This morning, I attended the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee hearing. The hearing was called, largely, to hear testimony from the new Texas Forensic Science Commission Chairman, John Bradley.
Two things strike me as clear after attending the hearing:
The Democrats on the Senate Criminal Justice Committee -- Chairman John Whitmire, Senator Rodney Ellis, and Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa -- are going to do everything in their power to make sure that the Texas Forensic Science Commission begins to fulfill its role as an independent state agency that reviews mishandled and questionable forensic science in the Texas criminal justice system.
The new Texas Forensic Science Commission Chairman, John Bradley, is going to serve as Governor Rick Perry's puppet on the Commission, and work with Republicans like Senator Dan Patrick to deflect any of the public controversy brought to Rick Perry for his controversial mismanagement of the agency in the recent months and years.
From listening to Bradley's testimony in person today, here are the ways I think he will be nothing more than Perry's puppet:
Ignorance and Inexperience
John Bradley testified before the Committee that he knew nothing about the Commission before he was appointed by Governor Perry.
Blaming the Legislature - With No Proof
John Bradley accused the Legislature, on multiple occassions, of not having providing the Commission with the resources they needed to do their job. This was obviously a strong talking point that he had decided to pursue -- despite these obvious facts:
When pressed by State Representative Tommy Merritt about the specific budget issues the Commission was facing, he knew of none.
When pressed further about proving -- with a letter, or a phone call, or anything -- when the Legislature has denied the Commission more funding, he could offer no proof.
The Forensic Science Commission is only investigating three cases right now. When asked during the hearing and in a follow-up press conference he held outside the Committee room if the Commission had the necessary resources to fulfill its work on those three cases, Bradley answered, "Yes we do."
Continuing Perry's Political Cover-Up and Privacy
John Bradley believes the Commission should be allowed to meet privately. From the Texas Lawyer:
Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, the new chairman of the Texas Forensic Science commission, says he will recommend, among other things at the Senate committee hearing, that during an ongoing investigation, the commission should be allowed to meet in private to discuss the matter being investigated and that reports to the commission on an investigation be withheld from public release until the commission concludes its deliberations.
“It’s not a good idea to conduct an investigation in a public forum,” Bradley says.
Bradley did not back away from that during the hearing, until he began to hedge his bets when Senators Whitmire and Hinojosa pushed him on why an investigation on a process needs to be protected. He admitted that that should be transparent, but then -- when Senator Dan Patrick asked his Perry-friendly questions -- went back to talking about holding the initial parts of the investigation in private.
Texas Democratic Party Chairman, Boyd Richie, himself a former prosecutor, issued this statement:
It’s obvious the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to Rick Perry’s political appointees. Perry’s politically motivated cancellation of an essential review of Texas’ forensic science methods threatened the ability of our criminal justice system to work properly for Texans.
Delays, Delays, Delays
John Bradley intends on taking the coming months to write rules and guidelines for the agency -- a task that should have occurred already, but under Rick Perry's watch never occurred. Of course, Bradley refused to acknowledge that Perry was at all responsible for any delays, choosing to act like the Commission was performing its duties in recent years without a net.
Until, that is, that Senator Ellis pointed out that the Texas Attorney General's office had a person in every one of the Commission's meeting, to ensure that they had the legal authority to carry out all their decisions. The excuse of delaying the Commission's work for months is no excuse at all, but another stall and delay tactic from Rick Perry's hand-picked appointee, John Bradley.
Eventually, the bigger picture left the hearing -- that going forward, the Texas Forensic Science Commission should be a place where the best forensic science can be determined, where mistakes can be evaluated, and where the work done by law enforcement across the state can be guaranteed to be the best work imaginable. But that's only going to happen because of the work of Senator John Whitmire, Senator Rodney Ellis, and Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa. Of the Senators attending the hearing, the three Democrats carried the lion's share of the work. Republican Senator Dan Patrick asked questions that would have made a Rick Perry criminal justice staff person proud, and Senator Glenn Hegar sounded like he wrote his remarks while taking a bus to school in the morning.
Ultimately, I have faith that our Democratic State Senators will be able to kick-start this Commission into moving in the right direction. I also believe that John Bradley actually wants to make that happen. But that's only his second job.
Bradley's first job, which was made clear during today's hearing, was that he is to work as Rick Perry's puppet and delay the Commission's work for as long as possible -- at least until it is no longer politically damaging to Governor Perry.
The answers the people of Texas and, indeed, across the country are looking for from Rick Perry's cover-up are well protected and hidden with John Bradley chairing the Texas Forensic Science Commission.
After insisting for months that the Voter ID bill carried a fiscal note of zero, it appears Senate Republicans are changing their tune.
Chairman Steve Ogden offered up a $2 million rider that was contingent on the passage of the bill.
Ogden was admitting what Republicans have been hiding for a long, long time. If Voter ID does manage to pass, the State will be obligated to spend millions of dollars to educate people about the changes. Even then, of course, thousands of people will fall through the cracks and be denied their right to vote.
On Monday, Ogden ended the Republicans' ongoing charade that Voter ID would cost the state nothing. But then, as Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston) pointed out, he tried to have it both ways.
If Vote ID passes, “prudence would dictate that we provide the Secretary of State with additional funds to make sure everyone in the state of Texas knows the new rules (requiring identification at the polls),” Ogden reasoned.
“Will the fiscal note for the bill still be zero?” asked John Whitmire. Royce West suggested that the rider indicated the true cost of Voter ID was $2 million.
Ogden said he believed the fiscal note, but “I just think they (the Secretary of State’s office) need more (money).”
“That doesn’t sound like the chairman I know,” West said.
“Nobody’s perfect,” Ogden quipped.
The proposal prompted a testy exchange when Voter ID advocate Tommy Williams observed that “the very people who are complaining (about costs of the bill) are opposing what appears to be very generous funding.”
“What’s absurd is that someone is trying to have it both ways,” Whitmire shot back.
Eventually Senate Republicans will have to come clean and level with Texans about the true costs of Voter ID.
They claim that a significant amount of legal voters will not be barred from voting. They claim (most of the time, at least) that the Secretary of State's office will not need millions of dollars in funding to educate voters about the dramatic changes.
Our job, as Democrats, is to make sure the truth comes out. It is good to see Sen. Whitmire and Sen. West working to make sure that happens.
Earlier today I took issue with the Texas Observer's story alleging that Senator John Whitmire had made a questionable comment toward Senator Wendy Davis during Monday's Senate Finance Committee meeting.
Being at the meeting on Monday with Senator Davis, I took issue with the Observer's interpretation of what was said--in fact, their interpretation was just flat wrong.
Having gone back and listend to the tapes once more, the Texas Observer issued the following retraction:
The Observer received an email from Sen. John Whitmire's office today. His chief of staff, Lara Wendler, said I got it all wrong on Whitmire's remark toward Sen. Wendy Davis in Senate Finance Committee last Monday. On Tuesday, I posted a piece saying that Whitmire told Davis she could sit in his chair on the dais, strongly implying that he said it in a less-than-appropriate way. The post, which has been removed from this site, was titled, "Senator Boogie Ogles New Senator."
In fact, after listening to the tape several times (it was an off-the-mic comment), it's clear that Whitmire actually said in a joking way that "Eltife" would give Davis his seat, referring to Sen. Kevin Eltife, another member of the committee. The Observer regrets the error and apologizes to Sen. Whitmire.
I don't believe in kicking people when they are down so I won't. In fact, I praise individuals when they admit to making mistakes and work toward correcting them. God knows I'm not a perfect being. For admitting fault and issuing a retraction, I applaud the Observer.
I think so. As you all know by now I had the opportunity to spend the day with Senator Wendy Davis this past Monday. Part of our day included the senator's attendance at the Senate Finance meeting.
According to the Texas Observer the following allegedly occurred:
Sen. Steve Ogden, the chair of Finance, welcomed Davis to the committee. Ogden said it was customary for senators to sit up on the dais even if he or she wasn't a member of the committee. "I'd invite you up here but we don't have any chairs," he said of the packed committee.
That's when Sen. John Whitmire-the Senate's elder statesman who's reputation over the years earned him the nicknames "Senator Hot Tub" and "Boogie"-chimed in. "She can sit right here in this seat," he said referring to his own chair and rolling his eyes like a randy schoolboy.
It is true that Senator Ogden stopped testimony to recognize Senator Davis, who was sitting in the audience with everyone else. However, I can confidently say that I did not hear what the Observer heard. Senator Whitmire's comment was to the effect of "she can have one of our chairs up here..." a rather innocent comment if you ask me.
I think it would have been far more appropriate to recognize the fact that Senator Davis not only was sitting in the audience, about three rows back, amongst everyone else, but that when Senator Ogden graciously invited her up front with her colleagues that she politely declined. She was comfortable in the audience where she was taking studious notes over the testimony being given regarding the state of the Texas economy and the 2010-2011 budget. I thought it was refreshing that a state senator was fine sitting in the audience with everyone else, doing what I observed throughout the day--soaking information in and immersing herself in the issues at hand. I find that to be a better story than an offhand comment that appears to have been easily misconstrued.
The political gain is with fellow Republicans who want to require that registered voters present photo IDs proving their citizenship before voting.
The friend is Sen. John Whitmire — a Houston Democrat and the longest serving member of the Senate, often referred to as the dean. He has been a staunch Dewhurst ally and hunting buddy.
Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate, fought to get a voter identification bill to the Senate floor. Whitmire opposed it, and the dispute turned nasty.
Politics is a dirty business, but Dewhurst may have gone over the top.
Dewhurst threatened to kick Whitmire out of the Senate chamber. "Dean, you're going to compose yourself or you are going to leave the floor."
Republican's are trying to force this issue on Texas. Needless to say, the facts are against them, and their polls are questionable at best.
In his letter, Dewhurst cited "independent polls, like one recently conducted by Austin-based Baselice & Associates."
Mike Baselice isn't exactly independent. He is Gov. Rick Perry's pollster and most of his clients are Republicans.
Baselice conducted a poll the first week in April for an anonymous client on another subject. He says he threw the voter ID question in on his own, because it was a hot topic at the time. He provided the results to Republicans, who are now using it to support their cause.
The poll found 95 percent of Republicans, 91 percent of independents and 87 percent of Democrats support using photo IDs.
Royal Masset, the former political director of the Republican Party of Texas, who trained Baselice, says it is easy to elicit that kind of response to a poll question.
We are all aware of our governor's sudden interest in matters of national affairs, but it turns out he's not the only one in higher office who has their eyes on juicy topics for this Legislative Session.
In his inaugural address, David Dewhurst has come up with a brilliant idea on how to save our children from sexual predators: allow repeat offenders to face the death penalty.
