Democrats say they will never pay fines

[Khephra]

Democrats say they will never pay fines
Republican Ratliff, Democrat Hobby criticize GOP tactics


08:34 PM CDT on Wednesday, August 13, 2003

By TERRENCE STUTZ and GEORGE KUEMPEL / The Dallas Morning News

Fines for boycotting their jobs at the Capitol will start Thursday, but defiant Senate Democrats insisted Wednesday from their New Mexico sanctuary that they won't pay – now or ever.

As a Thursday afternoon deadline approached for the 11 Democrats to return to a special session on congressional redistricting, the impasse between them and the Republican majority in the Senate intensified.

Under a resolution passed by Republicans, each Democrat who fails to come back Thursday will be assessed a $1,000 fine that escalates to $5,000 a day on Sunday and each day thereafter until the session ends on Aug. 26. By that date, each absentee senator would be liable for a fine of $57,000.

The leader of the Senate Democrats – most of whom are minorities – called the tactic a "shameful return to the days of the Jim Crow laws" when minority voting was discouraged in the South.

more.......................

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/politics/state/stories/081403dntexredist.7d1f6.html

[Gman]

1. Just how does the GOP think they can do this when

they don't even have a quorum????

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAA!!!! The GOP thinks they are the Senate.

[Yentatelaventa]

2. Good. I'll follow their lead

Our town just raised our property tax 30%. I'll refuse to send in the extra 30% that I voted against. Wish me luck.

[efhmc]

3. The difference is that you had a chance to vote on this and were not

taken to task, without any authority, by a bunch of power hungry repukes, that will not listen to the people (90% spoke against redistricting at meetings around the state) and continue to change the rules (majority of 2/3 needed to pass legislation being one example)to their advantage. The courts ruled against them and so they have set a fine that they have no authority to make or collect against the absent Democrats and have said that the fine must be paid from private funds and that the Senators will not be allowed to vote until it is paid. That is illegal on so many points, I really have no where to go with this argument.