Texas Democrats have been down so long, they?ve learned a few things about how to deal with the GOP?s superior numbers. One way is to play smarter. That?s what?s happened in the current, never-ending series of special legislative sessions. Republicans might be in the majority, but Democrats have made GOP Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst look at times like pitiful giants, struggling to accomplish what they want. Perry looks bad because he?s been forced into a series of extra sessions suggesting he?s a lame duck with waning influence even in his own party. Dewhurst fumbled the abortion bill and a measure to fund highways. He?ll go into next year?s re-election race with opponents calling him an incompetent, unsteady leader. There?s a ideological civil war brewing in the Texas GOP over how to pay for new road construction. And Democrats have a new hero ? Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth ? who?s energized a party that hasn?t be winning statewide races in 20 years. I wrote about all this in a column today.
Here?s how some guerrilla Democrats have kept the Republican leadership off balance. Democrats lacked the votes to kill the abortion bill in the first special session. So they slowed things down. On June 23, Democrats went to the back microphone in the House and began peppering the presiding officer with parliamentary questions, ultimately forcing a two-hour delay. They challenged the arrangement of the House calendar, the chamber?s daily agenda. Another two-hour delay. They challenged Republican efforts to postpone other bills to get to the abortion legislation. When the sponsor of the abortion bill wouldn?t debate it, fearing it would only delay things, Democrats debated themselves to run down the clock. By the time the House actually voted, after all the speeches and parliamentary delays, it was past 3 a.m. Under the rules, the Senate couldn?t take up the abortion bill for another day ? the last day of the session ? setting up Wendy Davis? 11-hour filibuster that helped doom the bill.
Perry called lawmakers back immediately. This time, Republicans moved swiftly to pass the abortion bill, but now a highway funding bill is in trouble. Perry, Dewhurst and company couldn?t get it passed in a second special session because a nasty rift emerged within the Republican Party over how to pay for new roads. The no-new-taxes crowd held the pro-business wing hostage, killing the bill in the second special session. So Perry has called lawmakers back again. The outcome is anything but certain. Dewhurst could have gotten the highway bill passed earlier, but wanted to teach Davis a lesson by making her filibuster last as long as possible. So he postponed the highway bill, and now it?s not clear whether the Republican leadership gets it at all.
Who needs outside saviors to turn Texas blue when you?ve got guerrilla Democrats?
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