Wendy Davis Says Texas GOP Purposefully Falsified Time Stamp on SB5

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Filibuster heroine Senator Wendy Davis told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that the time stamp was changed intentionally on the recording of the vote on SB 5 in order to make it appear as if the bill had passed.

Watch here courtesy of CNN:

“I know it was done intentionally based on a conversation that one of my Senate colleagues had with the office that actually puts that online or makes that information available,” Senator Davis told Anderson Coooper. “And he was told by them when he asked why it was changed that they were instructed to do it.”

Davis hammered home the point that the time stamp was changed on purpose, “So, we know it was purposeful and I think there will be further investigation as to exactly what happened there. By changing the date, it would have changed the outcome.”

Two documents were distributed, according to Chron. The “first said that the bill had passed on 6/26 while the second appeared on Texas Legislature Online nine minutes later, with the date 6/25.”

The Trailblazer blog of the Dallas News was live blogging it and made it clear that the vote was taken after midnight:

The Texas Legislature website that once pegged the vote at 6/26 now has it recorded on 6/25.

It’s after 12:20 a.m., the Senate has not adjourned, despite Dewhurst’s motion to ask Whitmire to do so, and it’s unclear whether the bill passed before midnight. Several senators said a vote was taken before midnight and the vote was either 19-10 (according to Patrick) or 17-12 (according to Sen. Bob Deuell). Democrats say it did not pass before the deadline.

Sen. Garcia said vote was taken at 12:03 a.m. Whitmire said the journal will show that it was 12:02 a.m.

The New York Times noted that Republicans claimed they had passed the bill, and then reversed course hours later, “Hours after saying that they had passed the bill, Republican leaders reversed course and said the vote did not follow legislative procedures, rendering the vote moot and killing the bill.”

The time stamp is important because if the vote been stamped on 6/25 (before midnight), the bill would have passed.

Senator Davis pointed out that if the Republicans are smarter about their time management going into the July 1 special session ordered by Republican Governor Rick Perry, it’s unlikely that supporters of individual liberty will have another chance to filibuster SB5.

Perhaps Davis meant to say that if Republicans had been smarter about their time stamp management… But alas for Republicans, the nation was watching Wendy Davis’ incredible filibuster, which made monkeying with the time stamp a bit precarious — sort of like trying to pull off election fraud in Ohio in 2012.

Sarah Jones

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