State Rep. Jonathan Stickland exposed State Rep. Larry Gonzales for putting politics before the families of military personnel. It was revealed Gonzales blackballed Stickland’s HB 202, designed to help the families of soon to be deployed military personnel.
Gonzales was discussing his own bill related to military personnel, HB 1004, before the House when Stickland began quizzing Gonzales on both HB 1004 and HB 202.
During the interchange, Stickland revealed that he has enough votes to pass his bill, but that Gonzales, a member of the Local and Consent Calendar Committee, has “tagged” his bill. He is rumored to have been bragging about tagging this bill.
“Tagging” is when a committee member marks a bill he or she wants to die in committee. Though informal, these tags are respected by the other committee members.
When confronted, Gonzales tried to cover by saying the companion Senate bill, SB 260, had already passed through the Senate so, technically, the House could vote on it.
That is, before Stickland shamed Gonzales for putting politics before families of deployed military.
It would be easy to underestimate just how much commitment to Texans this kind of thing required of Stickland. The legislature is full of tricks and games to consolidate power in the hands of special interests and keep citizens unaware. Stickland exposing the practice of “tagging” was a rare act of genuine courage against a corrupt political establishment.
Serving the interests of the powerful is the coward’s way forward. Joining Gonzales in this is Claire Cardona, blogger for the Dallas Morning News. Just this morning she joined in, mocking Stickland for speaking truth to power, the thing the fourth estate used to do before they became nursemaids for the most powerful and corrupt elements of society.
If Gonzales has any sense he will make sure SB 206 passes.
If he doesn’t, Texans know exactly who to blame for the death of a bill to give the children of deploying military personnel excused absences from school in order to spend extra time with their parent, who may not make it back alive.