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AUSTIN – House Elections Committee Chairman Todd Smith declared voter identification legislation all-but-dead on Monday, saying a Democratic slowdown aimed at killing the bill has apparently worked.
"Unless Democrats raise the white flag whitewith regard to their chubbing practices," the Euless Republican said in an interview outside the House Chamber, "it is dead for this session."The slowdown entered Day Four on Monday, one day before a midnight Tuesday deadline. Using a stalling tactic known as "chubbing," Democrats have extensively discussed scores of minor bills to keep the House from getting to the voter identification bill, which was originally scheduled for debate on Saturday."They either stop doing it or it dies," said Smith. "I don’t see any indication that they’re going to chubbing doing it."Smith has been at the center of the volatile issue since his appointment to the elections committee in mid-February. The elections committee chairman said he sought to forge a middle ground between opposing forces on the issue but was unsuccessful."To some extent, I met resistance on both sides of the political aisle, which led to this sort of explosion," he said. In another development, House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, told reporters that Democrats are "being obstructionists" and said he "wouldn’t be surprised" if Gov Rick Perry calls a special session to deal with voter identification if it dies in the current session that ends June 1, according to the Quorum Report, an online politicial newsletter. But he said that he and Perry haven’t discussed that possibility."You know, I’m still somewhat optimistic that we can get to (a voter ID bill), but we’re still waiting and the clock is ticking."DAVE MONTGOMERY, 512-476-4294 DAVE MONTGOMERY, 512-476-4294
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