Perry: Voting Shouldn’t Be Easy
May 27th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Along with all the rebel motions hurled at Craddick Friday night, there was one parliamentary question that wasn’t just procedural.
After hearing the Clerk of the House read Gov. Perry’s message explaining his veto of House Bill 770, Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston) took the back mic. With Houston Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner acting as speaker, Dutton jokingly asked for a show of hands from members who wanted to override Perry’s veto.
Turner laughed as he gave a familiar reply for the night: “That’s not a proper inquiry for the chair,” he said. (A can’t-miss punchline under the dome lately, right up there with “You are not recognized.”)
The logic behind Perry’s veto is laughable, too, but not in the ‘ha-ha’ kind of way.
Dutton’s very short bill would require the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to inform those who’ve served their time that their voting rights have been restored. TDCJ would also have to give them a voter registration form.
Perry, though, said he vetoed the bill because voter registration isn’t any of TDCJ’s business. (Apparently leaf-blowing and fence-building are.) “Their role is to incarcerate and rehabilitate offenders, and we should not divert resources away from this difficult task,” Perry’s statement reads.
Rehabilitation apparently does not involve civic rights and responsibilities.
Dutton, meanwhile, is baffled by the governor’s beef, pointing out that the bill had a zero fiscal note. The point was to make it clear to people when their rights have been restored, something the bill’s supporters point out isn’t being done today. The confusion leads many to assume they still can’t vote, and promotes the idea that they’re not quite full citizens.
The guv apparently is worried about showing preferential treatment to former inmates — there goes Texas again, spoiling its prisoners with special goodies. Perry calls it “unseemly” that Texas might make a special effort to help former inmates vote. “It is imperative that they take personal responsibility for all aspects of their life, including their right to vote,” Perry’s statement said.
It’s the same logic that was invoked time after time in hearings and debates over voter ID — if these people want to vote so bad, they ought to figure it out themselves.
Dutton said Saturday he’s seriously rallying support for a veto override. The bill passed the House and Senate with more than 80 percent approval in each chamber — well above the two-thirds necessary to toss the veto back in Perry’s face. We should know soon whether the support’s still there.
May 27th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
The bill is a good bill and Perry’s veto should be overridden. Unfortunately, Dutton made such as ass of himself on Friday night that he may have lost the edge he’ll need to round up 100 votes.