Chad’s Morning Brief: Blame Game Over Texting While Driving Bill, Peter King Boycotting Ted Cruz, & More
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of May 29, 2013. Give me your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am.
1. Blame Over Texting Ban Failure (link)
Rep. Tom Craddick isn't happy that his big government texting while driving bill went down in flames. Craddick is blaming Senate Transportation Chairman Robert Nichols for the failure of the bill even though Nichols says there wasn't much support in the legislature.
tate Rep. Tom Craddick, who authored a bill that would have made texting while driving a criminal offense in Texas, is pointing the finger at Senate Transportation Chairman Robert Nichols, saying the measure’s failure was the result of “the will of a stubborn chairman.”
House Bill 63 would have made it a misdemeanor to type on a handheld device to send an electronic message while behind the wheel, and created a fine of up to $100 for first-time charges, and $200 for repeat offenses.
HB 63 and a senate companion measure by state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, failed when Nichols, R-Jacksonville, refused to allow a vote on the measures.
In an op-ed, Craddick, R-Midland, wrote that there was solid support in the committee for the bill, placing the blame squarely on Nichols.
“He ignored the increasing frequency with which regular drivers use cellphones to send a text or email while driving,” the former House speaker wrote, which “has made this dangerous practice one of the most common causes of crashes or near-crashes.”
But Nichols told the Amarillo Globe-Newslast week that the bill was doomed even if it had made it out of Senate committee.
“There were a number of members in the committee who wanted to vote no, and you had a lot of members on the floor who were going to vote no, and you have a governor who vetoed it last time who has never given any indication that he wouldn’t veto it this time,” Nichols said. Perry vetoed Craddick’s effort to ban texting while driving last session.
“It’s a lot of pain to put the members through for a likely veto,” Nichols told the Globe-News. “If it is not going to pass in the governor’s mansion, why do we need to go through this?”
Craddick has promised to bring the bill back in the next legislative session. What a waste of time.
2. King Boycotts Over Cruz (link)
Rep. Peter King is buying in to liberal talking points and will boycott a New York Republican Party Dinner because Senator Ted Cruz will be in attendance.
Further evidence that Sen. Ted Cruz didn’t go to Washington to make friends. New York Republican Peter King says he’s boycotting a state party dinner because Cruz will be there. Cruz has rankled his share of politicians in D.C. – including some in his own party. King is unhappy because Cruz voted against the Hurricane Sandy relief bill to help repair damage on the New York and New Jersey coast. King told BuzzFeed: “I don’t think we should be acknowledging people who are voting against us in our hour of need.”
The New York congressman has been particularly critical of Republicans who voted against hurricane relief for the state but visit for fundraising. The New York Republican State Committee dinner invitation says Cruz is “appearing at this event only as a featured guest,” not fundraising for himself. The blunt-talking Texas senator is a rising star on the GOP circuit. He says he voted against the Sandy relief bill because it including spending for other unrelated programs. Cruz and Cornyn did urge federal assistance when the West fertilizer plant exploded.
The fact is that the Sandy relief bill was full of pork and more conservative lawmakers in D.C. didn't want to overspend. Senator Cruz had no problem with sending help to New York and New Jersey, it was the other spending that irked him and others. Rep. King should understand.
3. Political Correctness and the Washington Redskins (link)
You would think lawmakers in Washington would have better things to do than worry about the name of the Washington Redskins, but you'd be wrong.
Ten members of Congress are urging the Washington Redskins to change their name because it is offensive to many Native Americans.
The representatives said Tuesday they've sent letters to Redskins owner Dan Snyder, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Redskins sponsor FedEx and the other 31 NFL franchises.
The letter to Snyder says that "Native Americans throughout the country consider the 'R-word' a racial, derogatory slur akin to the 'N-word' among African Americans or the 'W-word' among Latinos."
Among the group sending the letters are the leaders of the Congressional Native American Caucus: Tom Cole (R-Okla.(, and Betty McCollum (D-Minn.).
The nickname is the subject of a long-running legal challenge from a group seeking to have the team lose its trademark protection.
Snyder has vowed that he will never change the name.
What a bunch of BS from the P.C. crowd in Washington. No one really cares or is upset by the Redskins name. I hope they keep the name. This will probably be one of the only times I root for the Redskins.
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