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On Wednesday, Julie McCarty, head of the formidable Northeast Tarrant Tea Party, offered the killer quote in a New York Times profile of Gov. Greg Abbott, that ran under the headline, Governor Struggles to Lead as Texas Republicans Splinter Into Factions.

Why is he so hands-off? McCarty was quoted as saying of the governor. Is that what his dream was, to become governor of the greatest state in the nation so that he could sit out on everything?

But, with the governors announcement Tuesday that he wascalling the Legislature back for a special session beginning in mid-July that will consider a robust agenda that includes some longstanding tea party priorities, McCarty offered the governor some grudging praise.

If this version of Greg Abbott had shown up during the regular session, perhaps we could have avoided the time and expense of a special, McCarty said by email. I cant say I agree with his entire agenda, but at least hes doing SOMEthing finally.

And since a special tends to work in favor of conservatives, Ive certainly got no objections, McCarty said. Welcome to the 85th, governor.

Even before he called the special session, Abbotts poll numbers with tea party supporters statewide were sky-high. In the February University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, 70 percent of respondents who identified with the tea party strongly approved of Abbotts job performance, and another 18 percent approve somewhat of his job performance.

Those numbers are higher than for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, for whom 47 percent of those who identify with the tea party offer their strong approval, and another 28 percent say they approve somewhat.

But some tea party leaders, like McCarty, have been critical of Abbott for not taking a stronger hand in pressing conservative objectives in the session, preferring Patricks more hard-charging style. Abbott has viewed his proper role during the session as identifying his priorities, and guiding and mediating between the House and Senate, with a more forceful role now as he determines which bills to sign and which to veto, and, as he did in a big way Tuesday, deciding on a special session.

JoAnn Fleming of Tyler, the three-term chairwoman of the Texas Legislatures TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee and a leader of a broad coalition of conservative grassroots activists who had been beating the drum for a special session, said that Abbotts expansive calls includes most all of their priority issues especially property tax reform, bathroom privacy legislation, ballot security and annexation reform with the exception of grid security, though she said Patrick plans a study on that in the interim, and ethics reform involving lobbying.

Fleming said her concern in the special session would be the same as it was in the regular session, that there are those forces in the House beginning with Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, and his leadership team that would try to run out the clock and thwart the governors conservative agenda.

I hope the Legislature will be in session all day, every day to get this done, she said. We dont need to be going in at 2 oclock in the afternoon. They should get started early, get busy and work until the work is done.

And, she said, if they dont get it done in 30 days, the governor should bring them back for as many special sessions as needed to get his whole agenda passed.

Rep. Matt Rinaldi, R-Irving, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said, I applaud Gov. Abbott calling the Legislature back into special session for important conservative priorities such as property tax relief, womens privacy, protecting the unborn, parental choice in education and ensuring our schools are adequately and fairly financed.

Asked if he saw this coming, Rinaldi, who was involved in a brouhaha with some Hispanic Democratic representatives the last day of the regular session, said, I did anticipate a special session in August. I did not anticipate the breadth of the call.

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Abbott earns (grudging) tea party respect for calling special session - Austin American-Statesman