UPDATE 1/11/07
You are all aware that Jim Pitts conceded the Speaker’s race to Craddick at the last minute on Tuesday. It is understandable that he did this to protect those who had agreed to vote for him from Craddick’s wrath after realizing the extent of the Democrats wrath. They did so seeking to either keep or get premium committee assignments from the Speaker. Jim did the honorable thing.
We once again have Bills introduced for the Recorded Votes. Now if that doesn’t pass this time then those who voted for the recorded vote in the Speaker’s vote will be branded as hypocrites. Something good may still come of this.
Dee and I arrived back at the capitol early Wednesday morning to find that the House was taking the day off to attend a past Speaker’s funeral that day so I told her to call Jennifer and let her know there was no need to come down that day. Figured we would just spend a little time and head for Houston where we would meet with the Southern Cruisers and explain to them what TMRA 2 was about. WE made a 2:00pm appointment with Senator Seliger and went to the cafeteria.
There were three Reps sitting a couple of tables over and Rep. Chism called me over to their table. He introduced me to the Freshman Rep. Darby who wanted to let us know there would be a Bill introduced saying no passengers younger than 16 could ride on a motorcycle and how would we feel about that. It is from the same divorced couple that the ex-wife got the Bill introduced last time and I gave him the whole run down. Without dragging it out here(I’ll save that for if he introduces it)I let him know we are more concerned with our kids safety than he is. We’ll watch for this one.
By a quirk of fate we were walking down the hall and met the class of new Interns for the upcoming session on their way to class. After a somewhat embarrassing introduction we were asked to come to the class and speak to them after it was finished to give the real low down on their new undertaking. They appeared to enjoy what I had to say more than the class and I was asked to teach the class next session.
We then started just hitting the offices and telling them about Legislative Day. We walked into the office of Freshman Rep Boris Miles who we hadn’t gotten up with yet. The ladies greeted us and then a man came rushing out of the back office and in a very loud and friendly voice shouted Sputnik, as he offered his hand. I know who you are man you are famous. I introduced Dee and he said I am State Rep. Boris Miles and I am a Biker. It got even better from there. He said he would bring his bike to the capitol on Legislative Day and wanted to know how he could become a "LAWMAKER". I explained how he had to earn that patch and he replied "I’ll be there Sputnik."
Senator Seliger and Reps Miles and Hopson have said they will ride their bikes to work that day. I would imagine that Da’Lady will do the same.
I want to publicly apologize to Jennifer for having Dee call her and say not to come down. This was an unusually exciting day for so early in the session. I will never ask that any one, especially Task Force members skip a day at the capitol again. Most days will be hard drudgery of walk and talk without stop for the first 2 ½ months but you never can tell. You have my sincere apologies Jennifer.
We attended the meeting in Houston and though it was a very large crowd it was hard to say how it went. We signed up two members and others said they would join but several of them didn’t even vote in the last election.
We can hope that they will come to Legislative Day. Despite continued requests to Houston riders and letting them know their participation is more important than most since they have 8 Senate Districts and 25 State Rep Districts we have received very little commitment from them. One can only hope that they get the message and make the ride on that very important weekend.
I’m taking a quick break at the house as the cedar pollen in Austin has really been hitting me hard. I am fixing to switch over and read the new Bill postings now so believe me it won’t be all play while I’m here. Just a different atmosphere and a different computer for a couple of days.
Sputnik
