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Setting a mighty fine example for the rest of the country.

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...I have always had a lot of respect for Texans, but this takes the f@$king cake!

Spotlight glare is too hot for some Democrats

By Jack Douglas Jr.
Star-Telegram Staff Writer


STAR-TELEGRAM/KELLEY CHINN
Texas House Democrats gather Thursday outside their hotel in Ardmore, Okla. The battle between the GOP and them has been parodied on radio talk shows and television.


STAR-TELEGRAM/KELLEY CHINN
Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Rosenberg, joins a group photograph Thursday of the runaway Texas House Democrats in Oklahoma .

ARDMORE, Okla. - A week ago they were virtual nobodies in national politics.

But since early Monday, when they crossed the Red River in the dead of night into Oklahoma, 51 Democrats -- runaway members of the Texas House -- have been thrust into the national spotlight, showered with support or castigated as "chickens" in their fight with Republicans over congressional redistricting.

Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, says he doesn't mind the national media portraying their fight with the GOP as an OK Corral-style standoff. "They're absolutely right. It is," Pickett said.

For the Democrats, including the ones who are media savvy and the shy ones who jump at the click of a camera, their newfound celebrity has been a good thing and a bad thing.

Republicans say the rebel lawmakers' actions, to boycott the House and stop a vote to redraw congressional districts, threatens the passage of important legislation to improve health care for children, fund public education and solve the state's $9.9 billion budget shortfall.

House Speaker Tom Craddick, a Republican at the center of the bitter stalemate, said Thursday that the AWOL lawmakers had given Texas a "black eye." Gov. Rick Perry called the missing Democrats "cowardly" and "childish." Republicans have held up placards calling them "Chicken D's" and "trash."

On Thursday, one sign outside the Holiday Inn in Ardmore, where the legislators have been holed up since the first of the week, said: "Thank Heaven these Democrats weren't defending the Alamo."

There have also been "We Love You" placards, and supporters have filled the hotel with balloons, flowers and baskets of cookies.

[red]Country singer Willie Nelson sent whiskey, bandannas and a note that said: "Way to go."[/red]

And the Democratic Party in Ardmore is printing T-shirts that say, "Remember the Holiday Inn."

Ardmore has not experienced so much media attention since early last year, when four escapees from a Texas county jail, including two convicted murderers, were nabbed at a local convenience store.

The battle between the missing legislators and the GOP has been parodied on radio talk shows and late-night television. The Daily Show with John Stewart on the Comedy Central network called it "pathetic" and suggested that "it may be the only option left for all Democrats to leave their states and take to roving in nomadic packs around the country, living off the land as renegade outlaws."

"The ones that survive," the show continued, "will tell the tale of a once relevant political party, the Democrats."

Lawmakers at the Holiday Inn said they see nothing funny or pathetic about their decision to leave Texas to make a point. But they admit they are astonished, and for the most part appreciative, of the publicity they have received.

"I know this seems extreme to some people ... [ but] we had no intention of creating a show," said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston. "There are a lot of members here who would rather not be seen. Some of them are shy."

When it comes to media attention, count Dan Ellis, D-Livingston, as one of the shy types. "I have a tendency to avoid the glitz and glamour that sometimes comes with this job," Ellis said.

He agreed, however, to participate this week in a radio talk show from Boston. But when the BBC called, Ellis was already on the phone with a reporter from his district in East Texas. "I felt it was more important to talk to my home folk than to talk to the people in England," he said.

Ellis said he was ready to go back to his low-profile, seldom-quoted role as a rural lawmaker from the Piney Woods. "I'm a little shellshocked to be thrust into something like this," he said.

One of the most telling examples of just how riveted the national media has become to the Texas Democrats in exile came during the early morning hours Wednesday as television camera operators followed Paul Moreno, a wheelchair-bound legislator from El Paso, as he was laboriously lowered down the basement stairs of the Holiday Inn. At the time, Moreno and other guests were scattering for cover from an approaching and potentially dangerous storm.

The veteran legislator said that once he decided to make the trip to Ardmore, "I expected some attention." But Moreno said it was not until he arrived Monday night to a round of applause from his colleagues and then was met by the cameras and the reporters that he realized the story was "something bigger -- something bigger than politics."

Researcher Miguel Liscano Contributed to This Report.


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Jack Douglas Jr. (817 390-7700 jdlNstar-telegram.com  

I have always had a lot of respect for Texans, but this takes the f@$king cake!

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bunch of communist impersonating "Texans"

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What it realy comes down to is this.

Democrats are all about "democracy" until they are the minority. And then they don't like it so much. Instead of playing by the rules they act like a bunch of spoiled children and throw a temper tantrum to get their way.

They went to Oklahoma for several reasons. First, it is illegal by Texas law for a representative to miss a quorum call without permission. Missing a quorum call subjects the rep. to arrest.

Second, they went to Oklahoma because the govenor is a democrat and they knew that he would play ball with their little tantrum by not letting the Rangerinto Oklahoma to arrest them.

And finally, they wanted to thrwart the will of the people, as democrats usually do. In Texas there are almost no elected democrat officials. IIRC the top 30 officials in the state governement are all Republican. Both U.S. senators are Republican. The U.S Reps are 15(R) and 17(D) only because of previous democrat jerymandering of districts. And until the last election democrats controlled the Texas house and senate. But now the Republican's control them, the house by a large majority. Texas has been tending heavy Republican and the dem's don't like it.

I am sure there is more that I am forgetting. I could go on for hours bagging on dem's. But it is so easy it isn't even fair anymore.

Rusty

They went to Oklahoma for several reasons. First, it is illegal by Texas law for a representative to miss a quorum call without permission. Missing a quorum call subjects the rep. to arrest.
Rusty