[ SHOWGSD-L ] Fwd: [TX_RPOA_E-News] Attacks on TX Rep. Simpson for Opposing Animal Rights L...
- From: Bokenkampgsd1@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:23:14 EDT
Trillia German Shepherds since 1972
Member GSDCA, GSDCC, GSDC of Beaumont, lifetime member CKC
"Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light"
____________________________________
From: rpoa@xxxxxxxxx
Reply-to: TX_RPOA_E-News-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: TX_RPOA_E-NEWS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 4/25/2011 12:32:39 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: [TX_RPOA_E-News] Attacks on TX Rep. Simpson for Opposing Animal
Rights Legislation!
TX-RPOA E-News
>From RPOA Texas Outreach and
Responsible Pet Owners Alliance
"Animal welfare, not animal 'rights'
and, yes, there is a difference."
Crossposting is encouraged.
April 25, 2011
3 Items of Interest below!
Check the link at the top of our homepage
www.rpoatexasoutreach.org for the Longview full page Sunday newspaper ad
supporting Rep. Simpson which was placed
by constituents responding to the previous Texas Humane Legislation
Network
Sunday full page ad attacking him for opposing their bill.
Rep. Simpson has some interesting comments regarding HB 1451 on his blog
which states: "Texas is now about to establish the dog gestapo."
_http://davidsimpson.com/blog/_ (http://davidsimpson.com/blog/)
ITEM 3: Since when are legislators elected to go to the Capitol to "make
friends?" Read on:
Freshman making few friends at Capitol
By Tim Eaton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Front Page Article:
_http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/freshman-making-few-friends-at
-capitol-1430411.html_
(http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/freshman-making-few-friends-at-capitol-1430411.html)
Published: 9:54 p.m. Sunday, April 24, 2011
It's not that Rep. David Simpson hates puppies.
But when the conservative Republican from Longview fought against the
so-called puppy mill bill last week, he cemented his reputation as a
renegade, an ideologue and someone who would not shy away from getting
sideways with the Texas House's most senior members, Democrat and
Republican.
"I guess I don't know what a freshman's supposed to do," Simpson, 49, said
in an interview last week from behind a desk where a large bronze eagle
perches. "The people didn't send me here to sit down and shut up."
In fighting the puppy mill bill, Simpson squared off against the majority
of
the House, not just the bill's author, Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston,
one of the chamber's longest-serving members.
The bill to protect animals in large breeding operations was on the
fast-track local and consent calendar, the home for bills that have broad
support and no fiscal implications.
Simpson ultimately achieved his goal of knocking the bill off the consent
calendar, saying it would use state funds for employees. But it was a
lonely
fight, and he drew a lot of criticism.
Simpson was "trying to be a genius when he's not one," Thompson said. "I
feel sorry for his kids. When they start reading history, this is going to
be an embarrassment."
A Republican, Jim Keffer of Eastland, piled on, telling the House chamber
that Simpson's move impugned Thompson and the legislative process.
Taking on Thompson not only has left Simpson alienated - which he said is
OK
with him - but it also has brought harsh rebuke, he said.
"I was threatened by one particular person that my bills would not get out
of committee," he said.
He refused to say who threatened him.
Earlier controversy
Challenging the puppy bill isn't the only example of Simpson's startling
actions.
It started at the beginning of the session, when he opposed the re-election
of House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio. A clip of Simpson praying for a
"godly and humble leader of the Texas House" ended up on the national faux
news program "The Daily Show."
Simpson befuddled observers across the Capitol again when he opposed the
Republicans' budget bill, House Bill 1.
He was one of two Republicans to vote no on the measure.
He opposed the bill largely over what he called corporate welfare.
"HB 1 did not cut the most obvious nonessential programs," such as business
subsidies and incentives, he said. Our government "was instituted to
promote
the general welfare instead of handing out favors to particular industries
in a few concentrated areas," he wrote on his website.
Recently, Simpson spoke against a bill pushed by a fellow conservative ,
Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler.
Berman had wide support for a bill to help curb crystal meth cooking
operations by modernizing the way pharmacists collect names of people
buying
pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in meth production.
Simpson said it was too much of an encroachment on personal information.
Berman was nice when he spoke of Simpson's dissent.
"He misses the boat on some occasions," Berman said. "He's a freshman, and
he's learning."
Creating his own role
Most members of the Legislature will tell you that getting along is a big
part of being an effective politician in the Texas House.
But Simpson sees things a bit differently. He seems to believe that he
should stick to his principles instead of making friends.
Back in his district, some people support his work.
Keith Rothra, the Republican Party chairman in Gregg County, said Simpson
tends more toward libertarianism than conservatism, and he campaigned on
the
promise of working toward small government and conservative ideals. And
he's
lived up to his pledges.
"You can't knock a guy for doing what he promised," Rothra said.
But many more people from the district, some of whom hold important elected
positions, said they are worried that Simpson's behavior is bad for the
district.
Longview Mayor Jay Dean, a Republican, said he is concerned that the clash
with longer-serving lawmakers could make it difficult to pass other
district-friendly bills .
"You have to pick and choose your battles to get things done in the
Legislature," he said.
Most of Simpson's bills don't deal with issues specific to his district.
They have more to do with broader ideals.
He has filed a measure to allow guns on college campuses, he was joint
author on a bill for raw milk, and he filed another that deals with
abortion.
He also has authored a bill to curb what he sees as overreaching security
at
airports.
"The first passion I have is the first duty of government, and that's to
protect life or allow for the protection of life," he said. "Right now,
government is doing lots of things; it's invading our privacy, and I'm very
much concerned about that."
Rooted in faith
It doesn't take long when talking to Simpson to realize the root of his
actions.
As a Reformed Baptist and graduate of the Trinity Ministerial Academy of
Montville, N.J., Simpson said his actions are first meant to please his
Maker - to whom he refers often.
With a slow, East Texas delivery of words and a heavy head that often draws
his eyes to the ground, Simpson peppers conversations with Bible verses,
and
he turns his palms upward sometimes when talking about God.
Rep. Jason Isaac, R-Dripping Springs, who sits next to Simpson on the House
floor, noted that Simpson often says lawmakers were sent to Austin to
"punish wrongdoers" - an idea Simpson says is straight from the Bible.
Simpson said that "we punish those who harm other people, and then we get
out of the way" of those who don't.
Those religious beliefs have been central to some of the Capitol chatter
surrounding Simpson.
Earlier in the session, Simpson managed to get members talking about two
incidents in which he was said to have laid hands on a couple of
unsuspecting members to heal what ailed them: a bad heart and a throbbing
head.
None of the members would comment on the record when asked about it, and
Simpson dodged repeated attempts to explain the events, saying little more
than "I am not a charismatic."
Life back home
The other central part of Simpson's life is his large immediate family.
He has a wife and seven children - ages 7, 11, 17, 18, 20, 22 and 24. His
kids have all been home-schooled or attended private schools, he said.
A wealthy man originally from the tony Highland Park area in Dallas,
Simpson
provides for his family by running a timber company on family land in the
small East Texas town of Avinger, where he once served as mayor.
He runs a religious publishing house on the side. The publications he sells
include a book about the biblical teachings on capital punishment and a
survey of the history of Reformed Baptists in the U.S.
When he's not in the Legislature or running his businesses, Simpson said he
enjoys a simple life that revolves largely around his family. And for
excitement, he sometimes mixes in all-terrain vehicles and target practice.
Simpson said he has been trying to make it a family tradition to attend
classes on shooting and pistol training in Nevada.
It's one thing to be trained on how to enter a house with possible threats
inside under the strict tutelage of tactical instructors.
It's another to be able to maneuver in the hostile environment within the
Texas House of Representatives - and be able to stay for a while.
Because of his quickly earned reputation, Simpson is already being talked
about by some people, such as the puppy mill bill's author, as someone who
is so polarizing that he might not return next session.
"I just don't think people will be sending him back," Thompson said.
But Simpson said he can only do what he thinks is right, and the electorate
will like it or not.
"If they are pleased, they'll re-elect me," he said. "If not, I'll go back
to planting and cultivating pine timber full time."
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