The Texas House of Representatives, steaming about Speaker Tom Craddick’s repeated declarations that he has absolute power over who may speak in the 150-member chamber, boiled over after midnight Monday morning with some members walking out into capitol corridors echoing with cheers and catcalls where state troopers rushed to separate dissident camps
UPDATE - Link to local TV report KEYE TV
The fate of some 30 major bills pending before Monday midnight’s statutory end of the session seemed bleak following the walkout and at least one former member argued that the $153 billion state budget may also hang in the balance if a quorum of members does not return to allow it to be formally signed.
Tempers have flared openly since Friday when Craddick refused to recognize members who wished to call for a vote on whether to dump him and elect a new speaker - something that hasn’t happened to a sitting speaker since 1871.
The House Parliamentarian and her assistant either resigned their posts or were pushed out Friday after reportedly declining to support Craddick’s assertion of absolute authority, and Craddick replaced them with partisans who ruled that Craddick could remain in his chair and refuse to allow any member to raise motions against him continuing in power.
He also is claiming that he is a constitutional officer who cannot be un-elected by majority vote but must be impeached by a super-majority of members.
The Austin American-Statesman seems to have some of the best early reporting on the after-midnight walkout in their Postcards from the Lege blog.
As the rebel House members streamed out of the chamber, led by Rep. Pat Haggerty, R-El Paso, a crowd that had been watching in the gallery quickly poured into the hallways and began cheering. Shouts echoed through the Capitol: "Go! Go! Go! Out! Out! Out!"
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Without a quorum, the House quickly adjourned, likely dooming several major bills. Then, several House members who did not leave appeared in the lobby outside the Chamber, shaking their fists at those members who left, who were still walking upstairs.
The crowd booed, and applauded louder. Several scuffles and shouting matches briefly developed between supporters of the rebels, and others who supported those House members who stayed.
"You traitors should stay out — forever," yelled one woman, shouting that the rebels were "voting for anarchy." "We support democracy, not dictatorship," came an answer from a woman on the stairs above.
House sergeants at arms and state troopers moved in to separate the flaring emotions.
Hours before the walkout, the House approved the only must-do bill of the session - the state’s $153 billion two-year budget - but there has been some bloggy speculation that if a quorum of House members doesn’t show up tomorrow for the bill to be formally signed in the members’ presence, it cannot take effect.
Critics charged the budget had been laden with pork-barrel projects at the last minute to buy legislators’ votes to help Craddick to hang onto his speakership.
The House is supposed to come back at 2 p.m. today and nobody knows quite what to expect. The uproar in the Republican-dominated House has been pretty historic even by the standards of the Texas Legislature.