Congrats, Scott

Well, Texas Monthly has done their biannual public service by posting the Best & Worst of the lege. Others have their take on the list. For my sake, I'll offer this one olive-branch to Paul Burka and agree with him wholeheartedly while also acknowledging an excellent case he's made for including my State Rep., Scott Hochberg, on the "Best" list ... again.

Burka:

Scott Hochberg didn’t figure to be on the Best list. This was not a session in which public education, his area of expertise, was in play. But then a conversation took place in which a Republican lawmaker described him this way: “No legislator is indispensable, but Scott Hoch-berg is the closest thing to it.” Session after session, he knows more about school finance than anyone, and he’s willing to share his knowledge with friend or foe. Members on both sides of the aisle trust him. When Chisum’s bill requiring high schools to offer Bible electives was sent to the Public Education Committee, it was so riddled with problems Hochberg could have killed it. Instead, he fixed it. When the bill reached the House floor, Chisum tried to substitute his original flawed version—and the House sided with Hochberg. In previous sessions, the former chairman of the Public Education Committee, Kent Grusendorf, did everything he could to keep Hoch-berg on the outside, only to lose floor battle after floor battle to him; this time, new chairman Rob Eissler was his biggest fan. On the first day the committee met, Eissler placed four Hochberg bills on the agenda—an unmistakable signal that his banishment was over. He passed one major bill this session, polishing up the way the state adopts textbooks (which saved school districts $1 billion), but next session, when school finance formulas will be on the front burner, Mr. Indispensable will be front and center.

Of course, it makes quite a difference to offer a point with substance rather than one based on pure piffle.

In the off chance the professional Republicans of the world decide to make another futile run at Scott, I suspect they'll be even more frustrated than the last three candidates combined.

As for the rest of the list, I don't find a great deal to quibble with. John Whitmire might well have deserved somewhat better than Honorable Mention for his jousting of Dan Patrick alone. Mario Gallegos warranted inclusion among the "Best" just for being there to prevent a modern-era poll tax from being instituted in Texas.

But one inclusion for "Best," I'll offer praise on a bipartisan note: State Sen. Bob Deuell. While most folks might remember Mario Gallegos' act of principle in being on the floor of the Senate to stave of a Voter ID bill, it was his Republican colleague who cared for Gallegos while he was there against doctor's orders. So far as I know, Deuell favored the very bill Gallegos opposed. But his act was one of principle, too. In this case, it was the principle that human life mattered more than tactical political victory. For that, Deuell deserves recognition, applause, and respect ... irregardless of how many votes I may disagree with of his.

Patricia Hart sums up his inclusion thusly:

Though tagged as an ideologue when he first arrived in the Senate two sessions ago, Bob Deuell marches to the beat of a different drummer, which is fitting for a former member of Ike and Tina Turner’s band in the seventies. Consider family physician Deuell’s advocacy of a needle-exchange program to combat AIDS and HIV. While other Republicans fretted they’d be accused of coddling junkies, Deuell saw a common-sense solution to soaring deaths and health care costs. When the company responsible for carrying out a GOP plan to privatize Medicaid services couldn’t get its act together, he asked the state auditor to assess its shortcomings. Best of all, he’s civil: He publicly rebuked a pro-life lobbyist for sending misleading e-mails, though he agreed with her philosophically, and respectfully thanked a pro-choice committee witness for her testimony. He has even been known to quote Teddy Kennedy and Ronald Reagan in the same floor speech. And he won’t stoop to petty political games. When Democrat Mario Gall-egos, who is recuperating from a liver transplant, wanted to remain in Austin for crucial party-line votes, Deuell arranged for a hospital bed to be set up in a room adjacent to the Senate chamber.