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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.

That's correct. You have accurately stated the chronology of events.

For the record, the Democrat senators claim to be refusing their per diem at this time, although they continue to draw their rather meager salaries.

They admit that "their supporters" are helping them with their hotel bills (meaning they're getting a totally free vacation).

Yours were the first keen eyes to catch my error. I've made the necessary corrections to the article as submitted for publication, and have noted the corrections on this thread.

Thank you for saving me from a moderate case of brain freeze. The instant I read your note I slapped my forehead and said, "He's right."

Billybob