hahaha ! Poow widdo Wibs !
Posted on 05/14/2004 4:33:58 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
AUSTIN — An Austin judge acted too hastily last summer in deciding that state troopers have no authority to track down legislators absent from duty, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.
In a partial victory for the Department of Public Safety, a three-judge panel of the Third Court of Appeals returned the question to state District Judge Charles Campbell.
But the panel, headed by Chief Justice Kenneth Law, also sided with a legislator on one issue.
The panel said the lower court can consider whether the agency destroyed documents from its search for more than 50 House Democrats who fled to Oklahoma a year ago to avoid redrawing congressional districts.
A "controversy exists — whether the Department destroyed documents," the ruling states, adding that the agency's assertion that it never destroyed documents is "self-serving and remains an open fact question."
The House sergeant-at-arms requested DPS help when Democrats did not come to the House chamber May 12, 2003.
Ruling on a lawsuit challenge by Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, Campbell said state law limits the agency to public safety and crime prevention and detection.
The appeals panel said Campbell "improperly" ruled before the issue was fully aired.
Burnam and a spokeswoman for Attorney General Greg Abbott both welcomed the opportunity to return to court.
Burnam said, "It really gets down to the argument that they should not be able to use their political agenda to deny others the opportunity to express themselves politically."
--------------wselby@express-news.net Austin Bureau Chief Peggy Fikac contributed to this report.
Texas Ping!
Cowards are shot in the back.
Whoops!
hahaha ! Poow widdo Wibs !
In texas they call it varment huntin'. You don't hang'em, you pick em off when you see their beedy eyes.
ok my bad....
Better idea. Declare the positions vacant, and appoint Conservatives to take their place.
Bump
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