ustxtxb_obs_2003_11_07_50_00027-00000_000.pdf

3601 S. Congress off E. Alpine Penn Field under the water tower check our site for monthly calendar Ruin Naga international Headquarters Enjoy our organic, in house roasted coffee. Watch the kids play as you catch up with a friend. Listen to local musicians and relax with a beer or wine. Come see our new space. 2cCa KALLVAIAN, MIK5 LiSRIK “PEIZE15ACSIETO 114M IMMO* 114 511117” -MAIIAmaaral P.O.Box 2116 Austin, Texas 78768-2116 mark for lobbyist Sparks. He confides to her that most people are motivated by either “money, power, or pussy.” Of course, that changed when women came in, he says to her with a smile. Jackson is mostly a composite of Rep. During the third special redistricting session, Dukes had the House pass a unanimous resolution playfully honoring Sonny’s Last Shot and the Texas Lege. She also made it clear that the actions of the character based on her were fictional. The proclamation read in part: “The skills honed in this formidable laboratory of freedom have propelled Texans to the highest levels of leadership of this civilized universe, much to the admiration and joy of citizens contained therein, excepting the French ones..:’ . Angela Jackson is not the only composite character. The fictional Speaker of the House is Big Bob Bigbee, a tart-tongued but kindly patriarch equal parts Bob Bullock and Pete Laney. The scene in which both Big Bob \(acted Sparks play a round of “existential golf” naked in a lightning storm is a funny and poignant highlight. Then there is by Janelle Buchanan. This character seems clearly to be drawn with Rep. mind. Unfortunately, Buchanan and Wright are too busy mocking Lurleen to humanize her. She is unlike the Wohlgemuth of today, who takes clear pleasure in being a coldly efficient legislative predator. It’s the same mistake Democratic legislative leaders made in underestimating their Republican opponents. At the end of the play, Lurleen acts against her own ideology in the interest of fairness, something that would never happen in the Craddick House of today. It’s a sad reminder of what has changed. In the 2003 Legislature, there was no give and take. Rules were not respected. Ideological extremism ruled the day. The idea, as in the play, that there could be an openly gay Republican representative is beyond fanciful. Today such a person would have been crushed to dust in a Republican primary. Speaker Craddick, far from wise and kindly, is a mostly cross teetotaler who wielded his power ruthlessly. At the end of the play, the lobbyist L.D. Sparks redeems himself, by acting against his own self-interest to help Sonny win the House speakership. He tells him: “You honestly don’t think I care about this place? Jesus Christ, Sonny, it’s the only thing in this world I really do care aboutf This session, the Republicans shredded bipartisanship in the interests of congressional redistricting. By doing so, they made it abundantly clear that the present leadership is willing to sacrifice the institution to achieve its revolutionary aims. In this Texas Lege, Sonny wouldn’t have much of a shot at all. 11/7/03 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 27