A Watershed Moment In Texas History: Our Picks For The Best of Yesterday

Yesterday will go down as a watershed moment in Texas History. The Texas House of Representatives passed the largest and most sweeping tax bills in Texas history, while ignoring the real issues of education reform thanks to a narrow Call drafted by Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Yesterday will also prove to be an historic moment for Texas Democrats. The action on the floor was spirited as Democrats did their best to salvage or amend bad parts of the tax plans, give renters a tax break, stop the governor from getting political advertising at taxpayer expense and more. We should be proud of the many men and women we had on the floor of the Texas House who were both fighting portions of the plan tooth, nail and claw while simeltaniously working toward compromise and trying to change things.

Based on my liveblogging of the Lege yesterday and from reading what some other folks have to say, here is my “Best And Worst,” from yesterday’s session:

Garnett Coleman: Good show catching the change to HB 5 regarding bonds which was in the committee substitute. I’m not sure anyone could figure out what the deuce was up with that. Coleman’s point of order was a great move.

Sinfronia Thompson: We need this woman in the Speaker’s chair so badly! Once again, Representative Thompson showed she has what it takes to both defend the people of Texas and the ideals of the Democratic Party, and to compromise, praise good moves by either party and, in general, display a great deal of class (and even humor) while doing so. I saw her several times note agreement with good Republican amendments while simeltanously hitting bad bills and amendments head-on. Here’s a quote from yesterday I’ll share: (this one’s on the Wooley Amendment and others relating to the “free advertising” for Rick Perry):

Thompson: “If you think that you ought to vote for someone to have political advertising at the expense of the state you need to vote for Mrs. Wooley’s amendment. If not, you need to vote it down.”

She also gets mad props for mentioning “blogs” on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives.

Charlie Geren:  The “Geren Amendment” was a good thing.

Warren Chisum: I don’t agree with his politics and I don’t agree with his bills, but I will say this for Warren Chisum: he did better than I thought at defending his bill. Yes, he got tripped up more than once by Jim Dunnam and others, but, by and large, Warren Chisum took the heat. And, whether you agree with someone or not, you’ve got to recognize them when the are still standing after the interrogation he took yesterday. Grusendorf would have probably passed out in the same situation. I’d have at least wet my pants.
Eddie Rodriguez: Two words: Renter’s Amendment.

Joaquin Castro: Mr. Castro did an admirable job at the podium a couple of times quering Rep. Eddie Rodriguez about the renter’s amendment. He helped illustrate many points of the amendment which would be benificial to a vast number of Texans.

And, finally, the best of the best…

Jim Dunnam: I can only hope that the speech Jim Dunnam was giving last night when I briefly tuned into the live feed about 10 p.m. is transcribed in the House Journal. I can’t even remember it all at this point, but he quoted Shakespear, and generally sounded like a masterful statesman. Kudos to him, also, for continuing to stand up for Democrats and for the people of Texas. We also enjoyed him pointing out the “Amendment Hypocrisy” that existed over one of Chisum’s own amendments to a bill.
The Worst

Tom Craddick: Mr. Speaker, you just aren’t being fair.The rules you rammed down the throat of the house didn’t help debate yesterday, and stifeled several important amendments.  And, you just looked *so* irritated every time Jim Dunnam went to the podium. Remember to smile more, or something.

Beverly Wooley: Carole Keeton Strayhorn may have too much to do, what with campaigning for governor, lying to people all across Texas and serving as Comptroller, but you made little sense on the floor concerning the “newsletter” amendments and provisions yesterday. It was like the dog ate your homework.

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