TYC abuse claims poured in amid debate

[Joanne98]

AUSTIN — After the Texas Youth Commission sex and physical abuse scandal broke, Gov. Rick Perry and legislative leaders debated for 16 days the best way to halt the violence in the juvenile corrections system before dispatching the Texas Rangers.

During those days, 82 complaints were lodged claiming that TYC youth were victims of excessive force or sexual impropriety by staff and other youths in the system, according to records obtained by the Houston Chronicle under the Public Information Act.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Jim Dunnam was among the legislators who called for immediately securing TYC facilities with Texas Rangers after the media reported the scandal. He said the state's leadership should have reacted faster to protect TYC's incarcerated youths.

"They (state leaders) should have first and foremost taken immediate action to protect the youth in the facilities from any additional wrongdoing," Dunnam said.

"Things to do with governing boards and restructuring, those are long-term solutions," Dunnam said. "You can't afford to have children neglected or abused while you are debating those long-term solutions."

Perry spokesman Ted Royer said the governor could not have acted more quickly than he did. Royer said Perry needed authorization from the Legislature to take over the agency, and several days were needed to coordinate a law enforcement response that included the Rangers, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the state's attorney general's office.

"It was swift by any standard," Royer said.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said the problem was not how swiftly state leadership reacted but how the agency heads tried to cover up abuse.

"This had nothing to do with Governor Perry. This had everything to do with an agency where the culture had gone bad among certain people," Dewhurst said. "The culture of the agency was to protect their own, was to protect their fellow employees (rather) than safeguard the young people incarcerated there."

The number of complaints that were filed during the initial legislative debate was not unusually high for a system that has logged more than 7,000 complaints of mistreatment of youths since 2000.

But the new TYC management officials, who took over in March, say the system became dramatically safer once the facilities were secured by law enforcement officers.

They said abusive employees are learning that complaints now will be investigated by law enforcement instead of agency administrators.

"This is not going to be a 'You're going to be suspended for a while. You may lose your job,' " said TYC Inspector General Bruce Tony, who has been on the job for two weeks. "It's, 'You're going to go to jail and possibly to prison if you do this kind of stuff.' "

Just how much safer the system is remains unclear because the abuse record-keeping has changed. The emphasis now is on the 2,793 complaints received on a TYC telephone hot line since March 6, when the auditors and Rangers arrived.

More than 800 calls involved complaints about food or uniforms and even homework. Of the remaining calls making criminal allegations, Tony said, some of those involve incidents that date as far as 1965.

As of April 20, investigators had closed 1,320 cases, mostly by shifting administrative complaints back to the agency.

There have been arrests for misconduct that occurred since Feb. 18, though.

An administrator of a San Antonio halfway house was arrested on a charge of destroying documents, and a superintendent in Marlin was arrested on a charge of lying to investigators about abuse in his facility.

A female corrections officer was arrested on a charge of having sex with a male inmate, and a male officer was arrested in Fort Worth last week on a charge of having sex with a female inmate.

"I do not believe that incident there (in Fort Worth) would have come to light three months ago," said TYC conservator Jay Kimbrough. "When people made allegations ... it was such a vacuum, and nothing happened."

Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, chairman of the House Corrections Committee, said a real reduction in problems at TYC will not occur until the population is dramatically reduced, misdemeanor offenders are no longer sent there and guards are better trained.

Madden said that will take time but that the current interventions already are improving the system.

[e-mail]
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4758560.html

[Joanne98]

1. Lt. Gov David Dewhurst has his own criminal problems (Failed Leader Series)

http://www.lonestarproject.net/index.html

David Dewhurst
Millionaire “Lite” Governor berates and belittles uninsured families, yet failed to complete and file simple business forms.

Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst is among the harshest hardliners insisting that families who qualify for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) must reapply every six months or see their children dropped from the program. He recently said,"I don't think most people in Texas have a lot of sympathy for someone that can't fill out a two-page application every six months.'' (Dewhurst, Austin American-Statesman, January 25, 2007)

Public records obtained by the Lone Star Project, however, show that David Dewhurst himself has repeatedly failed to complete and file routine forms needed to do business legally in Texas. At least six times, businesses directed by, or connected to, David Dewhurst failed to fill out required forms in a timely fashion. In fact, David Dewhurst Investment Partnership was issued a Notice of Cancellation by the Texas Secretary of State on December 6, 2006, for failing to file a periodic report that is required only once every four years.

Deadbeat Dewhurst Failed to File Basic Business Forms
Documents show that companies owned, controlled or served by David Dewhurst failed to complete required forms in a timely fashion at least six times.

David Dewhurst Investment Partnership, LTD, was required to file a periodic report "not more than once every four years." David Dewhurst is listed as the registered agent for the partnership and was sent notification letters on July 5, 2006 and August 7, 2006, informing him of the need to file the form, which includes the preprinted information. (See the letters HERE and HERE) The form was never filed and Dewhurst was issued a Notice of Cancellation of David Dewhurst Investment Partnership, LTD, on December 6, 2006, stating, "It is therefore ordered, as prescribed by Article 6132a, Section 13.08 of the Texas Revised Limited Partnership Act, that the certificate or registration of the above named limited partnership be cancelled without judicial ascertainment."

Tamal Acquisition, Inc., was issued a Tax Forfeiture notice on
February 11, 2000, after it "failed to file a current year franchise tax report." The Secretary of State ordered that, "the charter or certificate of authority ….is herby forfeited." David Dewhurst is listed as the Chairman of the Board and Director of Tamal Acquisition, Inc. Tamal Acquisition, Inc., was then forced to file an "Application for Reinstatement and Request to set aside Revocation or Forfeiture" for "failure to file a franchise tax return and/or pay state franchise tax."
David Dewhurst Investments failed to file franchise tax returns
"A company owned by David Dewhurst, has failed to file a state franchise tax return, comptroller's office records showed Friday…..David Dewhurst Investments remains in bad standing because it has never filed a franchise tax return since incorporating in 1996, Welch said." (Austin American-Statesman, February 14, 1998)
Dewhurst failed to disclose his membership on the boards of ten companies on his Texas Ethics Commission personal financial disclosure form.
"... Mr. Dewhurst described as an 'oversight' the failure to disclose to the Texas Ethics Commission his membership on the board of CalEnergy, an Omaha-based company, and nine other companies and foundations." (The Dallas Morning News, February 26, 1998)
"Mr. Dewhurst said the listings were inadvertently left off. 'That is a dumb oversight,' Dewhurst said." (The Dallas Morning News, February 26, 1998)
Trans-Gulf Supply Company, a company Dewhurst was a registered agent with failed to file a state franchise tax return or pay taxes in 1984.
"A company owned by David Dewhurst, a Republican candidate for land commissioner, has failed to file a state franchise tax return, comptroller's office records showed Friday…Dewhurst paid the back tax and penalties for Trans-Gulf Supply Co., which failed to file a franchise tax return in 1984 and did not pay the minimum $68 tax." (Austin American-Statesman, February 14, 1998)
Dewhurst was forced to complete additional state required paper work for two other companies, Trans-Gulf Resources and Trans-Gulf Petroleum, to bring them “into compliance with state law.”
"Welch said Dewhurst has brought three companies -- Trans-Gulf Supply, Trans-Gulf Resources and Trans-Gulf Petroleum -- into compliance with state law. The latter two owed no taxes but needed additional paperwork to be completed, he said." (Austin American-Statesman, February 14, 1998)
Deep Pocket Dewhurst Gives Lectures, but no Relief, to Uninsured Families
Lt. Governor David Dewhurst is a multimillionaire serving in a state with more uninsured children than any other in the nation. (The Washington Times, March 14, 2007) Rather than work to cover children in need, Dewhurst is lecturing uninsured families on completing bureaucratic forms.

"I don't think most people in Texas have a lot of sympathy for someone that can't fill out a two-page application every six months.'' (Dewhurst, Austin American-Statesman, January 25, 2007)
"I think a lot of people as I travel around the state say, ‘What's so hard about filling out one number on an application every six months?’ he said." (Dewhurst, Texas Politics Blog, Clay Robison, February 28, 2007)
"We don't want people under welfare if they're driving Cadillacs and they've got trust funds. (Dewhurst, Austin American-Statesman, January 26, 2007)


David Dewhurst is no tough guy politician. In contrast to strong and skillful predecessors like Bob Bullock and Bill Hobby, Dewhurst is a legislative light weight with few policy accomplishments of his own. Instead, Dewhurst usually collapses to the political will of other more strong-willed politicians. Most famously, he broke under pressure from Tom DeLay and Karl Rove to allow the dismantling and weakening of the Texas Congressional Delegation in 2003. In stand-offs with House Speaker Tom Craddick, he typically blinks first then feebly bows to the House.

Dewhurst does have an important political asset though – money. The millionaire politician has always been his own biggest contributor giving or loaning his campaigns over $25 million since 1998.

Dewhurst's Contributions to his own Campaign


Loans Secured by Personal Wealth
Personal Donations

1998
$4 million
$3 million

2002
$13 million
$ 5.6 million

(Source: Cox News Service, October 20, 1998; The Dallas Morning News, November 4, 1998; The Dallas Morning News, November 23, 2002; The Dallas Morning News, October 29, 2002)

------------------------------------------
Comment by Matt Angle, Lone Star Project Director

"When David Dewhurst makes a mistake, he has millions to fall back on. But, when CHIP families make a mistake, Dewhurst thinks their kids should lose health insurance."
http://www.lonestarproject.net/index.html

[hobbit709]

3. The Republican Mantra

You must do as I say, I can do what I want.

[Joanne98]

4. Yep.

[Joanne98]

2. Records show TYC supervisor rebuffed abuse warnings

DALLAS — A Texas Youth Commission supervisor routinely chose not to fire or demote an administrator now charged with sexually abusing teenage inmates despite recurring allegations against him, a newspaper investigation has found.

Lydia Barnard, a former high-ranking director, kept supporting Ray Brookins amid multiple abuse warnings and despite his being caught browsing pornographic Web sites at work, according to agency records obtained by The Dallas Morning News.

Brookins is the former assistant superintendent of the West Texas State School in Pyote, where the agency sex scandal first erupted in February. He pleaded not guilty this month to charges of sexually abusing young inmates.

Records show that at least five times over a five-year period, Barnard stopped short when given the chance to remove Brookins from the agency or weaken his authority.

Barnard, who still works for the agency, declined an interview with the newspaper.

"I can tell you I've been made a scapegoat — by TYC, by legislators, by newspapers," she said in a brief telephone conversation.

Barnard, 46, did not respond to a call to her Austin home seeking additional comment Sunday.

She now serves as a midlevel supervisor after being demoted in January in a dispute with senior officials. Barnard was formerly a director of juvenile prisons, responsible for several facilities.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/4758965.html

[Joanne98]

5. Following TYC scandal, more employees jump ship, fewer hired

Following TYC scandal, more employees jump ship, fewer hired
Elizabeth Hernandez
April 29, 2007 - 3:07AM
http://www.themonitor.com/onset?db=monitortx&id=2017&template=article.html

AUSTIN — The state juvenile corrections system lost employees at a faster pace in the weeks after news of a sex-abuse scandal in West Texas, adding to troubles at an agency already plagued with sky-high turnover rates.

The Texas Youth Commission suffered a net loss of 114 workers from Feb. 23 to April 9, 2007, more than five times the net loss for the same period the year before, according to the commission’s records.

The agency has been under increased statewide and national scrutiny since allegations surfaced in February that two administrators at the West Texas State School in Ward County sexually abused inmates, and supervisors looked the other way.

In all, 249 workers quit, retired or were fired from agency in the six weeks following the scandal. Another 135 were hired, making the net loss 114.

More than three-fourths of those who left were juvenile correctional officers, the frontline workers who are paid the least and are the hardest to recruit and retain.


AGENCY CHIEF OFFERS ROSY ASSESSMENT

Jay Kimbrough, the conservator appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to clean up the agency in the wake of the abuse, said the numbers are refreshingly low and show most employees are dedicated to the work of rehabilitating young people in trouble with the law.

“My interpretation of those numbers is they’re very good; it’s better than I thought,” Kimbrough said. “That’s because we know the overwhelming majority of employees are good, hardworking people, and (I give) a credit to the staff that they have been able to weather this in the agency.”

Losing some of the 4,700 employees may not be an urgent problem at a time when the agency seems headed toward holding fewer youth, Kimbrough said. Besides, there has been no mass exodus of employees at the facilities that work directly with youth, agency officials pointed out.

Others said the higher net loss rate is worrisome in an agency that regularly has one guard supervising 24 young people on its dorms. Employees have complained for several years the staffing levels create dangerous situations for them.

Legislation that passed the Senate and is making its way through the House requires one juvenile correctional officer for every 12 detainees.

“They’re crucially, dangerously, understaffed all the time,” said Mike Gross, vice president of the Texas State Employees Union. “My guess is right now it’s a little easier to lose people and a little harder to get people than it was a year ago.”


EDINBURG FACILITY BUCKS TREND

The youth commission had a 48 percent turnover rate of juvenile correctional officers in 2006.

The Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg saw the opposite trend after the scandal. Seven employees left during the six weeks following the scandal, compared with 19 during the same period in 2006, records show.

The commission struggled with rising levels of abuse against youth from 1998 to 2005, according to a Valley Freedom Newspapers investigation in 2006. State officials began working last year to reform the agency, but those reforms quickened after news reports in February that boys were sexually abused at the West Texas State School in Pyote and administrators did not act to stop it.

In the weeks following the reports, key legislative leaders, Gov. Rick Perry and advocacy groups called for drastic change at the agency. Perry appointed Kimbrough to lead the reform.

Kimbrough instituted new policies to conduct background checks of all current and new employees, and suspend those with felony records. Teams of criminal investigators were dispatched to youth prisons, including Evins, to look into complaints.

The state commission’s part-time board resigned, and then-executive director Dwight Harris stepped down. Some employees were fired in the aftermath. Others resigned.


GETTING RID OF BAD APPLES

Those involved with crafting the legislation to reform the agency said losing employees is part of the longer-term process: out with the old, in with the new.

“I’m quite certain that as soon as it became a big media story, people with something to hide hit the road, and that’s a good thing,” said Will Harrell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, who has helped Republican and Democratic lawmakers craft legislation to reform the state agency.

“What we want out of this is that the bad apples get out of the barrel,” he said.

State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, sponsor of the reform bill, said it should be expected that an agency would lose employees when new rules are implemented. In the long run, he wants an agency that is smaller, better trained, caters to only the most serious offenders and keeps incarcerated youth as close to home as possible, he said.

As training, pay and working conditions improve, the agency will keep and hire better employees, he said.

“It takes time. We cannot change the agency and recruit the proper people overnight,” Hinojosa said. “I see this as a phase that TYC has to go through to sort of shake things out in terms of who are the folks that stay, who are the ones that leave and how much money will we have at the end of session to provide pay raises and benefits to the employees.”


INMATE POPULATION IN FLUX

From March 1 to the end of last week, the rolls of high-security inmates declined from 3,900 to about 3,500 as the agency released youth whose time had been served, Kimbrough said.

Legislation by Hinojosa and Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, making its way through the Capitol would remove misdemeanor offenders from the agency, further reducing the staffing needs. And lawmakers have already said they plan to close the TYC prisons in Marlin and San Saba.

TYC employees are still reviewing cases to determine which incarcerated youth should have been released but were not under the previous system.

Instead of hiring a rash of full-time employees right away, Kimbrough said he wants to use part-time help until the population stabilizes and he knows what he needs.

“Between legislation and working more diligently on releasing youth, we may have a population of 3,100 (or) 3,200 just in the next two or three weeks,” he said, referring to those in youth prisons. “Then, as legislation kicks in, you might be looking at 2,800.”

In the six weeks following news of the scandal, 55 of the 249 people who left were either fired or resigned in lieu of termination, records show. Others were listed as having left because of personal reasons, for a job with better pay, medical problems, or other reasons.


‘WITCH HUNT’ ATMOSPHERE?

Some employees perceived a “witch hunt” atmosphere in which leaders were firing the good along with the bad, and left, Gross said.

Kimbrough said he had to make tough decisions, but has been fair to honest workers. Employees endured extra stress while the agency was placed under the microscope, they burned out working long hours without overtime pay, or they found other work when they learned some youth prisons would be closed, Kimbrough said.

Kimbrough has made sure employees begin receiving pay for overtime, and the first checks should arrive around May 1, he said.

It has been especially difficult to retain and recruit employees at youth prisons in San Saba and Marlin since state officials have said they plan to close those prisons, said Eric Young, chief human resource director for the agency.“We’ve been out visiting with them, and they’re out looking for jobs,” Young said. “It’s very difficult to fill those positions because why are you going to work somewhere when you’re not sure they’re going to be there?”

Many high-level employees left, too. Employees who left following the scandal earned on average $2,651 a month, compared with $2,283 for those who left in the same period in 2006.

Sixteen employees retired after the scandal broke. Among them were Harris, the executive director, and Linda Reyes, deputy executive director, who each earned more than $10,000 a month, and Neil Nichols, longtime legal counsel for the agency, who earned $9,200 a month.

And last week, agency officials notified Bart Caldwell, superintendent of the Evins facility in Edinburg, that “pre-termination proceedings against him have begun,” according to a statement from the commission. His successor is scheduled to take over Tuesday.


CALLING FOR BACKUP

The agency has instituted a plan to hire part-time, off-duty peace officers to help ease staffing problems. The officers would not work in direct contact with students, but rather would staff surveillance booths or monitor cameras to free up more juvenile-trained officers to “work the floor” with youth, Young said.

The commission is processing background checks on 31 off-duty officers. If they are cleared, they can begin work at various facilities in the next week, he said.

Kimbrough said he has another contingency plan to hire adult prison guards if staffing shortages become dire. He has not put that plan into effect, he said.

In the search for more applicants, Young said he is looking for quality, not just quantity. He and his team are going to extra lengths to remind applicants they need not apply if they have felony convictions or other disqualifying offenses on their records.

“Here’s my new slogan: Hire well, train well, treat well,” Young said. “If we get those going, people will want to work for us.”
____

Elizabeth Hernandez covers the state capital for Valley Freedom Newspapers. She is based in Austin and can be reached at [phone].

http://www.themonitor.com/onset?db=monitortx&id=2017&template=article.html

[PDittie]

6. Worse than Sharpstown

And they all should be held accountable.

That means Governor Perry, who knew about sexual abuse in the TYC as early as 2001 but took no action, it includes AG Greg Abbott, who had his agents peeking in the bathroom windows of little old ladies chasing non-existent Democratic voter fraud complaints while ignoring TYC abuse cases being reported by a Texas Ranger, and even Albert Gonzales and the DOJ, who likewise ignored the early warning signs.

Details posted here:

http://brainsandeggs.blogspot.com/2007/04/texas-youth-commission-scandal-is-much.html

How bad does a scandal have to be before somebody says "enough"?

[Joanne98]

9. Exactly! This is going all the why up to the WH and KARL ROVE!

[Joanne98]

7. Why Don't Republicans Want A Special Prosecutor In The TYC Scandal?

Here is some of what Dunnam had to say about Craddick's actions:
http://www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3129

"I am extremely proud that Republicans and Democrats alike joined together to put politics aside and solve the crisis at the TYC. We owe it to the victims of these tragic crimes to prosecute the criminals and get to the bottom of who knew what and when they knew it," said Rep. Dunnam. "I simply cannot believe that Speaker Craddick - who has played fast and loose with the House Rules for four years - chose to allow a minor technical flaw to get in the way of protecting our children."
The Dunnam plan proposes to establish an independent special prosecution unit that could actively pursue prosecution of TYC abuse claims and the cover up that has followed.

"We know that the Texas Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice have been aware of sex abuse at the TYC for at least a year and a half; and Governor Perry's office has known about these crimes for at least two years. It is shameful that the Texas House has sat idly by and done nothing to get to the bottom of this crisis. In spite of Speaker Craddick's actions to kill our reform plan, we took a good first step today. House Democrats and like-minded Republicans will continue to fight for justice for the victims of abuse at the TYC," concluded Rep. Dunnam.


This begs the question: why would Craddick and other Republicans not want a special prosecutor statute to apply to the Texas Youth Commission and the subsequent cover-up?

The simple answer is this: Some Republicans in the Legislature, especially Craddick, do not want a non-partisan special prosecutor to go delving into the Texas Youth Commission scandal.

Why? Because a non-partisan special prosecutor would have the ability to look into both the cover-up of the situation at the TYC and the incidents of abuse themselves.

As we told you yesterday, more and more information continues to surface that shows that state leaders--Craddick, Governor Perry, and Lt. Governor Dewhurst--knew something smelled funny at TYC and did nothing. Perry, in particular, was notified by former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Army (R-Richardson) of sexual abuse incidents as far back as 2001 and simply referred the allegations back to the Texas Youth Commission!
Why Don't Republicans Want A Special Prosecutor In The TYC Scandal?

[Joanne98]

8. Why Gonzo Doesn't Want A Special Prosecutor In The TYC Scandal?

http://www.lonestarproject.net/archive/2007-03-09%20-%20TYC_Abbott.pdf

[Joanne98]

10. And the Texas thugs are still continuing there Voter Fraud witchunt.

Williamson County Had Enough Yet?, 80th Legislature, Elections at 11:38 am by wcnews
http://eyeonwilliamson.org//index.php?p=1046
What was the point? Why would the Republicans in Texas waste a whole day in the Texas House on a bill that is racist, barbaric and anti-democratic, that attempts to fix a problem that doesn’t even exist?

Well it’s based on a fraud, that voter impersonation/fraud is a big problem in our elections, that’s being used by the Republicans to deny the vote to segments of the population - minorities, the elderly, the poor, and the disabled - that vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. No need to worry about rigging the voting machines or the vote counting machines when you’ve already rigged the voter pool.

To understand this better let’s go through the voting process, from registration to the poll. To register to vote a person needs to fill out a white voter registration card(.PDF) and supply some basic information. For new registrations a person is asked to supply their DL # or the last four of their SS # on the card. If they don’t they will be asked for one or the other the first time they vote. After sending in the registration card, in about a month or so, they’ll receive a voter registration certificate in the mail. On election day, as long as they have that certificate, all they have to do is show it and if their name is on the voter roll in their precinct, they’re allowed to vote.

From the poll worker’s standpoint, it’s drilled into them at training that the ideal voter is someone that shows up at the poll with their certificate in hand, or wallet, ready to vote. If the voter doesn’t have it then all a person has to do is show their DL, or many of the same alternate identifications discussed on the floor yesterday for this new bill, and they can vote. It’s extremely rare that it gets any further than that to identify a voter. The fraud, we’re supposed to believe, is being perpetrated under these rules by these people:

The rules would prevent illegal immigrants, felons and others ineligible to vote from doing so, while also ensuring that people couldn’t vote using dead voters’ names.

How are illegal immigrants, felons and others ineligible to vote - could the GOP talking points get more vague and unspecific? - registering to vote in the first place? If this was a problem, that would be a failure at the local level. But this inane law, which still allows somebody to show up with my dead Grandpa or Grandma’s electric bill and gas bill, at the local polling place and vote, as long as their name is still on the voter roll, would not fix this problem, if it existed.

Most people in this state who’ve lived here for many years, who’ve been registered to vote for many years, are used to showing up to vote, showing their voter registration certificate and voting. They’ve perpetrated no fraud, and never would. Most of these people would, frankly, have no problem showing a photo ID to vote because they’re not criminals and don’t want to perpetrate a fraud. See where I’m going? It’s those that do want to perpetrate this “supposed fraud” that will not be stopped by this bill. This bill is a sham, puts an extra burden on law-abiding citizens, and does absolutely nothing to fix the problem, that doesn’t exist, it sets out to solve.

So why do the Republicans want to pass this law that will do nothing to fix this problem that doesn’t exist? Well there’s been a plan afoot by the Texas GOP’s Nixonian dirty trickster for many, many years. And, at it’s most basic, it’s a plan to keep as many likely Democratic voters as possible away from the polls on election day, to better the GOP’s chances of winning. Put another way, it’s cheating.

FYI: Vince has his take from yesterday, he was there, with a mention that at one point Rep. Mike Krusee may have been against this bill.

In the “yes” votes, the bold names have some significance. Geren, Hamilton, and Krusee, Republicans all, were all supposed to be “cross-over” votes. Word around the Capitol Monday morning was that Geren was firmly a “cross-over,” and had even rebuffed personal threats from Texas Republican Party Chairwoman Tina Benkiser that she would see to it that $100,000 was poured into the coffers of a primary challenger.

Krusee and Hamilton ditched the cause after the first contested vote, on an amendment to the first amendment to the bill (Amendment 2). Geren stayed with the cause fairly consistently until the final amendments, when he ditched.

It’s time to call your Senator about this, Sen. Steve Ogden.

: This from QR:

The Voting Rights Act changed all of that. The bill shifted the presumption to the voter. Boiled down to its nut, the VRA said that the presumption was that a registered voter could participate unencumbered. The burden of proof shifted from the voter justifying why they should be allowed to vote to the state explaining why they could not.

In passing HB218 on a near-party line vote yesterday, House Republicans began re-establishing the discredited principal that the burden is on the citizen to explain why they should be permitted vote.
http://eyeonwilliamson.org//index.php?p=1046