The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 115, No. 17, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 28, 2005 Page: 3 of 36
thirty six pages : ill. ; page 13.5 x 11.33 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
THE CANADIAN RECORD
THURSDAY 28 APRIL 2005
State Capital
Highlights
By Mike Cox
MAS PRISS ASSOCIATION
AUSTIN—Big power comes in small numbers in the Legisla-
ture. Incase you skipped civics the day the teacher wrote the
number of state representatives and senators on the black-
board, the figure is 181—31 senators and 150 representatives.
District boundaries change every decade with the latest cen-
sus data, but the size of Texas' legislative body does not.
The politicalpower of these lawmakers hinges on party af-
filiation, seniority, savvy and support, but 10 of them have now
been conferred with extra clout. The power upgrade comes
with appointment to the joint conference committee that will
have to work out the differences between the House and Sen-
ate's take on the state budget.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has appointed Senators Kip
Averitt (R-Waco), Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock), Steve Ogden
(R-College Station), John Whitmire (D-Houston) and Judith
Zaffirini (D-Laredo) to the committee. Appointed by House
Speaker Tom Craddick are Representatives Dan Gattis (R-
Georgetown), Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham), Vilma Luna
(D-Corpus Christi), Jim Pitts (R-Wax;ahachie) and Sylvester
Turner (D-Houston.)
Forewarned, forearmed
According to the Department of Public Safety, which runs
the state's concealed handgun licensing program, 30 mem-
bers of the Legislature are among Texas' 230,000 licensed
guntoters.Mostof the legislative pistol packers are members
of the House (26) and the GOP (21) and most are male (25.)
The joint conference committee that will wrestle with the
state's multi-billion dollar budget has only one licensed hand-
gun carrier, Rep. Gattis.
Another of the handgun license holders is Rep. Suzanna
Gratia Hupp (R-Lampasas), author of a bill that would pro-
hibit the DPS fromreleasing the names of those who can pack
concealed heat legally. The measure has passed the House
and nowis in the Senate. The list of legislative pistoleros does
not include Rep. Fred Hill (R-Richardson). That may explain
his recent analogy, one of the more colorful quotes from the
floor so far this session: "The time to kill a snake is when
you've got the hoe in your hand."
Pricey pride
Approved April 20 by voice vote, House Bill 137 by Rep.
Ken Paxton (R-McKinney) would add the words "Proud to be
the Home of President George W. Bush" to the 66 "Welcome
to Texas" signs on highways leading into the state. As intro-
duced, the bill only required an addition to existing signs, but
as amended, the bill also provides that the signs be changed in
2009when the nation will have a new president. The new text,
which would require new signs, would say: "Welcome to Tex-
as—Proud to be the Home of Presidents Dwight D. Eisen-
hower, Lyndon B. Johnson, George H.W. Bush, and George
W. Bush." TxDOT had not yet released the cost for the new
signs thatwould have to be added after Bush's term ends. The
Senate received the bill April 22 and referred it to the Trans-
portation and Homeland Security Committee.
Water tax down the drain
The drain plug's been pulled on a proposal by Sen. Ken
Armbrister (D-Vietoria) to tax retail water consumption
exceeding 5,000 gallons a month. Minus the tax provision,
Armbrister's water use planning bill flowed freely from the
Senate Natural Resources Committee on April 21. ready for
floor consideration.
ST- TO/u
TOOF3\\NS-,MXHE
REAU-V \NM*TCI> W&TO
PEDDLE INR-UENCfc Wt>
ABUSE POWER IN PEAC6
An open letter to Tom DeLay
By Former Congressman Chris Bell
DEAR TOM: I NEVER THOUGHT I would be
writing a letter like this, but then I guess you
never thought that you would have to send a
2,540-word, e-mail to supporters to present
your side of a spiraling ethics problems. And
upon reading your missive, I was both flattered
and amused that you spent so much time mis-
characterizing what you called "The Bell Com-
plaint." Really, you had me at "partisan stalk-
er." You didn't have to go to all that trouble.
But since you seem so interested in re-
writing the history of "The Bell Complaint,"
you might want to review ''the DeLay letter"
posted online by the House Ethics Commit-
tee. Just to be extra helpful, I posted it online at
ChrisBell.com.
In your e-mail, you claim, "The Commit-
tee dismissed two of the allegations Bell made
against DeLay and deferred the third at his re-
quest." This is why I find it so helpful to write
things down. You and I have very different
memories of what the Ethics Committee said
about the complaint I filed against you.
For something written by lawyers employed
by Congress, the DeLay letter is pretty clear
that nothing was "dismissed." In fact, you were
unanimously admonished for your conduct by
the Ethics Committee, which wrote on Oct. 6,
2004, that your actions "are also ones that your
peers who sit on this Committee determined,
after careful consideration, went beyond the
bounds of acceptable conduct." The Ethics
Committee went onto write, "It is clearly neces -
sary for you to temper your future actions to as-
sure that you are in full compliance at all times
with the applicable House Rules and standards
of conduct."
In your email, you claim that my allegation
of improprieties at involving Westar Corpora-
tion was dismissed. Sometimes my memory
plays tricks on me, too.
In the DeLay letter, the bi-partisan Eth-
ics Committee wrote that "a Member may not
make any solicitation that may create even an
appearance that, because of the contribution, a
contributor will receive or is entitled to either
special treatment or special access to the Mem-
ber in his or her official capacity." The Ethics
Committee then went on to admonish you as
follows: "On the basis of the information before
the Committee, the Committee concluded that
your participation in and facilitation of the ener-
gy company golf fundraiser at The Homestead
resort on June 2-3,2002, is objectionable in that
those actions, at a minimum, created such an
improper appearance."
I guess it's hard for me to understand why
you're so confused by that.
Then you claim in your email that the com-
mittee dismissed my allegation that you violat-
ed various standards of ethical behavior when
you misused FA A resources to track down state
Rep. Pete Laney's plane during the 2003 quo-
rum break.
The DeLay letter makes it perfectly clear
that you went to the wall to convince them that
this was kosher, but the Ethics Committee
found that "those arguments are not persua-
sive." The letter says that your actions were
"objectionable" (there's that word again) and
that what you did "raises serious concerns un-
der the fundamental concepts of separation of
powers and federalism."
Yes, they did leave the third allegation about
illegal campaign finance shenanigans on the
table pending a criminal investigation, but all in
all, the Ethics Committee concluded that what
you did "went beyond the bounds of acceptable
Conduct."
If you really think that the Ethics Commit-
tee dismissed all of my allegations, thenwhy did
you remove a majority of the Republicans on the
Ethics Committee who voted to admonish you,
including the Chairman, and replace them with
your lackeys? Why did you change congressio-
nal rules to make it impossible for Congress to
police itself?
And ifyou really did nothing wrong, why not
submit to a full investigation by your peers like
former Speaker Newt Gingrich, Sen. RickSan-
torum, and Rep. Tom Tancredo (Republicans
all) have suggested?
If you spent half as much time trying to
cleanup Congress as you did trying to cleanup
history, you would not be in this mess. Texans
respect folks who own up to their mistakes and
try to right their wrongs, and if you face your
situation with moral courage instead of political
expediency, you'll be fine.
EDI rOR'S MOTE: Chris Bell is the former
congressman who filed the ethics complaint
against Tom DeLay. He is now exploring a
race for Texas Governor.
LETTERS TO
THE SUITOR:
Letters to the editors of
The Canadian Record
are always welcome, and
will be published if they
are signed and cannot
be considered libelous.
We will not publish
anonymous letters
under any circumstance.
We ask that all letters be
accompanied by a phone
number for verification
purposes. Letters may be
edited for excessive length.
Each letter should be
received at our office no
later than Wednesday
noon for publication in
that week's newspaper.
Please mail letters to:
The Canadian Record,
P.O. Box 898,
Canadian, TX 79014,
fax to (806)323-5738,
or e-mail to
editor@Ganadianreeord.com
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 115, No. 17, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 28, 2005, newspaper, April 28, 2005; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth220678/m1/3/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.