Tony Knowles and many imported Texans carried Democratic labels while wholly in support of everything Oil.  They took over the party just like the state with the massive influx of boomers to hijack the electoral and governing system by virtue of sheer numbers.  They set their own rules, many times in violation of law:  The most glaring examples being the open meeting laws written into the the Constitution, but circumvented by the legislature by their secret caucuses continuing to this day.  They set the rules; they hide the criminality; they reap the benefits.  Any Democrat refusing to follow the Oil dictates is spitting in the wind, irrelevant, and soon thrown out by their oil-beholden constituents.  Throw in the imported religious dictators for pure Oligarchy rule.