No one seems to be writing opinion pieces quite the way I would, so I decided to do it myself.

The name? Taverns are places where one goes to discuss the interesting events and things in the world, so this is my tavern.

I will offer my views on politics, economics, and whatever else strikes my fancy.
I will occasionally publish the entire article from another journal for purposes of causing discussion.

 

Roadbump for Tom Delay

Tom Cradick, the newly elected Republican Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, has been wearing a heavy frown in the last few days. Last night, he railed against the "Chicken D's", the 53 Democratic Representatives who have left the State and stopped the House from passing any further legislation. Cradick has asked the Texas Rangers to arrest any of the missing Democratic Representatives and drag them to the House building in Austin if they can, but the Governor of Oklahoma is not going to cooperate by letting them act as police officers in their state. There is (of course) a story behind this.

The federal census was completed in 2000 and the Texas legislature failed to redistrict the Federal House Congressional districts. So the Federal Courts made the necessary decision.

Tom Delay, Republican from Sugarland, TX and now the leader of the Republicans in the House, is unhappy with the fact that only 14 of Texas' 32 Represebntatives are Republican when the last election (2002) gave the State House and Senate to the Republicans along with the Governorship. So Delay has offered a new districting plan to Texas, and the Republicans were set to pass it in the House and Senate. This is the guy who owns a pest control business and is known as "The Hammer" because of his heavy-handed methods of requiring political donations before he will talk to you about legislation. The Republican Governor, Rick Perry would be happy to sign it. He can say that it is simply what the legislature wants him to do. He need not take any responsibility that will cost him votes. This would be the first time in fifty years that a state has reopened redistricting after the disricts required by the ten-year census have been established. The Democrats in the legistature felt steamrolled.

But the Texas Constitution has a provision that says the House cannot conduct business unless a quorum of at least 100 Representatives out of 150 are present. So 53 Texas Democrats have asked the House to lock their voting terminals since they will not be there. The Legislature meets for 120 days every two years, and Thursday (May 15) is the last day in this session that completed legislation can be sent to the Senate for action. If they were in Texas, then the Texas Rangers could arrest them and drag them to the House to complete the quorum, so they have moved to the Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Oklahoma.

It isn't as bad as it sounds. The Governor was already going to require a special session to deal with school finance, but a special session cannot, by law, deal with any legislation that the Governor does not specifiy. That means if the Governor specifies redistricitng, then his hands are all over the redistricting issue. That WILL cost him votes.

Essentially, this is a case of a political minority who doesn't like being steamrolled by the Republicans who are impatient to gain total contol of the State of Texas.

I am rooting for the minority, of course.
posted by Richard at 3:00 PM