The Peter Morrison Report - Texas Voting Legislation

Summary of this week's report:

Rep. Todd Smith, chairman of the House Elections Committee, has stated he wants to wait four years before requiring voter ID laws in our elections. Let him know this is unacceptable.

Please call his office at (512) 463-0522 and demand he pass voter ID laws in time for the 2010 elections, and that we cannot wait another election to stop the massive fraud that is disenfranchising legitimate Texas voters. Please send a fax as well by clicking here:

http://www.morrisonreport.com/fax_test/index.php?faxID=75

The full report:

There's an old saying that politics is the art of compromise.
There's a lot of truth in that - any politician or party has to be able to recognize just how much can be achieved at any given moment, and sometimes you have to settle for less than you'd hoped for. That's one form of compromise - a realistic, level headed approach to what's possible, and what's not. There's another form of political compromise, however, and there's nothing praiseworthy about it. That's when a gutless politician betrays his principles, party and supporters by kowtowing to the opposition in an attempt to curry favor with them and the media.

This second, reprehensible form of compromise seems to be practiced only by Republicans these days, and there's an awful lot of it going around. We've got an outrageous example of this cowardly form of compromise going on right now in Austin. Conservative Texans just fought a long, hard battle to bring the much needed Voter ID bill before both the House and Senate. If this bill becomes law, it's going to eliminate a lot of voter fraud all over the state. Voter fraud is a rampant problem in Texas, and across the nation. We've got people voting even though they're not registered. Some people vote several times because under current law they don't have to show ID to vote.

The Voter ID law would change all that. Democrats have fought the
bill tooth and nail, because almost all voter fraud is in favor of their party. Nevertheless, Republicans have been standing firm to get this bill passed, thanks in large part to you and thousands of other patriotic Texans holding their feet to the fire. Incredibly though, just when it looked as if we were on the verge of turning the bill into the law of the land, one Republican compromiser has decided to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. His name is Todd Smith, and if he has his way, this bill will be seriously weakened.

Representative Todd Smith is the chairman of the House Elections Committee, and as such, has a lot of influence over proceedings and his fellow members. Smith has decided that the time isn't right to implement the Voter ID law. He thinks we need to wait four years before eliminating voter fraud. So he has introduced his own version which won't take effect until 2014, instead of next year, as the original bill required. "My preferred period of transition would be two full election cycles," Smith told The Associated Press. "It's my intent that there be a period of time where people are literally educated as they vote."

Let me translate that for you: "I know the people who voted for me support this bill, but I'm more interested in groveling to the media and liberals than representing the people who elected me. So I've come up with a compromise bill that will hold off on stopping voter fraud for four years. That will give the liberals plenty of time to repeal the law. This way I can pretend to be representing my constituents' interests, but I won't get called names by Democrats and the media."

That may sound harsh, but that's what it boils down to. There is not one good reason to delay the implementation of a Voter ID law from next year until 2014. There are a whole host of reasons not to put it off. Yet we've got a Republican committee chairman proposing to do exactly that. This betrayal is even more outrageous when you consider that it took everything conservative Senators had in them to convince the Senate to suspend the 2/3 rule and even get the bill a hearing in the Texas Senate. Hundreds of people drove to Austin to demand passage of the original bill.
Now, if Todd Smith gets his way, all that work will have been for nothing.

It will all have been for nothing if you're a conservative Republican, that is. It will pay off handsomely for Todd Smith, though. Democrats love traitorous Republicans, and they're already patting Smith on the back for caving in to pressure and gutting the Voter ID law. Here's how one liberal Democrat, Rep. Rafael Anchia, praised Smith for his craven betrayal of the conservative voters who elected him. "We've never heard anything like that from the Republicans in the past, so I think Todd is trying to set the right tone for the discussions," Anchia said. "In the past it's always been a cram down. There's been no input. We've always been playing defense in the House and we've always been run over."

In other words, with Republican turncoats like Todd Smith across the aisle, why should Democrats care that they're in the minority in Austin? They don't have to "play defense" anymore, when sellouts like Smith will just hand them the ball and start blocking tackles for them. It's not just Democrats who are suddenly in love with a Republican. The liberal media is, too. In the past couple day, Todd Smith has been the subject of fawning editorials in the Lubbock and Fort Worth papers for coming up with his "principled"
and "balanced" bill to postpone Voter ID for four more years.

Make no mistake - that's exactly why Todd Smith has betrayed his party and his constituents - to win the praise of Democrats and the liberal media. He wants to be seen as a "sensible, moderate"
Republican who can "reach across the aisle" instead of sticking to conservative principles. That's why liberals like Rep. Anchia and various liberal media outlets are singing his praises - because he's willing to betray his own party and help the Democrats.

We can't let this betrayal stand. It's not just because we've worked so long to bring the Voter ID bill up for a vote, although that's a huge reason to be outraged by Todd Smith selling us out.
No, it goes deeper than that. We've got to get this bill passed now - the one that mandates Voter ID in the 2010 elections - because if we don't, Voter ID may never become the law in Texas.

It's true that Republicans currently control both the House and Senate in Austin, but the majority in the House is razor thin, just 76-74. There's no guarantee that the GOP will continue to be the majority party, and there's a real risk that it won't. If we don't enact Voter ID now, but delay implementing it until 2014 and the Democrats win back control of one or both houses, that's it for Voter ID in Texas. Rest assured, if they take the reins, one of the first things Democrats will do is repeal it. Delaying it, and allowing voter fraud to continue for four more years, just means a whole lot more Democrat voters in the next couple elections.
Democrats know this, which is why they hate Voter ID, and why they love a turncoat like Todd Smith - if he gets his way, it will mean that they're that much closer to taking control in Austin and keeping it.

We can't let that happen. Please call Rep. Smith's office at (512)
463-0522 and demand he pass voter ID laws in time for the 2010 elections, and that we cannot wait another election to stop the massive fraud that is disenfranchising legitimate Texas voters.
Please send a fax as well by clicking here:

http://www.morrisonreport.com/fax_test/index.php?faxID=75

Sources:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6346475.html

http://www.star-telegram.com/242/story/1290815.html

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/040109/edi_420615458.shtml

That's it for this report. Watch your inbox next week for the next issue of The Peter Morrison Report, a free newsletter for Texas conservatives.

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