Rick Perry New Chair of Calendars Committee

I've got to thank Paul Burka for the title of this post. His blog late last night tipped me off to the next Craddick vs. The World faceoff in the Texas House.

Per the Texas Constitution, the legislature can introduce and discuss, but not pass, any bill put before it for the first sixty days of the session. They can only act on and pass emergency matters handed to them by the governor. Traditionally, the legislature suspends this rule so that they can pass legislature within those first sixty days, which requires a four-fifths vote. Speaker Craddick's attempt to suspend this rule failed today, making for the first time since 1981 that this rule has not been suspended.

The intent of this, of course, is to embarrass Craddick -- to make the statement that a significant majority is so sick of how the Republican leadership has been running the legislature for the past four years, that they're willing to stonewall the passing of legislature for the first sixty days to voice their displeasure. The practical effect, however, is not so clear. Republicans pointed out that the legislature has historically passed a number of bills over those first sixty days that now won't get handled until afterward; Democrats insist that that problem is a non-issue this session, as we're almost through the first thirty days of session and only just now has Craddick released committee assignments. But the more pressing issue is that the loophole exists for agenda to be passed that is declared by Governor Perry to be an "emergency" issue. The last time this happened, in 1981, the speaker simply sent word to the Governor of all the agenda that he wanted passed. So, effectively, the speaker and Governor controlled agenda, and the Democrats went from having minority voice to being completely cut out of the system on the agenda side.

I hope the Democrats are right about not getting around to voting on agenda items for a while, because if not, it would seem like we've once again won a Pyrrhic victory, taking a long-term blow for a bit of short-term fun at Craddick's expense. I'm getting sick of using "cutting off your nose to spite your face" to describe what our party is doing these days in the guise of "activism," and I really don't want to add yet another instance to that list.