Best & Worst of the Texas Lege

The Texas Monthly list is out ... 10 best and 10 worst. For whom does the bell toll loudest?

Lest anyone miss the point, The Daily Show aired a segment called ?No Child?s Sweet Behind,? in which Edwards spoke solemnly of the dangers inherent in ?moving your privacy,? including ?the herpes or catching AIDS.? [Cue laughter]. Correspondent Bob Wiltfong ground his own booty in Edwards?s face, and cheerleaders from Austin?s McCallum High School performed routines clad in large garbage bags that covered their not-terribly-sexy uniforms. Only one thing could have been more embarrassing to the Legislature: airing the two-hour debate over the bill itself.

Al Edwards! Come on down! Your career is now over!

On the whole, the list is a rather sordid condemnation of the Harris County delegation in particular:

State Rep. Dwayne Bohac:

HE HAD ONE OF THE session?s biggest assignments: Pass a proposal capping increases of property tax appraisals at 5 percent per year. A priority item in Governor Perry?s legislative program, it required a constitutional amendment, so Bohac needed a supermajority of at least 100 of his 150 colleagues, a figure he couldn?t reach without some Democratic support. This was a huge opportunity for an ambitious member in just his second term.

But Bohac took time out to play a penny-ante game, proposing a bill to name U.S. 290 in Harris County in memory of Ronald Reagan.

State Rep. Robert Talton:

SO MUCH LUNACY, so little space.

St. Senator Mario Gallegos:

IMAGINE THAT YOU?VE been the subject of humiliating headlines involving tawdry personal conduct?a seventeen-year affair with a stripper who claims you mooched thousands of dollars from her and subjected her to emotional and physical abuse, including spankings. Wouldn?t common sense dictate that you work to redeem yourself?

Common Gallegos may be, but sense he hath not.

And, for what it's worth, the Monthly threw State Senator John Whitmire a bone by adding him to the Ten Best. Not a lot to argue, I guess. The level of competition surely was down and this can be considered their "argument starting" pick. But still, the bastard pulled the rug on us on redistricting. I'm still down with a primary on this one.

For a bit of bipartisan love, I think I'll echo the pick on Charlie Geren (R-Ft. Worth) the strongest. For starters, Charlie's brother Pete was a fine Democratic congressman who succeeded Jim Wright in the 12th Congressional District. But Charlie's work on school issues this session was a master stroke of genius.

THIS IS GEREN?S second experience with a Texas Monthly best list. In 2003 his restaurant the Railhead Smokehouse was selected as one of the top fifty barbecue joints in the state. There?s more of a connection to politics than you might think: In one of the key battles of the session, Geren carved up and reduced to mush a sweeping proposal for school vouchers backed by Governor Rick Perry, Speaker Craddick, and billionaire conservative panjandrum James Leininger.

An anti-voucher coalition of Democrats and rural Republicans had the votes to defeat the proposal until those three went to work. Word spread on the House floor that reluctant Republicans were being threatened with career-ending political retaliation. By the time the debate began, the vote count was deadlocked. Twice Craddick cast a rare vote from the podium to defeat amendments that would have scuttled the bill. But opponents had exposed a weakness in the bill: The bill sponsors of the pro-voucher forces had not included their own school districts, Arlington and Irving, in the plan. If vouchers are good for our schools, their opponents kept asking, why aren?t they good for yours?

The stage was set for Geren?s lethal amendment. ?[It] removes Fort Worth ISD and replaces it with Arlington ISD,? he told the House. ?It takes Dallas out and puts Irving in?All I did was swap the districts so the authors of the bill could participate in the bill.? The genius of the amendment was that it allowed the anti-voucher Republicans to vote for it without voting against vouchers. This and a second Geren amendment fatally wounded the voucher plan. It took guts to stand up to raw power, but a professional barbecuer can stand the heat and not get out of the kitchen.

UPDATE: Just for a full measure of Al Edwards, here's the litany of outcomes he's attained in Texas Monthly over the years:

2005 - Ten Worst
1993 - Ten Worst
1989 - Ten Worst
1983 - Ten Worst

Way to keep it consistent, Al!