House Republican broke pledge to sit out school finance vote

[tibbir]

A House Republican who told Rep. Dawnna Dukes before she left for France that he would not vote on a major piece of legislation changed his mind and cast the deciding vote anyway.

Dukes, D-Austin, missed the tax vote Wednesday because she was in France. Before she left, she made an agreement with Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, that Pitts would register "present not voting." Since Dukes would have voted "no" and Pitts would have voted "yes" if both had been present, a decision by Pitts not to vote would have had the same effect - the two members would have canceled each other out.

But Pitts said he changed his mind after talking to his constituents over the weekend. He went ahead and voted yes, and the tax bill passed 73-72.

It still must pass the House one more time before it is sent to the Senate. The bill cuts billions of dollars in school property taxes but balances out those cuts by raising other taxes, primarily consumption taxes such as the sales tax and the cigarette tax.







Note: House rules allow "pairing and there is a copy of the written documentation in the article. Repukes will do anything no matter how unethical or illegal to get their way.