Shades Of 2003: State Dems stop a quorum
Shades of 2003 when one local banker loaned his plane to a few state Democrat representatives to fly them to Ardmore, Okla., where they hooked up with other colleagues just so the GOP-led Texas House couldn’t convene a quorum.
Lone Star politics.
This week, the Democrats, approximately 55 of them, left the state so the House wouldn’t have a quorum.
Like Baseball great Yogi Berra used to say: “This is déjà vu all over again.”
At stake then, same as now: a Democrat effort to stop state Republicans from redrawing congressional district lines intended to give them more House members for the next mid-term, 2026.
Trump wants some added numbers going into those critical mid-terms, and Abbott et al want to deliver the goods.
Fit to be tied, the governor has ordered state troopers to bring the missing Dems back to the state Capitol. Showing that this is serious business, even the Texas Rangers have been called in to help. Handcuffs, whatever it takes. It’s a civil crime, not like robbing a bank, but unlawful just the same, according to the governor.
For his part, Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, wants to elevate the game plan and bring in the feds to track down the recalcitrant Dems.
This Tuesday, Cornyn sent a letter to the FBI, asking federal law enforcement to help the state troopers, Texas Rangers, “arrest lawbreakers who have fled the state.”
As was the case in 2003, some of the Democrats went out of state. In 2003, it was Oklahoma, now it’s to states like Illinois, New York.
“Just get me out of Texas.”
Even though Abbott has issued civil arrest warrants, his Rangers can’t do anything in the Land of Lincoln (Ill.), or New York. For that, you need federal jurisdiction.
From Cornyn’s letter, which was addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel:
“Some Texas legislators have fled to New York, and others have fled to Illinois. Since these state legislators are currently outside of Texas, the Texas Department of Public Safety may need support to arrest the fleeing lawmakers.”
Going back to 2003, the House speaker at the time, Tom Craddick, couldn’t find a way either to give the DPS jurisdiction out of state, such as in Oklahoma, where the “missing” Dem lawmakers were holed up at the Holiday Inn, ready to hit the buffet line at noon.
In the end, the House was able to get a quorum 22 years ago, and for the first time in 130 years, the GOP-led Texas Legislature put the pedal to the metal and gerrymandered (redrew with political intent) state congressional lines up the wazoo until some were almost unrecognizable.
The 10th District, for example, represented by Lloyd Doggett since 1994, was redrawn to mimic a pretzel standing tall.
Suddenly, Doggett was representing parts of Hidalgo County.
The new congressional district lines of the 10th District reached down to parts of PSJA and then followed 281 up to I-37, and then northeast out of San Antonio, taking I-35 to the southeast part of Austin, which is where Doggett actually called home.
New Lines 2025
This Monday, after already 2.5 weeks into the governor’s special session, only approximately seven of the 62 Democrats in the Texas House showed up on the floor.
Tuesday was no different. Not enough Democrats on hand to call a quorum.
In Hidalgo County, two of three local representatives showed up for the special session Monday and Tuesday – Sergio Munoz and Terry Canales.
Roberto “Bobby” Guerra was absent and not available by phone. Same with Canales.
Of the three, only Muñoz was available for comment Tuesday.
Gerrymandering isn’t illegal, per se, unless critics can show that the redistricting unfairly effects minorities.
One of the Texas state reps now hunkered down in Illinois, Ron Reynolds, said he and his colleagues will stay out of Texas for as long as it takes “to stop this racial gerrymandering.” (Source: CNN.)
With the race card already called, even if Abbott gets a quorum and redraws congressional lines to benefit the GOP, lawsuits will no doubt follow.
House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain told CNN that she sides with President Donald Trump on Texas redistricting, saying that Republicans “are doing what is right.”
Said she:
“Of course I’m going to side with the president. Listen, I think what we’re doing is right."
According to McClain, Democrats have been doing the same gerrymandering for years in other states but just can’t stand it when Republicans play by the same set of rules, AKA, the pot calling the kettle black.
Why Muñoz Stayed
Serving as a member of the Texas House of Representatives since 2011, state lawmaker and attorney Sergio Muñoz (District 36) said by phone Tuesday morning that he supports the decision made by his Democrat colleagues because their concerns have merit, but he decided to stay in Austin to make sure that there is an actual head count to guarantee a quorum, and when and if one develops, and people return to the floor, so to speak, Valley constituents will be fairly represented, their concerns heard.
Traditionally, redrawing congressional lines is done at the start of each decade, in line with the latest census, to account for movement, growth in population.
“I think we can all agree that doing a mid-decade redistricting when we just did that four or five years ago, should not be the focus of the special session,” said Muñoz.
Especially given the state’s recent flood disasters, he said.
“When there was a disaster a month ago, and people have been asking for assistance and help regarding that, why is that not a top priority? We’ve already been in session for two-and-a-half weeks.”
While Muñoz sounds more than a little frustrated over the direction of this special session, over in the state senate, the lieutenant governor is doing what he can to eradicate, exterminate the THC/ vape businesses now spread out across the state (0.3 percent THC or less).
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick got the hemp ban senate bill passed during the regular session, SB 3, but then the governor caved into special interests, like the veterans groups who told Gov. Greg Abbott that a lot of vets use Delta 8 for help with chronic pain, PTSD, so why would he go along with Dan Patrick’s big push to shut them all down?
Quality of life has to count for something, they said.
Sure, the state’s compassionate medical deal was struck, but if someone in chronic pain has to drive 80 miles or more to get some medicinal pot, once they cut through all the state bureaucratic red tape, when there’s a vape shop right down the street selling Delta 8 (0.3 percent THC or less), not to mention paying taxes, what is the sense in that?
Just regulate the businesses with an age requirement, 21 or over, and let the rest go, said the many veterans groups, and others, who begged Abbott to veto Patrick’s Senate Bill 3 (SB 3), a bill that would have banned most consumable hemp products containing THC.
If the proposed hemp shutdown really is about “protecting our kids,” his critics ask, as the lieutenant governor and his close colleagues claim, then why is no money being budgeted for alcohol awareness? (Source: Austin- American Statesman.)
As MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) has asked repeatedly to anyone who would listen: How many DWI-fatal wrecks have to happen before the state takes seriously the problem of alcohol abuse?
Plaintiff lawyers, however, have stuck back, claiming that MADD’s influence has sometimes led to overly harsh penalties in certain DWI cases. (Source: Murphy & McKinney Law Firm, P.C.)
Note: Story has gotten too convoluted, too many rabbit holes. Time to wrap it up:
On top of everything else, the state’s hemp business ($10.3 billion economic impact) is now bumping up against the state’s wine-sales business (approximately $20 billion annually), based on which survey you peruse, causing some political observers to question Patrick’s ties to the state’s alcohol industry.
It’s no comparison though if one factors in the time element.
The state’s wine industry has roots that date back to the mid-1800s.
Texas’s hemp business? It kicked off in 2018 when it officially became a legal business model in the Lone Star State.
To be fair, the wine business in Texas contributes substantially to state revenue. It supports more than 141,000 jobs, compared to approximately 53,000 jobs in the hemp industry. (Source: Globenewswire.com.).
Next special session called for this Wednesday, Aug. 6.
If Sen. Cornyn is successful in getting the FBI involved in rounding up the missing Dems in states like New York and Illinois, as he faces a tough primary race next March against Trump vixen, Texas AG Ken Paxton, with no need for federal agents to worry about state lines being a hindrance to jurisdictional matters, then look for a quorum this week, say more than a few political commentators.