TYC drama over prosecutors: D's win one, sort of
Woah. Didn't see that one coming.
Rep. Jim Dunnam and the rest of the House Ds - with some help from some Rs - just blocked a move by Correx Chair Jerry Madden to kill Dunnam's move to create a special prosecutor for the TYC scandal-related crimes.
The original vote was 74-73 to table it, effectively killing it. But since it was one vote, Dunnam asked for a verficaton, everyone sat down in their desks, and the vote flipped to 69-70 in favor of keeping it alive.
Another pin-drop moment on the House floor. Entertainment.
Initially, voting with the Ds on that motion to table were five Rs. Voting with the Rs were one D. Then, when verifyng the votes, several people weren't in their desks - about seven, to be exact, which fliipped the votes. At which time two reps reported their machine malfunctioned and voted them opposite of what it should have been - this happens all the time on verification and it's weird, and convenient -
Madden is trying like h-e-double-ell to kill Dunnam's amendment, which he's trying to tack onto Madden's bill allowing DAs to ask the TDCJ's special prosecutors unit for help in TYC cases as well.
Madden's annoyed that Dunnam hasn't introduced this as a bill into his committee, but it doesn't sound like he likes it anyway.