Abbott, U.S. Justice Department not expected at Senate debate on voter ID
March 10, 2009
Abbott spokesman Jerry Strickland said Abbott would not testify. He attributed the decision to Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, who as the Senate’s president pro tempore is set to preside over today’s hearing before the 31-member Senate sitting as a committee of the whole.
Written by W. Gardner Selby, The Austin American Statesman
Nobody knows how many people will cluster today to testify to the Texas Senate on voter ID legislation. But by Monday night, it didn’t appear that either Attorney General Greg Abbott or a representative of the Obama administration would be speaking.
Abbott spokesman Jerry Strickland said Abbott would not testify. He attributed the decision to Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, who as the Senate’s president pro tempore is set to preside over today’s hearing before the 31-member Senate sitting as a committee of the whole.
Strickland said: “Because the Office of the Attorney General would represent the state of Texas in legal matters that could arise from this legislation, the chair (Duncan) decided it would be inappropriate for the attorney general to be present as a witness in a legislative debate.”
Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, had invited the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to send a lawyer to watch the debate and advise senators on whether a proposed mandate that voters prove their identity at the polls violates anti-discrimination provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
A spokesman for Ellis said late Monday the office hadn’t been advised that anyone was coming from the federal government. Still, spokesman Jeremy Warren said, “it’s an issue they’re going to have to pay attention to,” referring to possible legal wrangling if an ID measure passes into law.
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