Hunting for Democrats in a Lear Jet
May. 13th, 2003 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
csberryHad a very interesting day come out of no-where.
I was sitting in front of the computer this morning around 11am trying to finish up typing the combined rolodexes of AnnMarie and mine into Excel. The mobile phone goes off. It's Darrell.
"Cory, whatever you are doing, I need for you to drop it."
"What's up?"
"I'm going to Oklahoma to get interviews with some of these Democrats and I need your help tracking them down."
(thinking he meant finding a phone number) "They are all staying at the Holiday Inn in Ardmore, you should be able to call that number up and reach them."
"I know they're staying there, so I'm going up there. I've got a friend to fly me up there in a Lear jet to do that."
"So what do you need me for," I asked.
"I need for you to come up with me to grab them while I'm doing interviews. You need to be here at the station in 20 minutes."
We hang up and my day actually re-starts...at a sprinting pace.
Now, I understand that some/most of you might not have the foggiest idea about what the news story is here. It seems that the GOP (that for the 1st time in TX history has control of the Legislature) has decided to redistrict the state map since the last redistricting after the census was drawn up by the courts. The Democrats didn't have enough votes to stop this, but knew that the House couldn't pass it if there wasn't a quorum (100 of the 150 representatives present). They also knew that the Texas Rangers could arrest them for intentionally avoiding a quorum vote, so they had to flee the state. So, as I type this, there are 51 fewer state Democrats in Texas. Most of them are holed up at the Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Oklahoma, just across the border.
Thus, in about 20 minutes after getting the phone call from Darrell, I was at the station (thank God for living 7 minutes away) getting audio equipment together to do interviews. We drove up to Addison Airport where Tom, a listener/fan, owns a charter service and had a Lear jet idling outside of his office. About 15 minutes later, we were landing on a patch of asphalt in Ardmore, OK (population of 25,000). We had a lovely taxi ride in a late 70s model Cadillac to the hotel. We watched the press conference then I went running around the hotel grabbing folks to do interviews with Darrell. Around 3pm, we had enough material, called the taxi, and returned to the airport to fly back to DFW. I only wish that we had broken open the mini bar.
I was sitting in front of the computer this morning around 11am trying to finish up typing the combined rolodexes of AnnMarie and mine into Excel. The mobile phone goes off. It's Darrell.
"Cory, whatever you are doing, I need for you to drop it."
"What's up?"
"I'm going to Oklahoma to get interviews with some of these Democrats and I need your help tracking them down."
(thinking he meant finding a phone number) "They are all staying at the Holiday Inn in Ardmore, you should be able to call that number up and reach them."
"I know they're staying there, so I'm going up there. I've got a friend to fly me up there in a Lear jet to do that."
"So what do you need me for," I asked.
"I need for you to come up with me to grab them while I'm doing interviews. You need to be here at the station in 20 minutes."
We hang up and my day actually re-starts...at a sprinting pace.
Now, I understand that some/most of you might not have the foggiest idea about what the news story is here. It seems that the GOP (that for the 1st time in TX history has control of the Legislature) has decided to redistrict the state map since the last redistricting after the census was drawn up by the courts. The Democrats didn't have enough votes to stop this, but knew that the House couldn't pass it if there wasn't a quorum (100 of the 150 representatives present). They also knew that the Texas Rangers could arrest them for intentionally avoiding a quorum vote, so they had to flee the state. So, as I type this, there are 51 fewer state Democrats in Texas. Most of them are holed up at the Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Oklahoma, just across the border.
Thus, in about 20 minutes after getting the phone call from Darrell, I was at the station (thank God for living 7 minutes away) getting audio equipment together to do interviews. We drove up to Addison Airport where Tom, a listener/fan, owns a charter service and had a Lear jet idling outside of his office. About 15 minutes later, we were landing on a patch of asphalt in Ardmore, OK (population of 25,000). We had a lovely taxi ride in a late 70s model Cadillac to the hotel. We watched the press conference then I went running around the hotel grabbing folks to do interviews with Darrell. Around 3pm, we had enough material, called the taxi, and returned to the airport to fly back to DFW. I only wish that we had broken open the mini bar.
