Politex

Cornyn: Franken in Senate may not be all bad for GOP

Speaking at a health care forum in Dallas today, Sen. John Cornyn said the news that Al Franken will become the junior senator from Minnesota and give Democrats a filibuster-proof majority makes it tougher to block the creation of a government-run public health care program.

"Sixty votes in the Senate means you can do whatever you want to do so that makes it much harder," Cornyn said. "On the other hand, that means whatever is done, the majority is going to own it and they're going to be held responsible for it in the next election so be careful what you ask for."

Cornyn also acknowledged that the confirmation hearings on Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court may now be a foregone conclusion if Democrats are united in favor of her.

"I think if they're determined to seat her and they have 60 votes, they can do so but that still doesn't mean we shouldn't do our job in good faith trying to, in good faith, do an appropriate confirmation hearing and process," Cornyn said.

Cornyn was appearing at his tenth forum in recent weeks on health care reform. Earlier in the day, he attended a forum in Houston joined by fellow Republican Sen. John McCain. According to staffers, the general sense he's getting at the forums is that Texans don't like the idea of a government-run health care program.

-Aman Batheja

Al Franken's one trip to Fort Worth

As news breaks that comedian Al Franken will be the next senator of Minnesota, ending a legal challenge against Republican Norm Coleman that seemed to go on forever, I was reminded of the time I interviewed Franken in 2005, way before anyone was seriously discussing him running for public office.

It was in Austin's State Theater on Congress Ave. Franken was there to promote the launch of his Air America Radio show in Austin and the Metroplex.

Franken was preparing to record a show before a packed audience, with his guests including Molly Ivins and Ana Marie Cox (then known as Wonkette. Ironically, she now works for Air America).

"I got my boots in Fort Worth," Franken told me regarding his one trip to Fort Worth in the 1990s. "They were custom-made boots."

Franken said he had recently started wearing the boots more often.

"I was going to wear them down here," he added, "But I didn't want anyone to think I'm making some sort of comment."

Franken said he was charmed by the scene in Austin, as his visit coincided with South By Southwest.

"I've been here less than 24 hours and I've already joined two bands," he joked.

-Aman Batheja

Smith blasts Perry for vetoing sex offender bill

State Rep. Todd Smith has an op-ed piece in today's Star-Telegram criticizing Gov. Perry for vetoing one of his bills. Smith, a Republican from Euless, also suggests that Perry didn't properly understand the bill before he vetoed it.

SB 3148 would have allowed certain low-level sex offenders to petition a judge to be removed from the state's sex offender registry. The bill passed through the Legislature relatively easy and faced little organized opposition.

"Gov. Rick Perry vetoed one of the most morally compelling bills I have ever filed in the Texas House," Smith wrote.

Perry said in his veto statement that he couldn't sign the bill because "sex offenders would be eligible to petition a court for an exemption from sex offender registration, regardless of the age of the victim." However, Smith's bill only applied to cases where an offender was convicted of having consensual sex with someone who was at least 14 and not more than four years younger than the defendant.

"Perry apparently believes that every teenager who has a consensual relationship with someone more than three years, but less than four years younger should be labeled for life as a sex offender," Smith wrote.

-Aman Batheja

It's early summer. Do you know where your governor is?

Not something one usually spends time wondering about for long. But after South Carolina's Gov. Mark Sanford was missing for a week to meet up with his mistress in Argentina, the Associated Press checked in with each of the nation's governors to find out what they were doing at the exact time the news outlet called. FYI: Gov. Rick Perry was at his campaign headquarters and then arrived at the AP's Austin bureau to prove that, yes, he was in town.

-Eva-Marie Ayala

Antonin Scalia's rules to live by

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had plenty of one-liners for the Texas Bar Association's annual meeting in Dallas this morning.

Scalia and Dallas lawyer Bryan Garner playfully argued about the proper ways to write legal briefs and argue before judges Friday morning before a packed ballroom.

Scalia’s tips were directed at the room full of lawyers but many would apply to a mass audience.

Scalia's rules for writing:

-"Vary your sentences. They shouldn’t be all the same length...I would say even throw in a passive now and then, just for the hell of it."

-“If you’re constantly italicizing words, it sort of reads like a high school girl’s diary."

-"Don’t ever underestimate the power of a short sentence."

-Avoid the phrase "Fatally flawed." Scalia hates it.

-Also avoid the word "nexus."  “Oh god,” the Supreme Court Justice groaned. “It’s a Latin word that means connection. Say ‘connection.’ You make it sound scientific.”

-Don't use contractions in writing. "Is any judge going to get mad because you don’t use contractions? I’m going to get mad if you do." (When Garner pointed out plenty of writers use contractions, including those at Newsweek, Scalia quipped, "I certainly want to be in that league.")

And here's a few other Scalia rules that apply if you were to say, run into him on the street:

-Avoid using words you don’t know how to pronounce. "I’ve listened to lawyers who have sent five kids to college on nuclear power and still can’t say the name right. It’s nuclear. Nuclear."

-Try to make yourself likable. “No judge likes to give a case to a mean spirited person. I’ll do it if the law requires it.”

-Aman Batheja

Former House Speaker Gib Lewis arrested

Former House Speaker Gib Lewis, 72, was arrested Thursday night in downtown Austin for driving while intoxicated, Austin police say.

Lewis was driving his 2000 black Porsche on 4th Street about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, but didn't turn in a left-turn-only lane, said Sgt. Richard Stresing, an Austin police spokesman.

A police officer pulled him over, noticed "slurred speech and blood shot eyes," and called in the DWI unit, Stresing said.

Lewis apparently failed the standard DWI test and the breathalyzer registered 0.16 -- twice the legal limit, Stresing said the affidavit said.

Lewis, a five-time House Speaker who didn't run for re-election after investigation scandals in the early 1990s, served as a Democrat from Fort Worth. He is now a lobbyist.

A call to Lewis' office was not immediately returned Friday morning. He was no longer in the Travis County Jail Friday morning.

 -- Anna M. Tinsley

Perry was planning bill signing in Fort Worth next week

Before today's announcement of a special session, Gov. Rick Perry's office had been working with the family of wrongfully convicted inmate Tim Cole to arrange a symbolic bill signing of the Tim Cole Act in Fort Worth next Wednesday, Cole’s birthday, Perry's office has confirmed.

Someone with the Governor’s office called Wednesday night to inform Cole's family that the event had to be postponed because Perry was going to launch his special session that day, according to Cory Session, Cole's brother.

Perry's office hopes to reschedule the event, spokesperson Katherine Cesinger said. 

The Tim Cole Act increases state compensation for wrongfully convicted Texans and was signed by Perry in May.

KBH on Texan Farrah Fawcett's death

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has known Corpus Christi native Farrah Fawcett for more than half her life.

She released a statement about the former Charlie's Angel Thursday.

“Long before Farrah was famous, she was a star, lighting up the lives of all who knew her. When we were in college together, I saw what a lovely, sweet person she was. She remained that way throughout her life, and she was always loyal to her home state of Texas. She battled cancer with courage and grace, and her death is a sad reminder of how relentless and indiscriminate cancer remains today. The deadly disease has taken one of Texas'  brightest. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and the many friends she made throughout her illustrious life.”

-- Anna M. Tinsley

Cornyn among Texans participating in White House immigration meeting this afternoon

Several Texans -- Sen. John Cornyn and Reps. Lamar Smith, Sheila Jackson Lee and Silvestre Reyes -- are among the members of Congress invited to meet with President Obama in a bipartisan session that was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Here's how the White House describes the goal:

"The meeting is intended to launch a policy conversation by having an honest discussion about the issues and identifying areas of agreement and areas where we still have work to do, with the hope of beginning the debate in earnest later this year."

-- John Gravois

Perry announces special session starting next Wednesday

Lawmakers better get packing.

Gov. Perry just called a special session to begin Wednesday, July 1. The session has only three allowed topics, the main one being allowing the continued existence of the five state agencies in danger of shutting down because of critical legislation that wasn't passed during the regular session. The other two topics relate to allowing TXDOT to continue using different types of financing to keep funding road projects.

Governors can call as many special sessions as they want, each lasting up to 30 days. Perry does not say in his proclamation how long this special session will be although he has previously stated he wants it to be very short. Given that this session starts three days before the Fourth of July, this session may just last a couple of days.

This will be Perry's eighth special session.

"The 81st Legislative Session was one of the most successful in recent memory, providing a tax cut to 40,000 small businesses and increasing financial aid for college students by more than 40 percent, all without touching our state's Rainy Day Fund," Perry said. "After speaking with legislators I am calling a special session to extend the operation of five critical agencies and help reduce gridlock by continuing to provide options for financing our state’s highways."

More details to come.

-Aman Batheja