ts5641 said:

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Why is it the dems are the only ones who do this running away thing? This is I think 3 times in memory they've done this.
When your ideas are so unpopular that you literally go against the will of the people and run away from your job. Democrats are ****ing pathetic.

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2003: Texas House Democrats traveled to Oklahoma to prevent a vote on a congressional redistricting plan. Later that year, Texas Senate Democrats also left the state, going to New Mexico. Both efforts ultimately failed to stop the redistricting maps from becoming law.

2021: Texas House Democrats went to Washington, D.C., to block a bill that would have placed new restrictions on voting. This standoff lasted for more than a month, but the bill eventually passed after repeated special sessions.

You know republicans weren't always the majority party in Texas, right?

This is a democrat tactic. All they care about is power.

et98 said:

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He is not their boss. He did not hire them, and he should not be able to fire them. A governor firing a congressman is the opposite of representative government.

I disagree with elected officials being little *****es and fleeing to other states like a bunch of cowards, and I would never vote for for someone who has ever done something like this. But if their constituents support their behavior, there is nothing I nor the governor should be able to do about it.

We are a republic, not a dictatorship.

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He wouldn't be firing them, fwiw.

They quit by not showing up to their job when they were required to do so...

BTKAG97 said:

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Leaving the state to avoid doing your job sounds like an abandonment of the position thus creating a vacancy.

Is there a job in the private sector that this does not apply to? No reason to give state legislators an exemption.

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Would they have to come back to Texas to fight the removal?

Okay, I'll believe it when I see it. Also, does voting for 5 day weekends also count as dereliction of duty? The legislature has been doing that for months now.

Ag_of_08 said:

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If our state govt, all of them, was any more of an abusive clown show we would be California ..

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Good morning, Mr/Mrs Hyperbole

That's because democrats run the Texas House. All the short days and short weeks are just a tactic Burrows, Phelan, and Buckley have been employing to avoid doing the work of the people. They don't want conservatives running the state.

No, they would get one of their minions to file the suit based on their "will of the people" being obstructed. Kind of ironic with all the lawsuits against Trump for his every action.

Ellis Wyatt said:

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You know republicans weren't always the majority party in Texas, right?

This is a democrat tactic. All they care about is power.

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You do realize it is a tactic used by both parties in the modern era of politics when they are in the minority in an state and I provided two very recent examples of Republicans do it. Do you think those Republicans should be removed from office and replaced like what Abbott is proposing? I do assuming they are absences done to prevent quorum whether it be Dems or Reps.

TA-OP said:

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I'm sorry. I'm struggling to get past the obvious AI-written statement. There's been a sudden surge in the use of em dashes. In my experience, AI will favor em dashes about every paragraph or two.

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I saw a you tube video recently where this guy was pointing out some characteristics of AI generated text that would indicate AI generated and unedited by human with a high degree of accuracy. Some of it was a bit intuitive and by feel but some was rather repetitive and mechanical inclusions that all the AI seem to pick up from certain classes of sample text and factored using. Some of it is also structural or stereotypes that have developed within AI authoring. It is interesting that it is intruding into government authoring, though perhaps not that surprising. After all, these things tend to get actually written by younger staffers more likely to employ technology and work shortcuts.

So here is an interesting question about all of this. The Jan 6 protestors were accused of sedition for allegedly attempting to disrupt the important business of congress. So how is that any different from a group of legislators getting together and conspiring to abandon their seats to obstruct the state legislature from conducting their business? Seems like that conspiracy to obstruct the functioning of the legislature should be a crime in and of itself.

Seems like clear abandonment of office to me. I don't see it as abuse of power. This session has been known for a long period of time, so unless there are solid facts as to why one cannot attend, that's abandonment IMO. Boot em

It seems to me that the only way some of the fleeing Democrats can avoid bribery charges is to not break quorum.

It seems that would eliminate any potential quid pro quo connected to any payment they received to deny a quorum and skip a vote. https://t.co/eyTbgybLvW

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) August 4, 2025

et98 said:

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He is not their boss. He did not hire them, and he should not be able to fire them. A governor firing a congressman is the opposite of representative government.

I disagree with elected officials being little *****es and fleeing to other states like a bunch of cowards, and I would never vote for for someone who has ever done something like this. But if their constituents support their behavior, there is nothing I nor the governor should be able to do about it.

We are a republic, not a dictatorship.

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We are long past this point, both parties. The end justifies the means.

I like how Abbott is standing up to this illegal action by the Democrats.

ABATTBQ87 said:

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ts5641 said:

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Why is it the dems are the only ones who do this running away thing? This is I think 3 times in memory they've done this.
When your ideas are so unpopular that you literally go against the will of the people and run away from your job. Democrats are ****ing pathetic.

---

2003: Texas House Democrats traveled to Oklahoma to prevent a vote on a congressional redistricting plan. Later that year, Texas Senate Democrats also left the state, going to New Mexico. Both efforts ultimately failed to stop the redistricting maps from becoming law.

2021: Texas House Democrats went to Washington, D.C., to block a bill that would have placed new restrictions on voting. This standoff lasted for more than a month, but the bill eventually passed after repeated special sessions.

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The original Killer Bees in 1979. Several D senators went into hiding in Austin, never leaving the state, to block a bill moving up the data of the Texas presidential primary. I seem to recall it was an effort to help John Connelly, whose presidential campaign ultimately laid one big giant turd.

ABATTBQ87 said:

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with the Texas Constitution, a writ of election is typically issued by a high-ranking executive official, such as the governor. This writ serves as the official directive to the relevant electoral officers to organize and conduct an election for a specific purpose, such as filling a vacant legislative seat. The writ often specifies important details, such as the office to be filled, the date of the election, and other procedural information.

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So once the governor declares the seat vacant, there is a gap between the special election and any current pending legislation. In that case can those seats simply vote "not present", by the Texas house/senate leadership?

Receiving consideration to miss a vote is bribery. If someone gave you a free trip to Chicago to vote yes or no, you’re going to prison. This was Day 1, Meeting 1 of orientation.

Abbott is not wrong.

— Rep. Mitch Little (@realmitchlittle) August 4, 2025

This begs the question of why this was not done the last two times.

Kansas Kid said:

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You do realize it is a tactic used by both parties in the modern era of politics when they are in the minority in a state and I provided two very recent examples of Republicans do it. Do you think those Republicans should be removed from office and replaced like what Abbott is proposing? I do assuming they are absences done to prevent quorum whether it be Dems or Reps.

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This is Texas. Only Democrats do it.

hth

My guess is he's sick of the fake republicans joining the democrats to obstruct. This will take out some of the democrats. Hopefully the light is shone on Burrows, Buckley, Phelan and their obstructionist cabal. It's time for this bull**** to stop.

Ellis Wyatt said:

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My guess is he's sick of the fake republicans joining the democrats to obstruct. This will take out some of the democrats. Hopefully the light is shone on Burrows, Buckley, Phelan and their obstructionist cabal. It's time for this bull**** to stop.

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Burrows owes his position to these dems. He wouldn't be speaker if it were not for them. He is not going to do anything to them, so it is up to Abbott and officials outside of the legislature to take care of this.

Ellis Wyatt said:

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Kansas Kid said:

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You do realize it is a tactic used by both parties in the modern era of politics when they are in the minority in a state and I provided two very recent examples of Republicans do it. Do you think those Republicans should be removed from office and replaced like what Abbott is proposing? I do assuming they are absences done to prevent quorum whether it be Dems or Reps.

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This is Texas. Only Democrats do it.

hth

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Well duh because Republicans are the majority. Just like Oregon and Michigan where Republicans are the minority.

Waffledynamics said:

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Can he just do that? That seems like a wildly abusable power.

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If I worked for someone who told me I'd better be there by 3, I'd be there. Not abusive in my book. Take your medicine, pendejos.

K.

Republicans have not always been the majority in Texas.


But I know. Moral equivocation and all that...

I am glad Governor Greg Abbott is going to remove any legislator not in the chamber by 3:00 pm to prevent the Democrats from setting the battlefield terms. These legislators are abandoning their duties by choosing to be somewhere else because they are not getting their way.

Strong move. Hope it works.

If a district court vacates a seat(s) does that immediately change the quorum count?

et98 said:

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Cons: The optics are as bad as possible. Like 1984 bad. Like borderline Putin, Stalin, & Hitler bad. Even though none of these are truly equal comparisons, the similarities might be a little too uncanny for many voers & big money donors.

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Not even close.

So if the plane crashed ( maybe there were snakes on the plane) would the Texas house come to an eternal standstill because there is no quorum and as a result there is no quorum to vote the seats vacant?

Guessing no.

You could argue that the governor is not removing the citizens representation if the rep fails to show. He's actually giving them the their representation back.

normaleagle05 said:

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If a district court vacates a seat(s) does that immediately change the quorum count?

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Abbott can appoint a replacement. I'm guessing he'll be looking for that one white dude in Oak Cliff to put in place.

This is just grandstanding and tossing out red meat, he does not have the power to remove elected legislative officials.

torrid said:

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ABATTBQ87 said:

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ts5641 said:

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Why is it the dems are the only ones who do this running away thing? This is I think 3 times in memory they've done this.
When your ideas are so unpopular that you literally go against the will of the people and run away from your job. Democrats are ****ing pathetic.

---

2003: Texas House Democrats traveled to Oklahoma to prevent a vote on a congressional redistricting plan. Later that year, Texas Senate Democrats also left the state, going to New Mexico. Both efforts ultimately failed to stop the redistricting maps from becoming law.

2021: Texas House Democrats went to Washington, D.C., to block a bill that would have placed new restrictions on voting. This standoff lasted for more than a month, but the bill eventually passed after repeated special sessions.

---

The original Killer Bees in 1979. Several D senators went into hiding in Austin, never leaving the state, to block a bill moving up the data of the Texas presidential primary. I seem to recall it was an effort to help John Connelly, whose presidential campaign ultimately laid one big giant turd.

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I was in elementary school in Buda when this happened. One of my classmates had a dad that worked at the Capitol . This classmate showed up one day with a yellow T-shirt commemorating the event. Apparently the Dems handed them out like frat mixer shirts.

Seems like last time this happened there was a threat of send the Sargeant at Arms to go round up these weasels and bring them back. But I assume that has to come from the Speaker, not the Governor.

Current SAA is a woman named Kara Coffee. "First woman to be SAA, blah, blah, blah.". I doubt we see this avenue taken.

fc2112 said:

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normaleagle05 said:

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If a district court vacates a seat(s) does that immediately change the quorum count?

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Abbott can appoint a replacement. I'm guessing he'll be looking for that one white dude in Oak Cliff to put in place.

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The question is, in the interim before a replacement, does the math change on the number that constitutes a quorum?

Also, tell me you don't gentrification and haven't been to Oak Cliff in decades, without telling me.