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 prob