Just Danny Being Danny
April 27th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
One of the frustrating aspects of covering Sen. Dan Patrick is that every once and awhile he actually makes sense. Today in the Senate, for instance, he argued in favor of CSHB 1892, which doesn’t split hairs about giving local authorities control over toll projects at the expense of the Texas Department of Transportation. The legislation is a jab at Rick Perry’s efforts to expand his office’s power and what many see as his overreaching with the Trans-Texas Corridor. Perry, for his part, sees hypocrisy in the bill and not so subtly hints at a veto.
But back to Patrick. The talk radio host has offered his share of over-the-top comments in his quest to paint himself as a middle-class champion, but it seems like a lot of people would agree with this:
The public has clearly spoken. And the reason I support this bill … is I think there has been this tremendous disconnect between the people of Texas and TxDOT. And they feel that TxDOT is not concerned about what they’re concerned about. That TxDOT is a renegade, runaway agency, out of control — as we know. We couldn’t even get the commissioner to sit down and meet with senators. Which shocks me that the head of any agency can put off meetings with the head of various committees, chairmen of committees, the lieutenant governor, whomever it may be, for weeks at a time. The agencies of Texas need to respond to the people of Texas. And I think the people have been outraged by the Texas Trans Corridor [sic], the selling of the tolls roads, particularly to foreign companies, because they feel they’ve had no input.
He then said the “key element” of the bill is “at least we have local control.”
But Patrick, after saying something that seems to make sense, couldn’t resist saying something nonsensical. After praising Sen. Tommy Williams’s bill for taking action on issues “that the people of Texas are concerned about,” he lamented that more such issues were going neglected — including: “property taxes to border security to ID on voting.” Because there’s been such a huge grassroots demand for voter ID laws. I wasn’t aware “the people of Texas” actually meant “Karl Rove.”
CSHB 1892 passed easily, 27-4.
