Get your shit straight--Pitts told Dukes days before that he had to vote. It's not like he took her by surprise. She was in FRANCE, for Chrissakes....

and what's gotten lost in all the coverage? i'll tell you. while the rest of us have to put all our summer plans on hold to do the grunt work around the capitol, a duly elected representative (my representative, in fact) has the audacity to excuse her absence from one of the most important votes in recent memory because her of NONREFUNDABLE TICKETS TO FRANCE!!!!!! and to add insult to injury, she has yet to apologize for that absence! this really is unforgivable. dukes hasn't exactly won any major victories for her constituents or championed any great legislation in her career or even climbed the leadership ladder to position herself to do good for austin. she's on her way to being the barrientos of the senate. and she can't even bring herself to own up to a mistake, but actually tries to face the outcry from her constituents as "mere speculation" that her presence would have changed the outcome of the vote on HB3. i say it was "mere speculation" to expect pitts to stick to their agreement. ridiculous.

you f'd up dawnna. have the guts to admit it.

I agree. Pitts may be a putz, but he's a Republican for Crissakes. What does Dukes expect? She's the villain here, not him...

I actually agree with mole. Dukes is my rep and she hasn't done diddly for her district in a while. I don't know what the whole France story is, but I think she is responsible for this situation just as much as Pitts is.

What facts didn't we get straight? The Statesman article states that Dukes did not know that Pitts was going to vote until she received an email Wednesday evening, by then it was too late for her to get back in time. If you've got facts that are being reported perhaps you ought to let the Statesman in on them as well.

sorry. i think some of the comments i made have been misconstrued and i'm guessing it's because i haven't mastered the art of demonstrating sarcasm online.

1. in no way did i mean to suggest you hadn't gotten your facts straight, pd. the tone of my comment was intended to mean that it doesn't seem the statesman, dukes herself, QR, anyone gossiping about this has mentioned what, to my mind, is the real crux of the issue: not that dukes had an arrangement that wasn't honored, but that she had one at all. as someone who has had to repeatedly set aside my personal life over the past two and a half years while the guv and lege rammed through redistricting and now bungle their way through the joke that is "school finance" i don't think that it's too much to ask for my representative to also set aside her personal life to make sure she's here to vote for what could be really important legislation (btw, i appreciate the irony there), nonrefundable tickets, family reunion, or no.

2. i did mean barrientos of the house (and i even proofed my entry!!) and i was alluding to the similarities between the two members: from austin and not exactly noteworthy in their achievements. i certainly understand that the current environment is difficult for the dissenters, but dukes didn't do much BEFORE the current environment. AND there are ways to accomplish things for your district and the state at large, to position yourself as a player, without selling your soul. what is dukes working on? what are her issues? i wouldn't know, and as much as i have to pay attention around here, i should. it should be obvious. from your somewhat defensive sounding response (forgive me if i'm wrong about that and i'm not trying to get personal) seems like you may be close(r) to the fire. obviously i'm speaking from the comfort of an aloof observer, so maybe (hopefully) i'm wrong about dukes. but you can't dispute me that barrientos has accomplished little if anything over a very long career.

Rep. Dukes’ absence from the House vote is a very small issue compared to the stunning incompetence the Legislature as whole as shown on the school finance issue.

Folks, this is the fourth session the Legislature has addressed this issue in the last three years and they still cannot do their jobs. I believe that the House does not want to address school finance because their supervisors (i.e., the business lobby) do not want an end to the franchise tax loopholes.

So, the House passes legislation they know will not be accepted by the Senate so they can act like they are working while serving their corporate sponsors.

Christ said “By their fruits you shall know them”. In three years, the House has done nothing but help companies use the loopholes avoid well over a billion dollars in franchise tax. I ask you, whom does the House serve if not those the House has helped benefit?

The school finance equation is: Legislature = inept.

Hey Mole, we love two things: sarcasm and aloof observers! We get your point. We were just feeling a little soft towards Dukes this morning...very uncharacteristic of us and we shouldn't have let it happen in the first place.

Of the comments, here's one we love:

Rep. Dukes’ absence from the House vote is a very small issue compared to the stunning incompetence the Legislature as whole as shown on the school finance issue.

So true. So true. We love it when someone other than us finally says the emperor has no clothes.

I'm going for Mexican food and a maragarita. What's say we meet back here after 6 and see what the hell the Senate is going to be up to later?

She missed the most important vote of her legislative career because she was on vacation in France with her family. She wasn't even at a conference. She wasn't even folling the Tour de France. She was on vacation. The worse assault to public education and tax equity in her entire lifetime passed by one vote because she was on vacation.

You apologists out there need to pull your head out of your ass. This woman is toast. She's already furniture and now she'll be gone.

People, she didn't even apologize! She blamed her staff for the mix up. If she doesn't care enough about being a state rep to show up for the most important vote of her career I don't see why any of us should care enough about her to send her back there.

You cannot possibly believe that Craddick wouldn't have flipped a few more votes had Dukes been there to cast her "no" in person.

As for Barrientos, perhaps he should have gone along with leadership in the hopes of crumbs to come later and voted to suspend on CSHB 3 to raise taxes on most of his constituents, as some other Ds did.

So tell us, Political Princess (nice stage name, BTW) where would we be if Dukes had been in Austin to vote? What would have happened if HB 3 was killed and never got out of the House? Do you believe the House (and the Speaker) would have said “Gee, because we could not pass our plan let us join hands with our Democratic brothers and sisters and embrace their plan”? I do not.

I believe that this session would have ended without any property tax relief or new school funding (and it still may). I believe the Governor would call yet another special session in hope of addressing this issue before the Texas Supreme Court comes in and is forced to do the Legislature’s job.

Dukes should have been there for the vote. No doubt.

More important is the fact that the Legislature should have solved this problem in one of the three earlier sessions and failed all Texans when they did not. Now tell me, if we give someone three chances to do their job and they prove inept, who really has their head up their ass?

good lord. i can't believe the senate doesn't get it. writing's on the wall, folks. this is going down in a blaze of (un)glory.

the legislature has wrangled with school finance since the stone age. until someone can educate the people about why a state income tax is better (more equitable, less regressive) than financing schools with property tax, until certain members of the legislature stop letting ideology rule their vote and own up to the fact that good schools require money, until certain other members of the lege grow out of the dick measuring contest we've got going now, and when the house stops asking "how high?" when the TAB says jump, we'll just plan on spending our summers here at the capitol. bastards.

can i get a whut whut for eddie rodriguez? is he the only member who understands what it's going to take? or is he just the only one with the cojones to say it out loud?

I feel like I'm in crazy town. Dukes skipped the most important vote of her career to go on vacation and no one is bothered? What's the point of having a legislative if no one thinks that actually showing up and voting matters? I want my damn $7,200 back, she hasn't earned it.

More importantly - why is no one asking about Dawnna's per diem. Did she take the hundred odd bucks each day she was in France? Huh?

This is crazy town, for sure political princess. That's a good question about her per diem. Wonder if she refused it while whooping it up in France?

She should have just eaten at Aquarelle after she voted.

She didn't find out about Pitts' change of heart until she got an e-mail??? Don't cell phones - or any phone, for that matter - work in France?