Out of the standoff and into the fire:Whitmire returns; now his motives ar

[Nottingham]

Out of the standoff and into the fire
Whitmire returns; now his motives are under scrutiny
By JOHN WILLIAMS
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Political Writer

It seems appropriate that a Texas senator nicknamed "Boogie" would try to break the state's congressional redistricting logjam.
When Sen. John Whitmire boogied back to Texas last week, he was prepared to break a deadlock between Republicans and Democrats over which party would send more Texas members to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Behind in New Mexico, the flamboyant and kinetic veteran of political warring left 10 fellow quorum-busting Democrats he had holed up with for more than a month.
Their defiance had made the self-styled Texas 11 national heroes among their partisans. Maybe the Texas 10 still will be, but that number isn't high enough to shut down the Senate and block redistricting.

Whitmire's decision had many asking the same questions: Who is John Whitmire, and why was he abandoning his party at a crucial moment?
Neither question is easy -- Whitmire has always been hard to decipher.
Angry Democrats suggested that Whitmire might be trying to help his law firm -- the influential Locke Liddell & Sapp -- which is eager to curry Republican favor in a GOP-dominated state.

....snip

Whitmire has an of-counsel relationship with Locke Liddell & Sapp, a position he got after helping Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. get a bill through the Senate in 1997 that helped him get public dollars for a new baseball field, now called Minute Maid Park.
McLane's lobbyist bird-dogging the legislation was Robert Miller, a partner in the law firm who later became chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2085208


Oh Whitmire was a SELLOUT all right! I hope the Higher Powers can forgive him his Greed!
:bounce:

[aquart]

1. I don't.

I hope the price he pays is 100 times higher than he sold his state and nation for.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

2. Well, they took their time! I posted about this a week ago...

and all it took was two minutes on Google to find some pretty damning stuff:

And speaking of the new Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst did show up for a fund raiser for the new Dean of the Texas Senate, John Whitmire. Dewhurst went out of his way to talk about a nonpartisan approach to running the Texas Senate and his remarks were well received by the large audience and by Senator Whitmire.

Senator Whitmire, a Democrat, is with the law firm of Locke Liddell and Sapp a firm which picked most of the statewide Republicans too win and therefore has become a very hot lobbying firm in Austin. It was well regarded anyway but its relationships with the Gov., Lt. Gov., Speaker and AG will mean that it moves up in the list of well-connected law firms.
http://www.political.com/gossip-arc/0537.html

[Nottingham]

3. Yep He is a MAJOR MAJOR Sell out!

:bounce:

[sonias]

4. It's all about money

Any politician who puts his personal fortunes before the needs of the people, (his district, his state and his country) is not fit to be a public servant. I say he's shown his true colors and he should either switch parties and come out of his republican closet or get out of politics.

Sonia

[uhhuh]

5. I probably missed it

But has there been any word from the 10 remaining REAL Democrats abiout his defection? He seems to be speaking for them, and I would like to hear what they have to say.

[loudsue]

6. Infiltrators should be shot.....

The repukes have infiltrated the Dem party in every State, and have gotten themselves elected by an electorate that can't get the "truth" because there is NO FREE PRESS, telling the background and philosphies of these turds who run....so people can make an informed choice.

Now that computers count votes that come out of their own programming, rather than what people think they are voting for...we need to start all over.

We need to get the voting machine problems fixed, then go after the Press. We all need to get active locally and make sure someone wins the Dem primary that is ACTUALLY A DEM!! That has traditional Dem values.... no more of these sell-out repukes.

I'm getting really sick of what's going on all over this country. :grr:


:kick: