Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, has been getting positive reviews for his tenure as speaker pro tem, not least for his ability to burn through the grunt-work bills and keep the House moving.
But everyone has sub-par days. His off-kilter mojo this morning started when he referred to Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, as “Mr Howard of Travis” (“Thank you, miss speaker,” Howard playfully responded.)
But it was with the final passage of House Bill 3866 by Rep. Elliott Naishat, D-Austin, requiring state-mandated fire inspections to be undertaken by qualified inspectors, that proved it was time to break for lucnch. Legislators love bringing their kids to the floor, and today Eiland was being helped on the dias by his son, Tucker. With a solid whack, the younger Eiland brought the gavel down for final passage, and with an impressive thudding sound, the head of the gavel flew off, narrowly missing the clerk, and bounced to the floor.
No-one was injured, and after the applause and giggles about the destructive power of the speaker pro tem’s assistant died down (Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, credited “that double-handed axe style of his” for the tool’s demise) a new gavel was quickly deployed and order was restored.
This article appears in April 24 • 2009.
