March 16, 2005
Remove Al Edwards from the DNC
By Byron LaMasters
Exactly what Greg said - there is no excuse to allow the one "Democrat" who voted with Republicans for HB 3 - the largest tax hike in Texas history - to continue serving on the DNC.
Update: Via comments and Houston Democrats is how Rep. Edwards explained his vote:
Representative Edwards took my phone call this afternoon and was very gracious in his explanation of his vote for HB3. And he had a very good reason. The conference committee will not include any members that voted against the bill. In order to ensure that the Democratic Party has a voice in crafting the final version of the bill, Mr. Edwards and the Democratic leadership decided one Democrate would have to vote for for the bill, since voting against it would not have prevented its passage. In addition, he feels that a positive aspect of the bill is the broadening of the tax base to include business that currently are exempt from the franchise tax.
Well, this is certainly better than voting for the bill on the merits, but voting for a bill to get a seat at the table in order to get crumbs of what you want, isn't worth giving Republicans even the smallest amount of political cover.
Posted by Byron LaMasters at March 16, 2005 01:00 PM
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Yeah, I would agree with that, but i'm disapointed I have not seen an e-mail calling Edwards a DINO like they did with Villareal because he did NOT vot for it after the committee.
This is from http://www.houstondemocrats.com blog:
Representative Edwards Explains His Vote on HB3
Representative Edwards took my phone call this afternoon and was very gracious in his explanation of his vote for HB3. And he had a very good reason. The conference committee will not include any members that voted against the bill. In order to ensure that the Democratic Party has a voice in crafting the final version of the bill, Mr. Edwards and the Democratic leadership decided one Democrate would have to vote for for the bill, since voting against it would not have prevented its passage. In addition, he feels that a positive aspect of the bill is the broadening of the tax base to include business that currently are exempt from the franchise tax.
I appreciate Representative Edwards taking the time to explain his vote to me and his willingness to vote for a distateful bill in an effort to ensure there is Democratic input into the final version.
Lyn Wall
tg
