tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post6363597010025835342..comments2024-03-25T20:06:39.794-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: Rigged Game: Prosecutors should shut down Austin City Council's 'walking quorum'Gritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-70755902616737115032011-03-01T20:07:39.950-06:002011-03-01T20:07:39.950-06:00Sir, you state that "commitments for votes ha...Sir, you state that "commitments for votes had already been made". That's a strong statement and troubling, if true. Is there proof of this claim in the emails that have been released? And wouldn't there need to be proof of commitments made by a quorum of the body for it to warrant prosecution, as you suggest? I don't know the law, I'm asking...<br /><br />I do agree that the personal criticisms are embarrassing for council members and they certainly should have known better.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-61703053079568737812011-03-01T12:31:47.116-06:002011-03-01T12:31:47.116-06:00Calling the Texas legislature, in any context, a &...Calling the Texas legislature, in any context, a "bastion of democracy" is manure. Most obviously, you should consider the counterexample of multiple-votes cast by members on behalf of other members on the House floor (link below). There's also (1) the highly dubitable claim that committee members don't reach a consensus behind closed doors, despite the potential point of order that can be raised; (2) points of order have to be raised immediately after a mistake is suspected to have occurred; (3) Points of order are ruled upon by the chair, and (4) substantively, items passed by the House are sometimes inconsistent with democracy<br /><br />As a final note, I'm not really troubled by council members criticizing constituents. Other than a juicy gossip story, I'm not sure what we've found in the criticisms of constituents other than the universally obvious facts that (1) council members get angry with constituents, and (2), council members should have looked more closely at the Texas Public Information Act to decide where they'd state their feelings.<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZpOyn48UnkAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-6910587090702517112011-02-26T10:17:01.840-06:002011-02-26T10:17:01.840-06:00Thanks for the recognition, Scott.
I've writ...Thanks for the recognition, Scott. <br /><br />I've written a dozen stories about the open meetings situation so far and I'm not half done yet. I can assure you this problem facing the city council is not going to go away. <br /><br />Your readers can find those stories at http://www.theaustinbulldog.org/AustinBulldoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02874424610240391273noreply@blogger.com