Ardmore Remembered

From tip to toe:
1) Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco brandishes the first Democratic Backbone Award while Democratic grande dame Liz Carpenter emcees.
2) State Democratic Chair Charles Soechting displays the Bonehead of the Year Award in honor of House Speaker Tom Craddick, Gov. Rick Perry, and U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
3) Some members of the original 1979 Senate quorum- breakers, the "Killer Bees": Chet Brooks, Gene Jones, Babe Schwartz, and Glenn Kothman 4) Killer D's Aaron Peña (Edinburg), Chuck Hopson (Jacksonville), and Terri Hodge (Dallas)
(Photo By John Anderson)

To a "Yellow Rose" refrain of "The Killer D's of Texas put the sting on Tom DeLay," state Democrats celebrated the anniversary of the Ardmore Exodus last week at Scholz Garten. The May 12 occasion, timed to commemorate last year's House quorum-break and run for the Oklahoma border by 53 Democrats, featured a Democratic Backbone Award given to Waco Rep. Jim Dunnam, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, in honor of all the Democrats who took part in the quorum break last spring to prevent a House floor vote on the congressional re-redistricting legislation.

The Democrats' flight successfully blocked the legislation for the first special session and was followed in the next session by a similar departure for New Mexico by Senate Democrats. It took a third special session to enable the eventual passage of congressional redistricting, but state Democrats credit the Ardmore action as helping to expose the radically partisan nature of the Republican plan and enabling the rejuvenation of grassroots Democratic activism in Texas.

That was the theme of Wednesday's celebration, as former state Sen. Carl Parker emceed the proceedings and introduced a contingent of his fellow "Killer Bees," the Democratic Senators who also broke a quorum in the 1979 Legislature over presidential primary legislation. The adversary on that occasion, former Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, was also on hand for the celebration.

Accepting his award on behalf of House Democrats – most of whom joined him on the platform – Dunnam joked over a balky microphone that he didn't know when he'd be allowed to speak again on the House floor (earlier in the session, Speaker Tom Craddick had cut the power to the back mic when Dunnam persisted in questioning Craddick's decision to end all debate on the public school finance legislation). Afterward, Dunnam said the speaker's tactics and the approach of the Republican leadership made unlikely any bipartisan consensus on the school legislation. "We've done some research and found that in 10 years of Pete Laney's speakership, he used the previous question [a parliamentary maneuver to end debate] two times," Dunnam said. "Craddick's already used it nine times."

Dunnam said that the tactics made it more difficult for Republicans to reach out for Democratic votes when they need them – as they do now, for example, for a constitutional amendment to enable an expansion of gambling to fund schools. "Some of us could vote for gambling," said Dunnam, "but they've given us no reason to help them out – they're not even interested in providing additional funding for schools."

Austin Rep. Dawnna Dukes echoed Dunnam's judgment of the session, and said that in addition to the moral objections raised against gambling by some Republicans, there is another factor – concerns about competition with bingo game fundraising by churches and nonprofit organizations. "That's a bigger interest than you might imagine," said Dukes, "and they've all been down in the lobby." She said that the Democrats will not budge from their demand for equity in whatever funding scheme might be devised, and that enough Republicans from property-poor districts also have an interest in equity to produce the current gridlock.

It was a sentiment generally shared among the assembled House members, who were looking forward with resignation to a stalemate of the first session and a likely second call from Gov. Rick Perry. Two days later, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst announced that time had run out on pending Senate proposals without a consensus and asked for "more time" to get the job done.