Chicken D's - DAY 2 - Quorum Breaking Texas House Democrats (Combined Thread)

13 May 2003

[Stultis]

A place to discuss the Texas Rats' latest "pissin' on the rule of law" tantrum, link relevant FR threads, or post articles that might not quite warrant an independent thread.

Here's some recent news.google offerings, which may or may not be posted on FR yet:

Rebel Democrats want redistricting dropped
United Press International - 35 minutes ago
ARDMORE, Okla., May 13 (UPI) -- Rebel Democrats refused Tuesday to return to the Texas House unless Republican leaders drop a congressional redistricting bill backed by US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
While others fled, these 4 Democrats stayed behind Austin American Statesman
Over 50 Texas Democrats Remain on the Lam ABC News
FOX News - San Jose Mercury News - CNN - San Antonio Express

Post-walkout ramifications
News 8 Austin, TX - 3 hours ago
Tuesday’s walkout of 53 Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives
may not only impact legislation during this session, but could also affect ...

Miller offers 17th District map revision
Stephenville Empire Tribune, TX - 4 hours ago
By MIKE COGGINS. While Democrats were boycotting the Texas House
of Representatives on Monday, state Representative Sid Miller (R ...

'Dirty D's' head north of Red River
Paris News, TX - 4 hours ago
State Rep. Mark Homer, D-Paris, was among more than 50 Texas Democrats,
dubbed the “Dirty Ds,” found late Monday in Oklahoma ...

Deshotel gone, Hamilton stays and gets locked inside
Orange Leader, TX - 6 hours ago
State Rep. Mike Hamiliton was locked in a room Monday, guarded by Texas
Rangers and eating cold sandwiches for lunch. The Republican ...

House Demos go AWOL in war over budget, redistricting
El Paso Times, TX - 14 hours ago
With Republicans holding 19 of the 31 Senate seats and 88 of the 150 House
seats, some Texans think Democrats are an endangered species, anyway. ...

Eiland: Redistricting plan has to go
Galveston County Daily News, TX - 16 hours ago
State Rep. Craig Eiland, a Galveston Democrat, was in another state
Monday night and vowed not to return to the Texas Capitol until ...

Democrats Walk Out On Texas House Legislative Session
KCBD-TV, TX - 21 hours ago
On Monday nearly 60 House Democrats refused to show up for the Legislative
Session. The Democratic walk out delayed debate on a ...

Battle lines form over redistricting
Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX - May 11, 2003
By Jay Root and Maria Recio. Republicans say they just want representatives
in Congress who reflect the changed political landscape in Texas. ...

While others fled, these 4 Democrats stayed behind
Austin American Statesman, TX - 29 minutes ago
Rep. Chente Quintinalla is handed a "wanted" flier at the Holiday Inn in Ardmore,
Okla. on Tuesday. The flier said "WANTED for representing the people." Photos. ...

Rebel Democrats want redistricting dropped
United Press International - 47 minutes ago
ARDMORE, Okla., May 13 (UPI) -- Rebel Democrats refused Tuesday to return to the
Texas House unless Republican leaders drop a congressional redistricting bill ...

Democrats flee Texas, freeze legislature
San Jose Mercury News, CA - 2 hours ago
By APRIL CASTRO. AUSTIN, Texas - Rebellious Democrats who fled the state
Capitol spent a second day in Oklahoma on Tuesday and criticized ...

Over 50 Texas Democrats Remain on the Lam
ABC News - 3 hours ago
Three Democrats returned to the Capitol on Tuesday, but more than 50 remained on
the lam in Oklahoma, frustrating Republican efforts to push through a plan to ...

Texas Trooper Arrests Absent House Democrat
FOX News - 5 hours ago
AUSTIN — A state trooper has arrested a missing Texas House Democrat
and returned her to the Capitol. News Eight Austin reports ...

Missing Democrats stall House for 2nd day
Austin American Statesman, TX - 5 hours ago
The House of Representatives convened at 9 am Tuesday, but for the second day could
not conduct business because more than 50 Democrats remained in Oklahoma to ...

Far too far
Working for Change, CA - 6 hours ago
AUSTIN, Texas -- They just went too far, that's all. This session
of the legislature has been as brutal, callous and indifferent ...

Democrat politicians flee Texas in row with Republicans
Ananova, UK - 7 hours ago
Democrat politicians in Texas have gone into hiding in neighbouring Oklahoma
to try and outfox rival Republicans. The ruling Republican ...

DEMOCRATS GONE BY SUNRISE
San Francisco Chronicle, CA - 11 hours ago
Austin, Texas -- Moving with exceptional stealth and tactical coordination, more
than 50 Democratic state lawmakers in Texas packed their bags and quietly ...

Troopers Sent To Find Texas Dems In Okla.
Guardian, UK - 11 hours ago
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - State troopers found Democratic lawmakers in Oklahoma after
they brought the Texas House to a standstill by going into hiding, but the ...

Texas police seek arrest of absent lawmakers
Boston Globe, MA - 12 hours ago
By Connie Mabin, Associated Press, 5/13/2003. USTIN, Texas -- Troopers
and the elite Texas Rangers were ordered to track down and ...

'Amber Alert' issued -- for on-the-run Texas lawmakers
CNN - 13 hours ago
State Rep. Martha Wong, R-Houston, bows her head during the invocation, surrounded
by empty desks on the House floor of the Capitol in Austin on Monday. ...

Troopers on lawmakers' trail; lawyers on hunt for warrants
Austin American Statesman, TX - 16 hours ago
Reps. Toby Goodman, R-Arlington, top, and Wayne Smith, R-Baytown, make calls from
the Capitol on Monday as a Democratic boycott stopped business in the House. ...

Texas Democrats skip town for Oklahoma amid tension with GOP-led ...
San Francisco Chronicle, CA - 17 hours ago
Democrats angry with the new Republican leadership of the Texas House brought the
chamber to a standstill Monday by skipping town and heading across the state ...

Some rebel Texas lawmakers
Houston Chronicle, TX - 17 hours ago
By RG RATCLIFFE and POLLY ROSS HUGHES. AUSTIN -- A group of Democratic
lawmakers who threw the Legislature into turmoil when they ...

At least 35 lawmakers in Oklahoma
Dallas Morning News (subscription), TX - 18 hours ago
By PETE SLOVER / The Dallas Morning News. AUSTIN – They're the Filthy
Fifty, the Fire Ants, or, collectively, Waldo – as in the ...

Boo Hoo Flu drives out Democrats
Austin American Statesman, TX - 18 hours ago
Let's see. In 1979, when 12 unhappy state senators boycotted work at
the Capitol and hid out in a West Austin garage apartment, they ...

Democrats disappear from House
Dallas Morning News (subscription), TX - 19 hours ago
AUSTIN – State troopers mounted a multistate search Monday for 53 Democratic
state representatives, who stole away in the last day or so to undisclosed ...

Police Hunt Hiding Texas Democratic Legislators
Reuters, UK - 22 hours ago
By Jim Forsyth. AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - State police were sent out
on Monday to arrest 59 Texas Democratic state representatives ...

What they're saying about Democrats' walkout
Houston Chronicle, TX - May 12, 2003
"We did not choose our path, Tom DeLay did. We are ready to stand on
the House floor and work day and night to deal with real issues ...

Angry Democrats boycott Texas House
United Press International - May 12, 2003
AUSTIN, Texas, May 12 (UPI) -- Fifty-two angry Democrats refused to show up Monday
in the Texas House, stalling action on a congressional redistricting bill ...

Texas Democrats stage legislative rebellion
USA Today - May 12, 2003
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democrats angry with the new Republican leadership of the
Texas House brought the chamber to a standstill by failing to show up Monday. ...

House walkout reverberates in Washington
Dallas Morning News (subscription), TX - May 12, 2003
WASHINGTON - A walkout by state House Democrats on Monday will backfire as important
pending legislation begins dying, according to an aide to US House ...

Democrats in GOP-dominated Texas House stage mass absence to ...
San Francisco Chronicle, CA - May 12, 2003
Almost all of the Democratic members of the state House failed to show up Monday
morning, preventing the GOP-dominated body from convening because of a lack of ...

Walkout by Democrats halts work at Texas House
Houston Chronicle, TX - May 12, 2003
AUSTIN - Less than 30 minutes before the Texas House was due to convene today ,
the letters of 52 Democrats -- enough to break the quorum needed to business ...

House Democrats break quorum
Austin American Statesman, TX - May 12, 2003
By Ken Herman. The Texas House ground to a halt Monday as 53 Democratic
members, scheming to block a planned vote on a congressional ...

Report: Texas House Democrats plan to break quorum
Dallas Morning News (subscription), TX - May 12, 2003
AUSTIN - Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick alerted the Texas Department of Public
Safety on Monday that a group of Democratic state lawmakers may be absent ...

Snag stops reorganization bill
Dallas Morning News (subscription), TX - May 11, 2003
AUSTIN – A bill backed by House leaders to overhaul state government – and help
raise the additional money needed to fund their proposed new state budget ...

GOP would redraw districts in 2 states
Boston Globe, MA - May 11, 2003
By David Espo, Associated Press, 5/11/2003. ASHINGTON -- Over the vehement
protests of Democrats, Republicans are trying to use newly ...

NEW: 3 Demos who didn’t flee state are back in House; quorum ...
San Antonio Express, TX - 4 hours ago
By Peggy Fikac and Guillermo X. Garcia. AUSTIN — Three more Democrats
were in the Texas House today — one driven by a state trooper ...

Response to House Demos ’ tactic runs along party lines
Stephenville Empire Tribune, TX - 4 hours ago
By GENE DEASON. Reaction ran along party lines after Democratic Party
members of the Texas House of Representatives failed to take ...

The GOP's Re-Redistricting Scheme
NDOL.org - 6 hours ago
Angered by Republican steamroller tactics, Democratic members of the Texas House
of Representatives made headlines all over the country this week by literally ...

Fleeing Texas Democrats Found in Oklahoma Motel, Paper Says
Bloomberg - 8 hours ago
By Darrell Preston. Austin, Texas, May 13 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic lawmakers
who fled the Texas Capitol to block a vote on a redistricting ...

Missing lawmakers found . . .
News 9 San Antonio, TX - 8 hours ago
AUSTIN -- Missing House Democrats plan to hold a news conference today in Oklahoma
where they've been hiding out, stalling the legislative process back in Texas ...

Texas House roiled by truant Democrats
The Hill, DC - 10 hours ago
By Sam Dealey. The doors to the Texas House of Representatives in Austin
were locked Monday and law enforcement officers were dispatched ...

Texas Lawmakers Stalling Legislative Process
Channel4000.com, MN - 10 hours ago
AUSTIN, Texas -- Members of the Texas House are due back to work Tuesday morning
but they might not have anything to do -- dozens of Democratic lawmakers who ...

Redistricting fight closes Texas Legislature
Oakland Tribune, CA - 10 hours ago
By Jay Root and Karen Brooks. AUSTIN, Texas -- A group of renegade
Democrats, furious over efforts to flush their fellow partisans ...

Demos run from House
Corpus Christi Caller Times, TX - 10 hours ago
By Ty Meighan and Monica Wolfson Scripps Howard Austin Bureau. AUSTIN
- Democrats angry with the new Republican leadership of the ...

Walkout at a glance
San Antonio Express, TX - 14 hours ago
More than 50 House Democrats fail to show up for work Monday, denying the 150-member
chamber a quorum and keeping it from conducting legislative business. ...

Texas Dems hide out to avoid vote
Rocky Mountain News, CO - 14 hours ago
By Staff And Wire Reports. More than 50 Texas Democrats - dubbed
the Killer D's by some after the 1970s-era Killer Bees who shut ...

Boycott by Killer D's stings Texas House
Baltimore Sun, MD - 14 hours ago
AUSTIN, Texas - A group of renegade Democrats, furious over efforts to flush fellow
partisans from Congress, are on the run after staging a big boycott of the ...

4 El Paso-area legislators join House walkout
El Paso Times, TX - 14 hours ago
Two members of the Texas House of Representatives talked on the phone
Monday on the House floor surrounded by empty desks during session. ...

Walkout shuts down all business
San Antonio Express, TX - 16 hours ago
By Guillermo X. Garcia. AUSTIN — A statewide manhunt was ordered
Monday for 53 rebellious Democratic lawmakers who vanished Sunday ...

Hunt is on for Texas Democrats
Richmond Times Dispatch, VA - 16 hours ago
AUSTIN, Texas - State troopers and the elite Texas Rangers were ordered to track
down and bring in 59 Democratic lawmakers who brought the Texas House to a ...

Texas House Democrats Break Quorum By No-Show
KXTS-TV, TX - May 12, 2003
53 House Democrats have kept the House Legislature from conducting any business
after sending a letter to the House Parliamentarian excusing themselves from ...

[CPT Clay]

I was just thinking about all the B.s. the dems have pulled in the last 2.5 years.
The attempt to steal the presidential election.
Torrecelli
Wellstone
Red Earth Johnson
the fillibustered judges


The dems are desperate!!

[Torie]

My guess is that these antics might be more popular in Texas polls than you think. Don't Texans like rebels?

[deport]

To some degree you are correct . They are mostly in safe districts so they won't pay a price at the election booth. The dems lost 16 seats in the State House redistricting last time around and they haven't gotten used to not being in charge. At 88 to 62 it is a large deficit for them to adjust to.

[Tex_GOP_Cruz]

Someone help me out here. I'm trying to account for all the Democrats. There are 62 Dems in the House. Three of them (Ron Wilson, Vilma Luna, and Roberto Gutierrez) showed up yesterday morning, then Sylvester Turner showed up yesterday night. That made 58 missing. Three more turned up today, Harold Dutton, Jr., Al Edwards, and the DPS-escorted Helen Giddings. That made 55. Three did not submit a letter but are known to be at large: Norma Chavez, Kino Flores, and Glenn Lewis; none of these is in Ardmore. That leaves 52. Several news outlets are reporting that there are 51 in Ardmore and that number is the same as the roll call taken yesterday, but I have not seen a list of those 51. Who is the 52nd Dem? He or she would be on the list of the 55 but not on any list that may exist of the 51.

This is a list of the 55 missing as of Tuesday evening (the 52 plus the three):
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory2/1906237

[PeaceBeWithYou]

I think I see what you are getting at.

...in such manner and under such penalties as each House may provide.

That's an interesting phrase, huh?

Let's deconstruct it to see what it pertains to.

QUORUM-Two-thirds of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business.

ADJOURNMENTS FROM DAY TO DAY-but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day.

COMPELLING ATTENDANCE-and compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each House may provide.

The question is: Is there a current law or rule that lays out the penalties for willful non-attendance or is that left up to those left in attendance to set?

The "may provide" seems indicative of the later.

[MeekOneGOP]

Tis done. You're off now.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Ahh the specific rules, thanks deport.

Notice the uses of may and shall which I have bolded.

Securing A Quorum — When a call of the house is moved for one of the above purposes and seconded by 15 members (of whom the speaker may be one) and ordered by a majority vote, the main entrance to the hall and all other doors leading out of the hall shall be locked and no member permitted to leave the house without the written permission of the speaker. The names of members present shall be recorded. All absentees for whom no sufficient excuse is made may, by order of a majority of those present, be sent for and arrested, wherever they may be found, by the sergeant-at-arms or an officer appointed by the sergeant-at-arms for that purpose, and their attendance shall be secured and retained. The house shall determine on what conditions they shall be discharged. Members who voluntarily appear shall, unless the house otherwise directs, be immediately admitted to the hall of the house and shall report their names to the clerk to be entered in the journal as present. Until a quorum appears, should the roll call fail to show one present, no business shall be transacted, except to compel the attendance of absent members or to adjourn. It shall not be in order to recess under a call of the house.

Anything jump out at you in there?

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks ! Worth repeating !!! . . .

If you know the whereabouts of a Texas legislator, PLEASE CALL THE DPS at

1-800-525-5555

Damn! It's a regular dragnet!

[PeaceBeWithYou]

I see another interesting clause(underlined).

Members who voluntarily appear shall, unless the house otherwise directs, be immediately admitted to the hall of the house and shall report their names to the clerk to be entered in the journal as present.

It would seem to me that the remainder is to determine the non-attender's fate.

Also, does discharged mean removed from the House, as in fired, or does it mean discharged from the arrest?

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Ardmore, OK area under Severe Thunderstorm Advisory thru the early morning hours.

REGIONAL WEATHER DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK

100 AM CDT WED MAY 14 2003

.NOW...
AT 330 AM...RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS STRETCHING FROM AROUND VICI SOUTHEASTWARD TO NEAR MARIETTA. THE STRONGEST STORMS...CAPABLE OF PRODUCING GOLFBALL TO LARGER THAN BASEBALL SIZE HAIL...WERE IN THE AREA FROM NEAR BINGER TO NEAR ARDMORE. THE STORMS WERE DEVELOPING IN AN AREA OF WARM AIR ADVECTION ON THE EDGE OF A STRONGER CAPPING INVERSION ACROSS WEST TEXAS INTO SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA. THIS ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST AND SOUTHEAST INTO CENTRAL SECTIONS OF OKLAHOMA OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS. OTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP IN NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA.

THE LOW LEVEL JET IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN STRONG INTO THE EARLY MORNING HOURS ACROSS WEST TEXAS INTO OKLAHOMA. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT IS LIKELY AS THE LOW LEVEL JET CONTINUES TO LIFT INCREASING AMOUNTS OF MOIST UNSTABLE AIR NORTHWARD OVER A WARM FRONT SITUATED NEAR THE RED RIVER. THE THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE SLOWLY TO THE EAST AND SOUTHEAST EARLY THIS MORNING. DUE TO THE VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS...VERY LARGE HAIL CAN BE EXPECTED. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN IS LIKELY AS THE STORMS WILL TEND TO MOVE OVER THE SAME AREAS REPEATEDLY.

[Pippin]

Howdy, Meekie!

I was watching FOX news and heard someone who was being interviewed about those cowardly demo's that what they did was heroic. That we need more "heroes" like them. The I heard that Gov. Perry ordered the Rangers to go and get the truants hiding out in Oklahoma. But the Governor of Oklahoma (who is a democrat) is protecting the cowards as the TR's have no jourisditcion in Oklahoma. What is the law, these guys are violating the oath they took upon taking thier offices. They should be rounded up and delt with like the cowards and criminals they are acting like. Don't they care about thier constituants?

BTW I don't look on these demos as heroes!

They are cowards and crybabies (are you sure they're Texans?)

[BellStar]

Popular House Bill that would have stopped the practice of Home Owners Associations banning Flagpoles and other flag displays from Yards will now die if the walkout that has become an embarrassing national news story about Texas Democrats partisan walkout, including Galveston counties own Rep. Craig Eiland, continues.

House Bill 1279
By Zedler, Howard
Reads in part :Some Home Owners Associations have banned flagpoles and other flag displays from the yards of homes under their jurisdiction. This bill says that homeowners associations cannot keep someone from flying the flag.

I am one who’s Home Owners Association, The Kemah Oaks HOA, did come after for my now infamous “Flagpoles”. I was seriously counting on this legislation to aid me in my fight. Small children in my subdivision now call me the “Flag Lady” after the story of my “Flag Flap” appeared on television stations and in Texas and national news papers in April. What do I tell them? I will tell them some of us don’t run and hide when we don’t get our way unlike the cowardly Texas Legislators now hiding out in Oklahoma.

BellStar
"The Flag Lady"

[mathluv]

(are you sure they're Texans?)

They are dims first, evidently.

[Bigun]

That is certianly the way I read it.

Thanks!

[Bigun]

And that seems to disagree with my earlier reading EXCEPT that it contains the phrases you have noted.

VERY interesting isn't it?

[Pippin]

LOL!

I guess so!

[Redleg Duke]

"So ... the repub Gov sent the Texas Rangers to get the lawbreakers ...

But ... the DEMOCRAT Gov of OK, said the TX Rangers don't have any authority in OK."

Is it just me, or is the RAT Party attempting a coup? This has all the earmarks of a rebellion. If this spreads, the RAT Party could be designated a terrorist cult.

[Republican Wildcat]

Every Democrat so far on the floor of the U.S. House today have used their 1 minute speeches to praise the Texas House Democrats as "heros."

[Gopher Broke]

Texas Freepers...click HERE to see a website listing the newspapers in Texas...then send each a LETTER TO THE EDITOR highlighting the cowardly action of the Texas Democrats.

[MeekOneGOP]

Well, the Rangers don't have jurisdiction in Oklahoma and the 'RATS in Oklahoma are protecting them. I don't think there is any recourse in the Texas law except to round them up (arrest them) and take them to the Texas Legislature. They holed up in Oklahoma because they knew they could escape being arrested there.

Don't they care about thier constituants?

Constituents React (To Texas' Runaway Rats)