Reason number 453 Frank Madla is an asshole

Dave McNeely covers it:

Frank Madla, D-San Antonio -- won't be back because he lost the Democratic primary. Shortly later, Madla decided he'd resign as of May 31. That means the district will probably go unrepresented until at least November, since Gov. Rick Perry will probably wait to have the replacement special election the same day as the Nov. 7 general election.

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Why leave the citizens of the 19th District unrepresented for that period?

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Madla had more than 60,000 other reasons for quitting besides returning the single-digit salute to the voters that spurned him. Those are the additional dollars more he'll collect as a retired senator for the last seven months of 2006 than he would as an active one.

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Another reason to quit: he could join the dozens of former state legislators who make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year as lobbyists.

Say "Senator'' in the lobby outside the Senate when it's in session, and a bunch of heads will turn -- most of them attached to former senators.

Madla hasn't said what he'll do after quits. But if he plans to lobby, his early adios would let him start a lobbying business well before the 2007 Legislature is sworn in.

But, what about those 700,000-plus folks in a senatorial district that stretches from San Antonio to El Paso, bigger than several states?

Tough cookies, folks.