originally posted by: Bedlam
And (drumroll) - the ones who asked Villalba for the bill are outed - Dallas Police Officers Association and FOP.
So it's a union sponsored bill, as I suspected. Cha-ching!
Villalba just came out and admitted that he was handed the bill pre-written by police unions (he didn't say which, but likely DPA and/or FOP, given
his coziness with both) and
didn't bother to read the thing, just introduced it as is.
Not that he's withdrawing it, mind you, just that he's trying to buy a bit of wiggle room by owning up to its provenance.
This gives you to think...
1) This guy is a state rep.
One of his core job functions is to introduce new legislature. The legislature he introduces may pass. If it does, it affects the lives of not only
his constituency, but that of a state larger than some countries. And he doesn't even read the crap he's introducing.
2) He was handed a bill hot off the press from DPA/FOP, and didn't bother vetting it.
I don't want to use the "b" word here, but unless this guy's the rep from DPA, it seems a bit odd that they hand him bills and say, basically,
"introduce this as is, boy", and he does it. After all, he may have DPA members IN his constituency, but they're nowhere near even a percentage
point of the whole thing.
Now, there's lots of organizations, causes and the like that I'm really really fond of, and would favor, but I think even if my own brothers came to
me with a bill and said "Introduce this as is, no questions, jackass" (which is how they'd do it), I'd be suspicious. I can't think of any law
that I'd introduce without at least proof-reading before I put my name on it, and if it was as god-awful as this thing, I wouldn't introduce it for
my Mom, much less a fractional percentage of the people I'm supposed to be working for.
3) This is what police unions really want.
Let that sink in. They wrote it. He introduced it. This isn't some interpretation of what they want. It's not his version of what he thought they
wanted. The police unions wanted this, just as is. They wrote the thing. Thou shalt not record or document your bust, or anyone else's, or we will
put you in jail. That is what they wanted to have happen. Plain, and to the point. You will not record us. We don't care if you get close. We don't
care if you are close ARMED, but buddy, you'd better not have a camera out. Or a notepad.
He didn't make this up to make his cop buddies happy. It's not his bill. THEY WROTE THAT, in all its awful glory.
4) You don't see a big stink by Texas LEOs. I don't see them piling up to reject this. I don't see any resistance by them at ALL, really. There's
no lines of cops on the news saying "no, this is nuts, we call on the union to withdraw it, because it doesn't reflect the members' desires". So
this means that the individual rank and file Texas LEO either agrees with them, or isn't going to say no because blue line. This is the point where I
have to say, you may be a "good cop" but if you go along to get along, you're really not.