One has to hand it to Rep. Jim Dunnam (D-Waco). Hes good at obscuring issues.
Two years ago Dunnam called a point of order on the conference report to the electric consumer protection bill (SB 482) effectively killing it. TXU was just about the only entity that benefitted from Dunnams action but he tried to justify it by claiming that the bill wasnt tough enough. Help the big guy while pretending to help the little guy. Now he and a few of the other Democrats on the floor are slow-talking the local calendar causing a calendar that normally takes about three hours or so to take several days. The obvious intent of this action is an attempt to prevent the voter ID bill from being reached by midnight Tuesday (the deadline to pass general calendar bills on second reading). There are some Democratic party operatives who believe the fair and honest elections that voter ID is designed to ensure will hurt the party politically so a few Democrats are throwing a temper-tantrum on the House floor. (Note that several rural and moderate Democrats arent participating in these antics.) A side-effect of slow-talking the local calendar is that several other important bills are now at risk and will probably die. These include the Texas Department of Insurance sunset and the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association financial solvency bill. Obviously Dunnam doesnt want his party blamed for the death of popular legislation. So he and Rep. Richard Raymond (D-Laredo) made the GOP an offer it has to refuse. Hes offered to suspend the local calendar for any bill other than voter ID. This is a transparent attempt to try and shift the blame to the GOP for his own partys juvenile antics. The Republicans cant accept that offer because if they do where does it end? If a few Democrats are upset because they want bigger tax increases do they slow-talk the local calendar and shut the House down until they get their way? Accepting such an offer sets a precedent that allows five or six house members -- of any ideological stripe -- to shut the House down. So the House majority is doing the only thing it can -- wait and watch as a handful of representatives slowly stall the business of the state to a halt because of their fear of fair and honest elections.
