A Democratic judge in Texas apologized Friday for saying the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, ‘hates trees because one fell on him,’ a reference to an accident 35 years ago which left Abbott paralyzed.
Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt made the quip during a discussion at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin about the Texas Legislature overriding local ordinances such one in the state capital regarding the cutting down of trees.. Eckhardt’s comment drew laughs from the panel’s audience.
At #TribFest19 panel on progressive activism, @JudgeEckhardt, talking about #txlege overriding local ordinances like Austin’s tree ordinance, says Gov. Abbott “hates trees because one fell on him.” The crowd laughs.
— John Daniel Davidson (@johnddavidson) September 27, 2019
The comment was first reported in a tweet by The Federalist political editor John Daniel Davidson.
“In my panel today at the Texas Tribune Festival on ‘Public Enragement’ I spoke about the importance of being able to disagree without being disagreeable. Then I said something disagreeable,” Eckhardt said in a statement, according to The Texas Tribune. “I want to apologize to Governor Abbott. I made a flippant comment that was inappropriate. The comment did nothing to further the debate I was participating in, much less further the political discourse in our community, state, and nation. While the Governor and I disagree on a number of issues, that is no excuse to be disagreeable.” – READ MORE