House: 87-50 Point of Order Respectfully Overruled
Respectfully, I should say, depending on who you ask.
The point was overruled, the bill presumably sent back to Calendars where it languishes - until someone, out of sympathy for the guys down in Zapata, moves to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
Now, clearly many many MANY people were taking a speaker vote.
Others were not. Gattis, for example, and Dutton both made it clear that they weren't voting against the speaker.
At this point, it's safe to say that all the 68 people who voted against Craddick on the speaker's election day are holding fast.
And its also safe to say - because I have first hand knowledge of this - that a few of the "yes" votes during the speaker's race just voted "no" for the speaker.
What that means in the long run, I don't know. There's been rumblings of "vacating the chair" since the speaker's race. I don't know if this body will have the desire, will, guts, cohones, whatever, to pull the trigger on another speaker's race before the end of the session.
As Gattis pointed out, everyone's "battlescarred."
You know, maybe they should just start partying together more, like they used to.
WHY DID THEY CONDEMN THE BACK FORTY? WHY? WHY?
Comments
Alas, for the Speaker, if it walks, quacks, and has an avian appearance, it is most certainly not a Cadillac. This was not a good development for the Speaker, but I'd put my last dime on the House NOT declaring the chair open. If his enemies were going to do it, they would have done it while they were feeling flush from the vote to sustain.
The heel of the evening? Guillen. He knew Talton was going to pull this, but he was willing to kill dozens of bills behind his to fight it out. He was also willing to put the Speaker and the Chair of Calendars through this. And don't think he didn't know this was a particularly bad hand to play. Betty Brown knew what was happening, and got out of the way.
Posted by: Bubba Galt | May 8, 2007 12:49 AM