May 14, 2003
"They went that-away".
Guardian article. In what is turning into an incredible comedy of errors, Tom Craddick, the Republican speaker of the Texan House of Representatives, has ordered state troopers to arrest any Democratic legislators it can find, and bring them by force back to Austin, the state capital.
All of the Democrats have disappeared in order to prevent the Republicans from ramming through a partisan redistricting bill, in that way keeping a quorum from being formed. But there is a law that allows them to be arrested in order to force a quorum. So most of them have left the state, where the Texan police have no jurisdiction. Most of them are apparently at a Holiday Inn in Arkansas. But no one's quite sure.
Suspecting that some of the disappearing Democrats could be in New Mexico, the Republican governor of Texas, Rick Perry, made an urgent request to authorities there to investigate whether arrest warrants issued in Texas could apply there.
But the neighbouring states do not traditionally regard each other with the greatest of esteem.
New Mexico's attorney-general, Patricia Madrid, wrote in her reply that she did not think the warrants could be executed. She said: "I have put out an all-points bulletin for law enforcement to be on the lookout for politicians in favour of health care for the needy and against tax cuts for the wealthy."
This is hysterical, especially coming from a state attorney-general. Who says lawyers don't have a sense of humor?
