5 Buckwild Moments from North Texas Lawmakers This Session

The Texas Legislature meets in regular session only once every two years, so when lawmakers descend on Austin, they pack a whole lot into a relatively short amount of time. They debate, they work late and some allegedly get a little sauced.

It’s the perfect combo for controversy.

During the 88th session, which ended on May 29, the Republican-majority Legislature passed bans on gender-affirming care for minors, supposed “sexually explicit material” on school shelves and — somewhat surprisingly— sales taxes on diapers and menstrual products. Lawmakers successfully advanced hard-right causes in the broader national culture wars, including cracking down on drag performances and diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

But much of the fun (if you can call it that) of each session is when lawmakers make news — not for the content of their bills, but for the content of their character.

Let’s look back at five of the most, shall we say, memorable moments featuring North Texas Republican lawmakers this year.

Slaton Expelled

As an ultraconservative, pro-family-values member of the Texas House of Representatives, Bryan Slaton was good at grabbing attention. He introduced a “Texit” proposal aimed at allowing voters to decide if the state should get divorced from the rest of the country. He tore into drag queens, whom he accused of being “perverted adults.”

Plot twist: The married father and former youth minister was expelled from the House earlier this month after an internal investigation found that he’d had sex with an aide. He also purportedly gave the 19-year-old intern alcohol.

Leach Trolled

Speaking of Slaton, another North Texas lawmaker was slapped with a lawsuit in April after he blasted the aforementioned secession bill on social media. State Rep. Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican, was sued by an apparently pro-Texit Parker County woman with whom he squabbled on Twitter.

But a far more fun moment came in the form of a good old-fashioned trolling.

Leach is chair of the House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence. In March, during a hearing on an anti-trans bill, Leach called out names for the next speakers.

Among those who’d signed up were “Connie Lingus,” “Holden Midick” and “Anita Dickinme.” Laughter ensued when Leach called out the fake names.

"All right. You got your, you got your, you got your moment,” Leach said. “I hope you enjoy it."

Nothing to say about this other than Chairman @leachfortexas handled it with grace and aplomb #txlege pic.twitter.com/VKjxpqiLxe

— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) March 30, 2023

Patterson Mocks Teacher Raises

The Observer has written quite a bit about the Texas teacher shortage spurred, in part, by low pay. So, what does this North Texas lawmaker do when faced with the prospect of increasing teacher salaries? Make fun of it.

Frisco state Rep. Jared Patterson mocked the idea of educator raises during a debate on the House floor last month. One particularly ambitious measure would have given teachers a $15,000 boost.

A viral video clip shows Patterson asking Democratic state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, who had proposed bumping a $3,800 per-teacher raise up to $10,000, whether he believed that educators weren't "worth that extra $5,000." Martinez Fischer explained that he'd floated the lower raise in the hope that Republican lawmakers would actually go for it.

Patterson then pressed his Democratic colleague as to whether he would support $30,000 or $40,000 pay raises for teachers. Martinez Fischer indicated he would and asked, “Are you going to sign it?”

We thank @TMFtx for caring about teachers, unlike some of his #TxLege colleagues. #RespectUsExpectUs #TxEd pic.twitter.com/7yKURBhrev

— Texas AFT (@TexasAFT) April 7, 2023

“No, we’ll just vote it down,” Patterson said. “Thank you, have a good day.”

“Thank you for not caring about teachers,” Martinez Fischer replied.

Paxton vs. Phelan

OK, bear with us: This one is somewhat complicated, so we’re only hitting a few of the highlights.

House Speaker Dade Phelan was accused earlier this month of wielding his gavel while intoxicated. Attorney General Ken Paxton, who lives in North Texas, then called on the slurring speaker to resign.

This is video from last night in the Texas House of Representatives where it appears that TX House Speaker Dade Phelan is either really drunk or having a stroke. pic.twitter.com/dbSG7AO30r

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 20, 2023

But Paxton has dealt with his own fair share of legal troubles, including allegations of bribery and abuse of office, which he’s denied. And it just so happens that right around the time that he came with guns blazing for Phelan, a House investigative committee revealed a probe into Paxton. He now faces 20 articles of impeachment. After the House voted overwhelmingly to move forward with impeachment proceedings on Saturday, Paxton has been suspended from his duties as he awaits his Senate trial.

You see, Paxton had reportedly wanted to use $3.3 million of the taxpayers’ money to settle a lawsuit wherein he’d been accused of misconduct by several former deputies.

Perhaps most bizarrely, Paxton issued a statement calling Phelan — who presides over a chamber in arguably the most conservative state legislature in the nation — a “RINO,” or Republican in Name Only. He also alleged that Phelan is effectively siding with Democratic President Joe Biden and his “extremist agenda.”

Schatzline in Drag

Fort Worth state Rep. Nate Schatzline was one of the Texas conservatives pushing anti-drag legislation this session. But earlier this year, a video resurfaced showing Schatzline as a teenager skipping around in a park — while wearing a black dress. You know, in drag.

Nate Schatzline has made his entire personality attacking the LGBTQ community, trans especially children, and vowed to ban drag shows in Texas.

Here is Nate… in drag. #txlege #iToldYouSo pic.twitter.com/Lq25Mx7cgY

— Michelle (@LivingBlueTX) February 28, 2023