Frullo and Landtroop Big Winners on Committee Assignments

On Wednesday, our area Representatives found out which committees they had been placed on. The result was a mixed bag for West Texas.

The big area winner was Rep. John Frullo who was appointed to State Affairs, and Government Efficiency and Reform. State Affairs is one of the most powerful committees in the state and one of the busiest. If you are wanting your elected official on a powerful committee, and they aren't serving on Appropriations, this is where you want them to be. It looks like being sworn in early might have helped Frullo get this appointment. It probably also helped that Frullo backed Speaker Straus in the Speakers race.

Rep. Jim Landtroop landed on Agriculture and Livestock as well as the Defense and Veterns' Affairs committee. Landtroop being appointed to the Ag committee should serve him well in his mostly rural district. It may not be the most powerful committee, but it's one that directly affects the people living in District 85.

The Rep. with the worst luck was Rep. Charles Perry. Perry was appointed to 3 committees; Rules and Resolutions, Defense and Veterans' Affairs, and Corrections. None of these committees are powerhouses, and the only one that would have a direct affect on West Texas is Corrections. We do have quite a few prisons out here and West Texas will do well with Perry on the committee. Perry will claim that he is satisfied with his assignments, but I believe he is pretty disappointed. It should be noted that Perry was the only one out of the three that did not send out a press release claiming how great the assignments were.

So why did Perry come out on the losing end? There could be many reasons. First, Perry didn't support Straus and was pretty vocal about it. While Landtroop didn't support Straus, his non-support was toned down in contrast to Perry. Sure, it could be pay-back, though Perry publicly doesn't believe that. It could also be that Perry is a freshman and the Speaker had to put people in different places. Though so is Landtroop, and he got a much better appointment.