The Texas Department of Public Safety has destroyed
all documents and photographs gathered in the search for the Democratic state legislators who fled to Oklahoma to block action on a redistricting bill intended to increase Republican congressional strength.
The Texas public safety department said that it destroyed the records because federal regulations prohibit it from keeping intelligence information that is not part of a criminal case.
In Washington, some Democrats accused Republicans of using tax-supported, anti-terrorism agencies for political purposes. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Tuesday he would review a decision to withhold information about his agency’s involvement.
The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Homeland Security Department, has said it responded to a request to help track the plane of state Rep. James E. “Pete” Laney when he and other Democrats did not show up for the Texas House session May 12. The customs agency said a Texas official made it seem as if the plane might have crashed.
There’s no end to the entertainment coming from Texas.
