I Just Had To Post These
5-12-03 - Funny Story - Austin American Statesman
5-21-03 - Records Destroyed - Ft. Worth Star Telegram
5-21-03 - A note from the publisher - Dawn Nettles - The Lotto Report
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New Mexico attorney general not hot on
looking for missing Texas legislators
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Monday, May 12, 2003

The attorney general in New Mexico says Texas law enforcement officials
probably can't go into that state to arrest missing state lawmakers — and
she made clear she's not hot on looking for them.

Attorney General Patricia Madrid said if Texas issues arrest warrants
for the officials, then New Mexico officials may act on them and
extradition proceedings would have to be held.

Her comments came after Gov. Rick Perry's office asked New Mexico
whether it would allow Texas officials to make arrests in that state.
Madrid said the question is being researched. But she wasn't taking
it all serious.

"Some are speculating this request from the Texas Governor's office
concerns an effort to locate missing Texas House Democrats," Madrid
wrote. "If so, Texas should understand that since ski season is over,
the Santa Fe Opera has not begun and President Bush was just in
town, I don't think they are in Santa Fe now. Nevertheless, I have
put out an all-points bulletin for law enforcement to be on the look
out for politicians in favor of health care for the needy and
against tax cuts for the wealthy."

She also wrote that normal arrest procedures should be followed
and "this is an internal political matter to be handled by Texas
government officials."

DPS ordered search records destroyed
May 21, 2003
By Jay Root
Star-Telegram Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - One day before Democrats ended their boycott of the Texas House last
week, the Texas Department of Public Safety ordered the destruction of all records
and photos gathered in the search for them, documents obtained Tuesday show.

A one-sentence order sent by e-mail on the morning of May 14 was apparently
carried out, a DPS spokesman said Tuesday. The revelation comes as federal
authorities are investigating how a division of the federal Homeland Security
Department was dragged into the hunt for the missing Democrats -- at the request
of the state police agency.

Addressed to "Captains," the order said: "Any notes, correspondence, photos, etc.
that were obtained pursuant to the absconded House of Representative members
shall be destroyed immediately. No copies are to be kept. Any questions please contact me."

It was signed by the commander of the DPS Special Crimes Service, L.C. "Tony" Marshall.

The head of a state House panel looking into law enforcement's role in the search
expressed outrage at the order, obtained by the Star-Telegram under the Texas Open Records Act.

"That's unbelievable," said state Rep. Kevin Bailey, D-Houston, chairman of the House
General Investigating Committee and one of the 51 Democrats who fled to Ardmore, Okla.,
during the walkout last week.

"I'm appalled. It would appear as though there is something to hide," Bailey said. "And
based on some information we've been told inside DPS, it just concerns me more
that there were some overzealous people inside the agency. The question is
who was driving them so hard. I really am shocked that they would be
destroying any internal information."

Bailey said the destruction of records "probably is a crime."

A Republican member of the House committee, state Rep. Dan Flynn of Van,
said he found word of the document destruction disturbing but took a dim view
of conducting a legislative investigation of the incident.

"If there is something that's being destroyed that's a public record, yeah, that would
disturb me," Flynn said. But he said probing DPS' role in the search for the Democrats
would be a "political football" best left to others.

"Of course if the speaker tells us to do it we'll go after it, but it just doesn't seem
to be an issue that would be in the purview of what we're doing," Flynn said.

House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, recently said the investigating committee
could look at the issue if it wanted to. It was Craddick who originally ordered the DPS
to find the Democrats and return them to the state Capitol so that the House could
achieve the quorum necessary to bring up a congressional redistricting bill.
The boycott successfully killed that bill and others.

DPS spokesman Tom Vinger could not say Tuesday who, if anyone, gave Marshall
the order to destroy records, but he said there was nothing inappropriate about it.

"The investigation was complete. Since this was not a criminal investigation, we feel
it would be inappropriate to keep any files," he said. Asked if all the records created
during the hunt for the missing Democrats were indeed destroyed, Vinger said,
"To the best of my knowledge, yeah."

State law generally requires that records be kept for a certain period of time, but
it was unclear late Tuesday how those guidelines would affect DPS' actions.

Angela Hale, spokeswoman for Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican, said
it would be a crime to destroy records that had been requested under the Texas Open
Records Act. It could not be determined late Tuesday if there was a standing request
for the records before they were destroyed.

Hale said destroying records before state guidelines allow it would not be within
the purview of the attorney general.

Rob Wiley, past president of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, said it
may not be a crime, but it is not how state agencies typically handle records.

"As a general rule, government agencies don't destroy records this quickly … that
is very unusual," he said.

"A reasonable person would certainly believe that somebody thinks something
ought to be hidden," Wiley said. "The likelihood was there was some kind of attempt
to use the governmental processes for what was clearly a partisan political issue."

The destruction order first went out to the DPS captains at 9:39 a.m. May 14, a day
before runaway Democrats began returning to Texas.

At 1 p.m. that day, the e-mail order was forwarded to an officer lower on the DPS
command chain -- Lt. Will Crais. Federal officials and published reports have named
Crais as the law enforcement officer who called for federal help in locating a plane
owned by one of the missing Democrats.

The DPS would neither confirm nor deny that Crais was the one who called in the
Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center, a division of Homeland Security
based in Riverside, Calif. The federal agency, which normally tracks drug smugglers
and terrorists, made some phone calls but never found the plane.

In a statement last week, the customs enforcement agency that oversees the
interdiction center said it only became involved after the DPS indicated the Piper
Cheyenne belonging to former Texas House Speaker Pete Laney, D-Hale Center,
may have gone down.

More recently, the Homeland Security Department has declined to release tapes
or transcripts of the conversations between DPS and the federal interdiction center.

In Washington on Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge -- in an appearance
before the House Select Committee on Homeland Security -- was asked why the
information had not been released as requested by several Democratic members of Congress.

Ridge said he would review the denial to release the tapes but pointed to an investigation
of the matter being conducted by the department's internal watchdog.

"We thought it was very appropriate, based on the multiple inquiries that we received
from members of Congress . . . that we deploy the means with which Congress has given
us, and that's an inspector-general within our department, Ridge said.

Washington Bureau Writer Maria Recio Contributed to This Report.

Jay Root, (512) 476-4294 jroot@star-telegram.com

A Message From Dawn Nettles - Publisher of the Lotto Report
Folks, based on our knowledge of the actions of the TLC, the refusal of our leaders to
listen to their constituents regarding the TLC and offering fair games of chance - I feel
compelled to say that we really need to take a good hard look at those we have in office.
For the record, let me tell you - I do not consider myself either a Republican or a Democrat.
I have always voted for whoever I felt was right for the job irregardless of what they were.

It does appear though that our current leaders will stoop to nothing for financial gain
and some kind of political power - at any cost - therefore, it is my opinion that our leaders
do not have their priorities in order. I truly believe our budget needs to balance, our schools,
health care, insurance and property tax issues needs attention far more desperately than
which political party should cover what districts - especially since they were just re-drawn
two years ago. Just why did they try to throw this issue in so late in the session and how
is it more important than balancing the budget, schools, insurance and medical care?
And why would ANY politician allow ANY state lottery to sell games such as our new
Lotto Texas game? A game specifically designed NOT to be won UNTIL they
sell 47 million tickets in 3 days - that called "unreasonable profits" at the
expense of the consumer.

Come election time - ya'll stayed tuned to my web site - I can assure you - I will
do my best to cover the candidates for you.