CAPITOL LETTERS

By KAREN BROOKS
Austin Bureau
kmbrooks@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN -- House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, will formally announce his candidacy for speaker this afternoon, and he has already filed paperwork to run for the House’s job, his office said in a statement this morning.

Mr. Keffer called on House Speaker Tom Craddick to announce his resignation and asked his fellow House members to stand down on plans to remove Mr. Craddick sometime in the next two weeks.

"In my opinion, Speaker Craddick needs to announce that he will not seek another term and let the members pursue a new speaker’s race," Mr. Keffer said in the written statement. “However, if Craddick does pursue another term, I will aggressively challenge him and will welcome others to also enter the Speaker’s race.”

Part of his platform includes term limits for speaker, and he promised to be “a Republican House speaker in a Republican majority who will honor the rules, respect each member’s district and pass good public policy.”

Mr. Craddick, R-Midland, is the first Republican speaker in more than a century, but he barely survived a challenge to his leadership at the start of this session. Lawmakers have chafed under his autocratic style, and this year, some have complained that he has relaxed his grip on the House too much and that the chamber has been chaotic ever since.

Some challenge to Mr. Craddick has been steadily building for a week, after House members rebelled against Mr. Craddick in a decision on the House rules. Speculation has been rampant that members would try to oust Mr. Craddick immediately, but Mr. Keffer’s candidacy is for next legislative session, in 2009.