Our own Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, cut quite a swashbuckling image in the wee hours of last night and this morning in the Texas Senate. As deftly recounted by a number of media outlets, including Robert T. Garrett of the Dallas Morning News, Patrick broke all sort of club rules: the conservative freshman senator/newsman challenged Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, just back from a liver transplant; he took his case for budget costs to the press, not to the appropriate senate committee; and he ended up in a knockdown drag-out with John Whitmire, D-Houston, the Dean of the Senate.
Whether or not Patrick was actually holding $2.9 billion worth of cuts in his hand as he waved to the gallery is anyone’s guess. But it was certain that his addition to the august body of the Senate made for some great theater.– Margaret Downing
This article appears in Apr 12-18, 2007.
