The cause for which those who fought and died in their struggle for Texas' independence was treated with the utmost contempt at the close of the 80th session of the Texas Legislature.
Speaker of the House Tom Craddick, R-Midland, and Speaker Pro-Tem Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, along with two eleventh-hour substitute parliamentarians, used their own liberal interpretations of House rules and parliamentary procedure to deny the wishes of the majority of the members.
It is the people, through their elected representatives who reign supreme in this country and in Texas. This fundamental principle of the democratic process, clearly enunciated in the Constitution of the United States, was blatantly ignored and corrupted in favor of the Speaker's self-interest.
Our elected officials take an oath to faithfully execute the duties of their office and to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and Texas. The Speaker and Speaker Pro Tem in particular, as well as a few others, abdicated their sworn duty when they deliberately refused to recognize any of their fellow elected representatives for the purpose of making a motion to have Mr. Craddick removed as Speaker. So many times did Mr. Turner ask the members to show some respect for the Chair, yet the Chair never accorded the same respect to the members.
I feel that a crime has been committed against me and my fellow Texans. My right to be represented by individuals I helped elect; to have my voice heard in the Texas House of Representatives (my House) was arbitrarily and capriciously denied by the dictatorial rulings of the Speaker. I believe that my civil rights have been wrongfully and unlawfully usurped and those responsible should be held accountable. Perhaps that will happen in the 2008 elections.
This embarrassing episode, which has now been reported in The New York Times, could have been avoided if only the Speaker had placed the wishes of his colleagues above his own desire to maintain power.
Knowing that there was considerable opposition to his continued role as Speaker from the very beginning of the session, Mr. Craddick should have announced to the members that he would not be a candidate for Speaker in 2009. Such an action would have required a high degree of selflessness, integrity, and above all, leadership. In all likelihood, that pronouncement would have precluded any efforts to vacate the chair, resulting in a much smoother and more productive legislative session.
To be sure, there were heroes to be found among the chaos. Men and women from both sides of the aisle, individuals with very different political views, spoke with passion, eloquence, and intelligence in an effort to make our democratic process work as intended.
Not the least among those heroes were the two parliamentarians, Denise Davis and Chris Griesel. These highly respected professionals refused to have any part in the Speaker's refusal to recognize members for a motion of privilege and immediately resigned.
Wishing to recognize Ms. Davis and Mr. Griesel for their courageous stance, Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, was not recognized by the Speaker for the purpose of introducing a resolution honoring the two parliamentarians for their selfless act.
Travis, Bowie, Seguin, and Crockett would have been proud of these two. I wonder what their thoughts would be of the current Speaker.
Ken Zornes lives in Austin, Texas. You can reach him at kzornes13@hotmail.com.
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