Or those trying to contain them.
BOR is on top of the continuing saga of corrupt Craddick.
Go take a read, if you've got a few minutes. This is history in the making, and the folks at BOR are doing incredible work reporting on it. Major, major props are due.
A few excerpts on the flip to whet your appetite if you haven't been keeping up. (Be sure to check out the comments over there as well.)
Rep Coleman Files Ethics Complaint Against Ron Wilson
"Ron Wilson has failed to pay an $8,300 to the state of Texas," Rep. Coleman said. "We should not have an Assistant Parliamentarian advising the Speaker on rules when the Assistant Parliamentarian cannot follow the rules himself."
Special Session on the Horizon:
Houston Senator Kyle Janek has told Quorum Report that he is getting votes together to filibuster the budget. After reading this, I was confused why a Republican Senator would try to force a special session and wade in on the drama in the House.
After talking with people around the capitol and listening to others chat, the rumor and supposition is this is actually a battle between Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Speaker (for now) Tom Craddick. The two have rarely seen eye to eye, and it is well known around the Capitol that the two are not friends.
Craddick Forgets His "Dirty 30" Days
Craddick doesn't shy away from his "Dirty 30" days on his website, he proudly boasts about his role in the coalition's effort to break the Sharpstown Scandal ridden Gus Mutscher's python grip of legislative control, and unethical brand of leadership at that time. Under similar intense pressure to vacate his leadership role, Craddick has apparently exercised unethical demons in order to maintain his rein of absolute power and he knows it...
The fact is Speaker Tom Craddick has morphed into the same power thirsty, unethical, and greedy heavy handed Speaker of the Texas House that he worked so hard to tear down once prior. He learned nothing from his historical part in reforming the role he currently holds in the Texas House, in fact, he reverted it back to its authoritarian style. Or, as Bob Gammage pointed out, these are different times and Mr. Craddick has forgotten his historical role on purpose.
Craddick's Enemies List?
Democrats claimed that Craddick had given the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Sergeant at Arms a list of House members "who are to be blocked from access to the House front microphone or other House facilities when the House is in session."
The allegations followed a nasty incident in the House chamber when Craddick walked out of the chamber Friday night. Chaos resulted when Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, tried to address members and restore order in the House.
"Mr. Noriega was physically blocked from access to the podium and members were told that the Sergeant at Arms had a list of members who were to be blocked from certain facilities," Democrat Reps. Abel Herrero of Robstown, Armando Martinez of Weslaco, Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio and Eddie Rodriguez of Austin wrote in their letter to Craddick.
Glenn Maxey, former member of the legislature, calls for the members to restore the integrity of the institution he and they love so well.
Craddick Loyalists, You Must Demand He Resign
It's time that you end this madness by leading the request to ask the Speaker to resign.
You know what the continuation of this single member's occupancy of the Speaker's chair will do to this House.
You know there is no longer an ability for this House to come together for the good of the people of Texas on policy and issue discussions.
You know how brutal both primary and partisan general elections will be for lots of your colleagues in 2008.
You know how awful this full-out, publicly debated Speaker's race will be for the next 18 months.
It's your responsibility to end it. Out of loyalty you might oppose vacating the Chair or overruling the Speaker's decision. But out of honor to the institution, you must ask him to resign.
Follow that up with a Call for Redemption for the Iscariot Caucus members who haven't already repudiated Craddick's Unitary Speakership theory (with a list of contact numbers for them at the Capitol):
Now it is time for the Craddick 15 to remember the bigger pictuer- the greater good. Eddie Lucio III and Patrick Rose have publicly said that they no longer stand with Craddick. Call them and say thank you.
For the other 13, tell them to remember the broken promises. Tell them to remember that their constituents need them. Tell them to remember that the House is in turmoil and this Speaker has created a constitutional crisis. Tell them to stand up against Craddick, and tell them we will remember what happens in these final hours.
Glenn Smith covers the angle of how Craddick is using the budget bill to bribe legislators to support him The Corrupt Budget:
The Texas House and Senate will debate the 2008-2009 Texas budget today. Everyone in the Capitol is aware that the budget contains bribes paid to some lawmakers for their continued support of Tom Craddick. This is beyond pork barrel politics. This is criminal. It is bribery.
The budget process has been corrupted. This is a scandal worse than Sharpstown, and there are plenty of former legislators who lost their jobs in that scandal who were not directly involved. The public paints with a very broad brush.
Members who want to vote aye on the budget are at best ignoring the crime and at worst becoming accessories to the bribery.
Like the folks at BOR, we've received a linkto a petition sponsored by the TDP calling for Craddick's resignation.
I think it's about time, don't you? Let's make sure they know we're watching.