Full audio recording (including Q & A) of state Rep. Debbie Riddle’s appearance at our TribLive breakfast conversation series.
Texas House of Representatives
Posted in
Health care
Power Over Privacy
In the closing days of his last term in the Texas House, former state Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, used his legislative authority to obtain confidential records from the Texas Medical Board, The Texas Tribune has learned. His reason? To defend doctors who he believes were wrongly the subjects of misconduct investigations by the board, which licenses the state’s physicians.
Posted in
State Government
Explaining Closed Cases
In this clip from Monday’s testimony, Commissioner Rod Bordelon of the state Division of Workers’ Compensation explains why he dismissed several cases against doctors that a physician review panel had already sent to enforcement. Under questioning, he admits he looked into the process and subsequently shut it down after a call from state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler.
Posted in
State Government
The Chisum Trail
The route to toppling House Speaker Joe Straus is littered with big obstacles and high hurdles. But it’s not completely impassable, which is why state Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, is considering a challenge. “I’m sticking my toe in the water and seeing if there’s any temperature there,” he told the Tribune on Friday. “Seems to be some temperature.”
Posted in
State Government
And They’re Off!
The start of the 2010 election sprint finds Texas Republicans feverish: Even the sober ones think they could snatch up to 10 more state House seats. Democrats maintain they can still wrest majority control away from the GOP.
Posted in
State Government
2010: No Replacement
David Swinford’s seat in the Texas House will apparently remain empty for the next four months.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Hu compares and contrasts the official schedules of four big-state governors (including Rick Perry) and picks the 21 Texas House races to watch, Ramshaw on a 19-year-old with an IQ of 47 sentenced to 100 years in prison, Stiles on Perry’s regent-donors, Galbraith on a plan to curb the independence of the state’s electricity grid, Thevenot on the turf war over mental health, Grissom on whether the Texas Youth Commission should be abolished, Aguilar on a crucial immigration-related case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, Ramsey’s interview with GOP provocateur Debra Medina and M. Smith on how changes to campaign finance law will affect judicial elections in Texas: The best of our best from August 23 to 27, 2010.
Posted in
State Government
21 House Races to Watch
Only 10 days out from Labor Day — the unofficial start of the campaign season — we bring you a scouting report on the 21 Texas House races to watch. We based our picks on dozens of interviews with politicos and our own analysis of district voting patterns, campaign coffers, the relative strength of the candidates and issues that could turn each contest. Most of the vulnerable incumbents are Democrats, which is no surprise in a Republican year. But a few veteran R’s are at risk, thanks to alleged ethical lapses that could swing voters against the national mood.
Posted in
State Government
On the Records: Democrats’ “Stealth Influence”
Rice University’s political science chair concludes that the minority party’s legislative influence rivals the days in which it controlled the Texas House chamber and the speaker’s chair.
Posted in
State Government
The Politics of Ethics
Texas lawmakers were accused this summer of driving a car paid for by a state contractor and double-billing taxpayers for expenses incurred on the job. Does that mean they’ll be defeated in November? Not necessarily.
