May 16, 2014 8:56 PM

Sen. Patrick tried to commit suicide by overdose and slitting of wrists, records show

Patterson: “Texas is too important for me to remain silent”; Patrick says Patterson and Dewhurst “Have sunk deeper into the mire”

In a fight that’s fast become one of the most bitter battles many veteran observers of Texas politics say they’ve seen, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson released a new round of documents late Friday that show Sen. Dan Patrick suffered from “severe depression” and tried to kill himself in the 1980’s.

Medical records – which in this case are able to be made public because they were part of the depositions in a civil trial initiated by Patrick – are at times difficult to read and are often convoluted because they are the notes of medical professionals trying to help a troubled patient. Regardless, Patterson maintains they contain information that the "voters of Texas need to know.”

As QR reported Thursday night, Sen. Patrick said in a videotaped deposition that he had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital in the 80’s because of “fatigue” and he was there to rest. In that deposition, Patrick denied he had had any psychological problems. In a Thursday statement, Patrick’s chief strategist Allen Blakemore blasted the campaign of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for the release of the information and said Patrick had only suffered “minor depression,” for which he sought help.

But, the documents made public by Patterson on Friday tell a different story.

By Scott Braddock and Harvey Kronberg