Rep. Terry Canales says Sen. Charles Schwertner 'lacks a spine'
In an angry speech on the Texas House floor, Rep. Terry Canales on Thursday tore into Sen. Charles Schwertner for derailing a bill that would have required governments to disclose how much they pay performers at parades following a controversial open-records fight over how much the city of McAllen paid singer Enrique Iglesias for a 2015 concert.
Schwertner, a Georgetown Republican who killed the bill in the Senate, “dwells in the shadow of corporate greed,” Canales, D-McAllen, said. “It’s my understanding Sen. Schwertner is an orthopedic surgeon, which is ironic because he lacks a spine,” he said.
The Iglesias concert has become a flashpoint in the debate over a controversial 2015 Texas Supreme Court decision in Boeing Co. v. Paxton that vastly expanded an exemption to the Texas Public Information Act allowing governments to withhold records involving private companies if their release could put the companies at a competitive disadvantage. The city of McAllen used the ruling to say that it cannot disclose the amount it paid to Iglesias.
This legislative session, Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, unsuccessfully fought to undo the Boeing decision through new legislation closing the loophole in the Public Information Act.
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/rep-terry-canales-says-sen-charles-schwertner-lacks-spine/40QuV2CdoK6I8n27b161JM/
