Fifty Texas House Democrats fled the state to prevent a vote scheduled for Monday afternoon. The state Attorney General Ken Paxton said lawmakers “should be found and arrested no matter where they go.” The fled to Chicago.
At least 100 of the 150 State Legislators must be present to hold a vote. This vote involves a redistricting plan which Democrats oppose.
Governor Abbott said, “Real Texans don’t run from a fight,” and threatened to have the Democrats removed from office. Under the Texas Constitution, legislators can be removed from office if it’s determined they “forfeited his or her office due to abandonment.”
TEXAS DEMOCRATS RAN FROM A FIGHT BEFORE
This isn’t the first time Texas House Democrats ran from a fight. In May 2003, 59 House Democrats from the state legislature went into hiding to prevent a quorum in a dispute over a Republican redistricting plan. The fled to Ardmore, Oklahoma.
In that case, proceedings were temporarily halted. Then-Governor Rick Perry called a special session of the Texas Legislature. Eleven more Democrats fled the state, this time for New Mexico. Then-Speaker Tom Craddick said, “It’s not a disgrace to stand and fight, but it is a disgrace to run and hide.”
After a month-long standoff, one Democrat returned to Texas, allowing the passage of the redistricting plan in a third session.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld that Texas redistricting plan in 2006 (American Citizens v Perry) with the exception of the state’s 23rd congressional district.
The history of the fight for Texas independence is the history of brave people standing up to fight, not running away. Remember the Alamo.
Image from: nbcdfw.com
The site defiantamerica reports they took a $47M ERJ-170 luxury jet to fly to Chicago, and that the cost was nearly $100K. Whoever funded that committed a crime in the state of Texas, and since the crime exceed state bounds, it is also a federal matter. Of course the DOJ will not act, but Paxton will, I assume he will… Read more »