The doings of the Texas Legislature have been newsworthy for years – remember when a bunch of them went AWOL to avoid the redistricting vote and effectively kill it? This time, even the Republicans have had enough with the autocratic, absolutist rule of Speaker Craddick. Since he’s blocking a maneuver to vote on vacating his chair – in effect, he controls whether or not a vote to oust him can take place, a spontaneous walkout took place in the wee hours. One legislator just suggested that anyone that would have voted to oust the speaker just walk out with their voting keys. Apparently this bolluxes up their electronic vote system, so the session had to be adjourned.
Molly Ivins would have loved it. What a shame she’s not here to enjoy it, and skewer it for the rest of us.
Texas Observer Blog » Walk This Way – The Texas Observer
Tonight was one for the history books, capping an incredible weekend of drama in the Texas House. The tension in the lower chamber built steadily throughout this penultimate day of the 80th legislative session — finally culminating in heated floor exchanges, personal privilege speeches from two disaffected Republicans, and, finally, an apparently spontaneous walkout of at least 56 House members that halted the legislating and forced a hurried adjournment until 2 p.m. tomorrow.
