You got me curious. If a story is true, you can almost always verify from more than one source. Some detail should be verifiable. Did they meet in person? Conference call? At a hotel? When?
If this proves to be true, someone has some "explaining to do" because there would be a clear violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA) which generally requires that deliberations concerning an issue within the jurisdiction of governmental body must take place in an open meeting after public notice.
Private discussions and e-mail exchanges occurring among a quorum of the members of a governmental body may violate TOMA if they involve deliberations about public business or issues that are within the jurisdiction of the governmental body.
Are we saying that a "high ranking member" of the Texas legislature chose to give this massive strategic scoop to a recruiting website anonymously? Because so far every single "news" story goes back to a post on "Orangebloods.com" ... a little odd to say the least. Why a rivals reporter/website and not a legitimate newspaper if you wanted to get this story out to the masses? And why give it to exactly one source? And that source affiliated with a single university?
Even if WAS true (which I doubt at this point), there are 32 members of the
Texas State Legislature. 15 isn't a majority. Plus, in TX you need a two-thirds vote for a resolution. So you have fewer than half of an elected body who is taking this on as the most important action they have to worry about in the off-season? I know it's Texas, but come on. We have national health care reform, highways, a crisis in K-12 education, and they are worried about
Baylor?
Has the TX Governor weighed in? According to TX constitution, only the Governor can call a special session at this time if the legislature wishes to take action or make a statement on behalf of the entire state. "Only the Governor may call the Legislature into special sessions (the legislature may not call itself into session, as is the case in some other states), and the governor may call as many sessions as he wishes."
Sure this story could be true, but it's also possible that someone is meddling and pulling everyone's leg. Maybe a Baylor grad with worries. But I can't find any confirmation of the original story. See for yourself.
Here's the breakdown:
ESPN quoting "unnamed source"
"...We're already at work on this," the site quoted a a high-ranking member of the Texas Legislature as saying.
The source said that there is a block of 15 legislators working to make sure that Baylor, not Colorado, is invited to join the Pac-10.
I don't know Texas law, but in Colorado, a group of 15 elected officials cannot get together privately and discuss/decide anything. Seen any notice of public meetings posted on this?
Hmmm. Didn't think so.
The "unnamed source" is from the unverified Orangebloods.com story by Chip Brown
Waco Tribune repeats the story ... and their source is a college football blog.
Orangebloods.com reported Saturday that a block of 15 legislators will work to make sure Baylor instead of Colorado is invited to the Pac-10 if the league expands. The website previously reported that the Pac-10 was prepared to invite Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado.
"...do you think we’re going to allow a school outside the state of Texas to replace one of our schools in the Big 12 South?” a high-ranking member of the Texas Legislature who asked not to be identified told Orangebloods.com.
NewsRunnner, another online blog/reporting service, also quote Orangebloods.com "the Rivals-affiliated website."
Dallas News? They have the same story and it's also attributed to
Orangebloods.com.
This poster on a TCU fan board made mysterious sense with the question:
How can the State Legislature get involved at all? Baylor is a private school, therefore doesn't get state funding. So how can the legislature have any say in what happens to Baylor when they don't control any of their revenue distribution?
Same as the legislature mandating TCU going to the Pac-10. Doesn't make sense. You can't control what happens to a business you don't fund.
And a fellow poster on killerfrogs.com responded:
I want our state representatives to tell the Waco reps to but out. They have no business using public power for one private university. If they want to get involved it needs to be for all the private universities in question - Baylor, TCU, SMU and Rice. (current FBS schools stuck with the BCS system)
The conversation continues.
But until we get more than one confirmation that this group of Texas legislators met (probably violating state laws on private meetings of public officials), I am taking it all with a large grain of salt. Where's the public statement of this group and how they came to discuss this burning issue of statewide importance?