Texas Rangers Ordered to Arrest 53 Legislators
Having narrowly won a majority of seats in Congress, the GOP is pursuing a national strategy to widen that majority. But rather than woo voters with the traditional slick advertising and empty promises, the Republican party is going to win seats by redrawing district maps in their favor. (See “gerrymandering“.)
CNN is reporting that 53 Democrats have walked out of the Texas legislature in protest of a bill that would cost them 7 House seats. Apparently this drops the legislature below the minimum number of representatives required for a vote, stalling any action.
This seemed like normal annoying political bullshit until I got to the part that mentions “News reports late Monday quoted leaders of the missing Democrats as saying they are gathered across the state line in Ardmore, Oklahoma, out of reach of Texas Rangers who have been ordered to arrest them and return them to the House chamber.” Does this peg anyone else’s surreal-o-meter? Do the state police usually get involved in Texas politics?
May 13th, 2003 at 12:27 pm
The DNC national strategy of filibustering has taken a weird twist. Rather than never finishing a debate, they never start one.
The constituents of 52 on-the-run Democrats will be heartened to know they will be well represented at the next Ardmore city council meeting.
“We’re here to let them know we support them.” — Sheriff Harvey Burkhart of Carter County, Oklahoma.
While the Texas Rangers are obeying a lawful order, Oklahoma law enforcement has chosen to become involved in Texas politics.
It looks like these Democrats are standing for their convictions in a draft-dodging kind of way.
May 13th, 2003 at 12:33 pm
The best quote about this is in the ABC coverage…
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030513_1040.html
“They’re legislative terrorists and their leaving today is a weapon of mass obstruction, blocking hundreds of pieces of legislation,” Republican Rep. Dan Branch said Monday.
May 13th, 2003 at 5:42 pm
Standing for convictions in a “dodging kind of way”… isn’t that kind of like Bush’s support for war where he went AWOL all those years back?
It would seem it doesn’t take a political pursuasion to be a coward, just poor moral character.
I don’t agree with what those slimy Texas (R)’s are doing here, but what the (D)’s are doing is NOT the correct way to deal with it.
May 13th, 2003 at 8:29 pm
I actually don’t see what the big deal is. Legislative politics is all about exploiting technicalities to achieve partisan goals and the Texas Democrats are just exploiting a rather strange enforced-quorum law in Texas. Is fillibustering any more ridiculous than this really?
And the crap about them shirking their legislative duty is pretty ridiculous. It’s just a poor attempt by the Republicans to whine their way into getting their way with this lame power grab just like either side does when the opposing party fillibusters.