I thought I’d share with readers some of the talk I picked up in the Capitol today:
* Among the concerns of House members that led to the postponement of the debate on Jessica’s Laws was the realization that the death penalty could apply to Catholic priests who have committed two offenses of sexual abuse.
* Kay Bailey Hutchison has met with most, if not all, Republican state senators and says she is running for governor in 2010. I subsequently talked to a Dewhurst supporter who pointed out that Hutchison has never had an opponent who put her record under the microscope before, or who has spent a lot of money to try to defeat her.
* Senior lawmakers have started to worry that the conflict between the governor and the Legislature has the potential to blow up the session. The Senate’s vote last night to disband the board of the Texas Youth Commission and place the agency in conservatorship, which came after the governor moved to replace the agency’s executive director, may be regarded in the center office as poaching on the guv’s turf. And that’s not all: The Senate is holding up the reappointment of Albert Hawkins and both houses are beating up on Ric Williamson and TxDOT. Perry is not one to look the other way; remember all those vetoes in 2001. He could veto the budget (except for the property tax cuts) and provoke all-out war.
