Apparently stung by the state capitol protests in response to the restrictive anti-abortion bill Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst ordered the search of ladies handbags and the confiscation of items such as tampons and maxi-pads. He also claimed protestors had brought containers of feces and urine, supposedly in order to hurl at the intransigent legislators. No proof of this was offered. Below is an excerpt from the Texas Observer about this.
Dewhurst's account was challenged by many who were there.
Dewhurst's account was challenged by many who were there.
For the last week, activists, lawmakers and media have demanded that DPS produce evidence that protestors tried to bring jars of urine and feces into the Senate gallery last Friday. No DPS trooper has stepped forward to say he or she personally saw jars of urine or feces, although the law enforcement agency’s head Steve McCraw has defended the allegations. McCraw has said all of the items, including glitter, bricks and tampons, were discarded and no names were taken. But today, none other than the state’s second-highest elected official, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, claimed to have seen bottles of urine and bags of feces.
DPS’ original press release, from 4:49pm last Friday, stated that officers had discovered “one jar suspected to contain urine” and “18 jars suspected to contain feces.” Dewhurst said he saw an unspecified number of “water bottles” containing urine and an unspecified number of “bags” containing feces.
Dewhurst’s office didn’t respond to questions today about when and where he saw the bottles of urine and bags of feces. The lieutenant governor is six feet, five inches and the focus of intense media attention: It seems odd that in this era of ubiquitous social media, cameras and video his presence at the crowded Capitols security checkpoints would have gone unnoticed.
“Just like everything else with this, the more that is being told to us the more questions it raises,” said Scott Daigle, a spokesman in Rep. Donna Howard’s office.
In the interview, Dewhurst also said he personally met with DPS a “dozen times” after the Wendy Davis filibuster to go over security. “We had enough firepower that we could have defended the Capitol against a brigade of a thousand al-Qaida.”
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[Begins ~27:20]
Toby Marie Walker: “There were—
David Dewhurst: “Bottles of urine, bags of feces. Awful.”
TMW: “I know there’s people who say, ‘Oh that didn’t happen because DPS didn’t save it’.”
DD: “It did. It did. It did. I saw some of it.”
TMW:”…I’ve heard from members and other people who saw some of it.”
DD: “Absolutely and it’s the same as myself I walked over to where they were screening and they were getting bottles out and smelling them, they were getting water bottles out and smelling and they had urine in it. And there were bags they had set aside and were going to put in the trash and throw it out, of feces. Just despicable. Despicable.”‘
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