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Senators vote for dem panalties Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2050190http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2050190
Aug. 15, 2003, 9:15PM
Senators vote for more Dem penalties
Associated Press
AUSTIN -- With a band of Democratic lawmakers refusing to end their self-imposed exile, Republicans today approved a new piece of arm-twisting: Yanking the rebels' parking spaces, cell phones and other privileges.
The penalties also include a ban on purchases, travel and printing privileges, which will kick in if the Democrats refuse to pay the fines the Republican senators voted to impose on them this week.
Other penalties include limiting postage to $200 a month and taking floor passes away from staffers.
"These actions that we are adding today are to encourage the absent members to return home," said Sen. Todd Staples, chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus.
He said there were other items that could have been added to the list.
The 11 boycotting Texas Democrats have been staying at a hotel in Albuquerque, N.M., since July 29, in protest of Republican-led efforts to redraw the state's congressional lines. They say they will ignore the fines imposed for their absence. The fines started at $1,000 for Thursday and will double for each day missed, not to exceed $5,000 a day.
Sen. John Whitmire noted that throughout the spring Texas Republicans turned down Democrats' ideas to raise new revenue. He joked that with the fine, the Republicans were about to violate their vow of no new taxes.
Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, warned of a "constitutional crisis."
"If 11 senators, be they Democrat or be they Republican, can pick up on any given day and walk out of this state and shut down this process, I think we're on the verge of a constitutional crisis and that is what the people of the state of Texas I think are upset about," Perry said.
He said he believes the Texas Senate and House need ways to compel their members to attend the special session.
The fines were designed to do that.
Sen. Todd Staples, the chairman of the Texas Senate Republican Caucus, said the goal has been to have the Democrats come back to Texas.
"Let's work together the way we always have," Staples said. "Their walkout has moved beyond exercising their political opinion because it creates an injustice that denies other elected representatives the ability to vote their conscience."
The Democrats have dismissed the threat.
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