Texas House Meltdown Ends in GOP Show of Force

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-legislature/82nd-legislative-session/texas-house-meltdown-ends-in-gop-show-of-force/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=alerts&utm_campaign=News%20Alert:%20Subscriptions

A day of parliamentary chaos in the House ended with the passage of Gov. Rick Perry’s newest emergency item: a tort reform bill. And a powerful message from Republicans to Democrats: mess with us at your own peril.

With 37 members missing from the House on Saturday morning — eight of them Republicans — Democrats seized a chance to cause some procedural mischief. Only 14 of them would have to walk out to break a quorum. But after almost four hours of what one member called "parliamentary trench warfare,” that tactic backfired. When most of the Democrats walked, Republicans flipped the parliamentary tables on them, voting to suspend all debate on the contentious tort reform bill and immediately passing it.

The move was an aggressive show of the power Republicans can wield in the House with their supermajority. There are 101 Republicans and 49 Democrats in the House. Until today, though, partisan politics haven't been as overtly divisive as in the past. With such small numbers, the Democrats had little choice but to work with Republicans.

But because their numbers are so small, the Democrats' only chance to thwart or stall legislation they don't like is to use parliamentary maneuvers, pointing out technical errors in bills that set the legislation back for a few days. It's a tactic they've been relying on all session. And today Republicans' patience with the constant delays wore out.

more at site

[white cloud]

1. They own it

And the friggin 27 Billion dollar defecit.

Number 1 in prisons, Number 49th in education.

Third world state of PerryTexasMexico

[sonias]

2. They do own it

This is exactly what the tyranny of the majority looks like. And they love showing their absolute power.

They will absolutely own the budget, the budget cuts and every bad thing that happens in the next two years till the next session. Nobody to blame but the ass holes that shut out the minority party and voted everything out on pretty much strict party lines. :mad:

[hobbit709]

3. The repukes don't want to govern, they want to rule.

[w8liftinglady]

4. what will it take to reverse this in 2012? Any ideas?

[sonias]

5. Honestly we're out of good ideas

If the people of Texas think the Rs are doing a good job and vote them back in - what can be done?

They wouldn't be able to be Texas Legislative Nazis if the voters didn't give them the power. 2012 will be a little different in that it's a presidential year and more voters turn out in a presidential election than mid-terms.

But honestly where are our candidates? The voters can't vote for the opposition party if there isn't one running in the election.

It would be lovely if we had a contested presidential primary again that excited the voters like in 2008 but that's not going to happen in 2012.

Plus the other downside is that re-districting will be complete by then and the Rs at the Lege have drawn the districts to be about 75-80% republican. It the maps stand, it will be another decade of red hell in Texas. :cry:

[TxVietVet]

6. Two important points you brought up.

Does the Democratic Party have candidates? Re-districting. That means that the conservanazis want to lock in rule for at least 10 years which means they can cause more destruction. I'll have to see if the Dems are putting out any candidates here in Polk County. They decided not to have local elections for the city because there is no opposition party. One party rule. Sad, but true.

[sonias]

8. Democratic Candidates?

I have no idea. The party leadership itself is up for grabs since Boyd Richie is resigning. His replacement won't be voted on until 2012. It's up to the party leadership to recruit candidates. Other than the incumbents that won this past 2010, I have no idea if new candidates will run in those districts where the Rs ran and picked up seats. Or in heavily republican districts.

It may be too early too. Until the maps for 2012 is set, people don't even know what their district would look like.

This state is dangerously close to being a one party state. :(

[TxVietVet]

9. The conservanazis are all about 1-party rule.

They want to rule the nation that way. That was what Toxic Tom Delay was all about.

[w8liftinglady]

10. No Shit!. We SERIOUSLY have to GOTV

[sonias]

7. Great Mother's Day Fight of 2011

Texas Tribune 5/9/11
Great Mother's Day Fight of 2011

House debate hit dramatic heights on Saturday in what could go down as the Great Mother's Day Fight of 2011.

Threats of a walkout, an attempt to lock members inside the House chamber and a tossed rule book (literally) punctuated the most striking display of Republican power seen in the Legislature this session — and what many have called one of the tensest days they've ever seen in the statehouse.

The drama began Friday after Democrats — looking to run out the clock with just over three weeks left in the session — used procedural objections to derail two major pieces of Republican-backed legislation: the so-called sanctuary cities bill, which would keep cities from preventing law enforcement from enforcing federal immigration law, and a bill that would eliminate a student-teacher class-size ratio.

On Saturday, with Mother's Day looming, and 37 members missing from the House floor as lawmakers returned to debate a tort reform bill, Democrats toyed with another procedural trick: Only 14 of them would have to walk out to break the House's two-thirds quorum required for debate.

But Republicans, who vastly outnumber Democrats in the House, were fed up. Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, asked Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, for a roll call, which would lock the chamber's doors to prevent members from leaving. Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, responded by calling on state troopers to track down absent members and bring them to the chamber for the roll call. Chisum backed down, withdrawing his motion.

Way to go, Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston! :applause: