Republican Sex Crime And Sedition Blotter - Texas Edition

Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be Republicans (h/t Crooks and Liars):

[James Maines, Jr., former deputy district director] to Congressman Smoky Joe Barton of Dallas pled guilty to knowingly possessing child pornography and trying to send it to his House account.

Not to be outdone by the big city fellas, less than 48 hours later the Chief of Staff to East Texas Republican Congressman Matt Schaefer was arrested on charges of soliciting a minor under 14 – Judd Quarles was booked into the Smith County jail on $350,000 bond.

While authorities were rounding up these paragons of Republican family values, more Republican mischief was headed off at the pass:

State GOP leaders, in a predictable but closely watched vote, have defeated a proposal to ask Texas voters whether they favor secession.  

In a voice vote Saturday afternoon, the State Republican Executive Committee rejected a measure that would have put the issue on the March 1 primary ballot. The ballot language would have been non-binding, amounting to a formal survey of voters on whether they would like to see Texas declare its independence from the United States.

While the proposal's defeat was expected, the measure had sparked some heated debate on the 60-member executive committee, the governing body of the Republican Party of Texas. Seeking to avoid a protracted fight, the executive committee voted earlier Saturday afternoon to cap discussion of the issue at 30 minutes then put it to an up-or-down vote.

Tanya Robertson, the SREC member who introduced the proposal, argued at the executive committee meeting in Austin that the measure would have been "harmless," allowing voters to register an "opinion only." She also suggested the ballot language would have helped "get out the vote" among some Texas Republicans who have been sitting out recent elections.

"The goal of these is to take a thermometer of how Texans feels about an issue, and what better issue for Texans to do that with?" she asked.  (our emphasis)

Just a harmless, non- binding ballot measure asking if Texas voters wanted to commit treason.  Hey, they just want to get the shut- in crackpots out to the polls!  Nothing to see here.  Move along.

Judging from the character of their Republican officials,  Texans may want to be careful how and where that "thermometer" is inserted.