GregsOpinion.com

Now, there's been some hubbub made of the vote for Speaker, whereby a mere 4 House members voted against Tom Craddick, including two from Houston: Moreno and Farrar. Quite frankly, I think too much is made of that vote, although I do agree the false facade of bipartisanship needs to sink to the bottom of that cesspool so we can go about instigating the reform makeover necessary to make the Lege more hospitable. The problem for now is that the House Rules establish a strong speaker. That is something that needs to be attacked between now and November 2006. For now, I'll grant a shrug at the vote ... but next time, maybe not.

Day Three saw the best action on the voting charts. The House Rules were adopted and a few amendments were raised. Some contentious ... but some not. Yet, even the ones that were NOT had an interesting vote count:

Amendment #1 was a name change of the Texas Strategic Military Planning Commission with the more headline-friendly "Texas Military Preparedness Commission" ... it got adopted with no recorded vote.

Amendment #2 showed a little fun & games as a change to the ethics procedure were made by Pete Gallego (D-Alpine). The rules began with a committee of five selected in full by the Speaker. Well, unfortunately, it's the speaker that's under fire here. So the Gallego amendment would have set a committee of six, with three Ds and three Rs selected by each side. No dice ... the amendment went down 20-114 (with Craddick present & a no-vote). Obviously, that's a lot of Ds voting to keep the rules as-is. So it's time to shine some sunlight on some brave votes that need to be congratulated:

Yeas ? Anchia; Burnam; Castro; Coleman; Dunnam; Farrar; Gallego; Gonzales; Herrero; Hochberg; Hodge; Leibowitz; Martinez; Moreno, J.; Moreno, P.; Naishtat; Quintanilla; Rodriguez; Strama; Thompson.

Present, not voting ? Mr. Speaker(C).

Absent, Excused ? Keffer, B.; Keffer, J.; Olivo.

Absent ? Bailey; Corte; Davis, J.; Edwards; Goolsby; Hilderbran; Jones, J.; Laney; Menendez; Noriega, M.; Pickett.

This is as straighforward a reform vote as it gets in the House. Of interest are the votes of some freshmen members on boths sides of the vote. I've got to start with a standing O for my own State Rep. Scott Hochberg and I suspect Kuff will likewise stand proud for his, Farrar. But for freshmen members to run into the headlights of the speaker on a vote this early is worth a special amount of applause as well. And with that, Mark Strama should be congratulated for sticking to his reformer guns. Also worth noting is San Antonio Dem, David Leibowitz (who also doubles the Jewish Caucus in Austin). While not a total surprise to see some freshmen ducking for cover, I still have to note a bit of disappointment in Hubert Vo and Alma Allen on this vote.

Amendment #3 was a similar reform measure, this one put forth by Paul Moreno (D - El Paso). This took the approach of separating the General Investigating Committee from the Ethics part of the originally drafted rule. A more muted point in that without a separate Ethics Committee, having a separate General Investigative Committee wasn't quite the same. Still ... despite a few shifts in the vote count, it goes hand-in-hand with the reform push of Amendment #2. The amendment goes down 21-117, with Strama voting with the majority and Vo giving his vote to the reform minority.

Yeas ? Burnam; Castro; Chavez; Coleman; Dunnam; Farrar; Gallego; Herrero; Hochberg; Jones, J.; Laney; Leibowitz; Martinez; Martinez Fischer; Moreno, J.; Moreno, P.; Naishtat; Quintanilla; Rodriguez; Veasey; Vo.

Present, not voting ? Mr. Speaker(C).

Absent, Excused ? Keffer, B.; Keffer, J.; Olivo.

Absent ? Chisum; Davis, J.; Hardcastle; Kuempel; Noriega, M.; Solis; Thompson.

Two minor amendments on the calendar after this ...

Amendment #4: allows the chair of a committee to recognize a member not on the committee ... adopted w/o a vote.

Amendment #5: literally, a bit of legalese that was withdrawn.

Here's where it gets curious ....

Amendment #6: offered by Representatives Hochberg (D), Naishtat (D), and Crabb (R). This amendment established a "COMMITTEE OBSERVANCE OF RELIGIOUS DAYS" that basically codified observance of religious holy days among House committees. Although the House convenes for a mere 140 days every two years (plus special sessions from time to time). So this would have meant a little more than just the goings on of the regular session.

But get this ... the amendment went down in defeat ... 49-83.

Want more? It was the Craddick Cabal (aka, the Texas GOP) that basically struck down observance of the Sabbath. Amazing, huh? Here's the good guy list (and others):

Yeas ? Allen, A.; Alonzo; Anchia; Baxter; Bohac; Burnam; Chavez; Coleman; Crabb; Davis, Y.; Deshotel; Dunnam; Eiland; Elkins; Escobar; Farrar; Frost; Gallego; Geren; Giddings; Gonzales; Goolsby; Griggs; Guillen; Hegar; Herrero; Hochberg; Hodge; Jones, J.; King, T.; Leibowitz; McCall; McReynolds; Moreno, J.; Moreno, P.; Mowery; Naishtat; Pe?a; Pickett; Raymond; Riddle; Rodriguez; Smith, T.; Solis; Strama; Thompson; Turner; Uresti; Veasey.

Present, not voting ? Mr. Speaker(C).

Absent, Excused ? Keffer, B.; Keffer, J.; Olivo.

Absent ? Bailey; Castro; Edwards; Flores; Hardcastle; Isett; Laney; Martinez Fischer; Menendez; Noriega, M.; Oliveira; Seaman; Villarreal.

You'll note that there were a not insignificant number of Harris County GOP Reps who supported this, along with Crabb. Also of interest are that Melissa Noriega and Hubert Vo stated their support after missing the votes.

Amendments 7 & 8 were of the Amend an Amendment variety ... just a little special interest defining of committee structure. It passed. Blah.

Amendment #9 was the now infamous "Recorded Vote" alteration which passed ... without a recorded vote.

Amendment #10 was another reform vote as San Antonio Democrat Trey Martinez-Fischer attempted to tinker with the "close vote" provisions that currently allow the Speaker to run through the membership and ask "Are you sure?" It's a strongarm measure and the amendment struck a balance in that it defined "close" as being within 7 votes while at the same time changing a single member request for such action to a three-member requirement for such action. Ironic then, that the same majority that initially wanted a three-member requirement for recorded votes wants to make it easier for the speaker to bully the membership. In any even, a Yea vote is a Yay vote, so to speak, but it still went down 40-100 ... read em and weep:

Yeas ? Alonzo; Anchia; Baxter; Burnam; Castro; Coleman; Cook, R.; Davis, Y.; Deshotel; Dunnam; Eiland; Escobar; Farrar; Frost; Gonzales; Gonzalez Toureilles; Herrero; Hochberg; Hodge; Hopson; Jones, J.; King, T.; Laney; Leibowitz; Martinez; Martinez Fischer; Menendez; Merritt; Moreno, J.; Moreno, P.; Naishtat; Noriega, M.; Oliveira; Pickett; Quintanilla; Raymond; Rodriguez; Strama; Thompson; Veasey.

...

Present, not voting ? Mr. Speaker(C).

Absent, Excused ? Keffer, B.; Keffer, J.; Olivo.

Absent ? Edwards; Gallego; Hardcastle; McCall; Solis.

Gallego's vote failed to register on the yes, making him an effective yea.

Amendment #11 was a meaningful little ditty to ensure that the members recite the pledge at the beginning of each day ... as well as the pledge to the Texas flag. Not shocking to see Martha Wong take up this all-too-important bit of legislation. Although it was a shock that she didn't want to name something after Ronald Reagan in it. It passed witout a recorded vote.

Amendment #12 was a Garnet Coleman job involving some legislative mechanic technicalities. It went down without a recorded vote.

Amendments #13 & 14 were another Coleman job that involved a requirement for a fiscal note being attached to anything coming out of a conference committee and further defining the publishing of them to be attached at the time of printing, rather than say ... days later. Ya know, so people can see the price tag on what they're voting for. Yeah, you guessed it ... it goes down in flames: 39-98. The good guys:

#13 Yeas ? Allen, A.; Anchia; Burnam; Castro; Coleman; Cook, R.; Davis, Y.; Deshotel; Dukes; Dunnam; Eiland; Escobar; Farrar; Frost; Gallego; Gonzales; Gonzalez Toureilles; Herrero; Hochberg; Hodge; Homer; Jones, J.; King, T.; Laney; Leibowitz; Martinez; Martinez Fischer; Moreno, J.; Moreno, P.; Naishtat; Noriega, M.; Oliveira; Quintanilla; Raymond; Rodriguez; Strama; Thompson; Veasey; Vo.

...

Present, not voting ? Mr. Speaker(C).

Absent, Excused ? Keffer, B.; Keffer, J.; Olivo.

Absent ? Alonzo; Chisum; Davis, J.; Edwards; Hardcastle; Menendez; Solis; Uresti.

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#14
Yeas ? Allen, A.; Alonzo; Burnam; Castro; Coleman; Cook, R.; Davis, Y.; Deshotel; Dukes; Dunnam; Eiland; Escobar; Farrar; Frost; Gallego; Gonzales; Gonzalez Toureilles; Herrero; Hochberg; Hodge; Homer; Hopson; Jones, J.; King, T.; Laney; Leibowitz; Moreno, J.; Moreno, P.; Naishtat; Noriega, M.; Pickett; Quintanilla; Raymond; Riddle; Ritter; Rodriguez; Thompson; Veasey; Vo.

...

Present, not voting ? Mr. Speaker(C).

Absent, Excused ? Keffer, B.; Keffer, J.; Olivo.

Absent ? Davis, J.; Dutton; Edwards; Hardcastle; Menendez; Mowery; Phillips; Solis.

Amendment #15 was the Joe Moreno special ... applying the DeLay Rule to the Texas House. As priceless as a recorded vote would have been here, it was withdrawn.

Amendment #16 was an e-government special that stipulated that the public would have online access to information being voted on in the same realtime atmosphere as House members. It goes down with a recorded vote to match:

Yeas ? Allen, A.; Alonzo; Anchia; Baxter; Burnam; Castro; Coleman; Cook, R.; Davis, Y.; Deshotel; Dunnam; Escobar; Farabee; Farrar; Frost; Gallego; Giddings; Gonzales; Gonzalez Toureilles; Guillen; Haggerty; Hamilton; Herrero; Hochberg; Hodge; Homer; Jones, J.; King, T.; Krusee; Laney; Leibowitz; Martinez; Martinez Fischer; McReynolds; Moreno, J.; Moreno, P.; Naishtat; Noriega, M.; Phillips; Puente; Quintanilla; Raymond; Ritter; Rodriguez; Rose; Strama; Thompson; Veasey; Villarreal.

...

Present, not voting ? Mr. Speaker(C).

Absent, Excused ? Keffer, B.; Keffer, J.; Olivo.

Absent ? Chavez; Davis, J.; Dawson; Edwards; Eiland; Geren; Hardcastle; Menendez; Pickett; Solis.

the final action as HCR 22, which states: "HCR 22, Directing the legislative staff responsible for maintaining the Internet website for the Texas Legislature to provide improved public access to information on votes taken on legislation." It passed 141-0, proving that the more vacuous a bill is, the more votes it garners.

So who voted for all seven contested amendments:

Burnam, Lon
Coleman, Garnet
Dunnam, Jim
Farrar, Jessica
Herrero, Abel
Hochberg, Scott
Leibowitz, David
Moreno, Joe E.
Moreno, Paul
Naishtat, Elliott
Rodriguez, Eddie

All Dems.

Todd Baxter ranks as the best performing GOPer, with 3 votes.