What's going on in Texas???

Did the Texas Dems flee the State again?

Funny as hell, isn't it? I love those guys.

Welcomed by Govenor Bill Richardson!

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=101416&mesg_id=101416>

do the same. Also I wish they would mount a recall election for every Republican governor in every state in the Union that is going broke because of federal mandates that are unfunded.

There ain't no Dems in Texas,
They've fled both east and west,
They've gone to Oaklahoma
To stay at Western's Best

There's no quorum in San Anton
In the Senate well
Vexing Tom Delay be-
'fore he burns in hell

Won't be no gerrymander
Stealing more seats
Cause Alamo like Democrats
Will Repubbies beat!

I personally think that they should have stayed and faught for their position. Running away is not the way to do things, especially in TX. There are also other matters that can't be takin care of because of their absence. The Republicans didn't run away when the Democrats redistricted in 1990. It's going to hurt the Democrats who want to get elected in Texas later on. I'm not trying to be a troll or anything, but thats how this Texan views it.

The Pukes were going to change the rules to circumvent the 2/3 vote that's always been required. They had no other choice.

And there's no other business waiting for them. Redistricting was the only reason this 2nd special session was called.

maybe 'faught' is technically correct, like 'takin', speaking in the vernacular.

but I guess I would expect the apostrophe on takin'

The word you were searching for is "fought". Regular redistricting takes place once a decade. The republican re-redistricting program is a gross violation of 225 years of American tradition. Depriving a majority of a quorum is a long standing parlimentary procedure to prevent such abuses.

I applaud them for their amazing courage and sacrifice in striving to deliver for their Democratic constituents ...but this kind of political warfare still makes me nervous :-( You said that depriving a majority of a quorum is a long standing procedure and I'm curious if this has happened in other states and how the state legislature navigated their way back to a working relationship later. Also, what if the right-wingers start doing the same thing to us in the states we have majorities?

You sound like you have some knowledge of the history behind this type of maneuver and I hope you can reassure me that there is no terrible downside to the tactic?

city council, school board, central committee, condominium etc. meetings where someone threatened to leave and destroy the quorum, some where it happened, some where it backfired as in the remaining people failed to make the parlimentary move of a "quorum call". It is a standard feature of all parlimentary rules to protect a minority faction. Most organizations use Robert's Rules of Order (developed in the 19th century by a retired UK general named Robert) and larger legislative bodies that meet regularly have their own published variations.

The tradition is to redistrict every 10 years in every state of the union. To do it more often is to start becoming a banana republic. The recall in California, never done before, is equally banana republic-like. The lying about the reasons for going to war in Iraq is banana republic-like. The "mob" rioting to stop the vote count in Florida in 2000 was banana republic-like. The calling all opponents un-patriotic is banana republic-like. The refusal to hold press conferences is banana republic-like. The refusal to disclose energy task force, past presidential documents a decade old is banana republic-like. The burning of a CIA agent (Amb. Wilson's wife) is banana republic-like.

This second special session was called specifically for redistricting, wasn't it? And redistricting was already done in 2001, so why shouldn't they use procedural exploits to get their way, as the Republicans are already doing? You don't think changing the quorum requirements for this session is lowball?

I have kids in TX, and they are really waking up. They don't say so in public, as the TX Republicans are not very nice. But they are seeing the truth.

It benefits no one to have a one-party system. I do believe the TX Repubs are honestly beginning to believe the Democrats don't have a right to exist....that they are illegal.

That scares me, to see the way things are becoming. You, as a Texan, will lost just as much as the rest of us if one party bullies the other. Either party.

You have not thought this through.

It just switched parties.

And the 1990 gerrymander was pretty pitiful too.

The Democratic Legislature split little Midland, the most Republican city (90,000) in the state into three congressional districts (all three Republican), not even for political advantage, but really more for just plain spite to make sure Midland would never send a Representative to Congress. When each congressional district has over 550,000 people in it, it's not easy to psplit a city of 90,000 into three districts, but through creative cartography it was done.

So now the Speaker of the Legislature, the first Republican in 130 years is from, surprise, Midland, and the Democrats don't like the way they are being treated. I bet they don't.

N/T

TX laws say the redistricting happens when the census happens. That means the 1990 redistricting was an ok thing. They are trying to do this in '03 not a census year. Is it strictly a Dem thing, no. The CA repugs have walked in the past. Like I said, just my view of TX law from out here in CA. And CA is a long way away.

...
In Albuquerque, the Democrats took an as-long-as-it-takes approach.

"Thirty days. More if it's necessary. Our commitment was 30 days," said Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, whose decision to leave town ended a perfect attendance record that began when she entered the Senate in 1987.
...
In May, 52 House Democrats road-tripped, most of them by bus, to the Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Okla., to kill House action on redistricting. True to tradition, the senators took a more upscale approach to interstate flight, traveling on two private jets and checking into a Marriott Pyramid North in Albuquerque.

The impact was the same: legislative gridlock.

In Albuquerque, Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, said he packed enough T-shirts to last awhile.

"This group is united in availing ourselves of the tool granted to us by our Texas Constitution to break a quorum of the Senate," he said. "It's not about Democrats. We think it is about democracy."

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

...
http://www.statesman.com/legislature/content/coxnet/texas/legislature/0703/0729redist.html

Do they really think they're out there? If so, who's putting up the bounty? This is so surreal...I have images of Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef riding into Albuquerque at dusk, sliding "Wanted" posters under the doors at the Holiday Inn...I mean, what with the bounty on the Husseins and displaying their corpses, this all ties in with the "Wild West" analogy we seem to have going with this regime...

That said, I love what the Texas Ds for what they're doing, and they'd be welcome here in Oregon (a bit of Texas weather here, it was 100 today in Portland).

I wish they would take separate modes of transportation...preferably on the ground.