Texas lawmaker risks health for voter-ID bill

AUSTIN, Texas — Against his doctor's advice, a stooped and feeble Sen. Mario Gallegos arrives at the state Capitol each day, just to make sure the Senate does not take up a bill that would require voters to produce ID at the polls.

And when the rigors of the job start to wear on the Houston Democrat, whose body is rejecting a liver transplanted four months ago, he retires to a hospital-style bed — donated by a Republican colleague — in a room next to the Senate chamber.

From there, he can be summoned at a moment's notice should his vote be needed.

In a life-and-death drama playing out under the Capitol dome, Gallegos is putting his health at risk to block a measure that he and others say could prevent many minorities and the elderly from taking part in elections in Texas.

"If there was enough votes to block, I promise I wouldn't be here," he said from his bed, his slumped shoulders and tired, jaundiced eyes making him look much older than his 56 years. The once-burly lawmaker is now thin, his skin hanging loosely.

In the Texas Senate, bills cannot move forward unless 21 of the 31 senators vote to bring them up for debate. The Democrats hold 11 seats, just enough to block a bill if they stick together.

Gallegos, a recovering alcoholic whose liver was ruined by drink, received the transplant two weeks into the five-month legislative session that ends on Monday. He returned to the Capitol 13 weeks later just to stop the voter-ID bill.

Now he is dealing with symptoms of organ rejection and the exhaustion of the job.

He is taking medication to keep the organ rejection under control. But his doctors say he should be resting and should be within 100 miles of the hospital where he received the transplant in case something goes wrong. Austin is about 160 miles from the hospital in Houston.

The Republicans pushing the voter-ID bill say illegal immigrants are voting in Texas elections and must be stopped. But Democrats say thousands of legal residents will lose the right to vote because they lack proper identification. Opponents of the measure — including Gallegos, a Mexican-American — say minorities, the elderly and the poor are less likely than others to have driver's licenses or other documents.

Most of Gallegos' Houston-area constituents are black or Hispanic, and about a quarter of them live in poverty. About one in five speak little or no English.

So the retired firefighter starts his mornings with 10 pills and a visit to the Capitol nurse to check his blood-glucose levels. He visits the nurse for similar blood tests twice more throughout the day, and periodically gives himself shots of insulin.

Then it's another seven pills before crashing into bed at his Austin apartment at about 8 p.m.

When the Senate is in session, he sometimes retires to his bed in the sergeant-at-arms' office.

"I just want to take care of him," said Sen. Robert Deuell, who provided the bed and is also a family physician. "He's going to come one way or another, so I just figured I'd make it easy for him."