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March 18, 2017      10:15 AM

Kolkhorst helped slip $5 million project for Lucio into budget after he was lone Dem to support SB 6

After bathroom bill vote, Sen. Kolkhorst sponsored what conservatives would certainly call “pork” for Lucio’s district; the senator from Brenham’s office calls it “common practice”

After Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, became the lone Senate Democrat to support the “bathroom bill,” many in his own party accused the South Texas lawmaker of being a “complete sellout.” He was taking so much heat from fellow Democrats, in fact, that his son Rep. Eddie Lucio III came to his defense in a passionate plea for civil disagreement.

“My father preached love and service in my house growing up, and although I sincerely believe that his position is not rooted in hate, it is still wrong and will create adversity for many,” Rep. Lucio said, adding that he completely disagrees with his father on Senate Bill 6. Their family quarrel has drawn national attention.

Now Quorum Report has learned that the day after the bathroom bill was finally passed by the Senate, SB6’s author Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, sponsored a rider quietly slipped into the upper chamber’s version of the state’s spending plan to shell out $5 million during a tight budget year for a project her fellow conservatives would most assuredly call “pork” in Lucio’s district.

The rider would appropriate $5 million for a Center for Urban Ecology at Quinta Mazatlan in the Rio Grande Valley. Quinta Mazatlan, by the way, is a historic adobe mansion and nature and birding center in McAllen.

By Scott Braddock

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