When a state official gets indicted, it’s personal
Generally when a lawmaker is excused from a Texas legislative floor session because of “personal business” we don’t know the precise nature of the business is or just how personal it is.
This was not so at 11:13 a.m. Wednesday, shortly after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick gaveled the Senate into session, when he announced that Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, would be excused because of “personal business.”
At just about that moment, Uresti was due in his hometown federal court for personal business stemming from indictments regarding his personal business.
“Sen. Uresti turns self in to FBI,” said the headline on the San Antonio Express-News’ mysa.com website as the Senate moved forward Wednesday morning without him, “faces 200 years in prison.” Yes, that’s pretty personal. Uresti, a lawmaker since 1997, was named Tuesday in federal indictments alleging he benefited from a Ponzi scheme and was involved in bribing an unnamed official in Reeves County. He says he’s not guilty.
It’s easy to get worked up when a state official gets indicted. But it happens periodically, just as it happens periodically that a state official does something really, really good.
When you pay lawmakers only $600 a month, some of them perceive a need to seek salary supplements. FYI, Ures-