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Wed Aug 11, 2010 at 05:22 PM CDT
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If there was one statewide Republican officeholder that I thought would be all over the Prop 8 ruling it was Ag Commissioner Todd Staples, Senate sponsor of HJR 6, the enacting legislation that led to Proposition 2 in 2005, which constitutionally banned recognition of same-sex marriage in Texas after voters approved it by 76%. It took him a few days but he did issue a pointless release to remind people of that.
Athens Review: "In 2005, I authored the state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Texas. At the ballot box, 76 percent of Texas voters statewide supported it. The federal court ruling from California against a state's right to define marriage is an assault on both traditional family values and states' rights."
Now, there's no reason for Staples to have had to issue any statement. As head of the Department of Agriculture, I can't imagine any application the Prop 8 ruling has on his office unless there has been a sudden rush of marriage applications form the state's cattle and goat populations.
Thankfully Democratic Ag Commissioner nominee Hank Gilbert fired back at Staples with some choice words about what he might focus on instead.
"I've spent the last two weeks on the campaign trail talking about real reform for the Texas Department of Agriculture-from weights and measures to funding to increase agribusiness in Texas to protecting Texans from eminent domain abuses," Gilbert said.
"My opponent, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be focused much on agriculture at all. He's kind of like a kitten playing with a ball of yarn. If you hold an anchovy over his head, he forgets all about that ball of yarn; it is kind of how Todd Staples is with this issue."
Gilbert pointed out that the Agriculture Commissioner has no authority or power over the Texas Family Code with respect to marriage and that Staples is misleading voters about his role in the law's passing in order to, presumably, excite ultra-conservatives. "People elect their Agriculture Commissioner to do something about agriculture, not to serve as the state's de facto bedroom police," he said.
Todd Staples continues to be one of the most useless statewide elected officials. Good riddance. |
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