March 9, 2005

Democrats' First United Front in Years
Makes Vote Close on GOP School Plan

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

In a dramatic turnabout from the Texas Legislature's last regular session, Democrats united for the first time since losing control of the House and almost killed a school finance bill that they branded as unfair, illegal, unconstitutional and woefully short of funds.

House Democrats, who fought each other almost as much as they battled Republicans in 2003, came within a three-vote swing of a monumental upset when the House ended two long days of debate by giving preliminary approval to the educating funding measure in a 76-71 vote Tuesday night.

Sixty-two Democrats voted against HB 2 while Democratic State Rep. Al Edwards of Houston pushed a white light to show that he was in the chamber but not taking a position on the measure. Republican State Rep. Brian McCall of Plano was also recorded as present but not voting.

With no more than two or three members straying at times, Democrats voted together in opposition to the Republican majority's position on almost all of more than 100 proposed amendments. But the most poignant and potentially devastating criticism of the education finance legislation did not come from a parade of Democratic House leaders who spoke against the bill before the final vote. The torpedo that had the most potential to sink the plan was fired by Republican State Rep. Bob Griggs, a second term lawmaker from the Fort Worth suburb of North Richland Hills. Griggs - a school superintendent for 14 years before winning a House seat in 2002 - brought the House to tears with a personal account of two students who overcame seemingly insurmountable odds because the school district he led could afford to meet their special needs. Griggs suggested that there will be fewer success stories like that as a result of HB 2.

"This bill is just plain old junk food," Griggs said, likening the school finance bill to a candy bar that's good for a "sugar rush" but has no substance for nutritional value. Griggs and eight other House Republicans including several from the Fort Worth area crossed party line in voting against the bill.

State Rep. Jim Dunnam, the Democratic Caucus chairman, described the school bill was an "unfunded mandate" that relies on budget cuts that he predicted would be found in either health and human services or higher education. The Waco lawmaker said the bill will essentially force the Legislature to choose between children in the public school system, students who can't afford to go to college without state assistance and kids who are sick.

Republicans countered the criticism with a mixture of praise and pragmatic analysis - with State Rep. Dianne Delisi of Temple explaining "the genius of the bill" and State Rep. Bill Keffer of Dallas justifying support for the measure as a "roadmap from insanity" that produced a constitutional crisis and court ruling against the state to a system that will have the tools to meet goals that legislators share. Delisi and Keffer are members of the Public Education Committee who helped Grusendorf - the panel's chairman - manage the floor debate on the school funding bill.

But while a week's worth of high-level arm-twisting paid off with a preliminary victory for the GOP majority on HB 2, the united front displayed by Democrats and the resulting close vote could be cause for some trepidation among GOP leaders who now face an even trickier test in trying to push through the companion tax bill on which $11 billion worth of property tax relief in the school plan relies.

The first signs of unity among members of the House's minority were apparent when five out of seven Democrats opposed the Republican leadership's education and tax bills in committee. It became clear that the party line committee votes were no aberration when all 63 House Democrats voted Tuesday against a motion to table a Democratic alternative to the school finance overhaul proposed in HB 2 during a marathon debate on the floor. The plan that had been drafted by House Democratic Caucus leaders and offered as an amendment by State Rep. Scott Hochberg of Houston was rejected on an 81-67 vote. But instead of wilting when it seemed evident that House leaders would have the votes to pass the school plan, Democrats continued to vote as a unified group on dozens of amendments before casting the unanimous show of opposition in the final vote of the day on HB 2.

The united front that House Democrats have presented this week is a sign that they are probably emerging from a natural acclimation process that was inevitable after losing control of a chamber that their party had run for more than a century. In the disorientation and insecurity of their first session as members of the House's minority party, Democrats were split into two distinct groups that viewed each other more as adversaries than allies.

About 70 percent of the Democrats in the House generally sided with Democratic Caucus leaders in frequent opposition to positions advanced by Craddick and a vast majority of his fellow Republicans. The remaining Democrats had forged alliances with the Republican speaker immediately after the 2002 election and were rewarded with committee chairs and other positions on GOP's leadership team. A dozen or more Democrats - some who had close ties to Craddick and others who represented conservative districts - crossed party lines to vote with Republicans in the fights on tort reform, state spending and college tuition deregulation. Congressional redistricting brought Democrats together in a fight for political survival during three special sessions in the summer and fall of 2003. But even in the partisan redistricting war that erupted, a couple of Democrats cast votes for the GOP's plan.

Dunnam said Democrats have been voting alike this week partly because of the positions they share on public schools and how they are funds. He attributed the united front to an increasing "element of trust and understanding" that members of the minority party lacked amid the upheaval after the 2002 elections. Dunnam said there was a tendency among some Democrats two years ago to vote with the Republican leadership amid a feeling that their votes wouldn't be needed as much when it was obvious that the GOP had the numbers to prevail in the battles on major issues. Dunnam said more Democrats are casting votes that reflect their constituents' wishes. "If they don't, the voters will figure it out," Dunnam said.

That's exactly what appeared to happen a year ago when voters in a handful of House districts ousted Democratic representatives who'd been associated with Craddick and the Republican leadership in 2003 and replaced them with new members backed by party leaders such as state Chairman Charles Soechting. Democratic strategists and leaders have suggested that another round of internal self-cleansing could be coming in the 2006 primaries with possible targets on Democrats who buck the party line in favor of high stations on the House leadership team.

While Democrats tried to rock the boat during the debate on school finance, the waters were not as choppy as they were two years ago when members of the opposing parties locked horns in an ongoing crossfire of accusations and insults that grew personal at times.

State Rep. Yvonne Davis, a 12-year House veteran from Dallas, said the Democrats found it easy to be united on school finance because they consider teachers and children to be a higher priority than money. Republicans at times had said that their chief concern in the debate was property tax relief.

But while House Democrats were more united than they've been since their relegation to minority status, State Rep. Garnet Coleman of Houston summed up a key difference between the Republicans' victory and his own side's defeat when he commended the GOP team that managed the floor debate for a job well done. Coleman, who'd been one of the toughest and most frequent critics of the Republican leadership in 2003, said the controlling party's organization on the floor for the school finance debate was a sign that they also cared about the issue.

The GOP leadership will attempt a repeat performance on a more challenging issue when they take up debate on the tax bill as early as Thursday.