AUSTIN, Texas — In light of the malicious prosecution of Governor Rick Perry, Republican lawmakers are rushing to jump on the bandwagon opposing the Democrats politically motivated action. But several House Republicans loyal to liberal House Speaker, Joe Straus, bear responsibility for setting the stage leading to the indictments.
In fact, 18 Republicans joined with the chamber’s Democrats in stopping Gov. Perry’s 2013 initiative to move the Public Integrity Unit out from under convicted drunk driver Rosemary Lehmberg, Travis county’s Democrat district attorney.
According to the House Journal for Monday, May 20, 2013, liberal State Rep. Charlie Geren, a Fort Worth Republican lieutenant to Straus, moved to kill an amendment that have moved the PIU functions to the Office of the Attorney General. He was clearly doing the bidding of the Democrats to whom Straus has owed his speakership.
Those Republicans joining Geren and the Democrats on Record Vote 994 were:
Bill Callegarri of Katy (didn’t seek re-election)
John Davis of Baytown (didn’t seek re-election)
Patricia Harless of Houston
Dan Huberty of Humble
Jason Isaac of Dripping Springs
Kyle Kacal of Bryan
Jim Keffer of Eastland
Ken King of Canadian
Susan King of Abilene
John Kuempel of Seguin
John Otto of Dayton
Diane Patrick of Arlington (defeated)
Jim Pitts of Waxahachie (retired)
John Raney of College Station
J.D. Sheffield of Gatesville
David Simpson of Longview
Wayne Smith of Baytown
John Zerwas of Simonton
If these Republicans had not joined with the Democrats, Perry would not have had to exercise his line-item veto. Only one member noted above, Simpson, is not a Straus loyalist.
— FROM THE TEXAS HOUSE JOURNAL—
Amendment No. 27
Representative P. King offered the following amendment to CSSB 219:
Floor Packet Page No. 57
Amend CSSB 219 (house committee report) by adding the following appropriately numbered SECTION to Article 1 of the bill and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS of that article accordingly:
SECTION 1.____. Section 572.051, Government Code, is amended by adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
(g) The commission shall develop, in consultation with the office of the attorney general, a plan for the transfer of the duties and responsibilities of the Public Integrity Unit of the Travis County district attorney’s office to the office of the attorney general. The plan must include the disposition of funding currently dedicated to the Public Integrity Unit of the Travis County district attorney’s office. The transfer of duties and responsibilities under the plan developed under this subsection shall occur not later than September 1, 2014.
Representative Geren moved to table Amendment No. 27.
The motion to table prevailed by (Record 994): 75 Yeas, 69 Nays, 2 Present, not voting.
Yeas — Allen; Alonzo; Alvarado; Anchia; Burnam; Callegari; Canales; Coleman; Collier; Cortez; Crownover; Davis, J.; Davis, Y.; Deshotel; Dukes; Dutton; Eiland; Farias; Farrar; Geren; Giddings; González, M.; Guerra; Guillen; Gutierrez; Harless; Hernandez Luna; Herrero; Howard; Huberty; Isaac; Johnson; Kacal; Keffer; King, K.; King, S.; King, T.; Kuempel; Longoria; Lozano; Lucio; Márquez; Martinez; Martinez Fischer; McClendon; Menéndez; Miles; Moody; Muñoz; Naishtat; Nevárez; Oliveira; Otto; Patrick; Perez; Pickett; Pitts; Raney; Raymond; Reynolds; Rodriguez, E.; Rodriguez, J.; Rose; Simpson; Smith; Strama; Thompson, S.; Turner, C.; Turner, S.; Villarreal; Vo; Walle; Workman; Wu; Zerwas.
Nays — Anderson; Ashby; Aycock; Bell; Bohac; Bonnen, D.; Bonnen, G.; Branch; Burkett; Button; Capriglione; Carter; Clardy; Craddick; Creighton; Dale; Darby; Davis, S.; Elkins; Fallon; Farney; Fletcher; Flynn; Frank; Frullo; Goldman; Gonzales; Gooden; Harper-Brown; Hilderbran; Hughes; Hunter; King, P.; Kleinschmidt; Klick; Kolkhorst; Krause; Larson; Laubenberg; Lavender; Leach; Lewis; Miller, D.; Miller, R.; Morrison; Murphy; Orr; Parker; Perry; Phillips; Price; Riddle; Sanford; Schaefer; Sheets; Sheffield, J.; Sheffield, R.; Simmons; Smithee; Springer; Stephenson; Stickland; Taylor; Thompson, E.; Toth; Turner, E.S.; Villalba; White; Zedler.
Present, not voting — Mr. Speaker; Ritter(C).
Absent — Cook; Gonzalez, N.; Paddie; Ratliff.
STATEMENTS OF VOTE
I was shown voting yes on Record No. 994. I intended to vote no.
-Crownover
-Paddie
“I was shown voting no on Record No. 994. I intended to vote yes.”
-J. Sheffield
“I was shown voting yes on Record No. 994. I intended to vote no.”
-Workman
Michael Quinn Sullivan is president of Empower Texans and a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. He can be found on Twitter: @MQSullivan.
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