Texas Democraps did it again!

[1952Sniper]

Remember a few months ago when all the Texas Democrats fled to Ardmore Oklahoma to avoid a Republican push for redistricting? Well, their plan worked. They couldn't win the vote, so they walked out and denied the Republicans the chance to do anything, since they couldn't even get a quorum. The regular legislative session ended with no action on redistricting.

Well, our Governor called a special session to look at it one more time. The Democrats hemmed and hawed and stalled and did everything they could to avoid the issue, and the special session ended with still no action.

So the Governor called a second special session. Wanna guess where our Democrats are now? Albuquerque, New Mexico. How many times are these people going to flee the state instead of doing their job? If my boss told me to do something and I left work instead, I'd be fired!

The issue at hand is that Democrats have a disproportionate number of Representatives in Washington. The lines need to be redrawn to accurately reflect the ratio of Republicans to Democrats. Understandably, the Democrats don't want to give up those seats that they have right now, even though they don't deserve them. I've never seen such a bunch of whiners in my whole life. It's disgusting. I'd still like to see them all dragged back to Texas in leg irons, and then handcuffed to their seats in the Texas Legislature.

[ruffitt]

Hey 1952Sniper -

Here's a novel idea for you. Contact your State Attorney General and tell him that if he, as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the State, does not have these dissidents arrested for their unlawful actions, a petition will be started to have him recalled from office for dereliction of duty.

In fact, a better plan yet would be to actually start a recall petition that could only be stopped by his taking action to have these miscreants arrested. If they don't get arrested, he gets recalled.

I'm sure a few well written words to a few of the editors of major newspapers in the area, as well as a few choice words going out over the airwaves would have a snowball effect and get this thing rolling real quickly.

[1952Sniper]

I would love to get the authorities involved and have them arrested. But apparently they aren't doing anything illegal.

In fact, last time this happened, the Republicans had State Troopers out looking for them. They even somehow got the Homeland Security Department involved. And the Democrats threw a wall-eyed fit over it. Apparently it's OK for them to leave the state in order to avoid doing their jobs, but it's not OK for the rest of us to use the means at our disposal to bring them back.

I think the recall petitions would be a good idea for those Democrats. Unfortunately, the districts that they represent are mostly supportive of them, and would not vote to recall them.

the Democrats don't want to give up those seats that they have right now, even though they don't deserve them.

Unfortunately, the districts that they represent are mostly supportive of them, and would not vote to recall them.

I would love to get the authorities involved and have them arrested. But apparently they aren't doing anything illegal.

It's disgusting and no denying that however, the saga of legal wrangling continues.

So frustratring!

[Marlin]

Although as a Jurist I are one, I abhor the majority of the Counsellors today with every molecule of my being as they seem to have the gaul to think they are above the law and actually believe they are God themselves.


And people still continue to question, "What's wrong today???"


IS IT ANY WONDER THAT WE ARE IN THE SHAPE WE ARE???

[Karl/Md.]

You know, the first time they did this, PBS was airing the documentary on Hitler, and what I thought was amazing, was that this was EXACTLY the way the Nazi Party controlled the German Parliment. Didn't have a majority, but had enough to block a majority vote.
Interesting that the Demorats are patterning themselves after the Nazi Party. If it worked for the Nazis, then I guess it should work for the Dems.
History DOES repeat itself.

[armedandsafe]

Karl, WELCOME to the forum.

It is interesting that you should bring this up. I have seen this similarity before. Not only the Democrats, but the Republicans, too. I feel the Dems are more egregious in their actions, but there does seem to be a lot of deja vu going around, these days.

Pops

[Marlin]

Welcome, Karl.

Hope you will join us often and will post often.

You will find a very informative and congenial group hear at the TFF.

[Smoky14]

I'D BET MONEY THEY ALL GET RE-ELECTED. I live in southern NM and it makes me want to cry what Richardson has done to this state in less than a year. The Dems just run rough shod over everything and nobody says anything.
MAKE ME WANT TO SCREAM

[1952Sniper]

That's because Democrats (and liberals in general) are very good at playing "victim". They can whine and cry like a 6-year-old girl to get what they want. They manage to survive on pity, not by hard work and dedication and strength of character. And it reflects in their socialist programs.

[1952Sniper]

Well, it's getting very interesting (and more disgusting) now. The fight has been taken to the courts, from both sides. Even the race card is being played.

I wish they'd just have a shootout at high noon and get it over with.

AUSTIN — Democrats and Republicans exchanged legal fire over congressional redistricting Thursday, with each side seeking the ammunition of a court order to win the day.
Eleven Democratic Senators who fled from Texas to New Mexico to stop Senate action on GOP-backed congressional redistricting filed a lawsuit in state district court in Austin, asking a judge to prevent any efforts to arrest them and bring them back to the Capitol if they return to the state.

Republican state leaders returned fire by filing their own petition with the Texas Supreme Court to try to compel the Democrats' return.

"Enough is enough," Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said in announcing the petition he and Gov. Rick Perry filed.

But not for the so-called Texas 11 who remain holed up in Albuquerque.

"We have not yet begun to fight," said Sen. Frank Madla of San Antonio, echoing the sentiment voiced earlier this week by fellow Democratic Sen. Royce West of Dallas.

Dewhurst and Perry asked for a Monday hearing on the petition they filed with the Texas Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court declined to set a hearing that day, according to both sides. But it asked for a written response from Democrats by noon Monday,

The decision to take legal action in the case of the absent Democrats was described as a difficult one in a statement by Perry, and Dewhurst said it was made "very reluctantly."

Perry said the walkout "illustrates the potential for a constitutional crisis whenever a minority number of legislators refuses to participate in the process on issues where they lack the votes to succeed." (My thoughts exactly)

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, who heads the Senate Democratic Caucus, said in Albuquerque that Democrats are "doing our duty."

"It's almost as if they're trying to take senators, and only minority senators, political prisoners," she said. "So they're going to force us back to vote on something that damages the very people we represent."

Nine of the 11 Democrats are minorities, and all represent predominantly minority districts.

Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said from Albuquerque that the Republicans' court action is "politically motivated" and noted the state's highest court consists entirely of Republicans.

Dewhurst, in turn, called the Democrats' lawsuit "frivolous and politically motivated."

The lieutenant governor said a counterclaim would be filed today.

Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate, is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, along with Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Carleton Turner and Thomas A. Davis Jr., director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The Democrats' lawsuit questions the validity of the special session on congressional redistricting under the Texas Constitution.

It says the governor's power to call special sessions is limited to the presence of "extraordinary occasions," which they say do not exist with respect to congressional redistricting.

The lawsuit says the constitution puts a limit on the power to arrest lawmakers during legislative sessions.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of a recent ruling by a state judge that the DPS lacks the authority to retrieve House members and return them to the Capitol. That ruling came in a lawsuit after House Democrats walked out in May to fight redistricting.

The petition filed by Perry and Dewhurst asks the Texas Supreme Court to order the absent senators "to fulfill their official, non-discretionary duty" under the Texas Constitution, which provides for the Legislature to meet when convened by the governor.

The petition says there is no other "adequate remedy" to solve the problem of senators who go across state lines and shut down the Senate.

If such action is allowed, it will be "a roadmap for future derelicitions of duty," their petition says.

Dewhurst said the requested action "will order their return and provide sanctions if they don't return." He didn't detail those sanctions. "Obviously, anytime anyone violates a court order, they do it at their own peril," he said.

The legal shots are the latest effort to end a political standoff that took a dramatic turn with the Democrats' flight to New Mexico.

They left after Perry called the Legislature into a second special session to address congressional redistricting on July 28 — the same day the first session he called ended without passage of a bill.

They went out of state so they'd be outside of the reach of the sergeant-at-arms, who was ordered by the senators who stayed to round up the absentees.

Republican leaders are seeking to redo congressional districts to shatter the Democrats' 17-15 hold on the Texas delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives. They point to the fact that all statewide offices and a majority of legislative seats are held by the GOP.

Democrats say redistricting should be done only once a decade after the federal census.

Before the second special session began, Dewhurst made clear that he no longer would require a two-thirds Senate vote to debate legislation.

That took away Democrats' power to block the redistricting bill by voting against it because the Senate has a 19-12 Republican majority. So they stopped consideration of the bill by leaving, depriving the Senate of enough members.

The day before Thursday's exchange of legal action, three Democratic senators had met in Albuquerque with GOP Sens. Todd Staples of Palestine and Robert Duncan of Lubbock. The three Democrats were Van de Putte, West and Hinojosa.

Dewhurst said the Republicans' planned legal course of action was spelled out to the Democrats in that meeting.

Staples said he and Duncan were "very clear" on the legal options being weighed by Dewhurst.

I say, "Boot all their asses out!"