If you had a million dollars available to go out of town for two weeks, you might enjoy it so much you'd invite a dozen of your friends or colleagues to join you, a situation similar that of Texas Democrats who fled the state capitol more than two weeks ago to shut down a special session of the state legislature.
When the 13 Democrats hurriedly left the state on Sunday August 2nd to block a state House of Representatives vote on redrawing the map of state Congressional districts, one of the first questions being asked by critics was, Who's paying for this?
Some of the Democrats flew to California, where they were welcomed by Governor Gavin Newsom; some went to New York, where their host was Governor Kathy Hochul; others went to Illinois and Massachusetts.
But Robert Frances "Beto" O'Rourke said on Saturday he and his political organization Powered by the People donated more than a million dollars to the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, the Texas House Democratic Caucus and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus during the special session, an act that the Texas attorney general says may have violated a state law.
AG Ken Paxton's office won a temporary restraining order last week, stopping Powered By the People from sending money out of state to support runaway Democrats, who have affiliations with those caucuses -- then the AG went back to court in the Ft. Worth area on Friday to have that temporary order modified, adding a new court date of September 2nd.
The court said if Powered by the People was soliciting campaign contributions and then using that money to pay personal expenses for Democrats who fled the state, it might constitute a violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act: soliciting money to spend in getting elected but using the money to pay for expenses unrelated to campaigning.
For their part, Democrats said their intention was to stop the vote temporarily in order to bring the matter to national attention, indicating that the use of redistricting -- which they contend would cause some Black and Latino politicians to lose their Congressional seats -- was racist.
The issue did get national attention, with Governor Newsom saying he'll reset districts in California in reaction to Texas efforts, Newsom saying he'll allot more seats to Democrats to offset the 5 extra seats Texas plans to give to Republicans.
But now a second special session of the Legislature is getting underway, with the House of Representatives convening on Monday; Texas Democrats are expected to start returning to their posts at the Capitol, ostensibly because they've made their point about redistricting.
It's also possible they're running out of money, or they're concerned about the $500 a day fines they're incurring each day for missing the session, or the orders from Gov. Greg Abbott to Texas Rangers and other law enforcement officers to arrest the runaway Democrats and bring them to the Legislature.
And then there's the needless cost of the second special session, caused by the Democrats' walkout, costs which likely run in the millions.
Whatever the case, it looks like a vote on redistricting is on the way in Texas Legislature. It's just a month and a million or more dollars late.