State Rep. Suleman Lalani experienced constant surveillance by a plainclothes Department of Public Safety officer in Austin, including at a Capitol eatery, his hotel, and during his departure. Lalani and about two dozen House Democrats had traveled to Illinois to break quorum and block Republican redistricting legislation. Most of those Democrats signed permission slips agreeing to remain in DPS custody until the next session, while Rep. Nicole Collier refused and spent the night on the House floor. Several lawmakers later tore up their slips and returned in solidarity. Lalani described the escort as bullying and regretted consenting to it.
When he headed to lunch at the eatery inside the Capitol - downing a chili dog and bowl of tortilla soup - the man sat a couple tables away. When he went to fetch dirty laundry from his nearby hotel room, the man followed in a gray pickup. And when the lawmaker-physician headed back toward Houston on Tuesday afternoon, to see elderly patients in his suburban district, the plainclothes officer was close behind.
All but one of those House Democrats -Rep. Nicole Collier, a Fort Worth lawyer - had signed "permission slips" agreeing to remain in the custody of a DPS officer until they returned for the chamber's next session on Wednesday. A half-dozen later tore up the slips and returned Tuesday to the Capitol in solidarity with Collier, who was spending a second night, with a sleep mask and blanket, at her desk on the House floor.
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