving Republican there, a distinction that gained considerable weight Tuesday night.

That's when Republican Robert Duncan won the special election to replace resigned Democratic Sen. John Montford. His victory gave the GOP 16 of the 31 Senate seats and its first majority in 125 years.

Democrats still control the state House, 82-68. And the Senate's presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, is a Democrat.

But much of Bullock's power - appointing committee members and chairmen, controlling the flow of legislation - comes from rules passed by the senators themselves.

Their new majority means Republican senators could - if they wish - change the rules. Brown and others said they doubted there would be such a push in the 1997 session, which opens next month.

"We recognize that the lieutenant governor is elected by the people of Texas, and we've all been sent here to represent our districts and do a good job," Brown said.

For his part, Bullock has been careful to appoint Republicans to key positions. Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, heads the budget-writing Finance Committee, and Sen. Teel Bivins, R-Amarillo, is in charge of the Education Committee.

"It's a real interesting legislative body," Brown said. "It is not organized along party lines. Almost all the issues &emdash; probably 99 percent of them - fall on some other division than party. There's urban-rural, big city-little city, liberal-conservative."

Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said she had one change in mind: making certain Republicans get majorities on all Senate committees.

"I'm hopeful we will have a majority of Republicans on each committee. I think that's just fair," she said. "When you look at pre-1996, when the Democrats had more (seats) and we were on the other side, they had the majority on most of the committees."

Shapiro said she expects more Republican issues to move through the legislative process &emdash; including requiring notification of parents when a minor seeks an abortion and term limits for officeholders.

But she and Bivins seconded Brown's basically bipartisan outlook.

"As far as attitude, I think it will be the same. I still agree that there is a bipartisan attitude in the Senate," Shapiro said.

Bivins was asked about state GOP Chairman Tom Pauken's comments that "one-man rule" in the Senate was over.

"Mr. Pauken is an outside observer of what goes on in the Texas Senate, and I guess he's entitled to his opinion as are the 18 million other Texans. I really don't see it that way," Bivins said.

Brown was so intent in talking about cooperation Wednesday that he cringed when asked about being the "majority leader."

"It's not majority leader. It's chairman of the (Republican) caucus," he said. "We don't want people to confuse us with Congress" and Washington's infamous partisan gridlock.

"Our job as Republicans in the majority will be to demonstrate to the people of Texas that we can work hard, solve the issues working with the governor, lieutenant governor and (House) speaker and come up with some good measures that address our problems," Brown said.