Ten Bucks Says You Didn’t Know The Legislative History Of This Law…

The concept of “legislative history” fascinates me. What was the intent, reasoning and purpose behind a law when it was actually drafted, passed by the Lege, and signed into law.

Normally, “retribution for my wife, who happens to be Dallas Mayor Laura Miller” isn’t something that you usually see in a fiscal note.

But, that’s evidently why former State Rep. Steve Wolens (D-Dallas) wrote a law related to who can turn in absentee ballots for voters that’s now the subject of a federal lawsuit.

Don’t get me wrong; I fully understand why Wolens wrote the law, and have seen votes harvested from nursing homes by Republicans on several occasions.

However, it seems as though the law may need a bit of tweaking. That, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott might need to send whomever does his Power Points to racial sensitivity training (and, hopefully, he’ll buy a ticket for Kinky Friedman while he’s at it).

Anyway, boiling down the lengthy Chron story, here’s the deal:

•The litigation alleges that the law infringes on the right of people to cast an absentee ballot and goes too far in criminalizing legitimate political activity.

•There are numerous instances of possible insensitivity (and just plain strange crap) cited by the Chron with the AG’s enforcement, including:

AG’s investigators allegedly peeping through a lady’s bathroom window

The AG’s PowerPoint presentation on voter fraud seems geared toward implying minorities break the law more often than others

One slide alerts authorities to look for evidence of fraud on documents, especially specialty stamps. It depicts a sickle cell anemia stamp of a black woman holding a black baby, a stamp often used by blacks

Another slide shows five black people in line for early voting, noting “all laws apply,” while no white or Caucasian people are shown voting in the 71-slide presentation.

Seventy one slides without a white person in a single one is a sure sign that that the AG’s office was focusing on minorities. The thing about the stamp is just insane!

Who knew you could be racially profiled via postage stamps.