Regarding "Dewhurst’s debate absence fuel for foes" (Monday City & State, B1), Peggy Fikac takes Lt Governor David Dewhurst to task for stepping out of a late night debate and - going to dinner. And while she didn't outright say that eating a meal was ethically wrong, she did provide his Democrat opponents the opportunity to flog the "Appearances Of Impropriety" mule. Particularly amusing - and confusing - was the tweet by a Democrat consultant putting words into the mouth of Republican Dan Patrick that suggested that he was criticizing Dewhurst as well, a propaganda two-fer for Democrat partisans.
Why was his absence an issue? Anybody who has spent time observing the legislative drill knows that ALL politicians devote precisely as much time to being on the floor as they need to, and not one minute more. And the only thing more regular than legislators noisily rushing out of the chamber en masse is their equally thunderous return, generally with just seconds to spare when it is time to cast a vote that actually means something.
And try as I did, I could find no similar moralizing about the serial offences of Democrat truants such as "The Texas Eleven", that notorious group of legislators who abandoned not just the state house but the State of Texas back in 2003 so as to prevent the democratically elected majority from debating redistricting legislation. Compared to Dewhurst taking "less than an hour" for dinner, their 46 day vacation in New Mexico might have been a more appropriate example of legislative malpractice, not to mention a target for Ms. Fikac's ire.
Still, this article at least serves as a benchmark for the future, when a drove of Democrat legislators next subverts the legislative process by refusing to show up - as they have three other times since 1979 - I expect Ms. Fikac should take them to task as well.
Pete Smith
Cypress
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