HoustonChronicle.com - Texas Democrats bolt again -- this time to Albuquerque

Texas Dems At It Again

Here we go again. The Texas Dems are running away from a taste of their own medicine. For over a hundred years the Dems held the Texas House and Senate. They redrew the state's districts as they saw fit every ten years during that period. Not ONCE did the Reps run away to avoid the consequences of being in the minority in the congress. Not ONCE. Now the Dems have done it twice in a single year.

Texas Democrats bolt again -- this time to Albuquerque

'This is not an action that we take lightly. There are not many issues that would rise to this kind of action,' said Leticia Van de Putte, chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.

Standing in front of a Texas flag, Van de Putte said more than 1.4 million minorities in her state would lose effective congressional representation if the Republicans redistrict according to their wishes.

New Mexico state police guarded the hotel, partly out of concern that 'bounty hunters' might show up to whisk the lawmakers away.

'There was some concern that our (Republican) leaders would attempt to use off-duty officers, security guards, bounty hunters' to forcibly bring the lawmakers back to Texas, said Sen. John Whitmire.

Asked how long the group might stay in New Mexico, Sen. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo said: 'Thirty days. More if it's necessary. Our commitment was 30 days.'

The Senate requires two-thirds, or 21 senators, to be present to conduct business, meaning the absence of 11 senators breaks a quorum. The senator said the action was precipitated by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's decision to bypass a traditional Senate rule that requires a two-thirds vote to debate any bill.

Actually, this last statement is false. There is no RULE which requires a 2/3 vote to consider a bill. Here's how it works:

At the beginning of each session of the Texas Senate, they start, by tradition not rule, with what it called a "Blocker Bill." This bill requires a 2/3/ vote to be set aside. Since all bills are brought up in order and the "Blocker Bill" is always first, nothing else is ever considered unless and until the BB has been voted upon to be set aside.

After the BB has been set aside, any bill brought up needs only the normal 50%+ to pass. Thus the 2/3 ruse is an out and out lie the Dems are using to fool the public.

What Dewhurst is saying he will do is remove the traditional but not mandatory BB from the session and thus allow the Redistricting Bill to come up for immediate up or down vote.

The reason that the 11 Dems who left are being successful in preventing this is that, while the 2/3 vote to put aside the BB would be vacated, the 2/3 of all senators must be present to form a quorum rule would still be in effect.