At least two Texas Democrats this week decided if the House of Representatives GOP leadership was going to be petty and childish enough to force Democratic lawmakers to either accept 24/7 Texas Department of Public Safety watch dogs or (as Rep. Nicole Collier did) stay locked in the House chambers, then they would make sure their DPS babysitters had their work cut out for them.
As the Houston-based Hearst Newspapers website Chron.com reported Wednesday, Aug. 20, Rep. Venton Jones of Dallas and Rep. Terry Meza of Irving headed out Tuesday night, Aug. 19 to attend a meeting of the LGBTQ+ political organization Stonewall Democrats of Dallas.
And where was that meeting? In the Rose Room inside Station 4, North Texas’ premiere drag venue inside one of the area’s most popular LGBTQ dance bars.
Todd Hill, Stonewall’s secretary, posted on X that his organization is “always happy to Reps. Meza and @VentonJonesTX at meetings of @StonewallDalCo! We also hosted Congresswoman @juliejohnsonTX and her Capitol Hill police officer. We appreciate everyone’s service.”
Just too bad, really, that there wasn’t a drag show that night, too, for the DPS troopers to enjoy. Surely the Rose Room cast would have made them feel right at home.
But, as Chron.com also noted, it wasn’t all fun and games for at least one other legislator. Rep. Sheryl Cole from the Austin area that her watchdog trooper managed to lose sight of her when she went for a stroll, got all mad about it and threatened to arrest her.
“He lost me on the trail, got angry about it and made a scene in front of my constituents on the trail,” Cole wrote on social media.
Fortunately, all the trooper did was threaten arrest; he did not act on that threat.
Hmm, makes you wonder though: What might a judge have thought about a Texas DPS officer losing his temper and arresting a duly elected official of the Texas House of Representatives simply because that trooper could not manage to keep up with the 61-year-old Democrat who was just out for a leisurely stroll … .
— Tammye Nash