Grieder: GOP’s lurch to belligerent populism should have voters on edge By Erica Grieder, Staff writer There was a time when business leaders held real, and sometimes critical, influence over the Republican Party of Texas. It would be hard to argue that time is over, given that state leaders continue to treat the private sector with mysterious deference when it comes to, for example, reforming the state’s power sector in the wake of the winter freeze that left millions without electricity and nearly 200 Texans dead. But the relationship between the Texas GOP and the state’s business community is strained, at the moment, now that some business leaders are joining Democrats and civic and faith leaders in speaking out against clear efforts at voter suppression in Georgia, Texas and other GOP-led states.