America's Road to Wealth

Chapter 411 My Speaker Dad
2002 1 Month 26 Day.

Austin, Texas.

To be honest, this is Abel's first visit to the political center of Texas - the Capitol.

It's the same even if the previous Abel, his experiences and memories are included.

Because of the original Abel, like most Texans, he rarely came to Austin for nothing.

In fact, most of the tourists who come to the Texas State Capitol are foreigners from outside Texas.

Except for Austinites, the locals basically don't like Austin very much.

As for the Capitol itself, it is not only one of the most famous tourist attractions in Texas, it is also the office of the Texas government.

Above the second floor of the Capitol Building, there are office locations for the Governor's Office, the Texas National Guard Staff, other Texas departments, and so on.

The largest room on the first floor of the building is the conference hall that can accommodate 1 Texas congressmen.

Like Congress, the Texas State Legislature is divided into two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The Senate has 50 members and the House of Representatives has 100 members.

It is different from the deputy commander of the Federation who can only be a mascot.

The lieutenant governor of Texas also possesses a lot of power. He is the governor's right-hand man and the real second-in-command of the state government.

Already having many real rights, the deputy governor of Texas naturally cannot serve as the speaker of the Senate like the deputy governor of the federal government.

That is to say, in the Texas state legislature, each of the two chambers has a real speaker.

This is different from the Federal Government.

The large conference hall in the parliament building is also the place where tourists check in most.

Under normal circumstances, many parts of the Texas State Capitol are open to foreign tourists for free, regardless of whether they are Texans or not.

As long as you can pass the security check and have legal travel documents, you can freely enter and exit this famous political center and tourist attractions in Texas.

But in recent days, the Texas State Capitol has announced that it will be closed for 15 days.

The reason is that in the past few days, a major event happened in the Texas House of Representatives.

State lawmakers in the Texas House of Representatives, they launched an impeachment campaign.

Impeach the Speaker of the State House of Representatives, Mark Jelinken, and demand that the speaker step down.

Around 10 o'clock in the morning.

Abel's mighty convoy came to the periphery of the Texas State Capitol.

The convoy passed through a security inspection composed of the Texas National Guard and local police officers, and successfully entered the Capitol.

At the entrance of the beautiful and magnificent building made of red granite.

When Abel got out of his Cadillac Monster.

He had already seen several people looking at him with a smile on their faces at the gate of the parliament building.

Abel also had a hypocritical smile on his face, and he walked towards them.

"Oh . . . good morning, dear Mr. Smith. You are welcome."

A few people at the door, the one who spoke first and came to greet Abel with a smile was the current governor of Texas, the former deputy of George Bush, Rick Perry who jumped from the donkey party to the elephant party .

Abel and Rick Perry met a few times, always at Bush family banquets.

Abel smiled and walked over to shake hands and hug Rick Perry.

"Good morning, Mr. Governor. Of course, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Lieutenant Governor, how are you."

After shaking hands and hugging Rick Perry, Abel greeted the other two.

The other two people, one is Texas State Senate President Page, and the other is Lieutenant Governor Johnson.

There is only one speaker of the House of Representatives, Mark Jelinken, and the Big Four of the Texas state government are all there.

Paige, like Jonson and Rick Perry, had known Abel for a long time, at a banquet hosted by the Bush family.

Today's shrub family is deeply rooted in Texas.

To say that they are the largest family in Texas may be a bit of a stretch.

Want to do great things in Texas, or want to make a difference in Texas.

No matter who it is, it can be said that it is difficult to avoid the shrub family.

Among the Big Four in Texas, Rick Perry is simply George's successor younger brother and a confidant of the Shrub family.

Jonson and Page also had a close relationship with the shrub family.

There was only one Mark Jelinken, who was considered an important figure in another faction in Texas.

And now, Mark Jelinken is facing impeachment.

If he is successfully impeached, he will have to resign from the position of speaker, and he may not even be able to keep the position of state representative.

At that time, at least in the state government.

In terms of impact on Texas, the Shrub family can be said to be unparalleled.

After shaking hands and hugging Rick Perry and others.

Rick Perry began to lead Abe inside the Texas State Capitol.

It is one of the largest and most beautiful capitol buildings in the United States.

The entire Texas State Capitol is built of red granite as a whole, giving people the feeling of grandeur.

At the top of the building, there is a 14-foot Statue of Liberty.

It was not there until 1987, when it was added.

Walking into the gate of the Parliament Building, there is a beautiful courtyard behind it.

Although it is winter, the lawn in the courtyard is still green due to the warm climate in Austin, and the leaves are red and green.

Abel is not a tourist, and if he were, he would be attracted by the many statues scattered throughout the courtyard.

They are quite symbolic and commemorative.

Among them, elements of war can be seen everywhere, which shows the heavy history of Texas.

The tough folk customs in Texas are also inseparable from these wars.

Along the way, several people kept chatting.

"Mark will hardly survive this time."

During the walk, Mr. Governor said bluntly: "He made a big mistake this time."

In Texas, which was impeached today, the Speaker of the State House of Representatives, Mark Jelinken.

He was impeached on grounds of abuse of power and obstruction of a parliamentary inquiry.

The former refers to Mark Jelinken, who accepted the support of many Mexicans as the speaker, and opened the door for Mexicans to smuggle into Texas.

The latter refers to Mark Jelinken, when members of parliament accused him and demanded that the investigation be initiated.

Mark Jelinken brusquely stopped the inquiry from passing through Parliament.

Based on these two reasons, the member of the State House of Representatives, together with several members of Congress, initiated the impeachment of Speaker Mark Jelinken.

According to Texas regulations, if the speaker is impeached by more than 10 congressmen during his tenure, he cannot use the power of the speaker during the impeachment period.

To be honest, Abel still doesn't understand what Rick Perry said "Mark made a big mistake".

The reason he is here today at the Texas State Capitol.

It was because a few days ago, when the outside world learned that his body was fine.

Here in Texas, Davis Brown and others invited him to come to the Texas State Capitol today.

Abel only knew that this had something to do with his cooperation with Davis Brown and the others, that is, with the Texas Consortium.

The same is true of his own father, Alexander Smith.

But he didn't know the specifics about the law before today.

These guys seem to want to surprise him.

Now listen to Rick Perry and the likes opening.

In Abel's mind, he only guessed something at this time.

He thought, if it really is what he thinks.

Then these guys are really willing to spend their money.

"Oh, then he really shouldn't. Texans, don't allow this to happen."

Abel smiled and responded with a jack-of-all-trades answer.

Senate Speaker Page smiled and said softly:

"In fact, it's more than that. Many of Mark's actions before this have already made many people dissatisfied. The emergence of this impeachment has been accumulated for a long time."

"That's right." Lieutenant Governor Johnson also said with a smile.

Chatting and chatting, inside, everyone has passed through the courtyard and entered the central circular hall.

The terrazzo floor on the first floor of the rotunda was built in 1936 to celebrate the centennial of the statehood of Texas.

A large seal is painted in the center of the floor, surrounded by the seals of the six countries.

The six countries are France, Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America.

Why are there these flags?
That's because these flags have all flown on Texas soil.

Around the conference hall, there are portraits of the successive leaders of the Republic of Texas and the successive governors of Texas, hanging on each floor of the four-story circular hall open to the public.

In other words, there are so many portraits, but there is not a portrait of the leader of the United States of America...

It can only be said that the Lone Star State was declared by the federal government to be the number one rebellious son in the United States. It is definitely not random.

Because Texas is within itself, it's really branding itself as a separate state anytime, anywhere.

Someday America will be divided.

The first to stand up and raise the flag is definitely not just California, which likes to shout.

And it has to be Texas.

In the rotunda, Jonson and Page leave Abe and Rick Perry.

Under the leadership of Mr. Governor, Abel passed through a corridor, and the two came to a high platform suspended above the Congress Hall of Texas.

Under the high platform, the 150 members of the Texas State Assembly have gathered together.

Looking at the scene below, Abel, who had already guessed a lot, smiled and said, "This is our Texas democracy!"

"Who says it's not?" Rick Perry added with a smile: "The people elect representatives, and the representatives represent the people. This is our democracy!"

The impeachment proceedings in parliament have begun below.

Abel has now basically guessed the reason why these people asked him to come here today.

He guessed.

The group of people from the Texas Consortium, they most likely want to push Alexander into the Texas State Assembly.

Take a bolder guess.

These guys might even want to replace Mark Jelinken with their father.

Otherwise, why would Davis Brown and the others call themselves, on a day like this, to come to the Texas State Capitol?

To amuse Abel, or to demonstrate against him?
This may have been possible before.

But that is unlikely now.

The world's richest man holds huge wealth, and is also an energy giant, media giant, and financial giant.

At the same time, he is also married to Abel Smith, the most difficult and hottest Zhengzhi family in the United States.

In the attack not long ago, he temporarily gained the commanding heights of American public opinion.

At this time, whoever Abel wanted to target, even Rockefeller or Morgan, would be confused by him.

Davis Brown and the others have no reason to mess around.

And they just let Abel come to this special place on a special day like today.

In addition to wanting to push Alexander to the top, as one of the great gifts to Abel in this merger between the two parties.

Abel couldn't think of any other possibility for the time being.

Because after a few days, the share exchange is completed and all the contracts that need to be signed are finalized.

After that, everyone will be their own people in a sense.

At that time, Alexander was also one of their own.

Letting Alexander take over at this time is also beneficial to the Texas consortium.

With a lot of thoughts in his heart, Abel kept chatting with Rick Perry.

Chatting and chatting, the two sides even talked about Abel's father-in-law, Neil Bush.

"Neill has a very good talent. He can easily approach the middle class."

Rick Perry said earnestly: "If he becomes a businessman, the Americans will lose a good governor or even a good commander."

Look at Rick Perry's sincere look.

Abel didn't believe that the other party didn't know. If Neil Shrubbery got his way in Texas, he would suffer the most damage.

Abel thought to himself, that is, my father-in-law has gone to California, and there is no longer any possibility of conflict with you.

Only this guy can say such things.

"Everyone has their own talent." Abel smiled and said, "Mr. Perry, your talent is the most suitable for leading the people of Texas."

Hearing what Abel said, Rick Perry's eyes lit up obviously.

Mr. Governor looked at Abel seriously, and said softly, "Mr. Smith, is what you said true?"

"Yes." Abel smiled back.

Rick Perry laughed visibly happily, but Mr. Governor did not dare to laugh too loudly because of the meeting below.

In Rick Perry's view, Neil Shrub, the biggest internal threat to himself, is not actually supported by the Shrub family.

It's the guy in front of him who is very young, but is already scary enough to be treated with such caution by Davis Brown and his gang, even to please him.

Now see a hint of this guy.

Rick Perry, who knows he's settled in Texas this year, is naturally happy.

"Call me Rick." Rick Perry said a little happily, his words were much more sincere than before:

"I hope we're friends. I hope we always have been."

"Of course. Rick, you should change your mouth." Abel also smiled and said, "If you call me Abel directly, it will make me happier."

"Oh, what a happy day today!"

Rick Perry hugged Abel again, this time it was much more cordial than at the entrance of the Capitol.

"Damn Mark Jelinken is leaving. I've got a new best friend!! I'm so...so happy."

Rick Perry said happily.

At this time, in the Texas House of Representatives below, it was time for the impeachment proceedings to start voting.

Of the 100 state representatives, excluding Speaker Mark Jelinken, there are 99 left.

According to the regulations, in each ballot, each member of the House of Representatives has only one vote, and the speaker has two votes, which are used for ruling in cases of equal votes.

Now Mark Jelinken is being impeached.

During impeachment, all corresponding parliamentary rights are automatically lost.

In other words, only the votes of these 99 members of Congress are useful today.

Voting begins.

Because the number is much less than the 435 members of the Federal House of Representatives.

Only 99 people voted, even if the older mechanical voting procedure was used, the result was still very fast.

The voting process for the impeachment of Mark Jelinken's resignation resulted in 52 votes in favor, 35 against, and 12 abstentions.

The impeachment was successful and the procedure started.

Effective today, Mark Jelinken automatically loses the power and office of the State of Texas, Representative and Speaker.

According to regulations, before the election starts again.

The missing state legislators are elected among the sheriffs of Texas' 254 counties.

The state Senate is responsible for the election, and the county governor who obtains more than 1/3 of the votes will automatically obtain the status of the state representative.

The identity of the Speaker is automatically elected by the 100 members of the State House of Representatives through internal elections.

The moment the impeachment came into effect, the distraught Mark Jelinken hadn't even left the conference hall.

Page, the speaker of the Texas Senate, has already announced the start of the election of members of the House of Representatives.

Of the 254 county sheriffs, six were elected.

Among them is the name of Tarrant County, the county sheriff Alexander Smith who just took office last year.

Voting begins.

After the voting closes.

Of the six candidates, Alexander Smith alone received 6 of the 51 votes cast.

With an unquestionable advantage, he became one of the new representatives of Texas.

As for the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, it will be postponed to three days later, that is, on January 1.

Before, after the meeting.

Abel has happily gone to the governor's office for coffee with Rick Perry and two other Texas government magnates.

(End of this chapter)