Lt Gov. Is To blame for Texas Senate Not Voting, Conjured Up Elaborate Scheme To Scare Senators
Newspapers in Texas detail the duplicity exhibited in the Texas Senate by Lt.Gov. David Dewhurst
Senator blasts Dewhurst in airport bill's failure reads one headline
Less than a day after a bill to ban intrusive security searches at Texas airports died in the state Senate, the sponsor said Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst had effectively killed the measure for good.
The Star Telegram reports: "He came up with this elaborate political play to kill the bill without his fingerprints," Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said Wednesday. "Well, his fingerprints are all over this."
The bill would make it a crime for Transportation Security Administration agents to knowingly touch a person's private areas, even through clothing, without probable cause. The bill initially received strong bipartisan support, including from Reps. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, and Leo Berman, R-Tyler.
Patrick said he believed he had the support of 30 of 31 senators when he brought the bill to the floor. That changed when the bill came up for debate Tuesday. What appeared to shift sentiment were threats from the TSA that Texas airports could be shut down if the measure passed.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/05/26/3104516/senator-blasts-dewhurst-in-airport.html
San Antonio News is reporting "Patrick blames Dewhurst for death of
'anti-groping' bill"
Sen. Dan Patrick, one of the most prominent conservatives in the Senate, lashed out at Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst Wednesday, blaming him for the death of a bill that would have banned airport security pat-downs.
Patrick accused Dewhurst of caving in to the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Justice Department, who raised concerns in a letter Tuesday that Patrick's bill would negatively affect airport security and that the federal government would seek an emergency stay of the law.
Dewhurst said he was just relaying the feds' concerns. But Patrick, R-Houston, questioned if Dewhurst was the kind of man conservatives would want in the U.S. Senate. Dewhurst has been contemplating a run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Kay Bailey Hutchison but has not made a decision.
"Apparently, for political reasons ... he came up with this elaborate political play to kill the bill without his fingerprints, "Patrick said Wednesday of the letter from U.S. Attorney John Murphy