D.C. Caldwell is a candidate for the Texas State Board of Education, district 10. This is a partisan office. His name is on both the Republican primary ballot and the Democratic primary ballot. See this story. The Texas anti-fusion law dpes not prohibit candidates from filing in both primaries, but it is unclear what will happen if he wins either or both of them. He also is seeking the Libertarian nomination, but Libertarians in Texas nominate by convention.
I had thought sure that this possibility had been eliminated in the 2023 session.
But HB 3537 which passed in the House 141-0 was never considered in the Senate beyond being referred to a committee.
The bill was so popular with both parties that practically the whole Elections Committee jumped on to be an author. The parties hated the practice so much that they specifically said the filing fee(s) could not be refunded.
D.C. Caldwell was NOTA’ed in a LPT district convention in 2022.
Whenever Byzantine legislators and bureaucrats lull you to believe you have any aspect of their intentionally confusing system fully figured out, they manage to surprise you. This can even be true if you’re an attorney, judge, bureaucrat, politician, or anything else you might be yourself.
@MaxZ,
It is much simpler in this case. There are five times as many representatives as senators and legislative sessions are time limited. Representatives can pick some bills to introduce and shepherd through the process. The leaders concentrate on big issues like the budget.
There might not be a Senator to pick up minor bills like this and get it passed.
I was just surprised and had actually thought that Richard Winger had accidentally resurrected an article from two years ago.
I think you missed my point. I’m in favor of radical simplification of laws, to the point where any functional adult or older child can be reasonably expected to memorize and understand them, and very simple, one level, very local government.
I know this idea runs counter to the self-interest of your profession. And I know that an implementation path from here to there isn’t exactly easy to map, although I’m seeing a lot of hopeful signs that things will in fact move in that direction gradually.
My point was that if even an attorney from the state in question who specializes in this particular area of law and legislation as a hobby, and possibly as a professional focus area, can be surprised by ANY developments, the overall level of legal Byzantine complexity has exceeded the capabilities of satire.
Kafka, Orwell, et al would have to throw up their hands at this point.