Told Ya So!
Campos Communications Daily Commentary
Marc Campos, heretofore the lone defender of State Senatore John Whitmire, is just SHOCKED ... SHOCKED I tell you ... that the Texas State Senate has steamrolled through the anti-Bill White bill to end SafeClear as we know it. Quite ironic that one of Whitmire's key criticisms was that SafeClear was pushed through without public hearings (nevermind that it was a baldfaced lie on Whitmire's part). Now, the bill to end it is being pushed through without a single public hearing.
Damn, Senator Whitmire ... I think this qualifies you to go to work in the Bush White House after the 2006 elections. As for Marc's naivete, I really can't think of a more artful way to say I told ya so.
The sad fact of the matter is that this is but one signpost in the changing Texas political landscape. On the one hand, there's been a long history of something approximating bipartisanship. That goes back to the days when we were essentially a one-party state, yet the conservative Democratic leadership knew they needed a placated GOP in order to marginalize the more liberal members of the lege. I mean, as recently as 2001, the Dems were putting State Rep. Pete Laney up as Speaker of the House after he was running around endorsing George W. Bush for President. But, the state GOP is changing this in some subtle ways. One of the more non-subtle ways, however, is to cut off at the knees anyone that threatens to be an electoral force that could possibly threaten the GOP/Big Money stranglehold on Texas government. That they use a self-interested pol like Whitmire as window-dressing for this maneuver ought not to have fooled an otherwise knowledgable consultant like Campos.