The Talk, and the Talk, and the Talk, of Austin

NY Times 5/29/09
The Talk, and the Talk, and the Talk, of Austin


AUSTIN, Tex. — They call it chubbing, and while it sounds like a way to fatten pigs, it is actually a maneuver to slow business in the Legislature to a crawl — a filibuster of sorts, Texas-style.

Jim Dunnam, right, the Democrats’ leader, said killing the ID bill had been worth the damage.

For five pivotal days this week, the Democratic minority in the Texas House talked endlessly about minor bills, running out the clock on the legislative session in an effort to kill a Senate-approved bill that would have required voters to present a driver’s license or two other forms of identification at the polls, in addition to their voter registration card

(snip)

But Representative Jim Dunnam, the leader of the House Democrats, said stopping the voter ID legislation was worth the collateral damage to other bills. In the Democrats’ eyes, the voter bill was aimed at suppressing the votes of minorities, the elderly and the poor.

"Anytime you have a bill that is going to suppress turnout of legal voters, if you are not willing to stand up to that you shouldn’t be a legislator," Mr. Dunnam said. The Republicans are to blame, he said, for important reforms’ failure to pass: "They threw this partisan issue right in the middle at the forefront of the session."