Not Over Yet?

Politics sure is funny at times, start with these two (here and here) Off The Kuff posts. After going through all the trouble of trying to explain to voters why he's not a quitter, or as the Lt. Gov's spokesman said using "unprecedented and misleading advertisements" to do so, he's going to be forced to prove it. It now appears that Speaker Craddick and the house are gearing up for one more effort, possibly, at trying to pass that same "screw the poor and middle class school finance/property tax relief scheme" through the legislature in Gov. Perry's second special session. Why do I say that? Well look at this:

Like other tax bills that have been considered this year, the latest version would result in a net tax increase to families earning less than $100,593. The biggest tax savings would go to families earning more than $140,853, according to an analysis by the Legislative Budget Board.

Nothing new there. Craddick also gives this inspirational statement on giving it the old college try, maybe:

"We're going to give it a shot," said Speaker Tom Craddick, who quickly added that if internal House polling shows insufficient support for the bill, it won't be called up for a vote.

"I'm willing to work and push ahead, but I'm not going to bring anything to the floor that I don't know we have the votes," Craddick said.

Sounds like a slam dunk to me!? Why is Craddick all of the sudden going back on his "..wasting time and money.." comment? It could be the ad and now the backtrack are just that. Or maybe they are part for the Speaker to have it both ways. It think we're wasting time but if everyone else thinks we should try again I'm not going to stop them.

Two final things to keep in mind. This whole second session may have been a slow play - make it look ugly, lull everybody to sleep and then sneak something through at the last second while nobody's looking. The other thing to keep in mind is that the Republican leadership of this state has been complaining since their scheme imploded that it was the school community - superintendents, teachers, etc.. - that killed their bill. I can't forget this comment, "There ought to be a rule that you never have a special session on school finance in the summer," joked Brad Shields, an education lobbyist for school districts that depend on industrial property taxes. "Because all the teachers and superintendents are off, and they have lot of time to get involved." And if I'm not mistaken all the teachers and superintendents go back to work next week.