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Paul Perry writes a weekly opinion
column for his local daily paper. Following is a sampling of those
articles. All were originally published in the Waxahachie Daily Light, although some were subsequently published elsewhere, such as in DallasBlog.com.
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Paul D. Perry
Published on August 3, 2008
Lawmakers Need to Do Their Homework
There is a new trend in legislative excuses.
It used to be that elected officials, particularly legislators, would claim to have not heard their own party's grassroots activists' perspective on an issue when they voted against their interests. This is a common occurrence. It happens to grassroots activists in both parties. Here is an example.
A few years ago one of our U.S. senators stated that the reason the senator voted for a piece of gun control legislation was that the largest pro-gun rights group (the NRA) had supported that particular bill. All the other major pro-Second Amendment groups had opposed that compromise. More importantly, Republican grassroots had vocally and energetically opposed the bill .
For the record, passage of that particular bill led to new more dedicated leadership coming to power in the NRA. They refocused on their mission and for a time were more effective overall. However, the recent passage of expanded provisions in the Brady Act, which was even opposed by several veterans groups, was also supported by the NRA. The NRA's position bears close inspection as even several board members, including Ted Nugent, openly broke with the organization.
Back to the senator in question. While attending a fundraiser for another Republican candidate, I had the opportunity to ask one of the senator's aides why the senator supported the bill in light of the opposition from party activists. The senator overheard my question and informed me that that "mistake" - the senator's words - will never happen again. A lesson here: The politicians, at least in some circumstances, do hear constituent voices.
However, the new fashion I have noticed among those who craft our laws and pass out our money is to not read the bills they are voting on.
In the enabling legislation supporting the Trans-Texas Corridor, there are many liberty-challenging provisions.
If for some reason you support the overall construction of the TTC, I am sure you would still agree that no one should be able to inspect your property - in other words trespass - without proper notice. Yet that power is in the bill. The more darkly humorous among us have to wonder how that little provision will actually play out in Texas, where people have traditionally exercised their natural law right to defend their property against trespass, especially in light of the recently passed castle doctrine.
I am sure that even if an eminent domain action is initiated against you and your property, you would expect normal due process. Well, according to the enabling legislation, some of that has been short-circuited for the Trans-Texas Tollroad. You could be forced from your property 91 days after receiving the first official notice that your property is to be taken. A bulldozer can be through your bedroom in three months no matter whether your case has been decided or not!
What court will the special police referred to in the Act will be responsible to? Are these police to be private police, employed by Cintra-Zachery, the international firm that will do the tollroad maintenance? Are they to be international police? The TTC is, after all, designed to be an international tollroad spanning Mexico, the United States and Canada. In the Oklahoma legislature, it was referred to as the North American Tollroad or the NAFTA Highway.
When I asked about half a dozen Texas legislators similar questions over the last two years I received the same answer: "I didn't have time to read the bill." Really - do tell....
To their credit, all admitted that the bill needed to be fixed. Most told me they thought the project should be stopped, but that bill originally passed both houses of the legislature with little or no opposition from EITHER party.
Since then, they have tried to either stop the process of construction or instructed the Texas Department of Transportation to slow down. News reports are mixed; many seem to indicate TXDoT is at least in part ignoring legislation.
By contrast the Oklahoma legislature has stopped and withdrawn from the project. Evidently they can read! The average Texan needs to ask themselves a question: If they can stop this land-and-rights grab in Oklahoma, can we find enough literate brave legislators to do so in Texas? I suspect all of our legislators are literate and a few may be brave. Do enough of our legislators care about your property rights to stand up to the Governor and TXDoT, effectively? I had hope.
In the most recent session of our legislature, a bill was passed that seems to require computer firms to hire private investigators in order to do repairs involving software. Recently in Austin I watched a local TV station interview a legislator about the matter. The legislator's response? You guessed it. "I didn't have time to read the bill."
I know our legislative sessions are short and intense. There is also a lot of partying, to be blunt. That is time wasted. Jefferson and other Founding Fathers said that our form of government relies, among other things, on an informed populace. Should we expect anything less of our legislators? We expect them to read the bills they vote on. It is our money, property and liberty at stake.
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