Question for Republican Robert Talton: Would Jesus get a meeting with you if he didn't bring food to the Capital ? Follow the Bread Crumbs....
Some fault lobbyists' use of room at Capitol
Panel says arrangement allowing receptions at facility is legal, popular
08:18 PM CDT on Friday, April 22, 2005
By DAVE MICHAELS / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – Lobbyists have regularly enjoyed free use of a meeting room in the Texas Capitol this year where interest groups are able to promote their agenda while serving lawmakers free breakfast or lunch.
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Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, said she doesn't approve of lobbyists reserving the room.
But she thinks it's OK for other groups. She reserved the room in January for the Texas Osteopathic Medical Association.
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In some cases, lawmakers have used the Legislative Conference Center to host community groups and nonprofits. For example, Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, hosted a group of local crime-watch leaders.
But some of the Capitol's priciest and most successful lobbyists have reserved the room for their clients.
The influential lobbying firm Hillco Partners twice asked lawmakers to reserve the room, on one occasion for MD Anderson Cancer Center and another for an Arlington company that makes flu vaccines.
Rep. Robert Talton, R-Pasadena, sponsored the reservation so MD Anderson could discuss biomedical issues with Harris County lawmakers. Mr. Talton serves as the chairman of the House's Houston-area delegation.
"I told them when I was elected [chairman] that the only time I was going to meet was if somebody fed us and talked to us," Mr. Talton said Friday.
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Bill Messer, a lobbyist who is close to House Speaker Tom Craddick, reserved the conference center last month for McDonald's. The corporation supports a bill that would shield restaurants against some lawsuits.
Heather Tindall, a spokeswoman for Mr. Craddick, said McDonald's executives did not talk business at the event.
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/042305dntexreceptions.397a297d.html
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Republicans Tom Delay and Bill Frist's Mantra: "No Play our Way, No Pay Your Way" - Is this a "learned behaviour" ?
Two Evangelical Leaders Advocate Defunding Courts They Don't Like
by Joe Gandelman
If you don't like the way a judge or an entire court rules, take their money away.
Does that sound downright unamerican to not only law students, law professors but virtually anyone who has lived in this country over the past several hundred years? Yes — but that's precisely the idea of two of the nation's two Evangelical Christian leaders who have been working with GOPers in Congress, according to the L.A. Times.
source: http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1114182285.shtml
more on Talton.......
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