By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX – "It is a sad day for Texas," said Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos (D-Austin) after the Texas Senate voted mostly along party lines today to pass a motion putting members of the 'Texas 11' on probation.
The motion, approved by a 13-10 vote, removes fines and sanctions against the 11 senators who busted the Senate quorum during the Second Called Session to keep a redistricting bill from the Senate floor. However, it removes the fines and sanctions if, and only if, the senators are not absent from the Senate floor more than 72 hours during a call on the Senate. The probationary period ends Jan. 11, 2005, when the 79th Texas Legislature convenes.
At a press conference following heated exchanges on the Senate floor, Democratic members of the Senate expressed their frustration - and their wrath.
"This morning's actions by the lieutenant governor and Senate Republicans demonstrates to the people of Texas the length to which partisans will go to further their mean-spirited political spin," said Sen. Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio), chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus. She described as "equally appalling," the "disrespect on the Senate floor."
"When Sen. Ellis intended to amend the motion," said Van de Putte, "the Republicans cut off debate. When Sen. Zaffirini asked to be recognized, Gov. Dewhurst declined. When Sen. Barrientos asked for a personal privilege speech, in a reaction without precedence, most of the Republicans left the floor of the Senate."
Van de Putte said actions of the Republicans demonstrate their "heavy disregard" for the rights of every minority member of the Senate and the people they represent. She called the motion and the sanctions "shameful actions" that are a new example "of the continued abuse we can expect."
The Democratic Caucus Chair said the 'Texas 11' have maintained from the beginning that the sanctions and fines imposed on them were "illegal and immoral" and created "without support of the Senate rules and without a quorum." She added they are "just as illegal now as they were the day they were originally adopted."
She described breaking quorum a "time-honored parliamentary maneuver" and said under the same circumstances, "we would do so again."
"We broke now law," said Van de Putte. "We were illegally fined. Now we have been illegally placed on probation." She said the actions are a "slap in the face" to Hispanics and African-Americans.
Barrientos said in his 20 years in the Texas Legislature, "I have never seen such abuse of power in the government of the people of Texas - never."
"What a laugh, what a shame, what a pity?" he said of the actions in the Senate that has been previously described as the "most deliberative body in the world."
Sen. Mario Gallegos (D-Houston) said probation is usually a punishment meted out by a jury or judge. "I'm not on probation," he said. "The Senate and the lieutenant governor are not my judge and jury; my constituents are. As long as I have breath in my body, I will be heard on the Senate floor. The folks who elected me is who I answer to - nobody else."
The usually timid Sen. Frank Madla (D-San Antonio) said he has never seen either the House or Senate conduct itself the way the Senate did today. "The last time I was treated the way we were today on the Senate floor was when I was about six years old in the first grade?I was a little Mexican boy who had his first taste of what white supremacy was like," he said, noting that is what he thinks he saw on the Senate floor today.
Zaffirini called the actions an attempt to "deny debate, limit our access even to the state capitol, and deprive us of our fiduciary responsibility to our constituents." She said the Republicans themselves are suffering a meltdown, not even able to propose a redistricting map the GOP could agree to, and chided Gov. Rick Perry for calling a special session when he did not have votes lined up to pass a redistricting bill.
The Laredo Democrat called the sanctions and the probation "a sad day in the history of the Texas Senate."
"Where will it end? When will it end? How will it end?" she asked. "This I promise you?in the end, we will prevail."
While Republicans claim race has nothing to do with their redistricting efforts or the sanctions, the Democrats say it does.
Barrientos described the standoff as "Republican Anglos punishing African-American and Mexican-American senators."
"Look at us; look at them," said Zaffirini. "The differences are clear. They have created a class of second-class senators. That is discrimination at its worst."
Van de Putte said the Democrats remain dedicated to their constituency and the millions of rural Texans whose representation would be "ripped apart" by any of the redistricting maps proposed. "We'll fight in any arena - on the Senate floor, in a court of law, in the court of public opinion.
"What we have in peril here is not just the Texas Senate, but our whole precious system of representative Democracy."
"Civility in the Texas Senate is on probation today," said Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston).
"It is not over," promised Barrientos.