Mary Katharine Ham of Hot Air fame served as my inspiration for summing up the state of the 83rd Lege.
One takeaway from the 83rd Lege is Democrats have established a framework to leverage bills passed out of the Texas House and Senate. Once the bill is signed into law by Governor Perry (or vetoed by him), they try to make a name for themselves outside their hometown, fundraise…then rinse and repeat!
First up was the June 25th filibuster of the abortion bill by Texas Senator Wendy Davis. Hardly a household name outside of Dallas let alone Texas, the Big Three Networks, as noted by the Media Research Center, by way of Life News, gave more coverage of stories devoted to Davis over a 19 day period than they did to the entire 58 days of the Kermit Gosnell trial:
“In the 19 days since her June 25 filibuster, ABC, CBS and NBC have devoted 40 minutes, 48 seconds of their morning and evening news programs to stories including Davis. That’s more than three times the 13 minutes, 30 seconds they gave Gosnell during the entire 58 days of the murder trial”
How much did Davis rake in from the publicity at the end of a campaign finance reporting quarter? Nearly $1 million in political donations.
Next up is Texas Senator Sylvia Garcia. The 83rd Lege passed HB 950 which Governor Perry wisely vetoed because it duplicates Federal law (and IMHO would have been a bonanza for trial lawyers). A no-name outside Houston, both the Houston Chronicle (oopsie, link is now broken) and the Huffington Puffington Post fecklessly attempted to catapult Garcia to national fame through her phony outrage against Macy’s and Kroger.
Macy’s and Kroger (which is a United Food & Commercial Worker union BTW; that’s for you LOFO Texas Organizing Project peeps) and the rest of us entry level pay for entry level work folks support Governor Perry’s veto. Not sure who Garcia’s consultant is, but publicizing this stunt as Texas goes into its Back to School tax-free weekend was a dumb move.
We’ll check back at the end of the Q3 reporting period to see how much campaign cash Garcia raised but the framework is clear…..
Bill. Name. Fundraise, Rinse. Repeat.
I’m searching for one more example of this framework to create a trifecta
Is the author (and her source, Life News) attempting to say that because news media gave more minutes to Senator Davis than they did to the the Kermit Gosnell trial, the media condones the murderer and the illegal late term abortions he performed?
I hope not, because that would be completely irrational.
Bob42:
It’s a name recognition, fundraising framework. You will see it again.
Step 1: Find a bill and pass it out of The Lege
Step 2: Wait for the Governor to sign it into law or veto it
Step 3: Try to make a name for yourself outside your home city or District through the media & hope your consultant doesn’t botch promoting you along the way
Step 4: Fundraise
Step 5: Rinse and repeat
OK Yvonne, let’s take it one “step” at a time.
The abortion related bills did not pass the lege or reach the governor’s desk until after the special sessions with their special rules were called, and they were called at least partially for the specific purposes of getting such legislation there.
Senator Davis’ pink shoe filibuster happened long before the legislation inevitably reached Perry’s desk, where it was already assured to receive his enthusiastic (and politically opportunistic) autograph. It is entirely absurd to suggest that the thought of a veto ever penetrated Perry’s fabulously coifed hairdo, much less his brain.
Senator Davis’ futile filibuster will ultimately be a career ending gesture. After all is said and done, this is (currently) a far-right Republican ruled Texas that doesn’t take kindly to dissenting upstart female senators and the resulting “unruly mobs” that dared to protest their social conservative authoritarianism, and the embarrassing media coverage of same.
Yeah right. National name recognition might get her several million to pitch against Abott’s >$20M piggy bank that he’s been fattening since long before before Pastor/Governor Perry’s ridiculous and failed presidential bid. (But the satirist in me truly hopes that he runs again in 2016!)
Here we might find a point of agreement, sort of. If Davis decides to run for reelection in her district, she will be torpedoed by angry, vengeance seeking republicans. So far, a Tea Partier and an “establishment” republican are on the map seeking her ouster. As soon as the republican primary determines which is the more “Authentic Conservative” (as Lieutenant D_n would put it) she will be toast — Wet toast, rinsed completely off of the political map.
And if she decides to run for governor, she will lose to the well monied heir apparent to the Texas gubernatorial pulpit, Greg Abott. (This is Texas, not the formerly indelibly red Colorado.) But in that loss, and as a result of her upstart antics on the floor in Austin this summer, it is likely that others will emerge to follow, male and female. Either way she goes Wendy Davis is all washed up and will be rinsed out of Texas politics. But you are wise to be worried about the “repeat” part. It will happen, sooner or later.