Vince Leibowitz at Capitol Annex reports that Governor Rick Perry is thinking about calling a special session of the Texas Legislature prior to the election in November, in order to use his Republican majority to curtail the power of Sub-Regional Planning Commissions. It seems that these planning commissions have been a check on the power of the Texas Department of Transportation and thus on Governor Goodhair's plans to push the Trans-Texas Corridor. So, being a Republican, he wants to changes the rules to suit his policy goals, and a special session would give him the opportunity to do so before a general election where his party stands to lose seats in the Legislature and might even lose control of one of its chambers. Leibowitz speculates that Perry might also use the opportunity of a special session to push voter ID legislation, as a means of undercutting Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, who has been a vocal proponent of such legislation lately and might be a potential opponent in the Republican nomination battle for the 2010 governor's race.
Note to Goodhair: special sessions are intended to be used to deal with issues that urgently need a solution and can't wait until the next regular session of the Legislature. Your desire to game the system so it favors your policy priorities doesn't rise to the level of justifying a special session, nor does your desire to score political points against a potential primary challenger, nor does your desire to use voter ID laws to suppress the votes of minorities and the elderly. And no, the fact that your party might lose seats in the Legislature in November and make it harder for you to push your agenda through doesn't count as an urgent need.
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