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SENATE SANCTIONS TEXAS 11 WITH FINES
www.quorumreport.com ^ | 8/12/03 | Harvey (the biased) Kronberg

Posted on 08/12/2003 4:27:21 PM PDT by harpu

After hours of backroom meetings, seventeen Senators convened to sanction their eleven colleagues in New Mexico. Senator Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) introduced a resolution imposing fines to be paid out of private funds beginning August 14. The fines would begin at $1,000 a day and double per day up to $5,000 per day until the end of the second called-session.

After parliamentary inquiry by Senator Ken Armbrister (D-Victoria), Nelson moved adoption. Although there were no apparent objections, the record shows that Armbrister voted no.

The Senate acted upon a letter from Attorney General Greg Abbott concurring with an internal memo prepared by attorney Spencer Reid. The memo quotes the Constitution saying that remaining members can compel attendance "under such penalties as each House may provide."


TOPICS: Government; Politics/Elections; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: chickends; redistricting
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1 posted on 08/12/2003 4:27:21 PM PDT by harpu
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To: harpu
Oh hell. Big whoop. These creeps will pay using someone else's money - they are democrats, after all.
2 posted on 08/12/2003 4:29:13 PM PDT by Chad Fairbanks (The wages of sin are death, but by the time FICA and SSI are taken, it's just sorta tired feeling)
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To: harpu
Thank Goodness.. they are elected to serve the will of he people and the will of the people can not be served , if they continually try to usurp the process.
3 posted on 08/12/2003 4:30:08 PM PDT by AmericanMade1776
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To: Chad Fairbanks
"Oh hell. Big whoop. These creeps will pay using someone else's money - they are democrats, after all."

LOL no, this is going to hurt them.
4 posted on 08/12/2003 4:30:17 PM PDT by Those_Crazy_Liberals (Ronaldus Magnus he's our man . . . If he can't do it, no one can.)
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To: Dog Gone
Which two Republicans didn't show? Do you know...
5 posted on 08/12/2003 4:32:50 PM PDT by deport
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To: anymouse
Ping for you to take your Senators back to TX. They are corrupting NM. lol
6 posted on 08/12/2003 4:33:40 PM PDT by sugar_puddin (That*s my story and I*m stickin* to it.)
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To: Those_Crazy_Liberals
I hope so ;0)
7 posted on 08/12/2003 4:33:43 PM PDT by Chad Fairbanks (The wages of sin are death, but by the time FICA and SSI are taken, it's just sorta tired feeling)
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To: Chad Fairbanks
These creeps will pay using someone else's money - they are democrats, after all.

Only after they have fought the fines through the courts for 5 to 10 years and the liberal Texas Supreme Court has ruled the Constitution un-Constitutional.

8 posted on 08/12/2003 4:34:35 PM PDT by Pontiac
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To: Chad Fairbanks
If it costs them more money than they're paid, they're going to be hurting. Most of them have day jobs right? Keep 'em out of the state and make their kids go hungry.
9 posted on 08/12/2003 4:34:54 PM PDT by Those_Crazy_Liberals (Ronaldus Magnus he's our man . . . If he can't do it, no one can.)
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To: harpu
Sanctioned by their own? It's more than I expected, so GOOD!
10 posted on 08/12/2003 4:35:44 PM PDT by Libertina
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To: Those_Crazy_Liberals; Pontiac
This is gonna be fun to watch... ;0-)
11 posted on 08/12/2003 4:37:08 PM PDT by Chad Fairbanks (The wages of sin are death, but by the time FICA and SSI are taken, it's just sorta tired feeling)
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To: deport; Dog Gone; MeeknMing

Senate votes to fine boycotting Democrats

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Senate Republicans on Tuesday voted to begin assessing fines against their boycotting colleagues on Wednesday.

The fine, formally proposed by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, would begin at $1,000 at 4 p.m. Wednesday. It would double to $2,000 on Thursday; $4,000 on Friday and then hit a cap of $5,000 a day as long as the boycotting members did not come back. The order specifies that money must come from their personal funds, not their campaign coffers.

Sen. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, raised one question about whether the fines could be imposed without a quorum of the Senate present to consider them. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said they could be assessed and then, noting no objections, pronounced the fines approved.

Armbrister later said he voted no.

Senators at the Capitol met for more than three hours Tuesday to decide whether to impose fines on their boycotting colleagues. Several senators at the Capitol expressed concern about the idea before entering the meeting on the subject at 1 p.m.

According to the Constitution, the House and Senate can compel absent members to attend sessions "under such penalties as each House may provide."

Senate rules, however, don't mention fines and boycotting senators have said they don't believe fines can be assessed without such a rule. At a press conference Tuesday, some of the senators indicated they would not pay any fines.

Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, called the proposed fine a poll tax.

"I won't pay it," he said.

Sens. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and John Whitmire, D-Houston, said they were frustrated that after the Democrats have spent three weeks in New Mexico, Republicans still view their absence as a publicity stunt.

"They just don't get it. ... We're here out of conviction and we're not going to yield" to a redistricting that would disenfranchise the Democrats' constituents, Whitmire said.

Eleven of the Senate's 12 Democrats left the state on July 28 to block consideration of a congressional redistricting plan. The constitution requires 21 of the 31 members to be present for work to proceed.

House Democrats blocked the issue of congressional redistricting during the regular legislative session by boycotting in Oklahoma for four days.

Senate Democrats — along with Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mt. Pleasant — blocked a redistricting plan in the first special session by denying it the 21 votes traditionally needed in the Senate for a bill to be considered for passage.

Before the start of the second special session, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he would not maintain the tradition, noting that it had been set aside in previous redistricting sessions.

Dewhurst on Monday said senators attending the session would consider "appropriate measures against absent members." That came after the Supreme Court of Texas rejected a request by Dewhurst and Gov. Rick Perry to order the boycotting Democrats to return to the Capitol.

A similar request is pending before a Travis County district judge, who's also considering a lawsuit filed against Dewhurst by the boycotting Democrats.

Republicans are trying to overturn a 17-15 Democratic edge in the state's congressional delegation by redrawing boundaries for the congressional districts. They say the current map was based on maps drawn to give Democrats an advantage. A handful of the current districts, however, have Republican majorities but have re-elected incumbent Democrats.

This article contains material from wire services.



12 posted on 08/12/2003 4:37:47 PM PDT by deport
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To: harpu
So they've got a quorum to sanction their colleagues, but not a quorum to pass redistricting?
13 posted on 08/12/2003 4:38:01 PM PDT by squidly
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To: deport
Well, you have to assume that Ratliffe was one of them, but I don't even know that for a fact.

Great move by the Republicans! Let's see the Democrats ask the Texas Supreme Court to intervene!

14 posted on 08/12/2003 4:39:37 PM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: harpu
I encourage everyone to click on your link for Abbott's letter.
15 posted on 08/12/2003 4:44:02 PM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: deport
Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, called the proposed fine a poll tax.
"I won't pay it," he said.
It's the opposite, Rodney. It's money that you're going to have to pay for your REFUSAL to show up to vote, not money you pay IN ORDER TO BE ALLOWED to vote. Only the latter is a poll tax.
16 posted on 08/12/2003 4:45:03 PM PDT by pogo101
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To: squidly
Redistricting requires a quorum. Levying fines on attendance does not require a quorum.
17 posted on 08/12/2003 4:47:04 PM PDT by Bogey78O (The Clinton's have pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured/killed -Peach)
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To: pogo101
Exactly. The Democrats don't even how to do basic math. And they can't pay this one out of their campaign funds; it comes out of their personal funds. Hehehehe
18 posted on 08/12/2003 4:48:22 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: deport
The order specifies that money must come from their personal funds, not their campaign coffers.

Nice touch.

19 posted on 08/12/2003 4:48:41 PM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: goldstategop
This makes it really personal for the Chickens. Their lawyers will try to assure them, but every single one of them will go to bed tonight worrying their ass off.
20 posted on 08/12/2003 4:50:18 PM PDT by Dog Gone
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