Patrick gives grass-roots activists a seat at Senate table

AUSTIN - Like a teacher chastising her students, JoAnn Fleming called out the four Republican candidates for lieutenant governor for talking too long, for interrupting each other, for not answering the questions asked.

Afterward, some of the candidates griped to reporters about how little they appreciated her approach, so much so that some said they did not plan to participate in any other forums she moderated.

Fleming, a Tyler activist and director of Grassroots America: We the People, was unrepentant.

"These people are here for a job interview with the people who hire them, the people of Texas, and so we should be able to ask them the hard questions and expect straight answers," she said. "If they don't answer the questions, they shouldn't get the job."

Among the participants in that October 2013 forum was Dan Patrick, the Houston state senator who later got Fleming's endorsement and went on to be elected lieutenant governor.

Last week, he named Fleming the chair of a new grass-roots committee that drew surprise in various quarters - a first such advisory group, composed of conservative activists that not so long ago were critics of the very state government with which they now are expected to work.

"I appreciate the opportunity to have a voice … and being on the advisory board is not going to change my views," Fleming said Friday. "I know most of the people on the board. We are going to advise. Listening to the people of Texas is what government doesn't do enough of."

Even so, Patrick's move caught by surprise some tea party activists across Texas, as became quickly evident on social media messages, even among some of his closest allies who wondered aloud whether this group of independent-minded activists may, at some point, turn on him, or perhaps House Speaker Joe Straus who has been a target for tea party criticism in the past.

Even if they may not all agree on every issue, the advisory board members are likely to find friendly ears in the Senate, which took a hard turn to the right in last November's elections after tea party supporters grabbed several seats.

"I feel like the dog that finally caught the car he's been chasing. What do we do with it now?" said Chuck McCall, a Williamson County tea party supporter who often attends Capitol hearings to monitor what his government is doing.

"After years of no one listening to the conservative majority in this state, I'd say this is a big step forward," McCall said. "Thanks to Dan Patrick, we have an opportunity."

Just how things play out remains to be seen, with the advisory board's first meeting probably to come within the next two weeks, Fleming said. Such topics as border security, tax relief and education reform will be priorities, she added.

For his part, Patrick said the new panel would continue his long-standing practice of coordinating with grass-roots leaders, though the panel marked a first at the State Capitol.

"It's very unusual, because normally these things are done in private," said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political scientist who follows Texas politics. "This is a political ploy for Dan Patrick to show that his bona fides with the tea party are strong."

For her part, Fleming said she expects her board will "offer advice and help" on various issues.

"We want to create the maximum opportunity for everybody in Texas to achieve success, in everything from education to entrepreneurship," she said. "And I mean everybody."