Yet More Al Edwards ...

Ed Martin (former Executive Director of the Texas Democratic Party):

This is not 1999 or 2001- not the good old bipartisan days. The "new regime" in the Texas House doesn't even have conference committees that sit at a table. They don't even meet. A couple of people sit in a back room, do the deal, and send the conference report out for three House and three Senate signatures (out of five). They don't open doors for us to participate. They even threaten to kill their own Republican Members if they dare show enough independence to stray from the program to vote for their districts instead.

Be under no illusion, Al's vote for HB3 and his previous white lights gave no one a seat at the table, and it gave none of us a "voice," because the House leaders listen to only the corporate owners, the right-wing think tanks, and the same masters that brought us Tom DeLay.

In the Texas House, Democrats have to raise their voices, in truth and in a responsible way, to reach the ears of the majority of Texans outside. We have no audience on the podium. I've been around the Capitol for 30 years, and unless you've seen this "regime" up close, you don't know how much it has changed. They will give nothing. When we win a close amendment vote, four or five R's who didn't want to vote for their leaders' position suddenly send notes to the dais that their "voting machines malfunctioned," and the result is reversed. Those same machines work properly on every other vote, but they "malfunction" at just the right time. In this cowardly new world, we have no seat at the table, and tossing them a vote gets "us" nothing, nothing, nothing at all...

Yes, we should work with all people. Yes, we should tolerate disagreement and avoid litmus tests that woudl make our Party as intolerant as the far right. Yes, we should talk to Republicans and independents, too, because we want to win as much as we want to prove how smart we are. And yes, we should debate with class and with substance and dignity. We should never sink to their level and be the bad guys. Otherwise, we become a permanent minority, and people would suffer as a result.

But we have to do all those things without abandoning our principles and convictions. We can't provide a corrupt leadership with tokens they can use to cloak themselves as "fair."

Most of all, Democrats should not abandon their constituents to be enablers. Many Republicans wanted to oppose HB2 and HB3, and some did, but their leaders pounded and threatened them. In that environment, any crack in our ranks harms the cause and gives cover to those we may be able to defeat when the final vote come a few months down the road.

Al Edward's voting pattern is a matter his constituents must deal with. But in the meantime, let's don't help anyone create illusions about what is going on in Austin. We'll get only what Tom Craddick wants from House conferees on HB2 and HB3, nothing more. Al's vote has absolutely no effect on that - zip, zero, nada.

Our House Democrats remain ready and willing to play fair, but the gavel in not in their hands, and in the meantime, Democrats should not be in the business of enabling those who promote policy that threatens the people and practices that threaten our democracy.

Sounds about right to me ....