The Drone Before the Storm
March 29th, 2007 at 9:27 am
It’s budget day in the House! Right now everyone’s waiting for the gavel to come down on the first amendments of the day, when the fighting truly begins. For now, it’s the robotic recitation of the provisions of HB 1, a near-continuous stream from reps at the podium of dollar figures, state agencies, and words ending in -ade.
In the meantime, wanted to pass along this snapshot from the press conference yesterday. That’s quite a collection of movers and shakers in one room. Kind of amazing, since TYC was hardly on the radar this session until the Observer broke the scandal. You can read the nitty gritty in any of various news reports. The lasting impression, for this reporter, was Kimbrough (he’s on the far left, waiting to get serious). We’d heard him talk tough in front of a national commission at UT earlier this week. He stepped it up a bit at the press conference yesterday. The tough talk would be reassuring of Kimbrough’s commitment to reform at the agency … if he didn’t talk tough pretty much all the time.
Others, like Democratic leader Rep. Jim Dunnam are also skeptical:
After a month of foot dragging, I am pleased that Governor Perry finally understands the need to appoint a Conservator over TYC. Unfortunately, the Governor still does not recognize that the Conservator must be independent and autonomous. Perry’s decision to appoint his long time friend and insider, Jay Kimbrough, provides the public with a clear understanding that the Governor has no interest in really getting to the bottom of what really went wrong at TYC and who allowed it to happen.
I guess we’ll see. Kimbrough’s about to be confirmed by the Senate, where I’m stealing a wireless connection. Not sure what everyone’s waiting on, but I’ve left our friends in the House on their own for too long. More later today.
