[Congressman Billybob]

Because this subject is heating up, again and even as we speak, I thought it appropriate to post this on FreeRepublic before it appears on either ChronWatch or UPI. FReepers deserve that courtesy, doncha know?

[BenR2]

Because this subject is heating up, again and even as we speak, I thought it appropriate to post this on FreeRepublic before it appears on either ChronWatch or UPI. FReepers deserve that courtesy, doncha know?


//////////
Thank you. You da man!

[goldstategop]

I'm not surprised. As long as the benefits of staying away from Austin - and by that I mean someone else picking up the entire tab for them - outweigh the costs to their pocketbooks, I'd be surprised if any of the Chicken D 11 returns to the State Capitol any time soon. If they start running out of money to stay in Albuquerque, that could signal the beginning of the end of what's left of the Democratic Party in Texas. This is really their Last Stand.

[Torie]

I don't think the US House is presently under the control of the trial lawyers, and the place has passed tort reform. But I could be wrong.

[CedarDave]

Nightmare scenario (for New Mexico Pubbies): The chicken D's like NM and take up permanent residence here!!

BUMP to add NM to Topics.

[deport]

Trial lawyers and the Texas Democrat Party go way back. The following is a graph from a piece by Morton Kondracke back in the 2000 Presidential campaign......

---

* Tobacco Five refers to Walter Umphrey, John O’Quinn, John Eddie Williams, Wayne Reaud, Harold Nix, their spouses and partners.
** Transfers from National Democratic Sources consist of contributions to the Texas Democratic Party from the DNC (Democratic National Committee), the DLCC (Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee), the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee), and the DSCC (Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee). In the 1998 election cycle, the Tobacco Five and other Texas Plaintiff Lawyers contributed in excess of $1.8 million to national democratic sources.

Bush's Trial with the Trial Lawyers

[Tribune7]

ping

[Tribune7]

Great article, Billybob

[GUIDO]

WOW what an editorial you have written. You must submit this to the San Antonio Express-News and I mean NOW. Yes Roddy did a great job of exposing the info that he did and I personally emailed him and the paper on a JOB WELL DONE. And then I just couldn't help but email and call VandePuete's office and remind them to read the "column of the day".

She has the nerve to call Gov. Perry a puppet when she is now being used as the puppet of the liberal left wing of her party. I take this personally because she my husband and I graduated from the same high school and know each other well, but this has just really put me off. Any coorespondence to them I have sent, I have sent to her first and have definately signed my name.

In any case this post must be passed on to others, and even more others. Thank you for it.

[Graewoulf]

Gov. Perry should fine the AWOL democrats, declare their sorry seats vacant and appoint Republicans to take the vacated seats.

Willie Nelson can serenade the AWOL democrats with the lyrics "Got along without you before I met you, gunna get along without you now."

[RichInOC]

Texans for sale or rent,
Rooms way more than fifty cents,
Satellite, heated pool, and pets...
No one here but us Democrats.
Less than two hours of turbo zoom
Buys our safe seats some breathing room
We're Texas legislators...Kings of the road.

Southwest Flight 902
Destination, ABQ
New spiffy shirts and shoes
We don't pay no union dues.
We smoke Cohibas we just "found"
Short, but pretty big around.
We're Texas legislators...Kings of the road.

We know every stew on every plane
All of their children, and all of their names.
And every party hack in every town
And every lock that's open when the Pubs ain't around...

We're just Texans for sale or rent,
Rooms way more than fifty cents,
Satellite, heated pool, even pets...
No one here but us Democrats.
Less than two hours of turbo zoom
Buys our safe seats some breathing room
We're Texas legislators...Kings of the road.

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP

[okie01]

As an aside, 58% of all Congressional ballots cast in Texas during the 2002 election were for Republicans.

However, as you note, the 58/42 margin netted only 15 seats out of 32 (47/53). Can you say "gerrymander"?

[The South Texan]

Fantastic writing!

[jf55510]

The first Special Session was brought to a screeching halt when one-third of the House (all Democrats) skedaddled off to a Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and had meals and press conferences in a nearby Denny's. Now in the second Special Session it's the Senators (all Democrats) who have gotten out of Dodge and are now located in a luxury resort in New Mexico. (They were flown there in a jet belonging to a bank, raising a federal legal problem.) The Texas Senate is still nominally in session, so the Senators are still receiving their salaries and per diem expenses in the amount of $125.

This is a good article but you have this wrong. The House Dems left during the regular session. There is a point in the session that all bills (House or Senate) must be passed out of their respective houses. If the bills are not passed out, then they are dead. This is the deadline that the House Dems used to kill redistricting the first time. In the first special sessions redisctricting was killed by the Senate Dems because they have a rule known as a blocker bill. It says that 2/3rds of all senators have to agree to bring up a bill. There were only 18 votes to bring up redistricting, you need 21. All the Dems and one republican were not going to vote to bring up the bill. So the bill was dead. Then Gov. Perry called the second special session and the Senate Rats ran.

[lowbridge]

Chicken D's Anthem
Click here or on the pic !

[Constitution Day]

Congressman Billybob's latest!
Please FRmail me if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.

[MeekOneGOP]

Excellent ! Excellent ! Excellent ! Thank you Congressman Billybob for this great article !

[To the Roger Miller tune, Trailers for sale or rent] ...

Texans for sale or rent / Having our room service sent / Lounging ‘round by the pools / Playing our whole state for fools ....

We know every lawyer in every court / And all of their partners, and all of their torts / And every hangout, in every town/ And every lock that ain't locked when no one's around ....

Texans for sale or rent ....

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas or General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[mathluv]

Excellant article - 1 correction. The House dims fled from a regular session. The Senate dims fled at the end of the first special session, and are absent from the second.

[autoresponder]

===

[hocndoc]

Good job, Billy Bob.

Just one more nit to pick - Texans don't register as Republicans or Democrats. We only make our choice public when we vote in primaries.

Here's another viewpoint - mine - on the runaways
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/959780/posts

And, here's my report on my Trip to Van De Putte,see post 2 at
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/958095/posts
Here's the link to Roddy Stinson's article on FR. And here's the link to the column:
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=1380&xlc=1039479

If you want to read Stinson's columns on line, you have to go on a treasure hunt. For some reason, he's under "Other E-N Columnists in a scroll down list on the Opinion page at the EN site.