James Leininger’s “Moral Responsibility”

I threw up in my mouth a little when I read this:

Saying he is tired of being labeled a “caveman” and a “recluse,” voucher supporter Jim Leininger is ready for a public relations offensive.

“I think I have a moral responsibility not to stick my head in the sand,” he said Thursday in a meeting with The Dallas Morning News editorial board.

While Leininger doesn’t want to stick his head in the sand, there is no shortage of Texans and lawmakers who would like to stick his head in the sand and keep it there permanently.

This current public relations offensive, which evidently includes prostituting himself to editorial boards around the state, is for a reason, as I’ve explained at least half a dozen times before.

This is Leininger’s last chance to get vouchers passed for many, many years. With Craddick in the Speaker’s Chair, control of the House is sure to switch from R to D in 2008, meaning it will be a cold day in Hell before a voucher bill passes.
Right now, Leininger still has the power of intimidation as an advantage over the wayward Republican Majority in the House, which is all over the map on school vouchers.

After all, who among them wants to face a bitter and brutal (not to mention costly) primary battle in 2008? And, since cooler heads (or, at least, the two-thirds rule) are likely to prevail in the Senate anyway and send the legislation crashing to the earth to die a firey death (or, so we hope), Leininger has nothing at all to lose and everything to gain.

Why? He can claim a “moral victory,” and use that, and the final defeat of vouchers as a rallying cry for the religious right in 2008 and beyond.

Now, for Leininger’s proposal:

The proposed bill Dr. Leininger supports would affect nine large urban school districts, including Dallas and Fort Worth. Low-income students in those districts would be allowed to take up to 90 percent of the money their public school spends per student and use it as tuition at a private school. They would be eligible regardless of their schools’ academic performance.

Hummm….this makes it even less likely to pass. Dallas County has, I believe, a Democratic Majority delegation (or, at least, an anti-voucher one). Geren will fall on his sword before Vouchers go to Fort Worth, and I’d bet sure Lon Burnam would as soon set fire to a voucher bill in the well of the House as vote on one (well, maybe nothing that dramatic, since setting legislation on fire would probably require a 4/5ths Majority Vote to suspend the rules).

What amuses me so is that Leininger can’t do “pilot programs” in the districts of some of his biggest supporters. He’s spent millions over the years electing pro-voucher candidates in predominantly rural districts. Of course, if a legislator tried to implement a voucher program in some of those places, when they got home after session they would be drawn and quartered by a quorum of area superintendents.

To date, Leininger’s legislation lacks a sponsor. If Dr. Leininger believes in signs from above, perhaps that’s one he should take a look at: nobody wants to carry his legislation because his very name is poison across the state.

Not a million publicity tours could change that, even if he started toting little red wagons full of furry puppies and distributing them at pit stops. Of course, they’d probably soil the carpet in his private jet, so don’t look for that to happen anytime soon.

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