Posted on 08/15/2003 11:10:43 AM PDT by Dog Gone
A majority of the Senate's Republican members voted today to take away privileges, such as Capitol parking and meeting space, from their boycotting Democratic colleagues if the 11 Democrats in New Mexico don't return and pay fines assessed against them for leaving the state.
Senate Republicans approved the fines earlier this week, and the boycotting Democrats immediately said they will never pay them.
If the Democrats continue their boycott to Aug. 26, the end of the second special session, each would owe $57,000. Senate Republicans said the fines must be paid from personal funds. The additional penalties will begin at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday if the fines aren't paid by then.
"We don't want to penalize our colleagues," said Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound. "We want them to come back."
Along with cutting off Capitol parking and meeting space, the Senate Republicans said if the fines are not paid, the absent Democrats' staff would lose parking and access to the Senate floor. The Republicans also voted to eliminate all purchasing, travel, subscriptions, printing and cell phones for the absent Democrats and to limit their postage for constituent communication to $200 a month.
Not all of the penalties were unanimously agreed upon. Sens. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, and Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth, voted against barring the staff from parking on Capitol grounds, saying that would affect constituent services. Armbrister also voted against the overall set of penalties. He's the only Senate Democrat who did not leave the state.
Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, urged that the staff parking be eliminated because he was concerned that the absent senators would take over that parking when they return.
Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, did not attend the session.
After the senators agreed to assess the additional penalties, several gave speeches about why they did it.
Wentworth said the issue is no longer about redistricting, but about whether the Senate majority can govern.
He said he worried that in the future, 11 senators could stop important business just by fleeing the state. He said the demands from the 11 Senate Democrats in New Mexico are unacceptable.
The Democrats left the state July 28 to block the Senate from considering a plan to redraw boundaries for Texas' 32 congressional districts. It takes 21 of the 31 members to conduct business in the Senate.
Democrats hold a 17-15 majority in the Texas congressional delegation, and Republicans want to overcome that. They say current districts were based on maps drawn to benefit Democrats. About six of the current districts have a majority of Republican voters but re-elected long-time incumbent Democrats in the 2002 elections.
Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott has said the current boundaries are legal and can stay until after the 2010 Census.
How cruel can you get?! I mean, this is worse than rounding them up and beating the snot out of them and then tarring and feathering them and force them to walk to Mexico where the SOB's belong!...ya think?
FMCDH
Here is what the Attorney General said.
The Texas Legislature is constitutionally responsible for apportioning the State into congressional districts. Neither the Texas Legislature nor a Texas state court, however, approved a valid plan for redrawing the state's congressional districts. The federal court in Balderas v. Texas, No. 6:01-CV-158, slip op. (E.D. Tex. Nov. 14, 2002), aff'd mem., 122 S. Ct. 2583 (2002), created a new congressional redistricting plan for Texas without having a baseline state plan before it.
The United States Constitution entrusts the task of drawing congressional boundaries to the State, but there exists no mechanism to force compliance with this constitutional responsibility. The Texas Legislature has present authority to adopt a congressional redistricting plan based on the 2000 census. Unless and until the legislature adopts such a plan, the map drawn in 2002 by the three-judge court in Balderas v. Texas will continue to be the congressional redistricting plan for Texas.
Any chance you are the Bankston who writes for one of the Ft Bend papers?
That's a remarkably silly claim, but it's all that they have.
Better known as The Austin Un-American Liberal Statesman
I kind of like the way the pubbies are slowly tightening the screws. It's sort of like watching someone you hate get tortured.
Not so, but bear in mind this is the Statesman, a largely liberal paper. The reporter asked a question like, "Well, isn't it true that the current boundaries are legal???" "Well, yes, but you see --" "Thank you, Mr. Attorney General, bye! *click*"Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott has said the current boundaries are legal and can stay until after the 2010 Census.Looks like the Texas AG is not supporting his own party on this one.
Those include denying floor and voting privileges to the senators, denying requests to renew offices in the senators' home districts, closing down the district and Capitol offices and cutting off office phones, staff salaries and computer access.
Garnish their pay and give the money to charity.
My guess is that the fines will never be collected. When the Rats finally surrender, they'll probably be repealed. But maybe not.
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