Pickett VS Stickland

State Rep Joe Pickett (D- El Paso) and Tea Party Republican State Rep Jonathan Stickland of Bedford got into a pretty heated exchange on the house floor the other day during a house committee meeting on transportation oh which Rep Pickett is the chair.

Mr. Stickland was explaining his bill, which would get rid of red light cameras in Texas, when Stickland asked for the supporters of the bill to speak first. At that time Chairman Pickett picked up his cell phone and called to speak to a person who was signed up as a supporter of the bill. 

House rules require the person signed up to by physically present at the Capitol. Turns out, the person who's name was signed up to speak was not even in Austin at the time.

Chairman Pickett referred to people have been potentially "perjured" and the matter will face further investigation but make no mistake this was a serious violation of house rules. 

You can see the entire event transpire here starting about a minute and a half into the video. 

Pickett explained to Stickland that "you have broken the rules" and proceeded to kick Stickland out of the meeting after he refused to give up the microphone. 

The merits of the bill couldn't be debated because Rep Stickland allegedly circumvented the rules in order to further his own agenda. Stickland failed the supporters of the bill, the merits of the bill, and most importantly he failed the people of Texas by not respecting the process, the rules, and the decorum of the House.

Kudos to Chairman Pickett for protecting the integrity of the process. I'm not always a fan of his positions on issues because he's far too conservative for my tastes, but I'm glad he stood up for the people of Texas by defending the integrity of the process.