Senate cancels subscriptions for absentees

There are 142 newspapers in the State Senate districts of the 11 senators who left Texas during the second special session and most, if not all, lost one subscriber during the event.

The Senate Purchasing Office shortly after Aug. 14 canceled all the newspaper subscriptions that the state pays for the 11 Democrat senators who did not attend the second special session of the 78th Legislature that started July 28. The Democrats fled to New Mexico to block debate on congressional redistricting.

Secretary of the Senate Patsy Spaw said the newspapers were cancelled on a directive issued as part of the sanctions that the remaining 19 senators imposed on their colleagues. The lone Democrat Sen. Kenneth Armbrister attended the session but voted “nay” on the sanctions.

Spaw said the Senate purchasing office sent cancellation notices directly to the newspapers.

“I anticipate they will be all started soon,” Spaw said.

However, she said the sanctions are imposed until the fines, about $627,000 total, against the fleeing senators are paid or forgiven and reinstatement of the subscriptions hinges on that outcome.

It was unclear exactly how many subscriptions were canceled because senators have a varied number of newspapers in their districts and some newspapers cover more than one district. The 142 figure comes from the TPA database and covers all the 11 senatorial districts affected by the cancellations.

The Senate Purchasing Office pays for newspaper subscriptions for all state senators. Senate rules allow senators to subscribe to up to three statewide newspapers, including the Austin American-Statesman.

Senators also can receive one subscription for each newspaper in their district, which can be mailed to their Capitol or district office. The only exception is two subscriptions to the senator’s hometown newspaper, which can be sent to both the district and Capitol office. Senators also can subscribe to one weekly newsletter.

Sen. Frank Madla, D-San Antonio, has 29 newspapers in his District 19, the most of any of the 11 absent senators.

Carla Searcey, Madla’s office manager and administrative secretary in Austin, said all of the senator’s newspaper subscriptions that the state pays for were dropped. The senator’s office only discovered the problem when the newspapers stopped arriving, Searcey said.

“It was as fast as they could do it,” she said.

Madla and his staff use the newspapers to keep in touch with the communities in his vast district, which stretches from San Antonio south to the border and west to just outside El Paso.

“In the rural areas (newspapers) are our contact with what’s going on out there,” Searcey said.

On Aug. 12 the remaining senators voted to impose a penalty of $1,000 per day, doubling each day up to $5,000 per day, for each senator absent from the second special session.

They later voted to begin sanctions and suspend privileges including all purchasing, mailing, parking, travel, subscriptions and reservations. All printing privileges including newsletters and cell phone service were cut off.