Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos
Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos
D Austin
“HE WASN’T AS BAD as usual.” That’s the faint praise with which one of Barrientos’s colleagues damned him this session. The phrase “as bad as usual” sums up all the deficiencies Barrientos brings to the Senate: his lighter-than-air legislative program, his inability to forge relationships that might make him more effective, his unfortunate penchant for taking credit for the work of others.
It’s because of the last shortcoming that he can’t get off the hook. Lest anyone think that Austin’s hometown senator is responsible for the pay raise given to state employees, be advised that the real elbow grease and number crunching on the Senate Finance Committee was performed by Tommy Williams, of the Woodlands, a fiscal conservative who advocates a lean but well-paid public workforce and knows how to make it happen. Meanwhile, instead of using his seat on Finance to influence the budget, Barrientos puttered about with bills regulating state employee parking and naming a turnpike for Willie Nelson.
Not even the rumor that former Austin mayor Kirk Watson may challenge Barrientos in the 2006 Democratic primary inspired a better performance. Late in the session, a controversial bill headed to the Senate floor requiring cities to reimburse property owners for value lost due to regulation. Lobbyists opposing the bill amassed pledges from a majority of senators to kill it. Since the bill was aimed at Austin’s Save Our Springs ordinance, Barrientos demanded that he be allowed to lead the fight. Suddenly, the opposition lost so many supporters that they could no longer be sure of defeating the bill. But there’s no justice. In the end, Barrientos employed a parliamentary motion to kill it and took full credit—as usual.
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