Panel to Investigate After Rep. Stickland (R) Ejected From Hearing
The chairman of the House Committee on General Investigating and Ethics said Friday he plans to investigate allegations that witnesses were signed up improperly to speak at a transportation committee meeting from which state Rep. Jonathan Stickland was escorted out.
"There will be an investigation into allegations of broken rules," said state Rep. John Kuempel, R-Seguin, the committee's chairman.
Late Thursday night, state Rep. Joe Pickett, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, ordered Stickland out of the hearing. Pickett, D-El Paso, accused Stickland of listing witnesses who were not in Austin as supporters of the Bedford Republican's House Bill 142 to ban red light cameras.
"Please leave the committee room or be removed," Pickett told Stickland, according to a video taken by an audience member that had been viewed more than 4,000 times by midday Friday. A frustrated Stickland left the hearing room, with a house sergeant following behind him, the video shows.
Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/05/01/panel-investigate-after-lawmaker-ejected-hearing/