Herman: State Democrats face a special session quandary.
Ken Herman says the outgunned party could run, but it looks like it will stick around and fight — as long as the odds may seem.
AUSTIN — I don’t often take requests, but ...
A local House Democrat, perhaps perturbed by my column this week about his party’s futility in slowing the special-session train engineered by Republicans, asked me if I, for once, could write something nice about the Democrats. Let’s find out. Bless their long-outgunned hearts, Democrats in the Texas Legislature are planning and thinking about what they can do in lieu of having the votes to do much of anything in either chamber. The first rule of Legislature Club is when you don’t have the votes, you turn to the rules.
Sen. Jose Rodriguez, D-El Paso, tried that Tuesday by “tagging” a bill to slow it down. Republicans, however, had the votes to override that effort. The Republicans can pretty much do whatever they want to do. And they will.
The second rule of Legislature Club: It pays to win elections. Actually, that probably is the first rule.
So now let’s get to the part where I try to say something nice about the Democrats.
At the House chamber’s back microphone, where members raise procedural questions, Houston Rep. Harold Dutton noted Wednesday that members, though they have three voting buttons on their desks — aye, nay, present not voting — actually have four choices. (And no, he was not talking about “voting not present,” which happens.)
“You can choose not to vote, is that right?” Dutton asked Speaker Joe Straus, who acknowledged that option.
Dutton: “Well let me ask if that translates into a vote where we determine whether there’s a quorum or not? Can a member be sitting at their desk and choose not to vote present?”
Straus: “That’s an interesting question. We’ll have to look into that.”
Dutton: “I was wondering because I think the way we determine a quorum is based on what the (voting) board says, right? We don’t go around and count people.”
Straus: “That’s true. Yes, correct.”
Dutton: “So if a member can choose not to vote on an issue, why couldn’t they choose not to vote to determine whether or not they are present at all?”
Straus: “That’s something we’ll have to look into. We can discuss that.”
At this point I’d like to tell you that every House member was listening attentively to this potentially important discussion. I’d like to tell you that but I’d be lying. It’s rare that every House member ever is listening attentively to any discussion in the House.
But Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, was listening attentively. He’s that kind of guy, kind of like the kid who, on a Friday afternoon, says, “Teacher, you forgot to give us homework.”
When Dutton, in the House since 1985, was done with his hypothetical, Tinderholt said to Straus: “If that instance were to happen and we requested a roll call vote and the people were in the room, staying in the room, and we requested that the doors be closed for a roll call vote would you do that?”
“Mr. Tinderholt,” Straus replied, “we’ll take the situation as it arises.”
So are we headed for quorum-breaking, legislation-halting tactics, such as in 2003 when Democratic senators fled to Albuquerque, N.M., and Democratic representatives fled to Ardmore, Okla., in a failed attempt to stop GOP redistricting efforts?
I’d like to tell you yes, because that kind of fun is fun. But, again, it looks like I’d be lying. After his Wednesday closeddoor strategy session with the Democratic House caucus, I asked Grand Prairie Rep. Chris Turner, caucus chair, if the Democrats might try to slow or halt action by breaking quorum. “No,” he said. “Sorry.” Peggy Fikac of the San Antonio Express-News, wily legislative veteran that she is, followed up with, “Would you tell us if you were?”
“No,” Turner replied, laughing.
I requested that if the Democrats do leave town, they go someplace more interesting than they did last time.
“Albuquerque was alright,” Turner said, which leaves Ardmore at something less than alright.
And Albuquerque might seem alright again if this session, as expected, winds up breaking bad for the Democrats. It looks, however, that the Democrats will opt for fight over flight this time around. They probably lose either way, but there is something unpleasant about having to acknowledge you have more power when you’re absent than when you’re present.
“Denial of a quorum is an extraordinary tool used in extraordinary circumstances,” Turner said, “and I don’t think we find ourselves in that situation.”
Turner said, though, that he was at a Tuesday Capitol rally by some folks — including transgender Texans very concerned about the bathroom bill — who think we’re in extraordinary circumstances.
Turner said he understands that but believes “there’s still significant opposition to the bathroom bill that makes it unlikely it will pass.” We’ll see. “We can’t game out right now exactly what’s going to happen because we just don’t know,” Turner said of the special session in general.
So how’d that go? Did I say anything nice about Democrats?