The DMN is reporting on this story about the Dallas County Democratic Party:

Dallas County Democrats will meet tonight and possibly consider a resolution that would strip Democratic Chairwoman Susan Hays of her power.

This 'vote of no confidence' is being stirred up by some Dems with too much time on their hands, after all...This action "comes nearly four months after the Democrats' strong performance in November, when they won several judicial races and Lupe Valdez was elected county sheriff."

Dallas county ought to get out tonight and support their Chairperson instead of fighting over yard signs. We reported earlier on the bitchiness in the Bexar County Party and now Dallas. I think we've said it before, quit fighting each other and fight the Republicans if you want to win elections.

We keep forgetting some of these Dems haven't won anything in so long their only past-time is fighting each other.

Susan Hays, we offer our full support behind you. If you are a precinct chair in Dallas, please attend this meeting and demand that the Chair of the party that brought successful election results in November continue and those that are calling for diminishing her power be removed so less stupid and bitter precinct chairs may take their place.

State Rep. Robert Talton, a Pasadena Republican and an attorney (PinkDome adds: also...homophobic ass hat), is sponsoring H.B. 826, which would require the Texas Supreme Court to adopt rules that would allow attorneys whose law degrees are based on study by correspondence to take the Texas exam, if they've passed another state's bar exam and are licensed to practice law in another state. Under Talton's bill, the distance-learning law school graduates would be admitted to practice law in Texas if they pass this state's bar exam.

Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick referred Talton's bill to the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee on Feb. 10.

The bill is a retread of legislation that Talton (Pinkdome adds: don't forget...homophobic ass hat), a solo practitioner,(Of course he's a solo practitioner..have you seen him?) sponsored two years ago to allow Sugarland Republican Rep. Charlie Howard's daughter, Julie Drenner, and other graduates of the Oak Brook College of Law and Government Policy, a distance-learning law school based in Fresno, Calif., to take the bar exam in Texas. (emphasis added...just so you catch the bullshit part)

It's nice to know people in the right place ain't it Julie? We tried correspondence school one time, too. But, decided TV Repairman just wasn't our calling.

Oh...and did we mention we don't care for Talton? Cause..uhm..we don't.

Dear Friends

As you may know a bill has been filed in the Texas Legislature that greatly affects the work we do at Jane's Due Process. HB 1212 purports to be a bill that will provide for "parental consent" before a teenage girl can terminate her pregnancy. It is much different, and I believe much more dangerous, than simply a parental consent bill. I have attached here some information on this legislation, as well as a PDF file of the bill.[PinkDome linked to the text] The provisions of this legislation go to the very heart of what we do at JDP and seemed especially designed to deny access to our clients.

Some of you may be poised to talk to our legislators about issues important to you and I believe this is one of those issues. This bill has been referred to the House State Affairs Committee. The information attached not only gives a few salient details but also a message that goes to the heart of this bill and our work at Jane's Due Process.

If you have questions about this bill, please contact Shelia Cheaney, Executive Director of Jane's Due Process.

Thanks for all you do to support JDP. CLICK FOR TALKING POINTS WORD DOC. Download file

Planned Parenthood volunteers from around the state will be at the Capitol for a Lobby Day on Tuesday 3/1.

The dress code du jour is... HOT PINK!

We love they will be wearing pink. It's the new orange, we think!

Earlier this week, we surpassed the 10,000 unique visitors mark. Not bad for a brand new 'online publication' (that's what we call ourselves) to achieve in 25 days since launch.

We'd like to buy you all a drink to celebrate. But, we're poor and what we really mean is that we'd like to get the ones of you that are cute a little drunk and feel you up...but that's something else altogether.

We wanted to mention the latest attack on the mainstream media with the loss of CNN's Eason Jordan. Arguably, you could say the blogs brought him down as did they play a role in Dan Rather's humiliation. You can't argue that about Jeff Gannon *careful, not exactly safe for capitol viewing...there's just a little box over his hoo-ha in the photo(gay hooker/journalist), and now Talon News. (Keep Reading...there's a point in here, we promise)

â??Iâ??ve got the perfect excuse,â?? [Senator] Ellis said. â??Iâ??m on Vicodin.â?? (courtesy AAS)

We are, too. Senator, only difference is we aren't trying to pass laws for the state. We're just trying to numb ourselves from whatever y'all are doing up there.

We love you Karen Brooks. Best story of the day. (DMN, sub req'd)

Veteran biker lobbyist Sputnik Strain caught up with freshman Rep. Stephen Frost before a committee hearing and chastised him for never being available to talk helmet laws. This is a guy who has long had full access to the upper echelons of state government. "Best thing you can do is make an appointment," the East Texas Democrat told the pierced, tattooed, mohawked biker twice his age. After some back-and-forth, the rep began to patiently explain how things work around here: Committees are cranking up, others also want face time, that's just the process. You know, the way things go around here â?? har, har, har â?? it's best just to make the date. Clearly put out by the young upstart half his age, Sputnik shrugged and said, "Well, I never have to do that." Pregnant pause. "But ... OK." The rep gave him a pointed look and said, "Just a suggestion" and walked away.

Respect and consideration are part of your job Stephen. By the way, the photo of you with a dead animal on your political web site is soooo charming.

Stephen Shows Off His Big Buck (Quote and photo directly from stephenfrost.us--we shit you not)

According to the Statesman, the House has just repealed the law which allowed cameras to be installed on red lights. A big sigh of relief from all of us. We felt safer without Big Brother watching us go through those red lights, that's for sure.

HB1440 submitted by Rep. Dwayne Bohac (kinda cute if you go for dorky-looking conservatives) will make graffiti artists purchase replacements for the property they damaged by their tags/art/whatever you wanna call it.

"Graffiti begins with something as simple as writing on the bathroom wall and grows until it pulls an entire community into the toilet," Bohac said.(AP Wire, Herald-Democrat)

Anyway, isn't re-naming the capitol drive and Highway 290 after certain Republican presidents a kind of graffiti? And we'd all be paying for those . . .Just something to think on, Mr. Bohac.

Speaker Craddick is set to testify as early as next week in the whole fundraising scandal that is sure to rock the (who the hell knows what it's going to rock, but something is f'ed up).

We're busy making sure our flasks our full, our shirts are pressed and our fingers that point in our famous 'J'accuse!' pose are all in working order as we head down to the courthouse next week.

Hey! If y'all are all gonna be there can we just go out for drinks afterwards? We've never had a problem planning a party during someone else's misfortune (Our dad's a Republican, so we grew up that way).

How come we're in an era of 'family values' and the overall moral superiority of Republican control of the Texas Legislature, the Governor's Office, the White House and Congress...yet...deaths from child abuse are up 11%? (DMN, sub req'd)

Isn't that the opposite of pro-life?

We're not sure outsourcing this or privatizing CPS is the way to go, either. (Austin American-Statesman, sub req'd) Basically, we're confused. But we do know that 509 dead children last year means somewhere somehow someone ain't doin' their job.

God, that'll sober you up real quick.

The House passed its first bill of the session today (Statesman). Here's the full text of HB160, which requires an auto dealership to let you know if a certain data recording device is in that SUV you just bought. While we thank the House for protecting our privacy - please. . . let's celebrate this illustrious moment by passing some real legislation, guys.

Leave a comment to caption this photo: Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, listens to Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, speak. (courtesy, DMN) Have fun!

We were reading the San Antonio story about the campaign finance bill that was introduced to ban last minute attack ads and getting all ready to call it a watered-down piece of cow shit, but then we came across the shocker!

According to Campaigns for People, 114 private donors gave more than $100,000 each to political campaigns in 2002. Last year, wealthy Houstonite Bob J. Perry spent nearly $4 million in races.

DANG, Bob...guess we ought to send you our proposal for a PAC. We promise if you'll give us a million or two we'll completely abandon all our liberal leanings, rational thought, oppose gay marriages, demand prayer in schools, fuck the poor, and call for naming all new streets Bob Perry Boulevard.

I guess that's what the rest of the Lege is doing that accepts such outrageous contributions from him so where do we sign up to completely forsake the entire state of Texas for the desires of one man?

Chris has something to say, y'all.

STATEMENT BY CHRIS BELL ON HB 23

There is no logical basis to link insurance rates to credit ratings. If someone is late on his credit card bill, that does not mean that a tornado is going to hit his barn. Economic redlining only serves to protect the profits of insurance companies, and we have a moral mandate to stop this now and to lower the barriers to home ownership.

This is not a partisan issue. The sponsors of HB 23 are Republicans, and in 2002, Rick Perry promised to end credit scoring in Texas. He was right to take that election-year stand back then, and though his appointee at the Texas Department of Insurance is protecting economic redlining, the Governor would do well to keep his earlier promise.

We're not much for posting press releases, but this is an issue we can agree to wholeheartedly. If we didn't spend our days down at the payday advance loan store getting cash advances for booze maybe our credit would be better and we'd not be so worried about our credit score making us ineligible for insurance.

The DMN reports on HB Texans who carry concealed handguns would have their identities concealed as well under legislation that easily passed the House Law Enforcement Committee on Monday.

The bill, which the House has passed twice but the Senate never has, would block requests from the public to learn whether an individual has a concealed-gun license. Law enforcement officials would still be able to access the records.

It's interesting to compare the high level of concern about concealed-handgun owner privacy with the lack of concern for the privacy of women seeking abortions.

Y'all are idiots up there sometimes and it's hard for us to stay drunk and happy and pretend you're doing good things for this state.

And one more thing, Representative Hupp, we understand your strong convictions on guns but instead of fighting to get guns into people's hands, maybe we ought to work together to get them out of some people's hands..

We've just learned that Verizon is hooking the Capitol up with broadband. Seemingly sweet, right? Not so much. You can only get "wireless internet" in the Capitol if you are a Verizon subscriber:

"It's different than Wi-Fi. With Wi-Fi, you're limited to one spot [bluebonnet sez, not necessarily so]. Broadband access allows you access anywhere the service is offered, which in this case, is throughout the entire building," he says, adding that users must be Verizon Wireless customers to access the service.

Thanks to Wi-Fi Net News for the heads-up.

A reader with far advanced Photoshop skills sent us this gem today. Too bad Delisi's bill specifically forbids marrying the gay homosexuals. Look how cute!

Representative Dianne Delisi introduces another important piece of legislation, this one permitting state lawmakers to officiate weddings. (San Antonio, sub requ'd) I think it's a great idea if our elected officials had the same authority given to cruise ship captains.

Lawmakers and statewide elected officeholders would join priests, ministers, rabbis, religious organizations' officers and all kinds of judges on the list of those authorized to perform marriage ceremonies under a bill by Rep. Dianne Delisi, R-Temple.

Delisi said House Bill 1228 is a response to queries from constituents and friends who've wanted her or fellow officeholders to perform ceremonies and assume they already have that power.

This afternoon we attended the House Insurance Committee meeting. We were mainly interested in HB23 regarding the use of credit scoring among insurance companies. However, the bill that really caught our attention was HB941, which has something to do with water damage and insurance. The bill's author (We think that was who presented it to committee) spent a seemingly long time ruminating on hoses in dishwashers, and how they can go bad. A committee member commented that this was the problem they had with mold legislation. Do you understand the connection? Because we weren't able to follow. Here was the line of discussion: mold = toaster fire = bad dishwasher hoses. . . Anyway, we are so very glad that our tax dollars are going to fund such discussions. As someone near us asked, "Are we actually talking about hoses in washers?" Why, yes, apparently we are. We left the meeting soon after that because it was just too ridiculous. Plus, it was hot in that room and too many people were shedding layers.

We actually saw a few quite attractive legislators and lobbyists today. Yum! We didn't hit on anyone, though. Darn it.

Also - is there a 15-year-old on the Insurance committee? We don't see his picture on the site, but a very young committee member came in late wearing a burnt-orange backpack. He was somewhat cute, in a schoolboyish way. If he's not a member of the committee, we are a little confused as to why he was sitting up front with them. Well, we are confused most of the time, so it's nothing new.

The DMN and every other newspaper is reporting on these 'alleged' faxes, fundraisers and memos. Tom, our dad always told us this..."don't get caught." Just thought we'd pass it along.

Rep. Ryan Guillen has introduced a bill we can get behind - making it an offense for a bus driver to talk on the phone while driving. We are recklessly hypocritical - we've mastered the skill of driving with our knees. Then again, we don't have 30 or so ungrateful children depending on our driving skills (stop calling me mom...you'll get grandkids or you'll get cats; one or the other...you can't have both) We try not to think about all the other drivers doing the same thing. Is that why we don't have but three hubcaps? Damn curbs. Someone ought to make a law about big ass curbs knocking our hubcabs in this town.

Bored, we decided to call UNT Chancellor Lee Jackson's office today. Spokesman Roddy Wolper told us that he did expect a statement regarding the criticism by Pete Gallegos to be forthcoming, however he has not seen a statement as of yet. He promised to keep us in the loop should such a magical denial and plausible deniability double-speak statement come out today. (We expect it, at best, around 5:02 p.m.)

EDITED TO ADD: STATEMENT RECEIVED, Click Read more. (Thanks Roddy)

Getting up our courage (thanks Jack Daniels) we called Senator Royce West's office regarding the Clinton Highway.
Senator West's Chief Staff tells us: "[His office has received] numerous calls in support for the naming the highway, and none in support of a Ronald Reagan designation. Senator West polled his constituents and they favored this proposal. He is currently polling his collegues under the dome."

If anybody else has an interesting statement to send us, email us.

We'd rather you just email us instead of us having to put our cigarettes down, swallow the drink in our hand and pretend not to be smashed when we call up to the Capitol building. (Plus we admit we scramble when they ask our names...cause 'None ya business' doesn't always create a great dialogue).

Grew up in a small town, and when the rain would fall down...I would pray. Sorry, we couldn't help but think of Burleson's own American Idol Kelly Clarkson as we continued reading HB 1212.

In Section 34.101 (subchapter C) the bill says the application to get around parental consent (if you're abused or mature enough, etc) may be filed in "minor's county of residence or for a county that borders the minor's county of residence." The current law allows her to file her application and have her hearing in ANY COUNTY.

We think the any county part works because we grew up in a small town where everybody knew everybody and all they had to talk about was our 'bidness'.

By the way, there are abortion providers in only about 17 counties. (Texas has 254 Counties. Guess who called an old high school teacher today? We did! We did!)

edited to add: we just phoned Representative King's office and asked them to provide a statement on this legislation, the originating idea, why this is a crisis now, and how this bill will benefit the people that we see it hurts the most. So far, no comment. The Chief of Staff has promised us an email...we'll be holding our breath while we continue drinking waiting for his reply. Caleb, you got our email, right?

By now you've probably heard or read (SA paper, subsc. req.) that a bill has been introduced by two Democrats that would allow Texans to purchase drugs from Canada. While we like the idea, we just wish there was a simpler plan. Of course, we have older acquaintances who make stopovers in Mexican border towns to purchase their prescriptions. If this bill passes, they can make the trip for more fun (and legal?) purposes.

Governor Perry has invited 12 lawmakers to Big Bend for the weekend for some "good fellowship" in a relaxed setting.(SAN Express, sub req'd) Perry will no doubt be whispering sweet nothings into the ears of legislators left and right.

Y'all bring me back a present! Something shiny!

The pot lobbyists came to the capitol today. Okay, they were the medical pot lobbyists (not nearly as fun). There is a bill being proposed by Elliot Naishtat that has bi-partisan approval:

Naishtat said his bill would not legalize marijuana in Texas, but it would allow medical marijuana users, if they are charged, to tell a jury that they are treating a health condition and should not be prosecuted.

. . . Naishtat noted that both Republican and Democratic legislators are supporting the bill and said it stands a good chance of passing this legislative session.

Supporters of medical pot lobby at Capitol (FW Star Telegram - reg. req.)

A heinous parental notification bill has been introduced by Phil King (R-Weatherford) late yesterday afternoon and has us reeling. So much so, that this will be our top post until Friday morning.

First, it defines abortion as "death to an unborn child" and defines "unborn child" as an individual human organism from fertilization until birth. We didn't know that debate was settled. We better keep Rep. King away from our dirty laundry pile.

Some quick facts, and surely more to follow: Something for everyone to hate: doctors, lawyers, clinics, minorities, judges, white people, fiscal conservatives and oh..don't forget pro-choice Texans.

You have to keep reading...after the jump.

The MALC issued a strong statement of opposition to HB2, the school finance bill, yesterday. Jason Embry at the Statesman gives it good coverage and ends the story with a quote from Craddick.

"Overall, I'd say the bill is very acceptable to most members of the House from both parties," [Craddick]

We'd like to see the standard Craddick quote in every single article about every single piece of legislation. Maybe if the drones in the Lege hear that enough they'll start to believe it.

For the MALC press release, Download file (.pdf)

By now we all know about Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Houston) asking his pastor about filing his casino gambling bill. We've also come to terms with the apparent support its getting. But, what we didn't know until yesterday was the $1.4 million in campaign contributions from gambling interests to both Repubs and Dems. With $50,000 going to Perry and $80,000 going to Dewhurst. (courtesy, Houston Chron. sub req'd)

With that kind of purchasing power we guess casino gambling in Texas is on its way. If anyone has an extra $1.4 mill laying around we'd like to buy a couple of new laws ourselves.

LGRL is looking for a part-time (starting at around 15 hrs./week) special events assistant. Read more for the job description.

Senator Royce West, you sly thing. We think naming the I-20 the William Jefferson Clinton Highway is a great idea. If we can have a Ronald Reagan drive through the doors of the Capitol, we can have a Clinton Highway through Dallas.

We were up early enough again this morning to hear this story on KUT. Apparently a bill has been introduced in the Texas Senate allowing inmates to help out non-partisan non-profits, such as the Salvation Army.

Not that we really believe the Salvation Army is non-partisan.

We did laugh at the mental picture of a bunch of the 'ladies who lunch' volunteering alongside 'Big T' or some other criminal. Oh wait...we've got a great idea for a sitcom...we'll be back later. Somebody get my agent on the phone.

We stumbled across this January 19 editorial in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times (sub req'd)and thought we'd ask if y'all think the Lege ought to record votes that aren't procedural.

Since the votes where the Lege doesn't push those cute little buttons aren't recorded just over half of all votes last session weren't recorded. Here are a few things The Caller points out the Lege passed without recorded votes:

Approved a bill prohibiting the state from executing capital murderers who are mentally retarded.

Permitted insurance companies to use an applicant's credit history in deciding whether to provide insurance.

Allowed the state to seize the homes of some deceased nursing home patients.

Refused to expand prosecutors' authority to go after polluters whose illegal acts pose an imminent threat to public health.

Voted on two key bill provisions regarding residential construction defects and mold remediation.

Some members have suggested, no doubt with a straight face, that the cost of recording such votes is prohibitive. The real issue is the cost of not requiring them, and the cost of a Texas Legislature largely unaccountable to its constituents at the most basic level.

We know it's hard for some of our elected officials to find those little buttons with both hands and a map, but since they aren't pushing our button...maybe they should push the one on their desk more often.

The Waco Tribune reports in its political briefs today the Bill Hammond made an ass out of himself testifying before the House Public Education Committee. (Hey Wacotrib.com readers)

The additional money small public schools get to offset sparse populations should be reduced or eliminated entirely to discourage districts from remaining small, Texas business leader Bill Hammond told a panel of lawmakers on Tuesday.

"The small district adjustment incentivizes small districts to stay small," rather than to consolidate with neighboring districts, said Hammond, president of Texas Association of Business, the state's largest business group.

He testified before the House Public Education Committee, which is considering legislation to overhaul Texas education system.

Small, rural school districts argue that it doesn't make financial sense to force their students to drive to another campus that could be several miles away.

Hammond also suggested cutting back state funding for career and technology courses and capping the amount of money school boards can give teachers for performance bonuses.

Bill, maybe you think we ought to just cram the entire State of Texas into a space the size of Rhode Island. As a business organization shouldn't you be encouraging the Lege to fund career and technology courses? Weird.

The Texas group, Practice What You Preach, is an organization that thinks the gay marriage thing is stupid. Their web site speaks to the real threats to the sanctity of marriage and calls for Republicans to stop using the wedge issue of gay marriage to ignore items such as divorce rates, domestic violence and deadbeat dads. (read their mission statement).

They just sent out this press release giving props to Florida governor Jeb Bush, UT graduate, on his statement regarding Florida's murmuring about gay marriage legislation.

Practice What You Preach, a mainstream group of Texans opposing the proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage as a hypocritical waste of time, today congratulated Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for questioning the need to amend his state's constitution to pre-emptively ban an already-proscribed practice.

We ask for some common sense from the Republicans and dammit...we actually got it. Sneaky bastards. (Hey Rick, you listening?)

We love good ol' Texan sayin's, but this one made us put down our bottle of Jack Daniels, click off the porn loop we have on the TV and stare at words that didn't make sense.

"The camel's nose is under the tent and I think you'll see that it is our job to make sure that if the camel is under the tent, then we are with it," said Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock.

This is Senator Duncan's thoughts on allowing nuclear waste material to be stored in West Texas. (Houston Chron, sub requ'd)

The Chronicle reports:

Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists â?? owned by major Republican donors Harold Simmons of Dallas and former Railroad Commissioner Kent Hance â?? fought unsuccessfully for years to persuade a Democratic-controlled Legislature to allow the state to license a private operator to run a low-level nuclear waste facility in rural Andrews County. The legislation finally passed in 2003 when Republicans took control of the Texas House.

So, we don't care if Dallas makes a profit off of disposing nuclear waste in West Texas. We can live with that. Next, we don't care if a private firm is handling this. Uhm, that one is a little fishy. So wait, we don't care about the environmental impact to West Texas? Eh, we rarely leave the house except to go to the liquor store.

But camels? Camels noses? In Tents? Dude, Duncan...who's your dealer cause we aren't getting the same shit you are.

The Quorum Report lead us to the NT Daily article on the Young Conservatives' "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day." According to Harvey, Representative Pete Gallego called out University of North Texas Chancellor Lee Jackson for his silence on this 'protest.'

Right on, Pete. We would have simply asked if UNT would sponsor our own "Catch a Dumbass UNT Student Day" - but perhaps Jackson would be afraid we wouldn't know where to start on his campus.

The Lege is looking for ways to find the money they're gonna need regarding school finance. There's gonna be lots of things the brainiacs y'all voted for (or against) come up for. The El Paso newspaper gives us this quote from a local businesswoman. We liked it, thought we'd give it to you as a little something to think about. (Consequences...is the theme here).

"I might have to do away with the health plan or pass along the cost to my employees" if more taxes are passed, Villalobos said.

Representative Rob Eissler's bill to prohibit signs on the right-of-way for roads in Texas is scheduled for committee hearing on February 15th.

What might be a good idea would be if Rob had included political signs in this legislation. Instead we bet it's just the shrines to people killed in car accidents.

Can we be honest? We don't give three shits about this. Do you?

This weekend 42 gay and lesbian couples were married in Houston. (We don't put gay and lesbian marriage in quotes here). With two bills introduced in the Lege this session the politically naive movement has chosen the 'in your face' tactic which should usually be reserved for after the fact victory celebrations.

We believe the whole gay marriage thing is a dumb issue. Gay marriage doesn't threaten families, it doesn't threaten love, it doesn't threaten the sanctity of marriage. You know why? Because two people raising a child in a loving environment equals a family, two people that love each other in this f'ed up world equals the glory of love, and as to the sanctity of marriage...let's ask the Representative that shows up at events with his mistress about the sanctity of marriage.

Gay marriage legislation is just the legislature saying it's ok to hate. All homos to the back of the bus...so says the Texas Lege.

And don't leave a comment here about the Bible. That's a flimsy arguement to use for public policy and law-making.

The San Antonio Express News gets saucy.

Albert Hawkins, executive commissioner of health and human services, told a House subcommittee that with the support of a 2003 law encouraging managed care, he wants to contract with HMOs to treat more of the state's more than 2.5 million Medicaid clients; contractors could be named soon.

An individual who asked not to be identified, said he heard Toomey tell Hawkins: "Goddamit, Albert, I told you you should have rolled this (HMO shift) out before the session."

We'll just add this: "Goddammit San Antonio Express News, HMO's do not restrict access to care, they do not destroy the health care system."

The Buzz at Quorum Report posts:

Chair Rep. Kent Grusendorf (R-Arlington) has named Rep. Scott Hochberg (D-Houston) to head a subcommittee to address formula issues on House Bill 2.

The decision represents the most conciliatory effort House Republicans have made toward the Democrats since the discussion of school finance began last session. Democrats, and many in the education community, were incensed when Republicans shut Hochberg out of the select committee on school finance and all subsequent discussion. Few dispute that Hochberg is the best-versed lawmaker in the Legislature on the "ins" and "outs" of the current school finance formula.

The decision to woo Hochberg as an ally, rather than an enemy on the back microphone, could be a sea change in the efforts to get a school finance bill passed out of the House Public Education Committee or, in fact, the House. The move is not likely to mean more money, but it will probably guarantee far more buy-in from the education community.

Taking the Republican's lead, we're going to wander up to the Capitol and do a little 'reaching across the aisle' ourselves.

Smooches!

Representative Denny has introduced a bill that would prohibit prosecutions of Legislators if not approved by the Ethics Commission.

Under the bill, county or district attorneys could not conduct an investigation on their own initiative. He or she would present the case to the Texas Ethics Commission, which would study election laws and determine whether a crime has been committed.

If the Ethics Commission did not recommend criminal charges, "a prosecuting attorney may not prosecute a person for the alleged violation," according to the bill. (DMN, sub requ'd)

The Burnt Orange Report writes about this today, albeit without elementary Photoshop skills. They also suggest you call Denny's office, (Rep. Denny 512.463.0688). We called, but all we could think of to say was, "Are you huffing glue?" We should really stop getting drunk and calling elected officials...it's just embarrassing for all of us.

Luna versus Lavigne. We talked to your supervisors today and they said you should both get back to work and just leave each other alone.

Lavigne, if you've got a problem with Rep. Luna, talk to her in private and you kids work it out. Download Word version of letter Mike Lavigne sent to Rep. Luna

Rep. Luna, we expect you to be working to support the democratic party that you are a member of, as well as the rest of your constituents. So just do that and focus. . .cause there's a lot of stuff going on this Session you need to be paying attention to. Download Rep. Luna's response (.pdf) (courtesy of Save Texas Reps)

Lord. Now we know why our moms always had valium in the house!

Both Representative Ruben Hope (Conroe) and Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) have introduced legislation about bullies in schools this Session. Finally getting back at your tormentors?

Representative Hope's bill would permit victims of bullying to be transferred to other schools or classes. We'd rather you get rid of the bully Representative Hope. Go re-write this. The victim shouldn't have to move (unless it's their choice to do so) but the bully should be the one forced out. May we suggest Odessa?

Senator Zaffirini's proposal would require schools to provide basically the same sensitivity training course we had to go to after Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas ruined all the fun in corporate America. Oh well, it worked. We rarely get a good game of 'grab-ass' going anymore. Everyone's so sensitive these days.

Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn was left off a fundraising letter to Republicans and then not even invited to the event. Ouch!

Strayhorn was the only nonjudicial statewide elected official outside Washington not mentioned in the letter. The others either signed it or are being honored at the Feb. 22 event.

Strayhorn spokesman Mark Sanders said last month she wasn't asked to sign the letter and "was not even invited." (San Antiono, sub req'd)

We would rather be hanging out with the grandkids, too, Carole. Can they make a good martini?

We have a saying here at PinkDome: "The Democrats fight because they are right, The Republicans fight to win." There's a big difference there. This is our problem with the Dems. All talk, no action. Come to think of it, that was our problem with our ex, too.

Read the letter to Democrats from a Bexar County Precinct Chair to illustrate our point. If you're a Dem, don't get all pissy about it. Go to the HQ and ask them, "Can I help do something around here?"

Hope y'all had fun at the Mardi Gras party last night. Thanks Bill!

The Statesman's editorial regarding CHIP and Senator Hutchison's remarks deserve a mention here. We're pretty tough on the folks over there at the Statesman, so when we see something that is strongly worded and makes them seem almost like a real newspaper we have to point it out. Read the excerpt below, or the full story here.

But the fault for the most recent loss of more than $100 million comes on Perry's watch. With his blessing, the Legislature in 2003 drastically cut the CHIP program â?? while sitting atop a $104 million surplus of federal money. The cuts eliminated all dental and vision benefits and made it tougher for children to qualify for CHIP and remain on the program.

Presumably, it was done to save money. The truth is that Texas leaders could have used every penny of their federal money and still balanced the budget without raising taxes.

So just for today, Austin American-Statesman, we'll give you a break. Keep it up and we may have to consider you a real newspaper.

HB 702. Relating to the most basic rights of privacy of Americans...and then carpet-bombing them out of existence. Rep. Zedler has introduced this bill that so clearly violates doctor-patient confidentiality for the purposes of 'reporting abortion statistics.' Violation of the proposed Act would result in a Class 'A' misdemeanor.

So, let's put people in jail for adhering to HIPPA? Zedler..that's a Federal Law.

You have no powers here. Be gone, before someone drops a house on you, too!

Read more to find out what the bill calls for.

Here's something where we can finally reach out to Republicans and slip our hands seductively across their back and lean in as we gently whisper, "We don't like this proposal, either." Be right back, we need a smoke after that tangent.

The proposed toll roads from hither to yon in Texas are not turning us on. Perry's BFF (Best Friend Forever) Mike Krusee supports this crazy proposal to build 6 lane superhighways and give private companies the rights to charge tolls for 50 years.

The Washington Post reports (sub requ'd) these superhighways would have a impressive negative impact on the environment, destroy existing business communities that depend on the I-35 corridor, do little to diminish real traffic problems and trample on the property rights of Texans in the path of this big ass road.

Republicans aren't going to support the trampling of property rights and hurting business communities, Democrats are going to talk about the environmental impact, the business issues, and the community impact.

Us, we stopped paying attention when the report says construction won't start until 2010. This is why we aren't politicians...thinking about the future is just to abstract for us. We either want it now, or don't want it now...depending on how hot he is.

The Battalion, Texas A & M's daily, ran a story today on a subject of great frustration to many for a while now. Students at A & M are getting e-mails from "Texas Parental Notification Law Group" that warns that their parents are being notified of their visit to the Planned Parenthood Clinic in Bryan. Beside the fact that most college students are over 17 and not subject to the requirement of the Texas Parental Notification Act, and beside the fact that they are sending these e-mails to people who have never visited the clinic, the perpetrator is being anonymous. Annoying, huh? ;)

Who is behind this is the big question? Anybody got any email tracking software we can borrow? Also, how do you get a student's email address from a car tag that's probably registered to their parents in most cases? Hmmm? Sounds like someone has some 'splaining to do.

Email the president of 'Aggies for Life' here to ask him a question about this: dunton@tamu.edu Although, after I visited the Aggies for Life site, it can't possibly be them. Their website looks like it was made in MS Word! But doesn't hurt to drop them a line to say hello. Also, email the info@CoalitionForLife.com, too. (Be warned about going to these sites, though. They are incredibly offensive)

Laylan Copelin at the Statesman [sub requ'd] reminded us on Saturday that discovery, lawsuits and grand juries are still part of the everyday life for some business lobbyists and Republican operatives, as if we could forget. His fourth paragraph statement that TAB and TRMPC's responses to revelations about the two groups sharing phone bank data, "demonstrate that their versions of what happened in 2002 continue to change over time" had us chuckling and made us wonder where these guys get the continuing audacity to claim what they did was even remotely legal.

But of course lawyer Andy Taylor (thereâ??s that name again), counsel to TAB Pres. Bill Hammond (aka Mr. Charming), is worth his fee, and then some, for his ability to argue that his clients were simply following the letter of the law as they interpreted it and is getting quite the reputation for hyperbole, (see our post about voter fraud that never was).

We were just thinking we hadn't made any sexual innuendo for almost three days. So we were looking for an opportunity.

This morning we heard an interview with Kinky Friedman on KUT. He discussed his serious bid for the governor's seat. He made a surprising amount of sense. (Why we were up so early is a mystery to us.) Is that allowed in a candidate for governor? As soon as KUT posts the interview, we'll link to it here.

note: We do not endorse any specific candidate for governor. But boy, did Kinky surprise us this morning! Mainly we just like the thoughts that run through our head every time we say "Kinky" out loud. Rowr!

update: Here's the audio interview in which Kinky states his affinity for teachers, firemen, cops and cowboys. You can't make this stuff up.

Gov. Perry announced plans to overhaul the Child Protective Services Agency.(DMN, sub requ'd) It needs it. We still have some questions, though.

In 2002, Texas ranked 47th in state spending on child protection, at $134 per child, while the national average was $304, according to the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank. Mr. Perry said looking at such national comparisons was not productive.

Why aren't they productive? Texas is bigger than France and that's a whole country so how does comparing us to other states not make a point? Granted, not a pleasant one...and granted sometimes analysis is just BS with percentiles, but a point nonetheless.

Mr. Perry did not say directly how he would fund the plan's $253 million in new state spending at a time that lawmakers face a likely multibillion-dollar budget shortfall.

Uhm, Governor? We hate to mention this part...but, we're kinda broke right now so if you've got an extra $253 million hanging around somewhere could you tell us where to find it?

Heflin did the right thing, and to show our admiration we'd like to offer him an opportunity to contribute to PinkDome. Tal . . . we can't pay you because we spend all our money getting drunk and calling exes during peak calling hours. But, c'mon, it would be hilarious!

Oh, and in the DMN article about this, the very last sentence made us do that weird head tilt thing cause we just don't understand:

"Unfortunately, the real losers today are the people of House District 149 and honest Texans across the state," said GOP Chairwoman Tina Benkiser. (emphasis added)

Who the hell does Tina Benkiser think she is? Votes were counted (and recounted) and the parties involved made decisions based on the facts and you, darling Tina, disregard the voters? Damn those pesky 'people'. It's just maddening, isn't it, Tina?

Politics.

Postcards from the Lege, the Statesman's blog reports today that Rep. Truitt has pulled her 'meterologist' bill due to the 'vitriolic' response her office received. Rep. Truitt's legislative director, Dan Sutherland, sounded embarrassed. (He should have)

â??The realization of what we needed to do came in spite of the pressure,â?? Sutherland said. â??This was taking 80 percent of our time. I wasnâ??t getting anything done. To this day I canâ??t really believe what happened.â??

Funny what happens when people speak up and tell you to sit down and shut up. Even funnier is when people actually do sit down and shut up.

Heflin just dropped his challenge to the Houston district 149 contest. We just spoke to Rep. Harnett's office to confirm. They said, "Yep. It's over. Vo's the winner."

[edited to add]: We just realized we don't have to read the report! YEA! More drinking, less reading!

The FW Startle-Gram reports that the Masters report is released and finds that Hubert Vo is indeed the winner of the contested seat.

Rep. Vo maintains his Anne Frank optimism as this moves to the special committee and the full House.

[Edited to add] Thanks for the report. It's online here. We'll read it over a bottle of red wine tonight. Pity us.

How so? Well, with prisons full up and no money to build new ones we have a true dilemma. Hmmm, we need more prisons for all those people busted for possession of a joint, you know cause we embraced that whole â??tough on crimeâ?? fad back in the 90â??s. Raise taxes? No way, Jose! Take money from the education fund? No, those teachers are already pissy about being 33rd in pay. CHIP? We always take money from CHIPâ?¦thatâ??s the answer! No? Everybodyâ??s paying attention this session to the whole CHIP thing, too.

Damn. OHâ?¦how about reducing the required jail time for first time offenders and those with possession of only a tiny tiny amount of drugs? [San Antion, sub requ'd...just go read it there, every other newspaper in the state seems to have missed out on this one and they all just use the SA Express article] Cool. Works for us. At least until 2007.

Weâ??d suggest you read more at Grits For Breakfast. Heâ??s the criminal justice expert. Weâ??re the criminal expert.

We here at Pinkdome appreciate our privacy (obviously), and find out from the the Valley Morning Star's editorial this morning about a couple of curious bill proposals - one that would make it hard for you to buy allergy/cold medicine over the counter, and another that would require school administrators to put a student's BMI on their report card. Both of these seem highly ineffective and ridiculous to us. In allergy season, we really appreciate our OTC meds, so we'll be rightly pissed if Senate Bill 107 goes anywhere.

The arguement FOR says the ingredient pseudophedrine is used for making crystal methamphetamine and restricting access will slow the production of this drug. Yeah, that logic has worked for handguns, alcohol, and tobacco.

Reading this week's Austin Chronicle, we found this disappointing article on the new committees by Amy Smith. It seems that Mr. Craddick identifies with the "Plastics" in Mean Girls, giving props to those Dems that supported him, and banishing those that didn't to the cafeteria table by the smelly trash cans. It seems a bit catty to us . . . and it made some Reps upset to the point of slinking home early. Rowr!

We never leave high school do we?

Kathryn Yegge of the DMN [sub requ'd] writes about the bill introduced by Rep. Vicki Truitt (R-Keller)

that would prohibit weather forecasters from calling themselves meteorologists on TV, radio or in print, unless they have the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in meteorology from an accredited program.

So while forecasters can't be punished for blowing a five-day outlook, those who identify themselves as meteorologists without proper credentials would face a misdemeanor charge.

Personally, we'd like the accredidation for weather forecasters to specifically mention important things like: Looks good in a tight sweater, or Fills out a suit nicely.

Maybe Rep. Truitt missed a luncheon at the country club one time because of an erroneous forecast or something.

This, ladies in gentlemen, is a perfect example of why PinkDome exists. Your elected officials are tackling the truly tough issues here in Austin and we're here to tell you to pay attention!

(We only mention Ms. Yegge's name up top there because we wanted to congratulate her for getting through this entire article without just going...aw shit, this is too stupid to keep writing)

Public education. We all know the Lege has 'champions' of public education, but what's going on under the pinkdome is ridiculous. If only we knew the answer we could feel so much better about ourselves. Instead, we're drunk. Rep. Kent Grusendorf (R-Arlington) introduced what Craddick called a 'shell Bill' today.

This entry is gonna be a bit long, but bear with us...click the read more ok?

The introduced 'shell bill' doesn't say anything about school vouchers. Craddick expects they'll get added as an amendment. Ok, what happens when something is added as an amendment and is not included in the introduce Bill or the Bill that goes to committee and subsequent hearings? (by the way, the hearing on this bill is scheduled for Febuary 8)

My answer after the jump

Rep. Burnam (D-FW)re-filed his famous "Millionaire Tax" Bill that will go absolutely nowhere, again. Gotta love the courage here. We asked his office how many Texans would be affected by this Bill and their estimate of 0.5% equals about 13,000 Texans.

The thought that this would lower property taxes is novel, but the bottom line point Burnam is trying to make here is probably valid. The Texas tax system is grossly regressive. Poor people wind up with a higher tax burden than this top 0.5%.

I guess if we weren't looking for a sugar daddy so earnestly we might have something different to say about this.

Counterpunch has posted an interesting story about the Vo/Heflin thing.

Thanks to the careful eye that Hartnett cast upon the evidence, it appeared that someone was moving voters without their knowledge. Hartnett suggested the cards might be forwarded to the Harris County District Attorney.

First we hear that the possible voter fraud that has even been discussed favors Hubert Vo and now Hartnett 'suggests' he may be forwarding some of these things to the Harris County District Attorney's office.

Now, we know that this would probably go nowhere and we haven't seen any of this reported in the mainstream media...but, we think maybe the Harris County Dems ought to send somebody over and take a look into this situation.

If you've got a Repbublican that may or may not be thinking some funny business is going on with voter registration in Harris County it probably deserves a little effort.

Any of y'all in the pinkdome sitting in on these hearings? Got any insights? So far we've only heard good things about how Rep. Hartnett is handling the contested vote. He's certainly between a rock and a hard place...and not in a good way.

Someone please note the time and date that we were 'Fair and Balanced' in our mentioning of a Republican...and it wasn't just because we're hoping to get in their pants.

The District 121 election is this Saturday. We'd suffer through the bright light of day with our usual Saturday hangover to vote if we were in this district.

I don't know why the Austin Chronicle has anything to say about the election at all, but I was most surprised by their crush on Joe Straus, III. From what we understand a lot of people are making the trek to help get out the vote. Some from as far away as Dallas.

The Burnt Orange Report is having a caravan down to help GOTV efforts. Go help the Judge!

Live in San Antonio and don't know where to go vote? Click here to find your polling place.

Some of our readers have asked, "PinkDome, how can we help you?" You can send us info we couldn't get elsewhere. For example, tell us about stupid (and easily ridiculed) questions asked by members in committee hearings. Dash off a missive when a conservative member tries to look down your shirt at the Cloakroom or slip us a note about mean and nefarious death to good bills and shameless promotion of bad bills.

While we won't post pure innuendo like, "What award winning family-values member has frequently been seen at legislative functions with a woman known to be his paramour?" we will print facts reported by bored and lowly staffers and tips from high powered journalists. Send them in and save us the trouble of having to do any actual 'reporting,' because we hate that.

Others have suggested laying off the sexual innuendo. As much as we love sex, we'll try to tone it down. But, asking us to post entries while we aren't totally bombed is going too far.

Rep. Leo Berman (R-Tyler) says he's "sick and tired of hearing about" how many fewer children â?? 175,000 â?? CHIP covers today than it did before the 2003 Legislature cut the program. "They're being cared for one way or another," he said. [DMN, sub requ'd]

Texas leads the nation in uninsured children. So, who exactly, Leo...is caring for these kids? It ain't you, that's for dern sure.

The CHIP program is going to be a hot issue this session. What is CHIP (click here to find out)? If you're too lazy to do that, basically it helps kids from poor families get insurance. Families qualify for CHIP if they are below a certain family income level, it's $31,340 for a family of three. According to FamiliesUSA's web site:

To date, only North Dakota and Wyoming have done as little as Texas in extending health coverage for children.

About 549,000 are eligible for CHIP, while 330,000 are actually on it.

What has the Speaker got against a report produced by a House Committee and months of expert testimony and near unanimous agreement by the bipartisan committee? Oh, he didn't like the conclusions. We're not smart enough to figure out all the implications, but Karen Brooks over at the DMN gives us a hint:

It says caps on property tax appraisals "generate very negative, unintended consequences." And while it was printed for distribution Jan. 11, it's stuck in Speaker Tom Craddick's office, awaiting revisions. "I can't tell you what they're doing with it, other than they're probably not real happy with its recommendations with regards to the caps," Mr. [Fred] Hill said.

So, while the Speaker isn't releasing it to the House you can read the report online in two places, the Dallas Morning News site or right here on pinkdome.com

So, to our readers in the Capitol building...right click and then save as. Print at your leisure. (Then poke us with a stick and tell us what it means)

Thanks to the staffer that pointed me to the Statesman's blog entry by Mike Ward. Apparently Texas Rangers showed up at the Capitol looking for a pay raise. Funny, no statement from Shapiro on who was rounding up criminals. Hmm.

How unfortunate, Florence Shapiro, may be the first Senator we give an F this Session. Yesterday, hundreds of teachers meeting in Austin visited the Capitol to lobby for higher pay and more school funding.

In case you don't know this, Texas (you know, the state that's bigger than France! as the natives like to proclaim) ranks 33rd in average teacher salaries. So, the teachers making the trek all the way to Austin probably means some of them are going to be eating Ramen noodles for a while to pay for the trip.

Shapiro, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee and, according to her web site, a "champion for public education" said of the teacher's visit:

"Who's paying for all the substitutes?" and (wait for it, it gets even better)[Austin American-Statesman, sub requ'd]

"I think it's great that they have concerns and want to talk to us, but they could do that at our district offices or they can send us a message," Shapiro said. "In my opinion, it doesn't look professional to have this many teachers all up here at once like this."

Uh, Senator Shapiro...I think the teacher's did send you a message. It's pretty clear you don't listen to them in your district OR when they come right up to your face in the Capitol building.

Someone get this lady a clue, please!

Wanna tell Shapiro what you think about her respect for her consituents visiting her in her office and her so-called championing of public education? Call her office! Phone (512) 463-0108 Fax (512) 463-7579. Tell her she gets detention.

Today's Dallas Morning News gives PinkDome a peck on the cheek. We prefer full on tongue kissing, but this will do.

An unidentified Austin businessman, reeled in by some politicos and lobbyists, has started "The Pink Dome" (www.pinkdome.com). He'll write from a "decidedly progressive point of view" about politics â?? as well as keep track of "who we think is ugly and who we've developed a crush on."

Smooches right back to you, Karen. Wonder if anything about that quip above is actually true? Thanks to theredstate.com for the heads up.

We're back from our day out. Just so you know we aren't writing this blog from a jail cell in El Paso, here's the House Chamber.

We'd like to say hey to all our friends at the Capitol, and we especially liked Senfronia Thompson's very smart pink suit jacket. Admittedly, we long for the days of her orange hair but every day can't be Christmas. Also a quick food review of the lunch in the Capitol cafeteria...today we had the Southwestern Special and it was surprisingly good.

We weren't surprised to overhear an ACLU lobbyists complaining about getting thrown out of someone's office, though. Talk about a pariah in Texas, sheesh! And, oh...we didn't get laid either.

We thought 'Groundhog Day' would be as good a day as any to venture out of our lair and wander aimlessly around the Capitol building. We'll try to blog from inside the building if we get a signal on our fancy PDA.

We hate actual reporting and fact-gathering so mainly we'll be scoping out people we'd like to have hot lawmaking sex with in the rotunda.

Let's just get this out of the way now: 1.) We are Liberal, 2.) We vote Democratic (Unless one of you Republicans service us under the buffet table...then we've been known to cross over once in a while), and 3.) We believe in God. We know, we know...Republicans claimed him as the BFF (Best Friend Forever!) but Jesus put us on speed dial a long time ago.

Now, Attorney General Abbott is working on this whole Ten Comandments on the lawn of the Capitol thing. [FW Startle-Gram, sub requ'd]

I don't mind the Comandments being on the Capitol Grounds, and I do recognize the importance Christianity has had on the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution. (We only have a problem with this thing when people misinterpret the teachings of our BFF Jesus, YO! J! (Gotta give a shout out) and twist them, pervert them, or use them to preach hate and intolerance.

What I think Abbott should be the most embarrassed about? Judge Roy Moore of Alabama filed a 'friend of the court' brief in the case. If I were Abbott, I would run screaming and arms flailing if this whacko tried to be my friend. (Remember him? The Alabama Supreme Court Justice who had the Ten Comandments installed in the Rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court building in the middle of the night and refused to remove them and was removed from office?)

Ok, we need coffee and we have to forgive ourselves for linking to a story in the Fort-Worth Startle-Gram.