Word: farenthold
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Posing as a legislative aide, Katz travelled to Texas in February, 1971, shortly after the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it was filing suit against Sharp Smith Mutscher and other state representatives. He quickly befriended Francis "Sissy" Farenthold runner up to I am Eagleton in the balloting for the Democratic Vice presidential nomination as well as Lane Denton Curtis Graves and other state representatives all members of the Dirty Thirty a group of "suicide" liberal legislators who set out to expose the quagmire of corruption upon which Texas politics is based...
...against all of this--and much more--that Farenthold and the Dirty Thirty had to take their stand. Katz analogizes them to the 200 men at the Alamo who held off ten thousand of Santa Anna's crack troops for over ten days. It is an apt metaphor, at least for those who view the mission's defenders as heroes, for in their defeat Farenthold and her comrades at least made the first significant attempt at reforming Texas politics in several decades...
...many ways it is amazing that the attempt even got off the ground. Farenthold had written a resolution to investigate the bribery charges but Speaker Mutscher controlled all the House committees. Any bill calling for a look at the dealings of Mutscher and his friends would surely be killed in committee. On March 15, 1971, rising on a little-known parliamentary tactic called "privilege of the House" whereby a member can call for immediate consideration of a bill to investigate matters that question the integrity of the House or its members. Farenthold asked to be recognized...
Mutscher asked Farenthold her purpose in rising, and when she stated it, he refused to recognize her. The House thought the matter would die quietly. Then Lane Denton rose to appeal the Speaker's ruling. Had Mutscher asked him his purpose in rising, he could have refused to recognize Denton just as he had done with Farenthold. Instead, Mutscher simply said, "Yes, Mr. Denton," and the House was forced to consider his appeal. What is more, Mutscher had to leave the chamber for the duration of the appeal...
...Barnes made a bid for governor, but finished third to Farenthold and Dolph Briscoe, who were forced into a run-off. Briscoe, a conservative Democrat of the Johnson-Connally line, beat Farenthold, and will be a shoe-in against a weak Republican challenger in November...