Billy Clyde opposes beating dead horses. But he'll be a monkey's uncle if you think he's gonna sit back and ignore the elephant in the hot tub. That dog won't hunt.
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As sure as the sun rises in the east, today's brunch conversation at Las Manitas quickly turned to what Senate gurus refer to as "Three." Yeah, that's right. As in the Senate Committee on Jurisprudence's Interim Charge #3 and the recommendation that may blow the doors off the Capitol.
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For those of you living in a cave, Interim Charge #3 called for the Committee to "Study and make recommendations relating to the use and cost benefits of electronic recording as an alternative method of preserving records of official court proceedings." Fair enough.
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Then the interim committee's recommendations were released, and all Hades broke loose. Who would have ever dreamed that Charge #3 would result in a recommendation to (1) declare records the property of the court, not the court reporter; and (2) give judges free reign to choose any old recording method their judicial hearts desire.
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Funny thing is, 3Gate might have gone unnoticed but for Senator Robert Duncan's blistering letter to Jurisprudence Chairman Jeff Wentworth. These are the words that no one will soon forget: "I would respectfully decline to support the recommendations to Charge #3." Yikes! That's pretty tough talk Mr. Telephone.
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Sources close to the Senate leadership tell Billy Clyde that any measure remotely dealing with the thorny issues contained in Charge 3 are dead for 2007. But you gotta wonder about the personalities and bruised egos, the trust and cooperation so essential to making the Senate tick. Longtime observers think it'll be mighty hard to put this genie back in the bottle.
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Truth be told, BC has friends on all sides of this issue, and they are all fine folks. And like most of you, I'm ready for this whole mess to go away. Unfortunately, fat chance of that happening. Let's just hope that time heals all wounds.
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2 comments:
I heart Robert Duncan. But that aside, let's talk practicalities. I really, really don't want to negotiate the hallowed halls of the pink granite edifice amongst hoards of court reporters. They scare the crap out of me. So I'm with the good Senator from Lubbock.
/As first commenter, don't I get a prize or something?
Solid points, as usual. As you well know, there are dueling court reporting associations, and they fight like cats and cats.
And yes, you will receive a stenotype machine. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery.
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