By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin,TX – It was the worst of times...it was the worst of times...
For the life of us, we can't find anything associated with the 78th Legislature that would qualify as a "best"...except that adjourning June 2 is probably the "best" thing that could happen.
As we have each legislative session, the staff of GalleryWatch.com has picked its top five members of the Texas House and Senate. It's never an easy task. It was doubly hard this session.
So here we go...Senate first...
Our picks for the top five legislators in the Texas Senate include:
Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston) - Whitmire has been known as the bad boy of the Senate in legislatures past. Speaks his mind. Votes his conscience. Doesn't take a lot of guff, but hands it out by the dump truck load. But this session he took on a new mantel...DEAN of the Texas Senate. It is a title he has taken seriously. Who would have thought the Senate's bad boy in years past would suddenly become the peacemaker, the Senate conscience and the official one-man legislative oversight committee for the Senate's "chain gang" legislation. Don't get us wrong, the Whitmire "swagger" is still there, it's just cloaked in a veil of seriousness we've never seen from him before. And he gets 13 extra votes from the Tulia 13.
Sen. Bill Ratliff (R-Mount Pleasant) - They don't call him Obi-Wan for nothing. The ever-steady, ever-straight, ever-fair, ever-prepared Senate engineer (literally and figuratively) provided the calming voice during some tough times on the floor and in committee. And who else but Ratliff would rise up against the House and the governor and stand firm on principle on HB 4 (tort reform) by refusing for days to ask for the appointment of Senate conferees to a conference committee.
Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) - Even Senate Finance Chair Sen. Teel Bivins praised his vice chair as the committee's "rock" during deliberations on the state's budget. It was "been there, done that" for Zaffirini, who has been on the committee before, but as vice chair she rose to the occasion. If there was a dime to be found for the state budget, Zaffirini found it. Long an advocate for health and human services issues as former chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, Zaffirini watched carefully to ensure that every penny possible remained in services for the state's frail, elderly and for its children.
Sen. Teel Bivins (R-Amarillo) - Although it almost sounds like he played second fiddle to Zaffirini, don't discount the work this Amarillo Republican did as chair of the Senate Finance Committee. What an honor to be chosen by the lieutenant governor for this powerful position. Of course, that was before the announcement of the nearly $10 billion budget shortfall? Bivins, by his own admission, made some of the hardest calls of his legislative career in chairing Finance. And did a commendable job in doing so. And if nothing else, Bivins deserves points for the "ambush" he got on the Senate floor Sunday from Democrats during debate on the conference committee report on the budget bill. Bivins just stood - wounded - on the Senate floor, and took it.
Sen. Steve Ogden (R-Bryan) - Ogden was named chair of the new Senate Infrastructure Development and Security Committee when the session began. In the wake of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, who else would you want in charge of ensuring the state's security than a former U.S. Navy officer in the nation's nuclear submarine force? He also was able to pass an omnibus transportation bill, working committee amendments into the bill before it came to the floor and then staving off floor amendments he felt would be detrimental to the legislation. He also was a key member of the Senate Finance Committee that wrangled with a budget deficit of nearly $10 billion. And he gets points for being the only senator who came to Bivins' defense during the conference committee report debate on the budget. "The unprecedented freedom you enjoy today was not to give you security, but to give you opportunity," he said to those who tossed grenades at Bivins and his budget. This is one guy you'd be thrilled to "have your back" in your foxhole.
Picking a top five in the House was more like picking the lesser of the bad, or the better of the worst, instead of the best. Thankfully, we had 150 to pick from instead of just 31 like in the Senate.
Our picks for the top five legislators in the Texas House include:
Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth (R-Burleson) - Two sessions ago, she was the House "goat" after her Memorial Day massacre that killed a bazillion bills in that chamber. The next session she drew raves for her effectiveness. We're not "raving" this time because of her down-your-throat techniques that were absent last session (when being in the minority apparently made for a kinder, gentler Wohlgemuth), but you can't ignore the fact that she got the health and human services reorganization bill through the House - and that proved to be no easy feat.
Rep. Craig Eiland (D-Galveston) - A long-standing member of the House Appropriations Committee, this session he was named the chair for budget and oversight for the committee as well as a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. He also served on the Insurance Committee. The budget and insurance legislation proved to be two of the most contentious issues and Eiland had a hand in making sure both made it to the governor's desk. Eiland was passionate in his arguments for maintaining funding in the budget for health and human services.
Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) - This time, the little dog wins. Thompson, who sounds more like an evangelist than a lawmaker at times, camped out at the back microphone in the House for much of the session. She did her homework and came armed with points of order for bills she found distasteful. She is a champion for the little guy. Even if she doesn't win all the arguments, she gets her two-cents-worth in and makes her opposition explain themselves. She gets points for entertainment if nothing else. If the point of order isn't sustained, her tongue-lashing will do. And in between those points of order, she was able to pass legislation relating to personal privacy, consumer protection, insurance fraud and municipal issues.
Rep. Jim Keffer (R-Eastland) - WHO? This is the kind of state representative who should be at the top of anybody's list of the "best." Keffer quietly chaired the House Economic Development Committee, without confrontations. He showed himself to be a good, hard-working member of the House more interested in passing good legislation than getting good sound bites.
Rep. Jim Dunnam (D-Waco) - OK, we admit he's a better LAWYER than he is a LEGISLATOR, but anybody who can orchestrate the flight of more than 50 'Killer Ds' to Oklahoma to kill a heavily partisan redistricting bill deserves recognition. (And we said these choices might be the lesser of the bad...) Dunnam did his homework - evidenced by his propensity for points of orders on bills he found offensive. Did he even carry any legislation? No one seems to know - or care. He almost single-handedly spoiled Tom Craddick's inaugural term as House Speaker.