Voter ID bill idled in respect to ill senator

By JOHN MORITZ - Star-Telegram staff writer

AUSTIN -- The Texas Senate, still smarting from a two-day partisan dust-up over legislation that would require voters to present identification at the voting booth, chose not to bring the measure to the floor Friday out of respect for an ailing member who opposes it.

Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and the bill's sponsor, Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, said they continue to support the legislation but suggested that it would have been bad form to pursue it on a day when Democratic Sen. Mario Gallegos was hospitalized.

Gallegos, who underwent liver transplant surgery early this year, was forced to undergo a surgical procedure related to the transplant at a hospital near his Houston home.

"The senators who I talked to didn't want to proceed out of respect for Senator Gallegos," Dewhurst told reporters. The bill might come up later in the session, he added

. Read more

More behind the scenes drama on Senate Voter ID Vote

Uresti Notified Brimer, Nelson, Spaw of Illness
posted by Patricia Kilday Hart - Texas Monthly's Burkablog -Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Carlos Uresti came down with a serious bout of the flu Monday, and left the Capitol after fellow senators noted how bad he looked shivering in the Senate lounge. In particular, Dr. Kyle Janek advised him to get to bed, amidst joking from others present: "What do you think is going to happen? That we'll call up the Voter ID bill?"

It now appears that Uresti's illness may have prompted David Dewhurst to recognize Troy Fraser on the controversial bill, which set in motion an emotional outburst midday Tuesday over Dewhurst's refusal to count John Whitmire's vote.

Read more