Pictured: LEFT – Dade Phelan, Texas Speaker of the House; RIGHT – Philip Cortez, D-San Antonio
Breitbart:
The Texas Speaker of the House of Representatives issued a warrant for the arrest of a Democrat member who fled to Washington, D.C. to avoid a special session. The San Antonio-area Democrat traveled to the nation’s capital with fellow legislators to break quorum and prevent the House from voting on legislation involving election reforms.
Speaker of the House Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) signed a civil arrest warrant on Monday for State Representative Philip Cortez (D-San Antonio) for his failure to return to the House of Representatives, the Texas Tribune reported.
Cortez abandoned his fellow Democrats late last week when he unexpectedly returned to Texas. Cortez claimed he returned to Austin to attempt to engage in a “good faith dialogue” on the matter of House Bill 3, the election law reform bill.
After receiving harsh criticism from fellow Democrats for returning to Austin without consulting them, Cortez returned to Washington, D.C. The San Antonio Democrat currently serves as chairman of the House Urban Affairs Committee.
