Over the Lege, The Live Podcast!

This is our first bonus episode of Over the Lege - we’re calling the series "Under The Lege" and we're going to do some deep dives into moments of Texas State Legislature Lore that come up during our Over The Lege Podcast episodes. In the second podcast episode of this season with legislative guest Andy Cates on October 29th, we briefly mentioned that there had been a fire in the Lt. Governor’s apartment back in the 1980s. So Stephanie Chiarello decided to do some research on the fire and report her findings back to you. Enjoy!

The official story can be found at these links:

https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/07/us/around-the-nation-fire-kills-a-guest-in-the-texas-capitol.html

https://www.kut.org/austin/2015-02-04/wayback-wednesday-the-capitol-fire-of-1983

https://tspb.texas.gov/prop/tc/tc-history/restoration/index.html

The "Only Murders in the Building" version of the story was found at the blog:

"Babylon On The Colorado" - Posted on the blog, Texas Mostly, on May 6, 2019

Every fifteen minutes of the day a tour begins on the first floor of the Capitol. The guides are mostly fresh-scrubbed college students, young women in identical skirts and white blouses, and the young men in button-down shirts with conservative striped ties. They begin at the south foyer offering visitors a view of the flags carved in the marble floor representing the six countries that have, at one time or another, ruled Texas. It’s the original granite-faced big house, completed in 1888, by prison labor and Scottish stonemasons, paid for by a swap of 3,000,000 acres of public land in West Texas – an area twice the size of Delaware – that remains the soul of the state.

From the rotunda, the guide leads the way to the Senate floor. When the Legislature is not in session, tourists oooh and aaah over the paintings of heroes and ask more questions. Except for the velour ropes and portraits of dead white men on the walls the Senate chamber has the feel of a bordello parlour. The tour leaders were previously warned by the Preservation Board, responsible for the Capitol’s maintenance, “Do not add material or stories to your tour that are not in your packet. If someone asks you a question that you don’t have information on, tell them to stop by our office after the tour and we will try to answer it." Nowadays a little adlibbing is permitted. Invariably it’s in the back of the mind of any Texan of a certain age that a fire took place on the Senate side – a very destructive fire in which someone died. The occasional tourist may even know that the fire led to the renovation of the capital and eventually, in a sense, to the creation of the extension. “Wasn’t it something about an apartment?” visitors may ask, referring to the origin of the blaze. It was so long ago that details only buzz vaguely in the back of minds, as a sense more than a concrete knowing.

If the visitor asks how the fire started the official story is that a television set shorted out in what was then the Lieutenant Governor’s apartment behind the Senate floor. Specifically, it was a Zenith TV although that’s not mentioned. The set originally cost $425 and had a “self-extinguishing cabinet,” which isn’t mentioned either, yet it spontaneously melted down and almost took the soul of Texas with it.

That's the official story.

It has survived three decades, but in recent years old evidence that was obscured has come to light – and a key witness spoke a few words before dying. Both contradicted the official explanation. The official story of the Capitol fire now appears to be exactly what it is, a complete fabrication told to protect a very powerful political family – a family that has included a governor and lieutenant governor and once defined the Texas establishment the way the Bushes now do.Actually, two people died in the fire. One of the victims of the Capitol fire was a 23-year-old horse trainer from a barn in New Caney, outside Houston, who succumbed to smoke inhalation on February 6, 1983, in a bedroom of the then-Lieutenant Governor Hobbyr’s then-apartment, behind the Senate chamber. The other was a Capitol policeman who breathed his last breath after a minor car accident in Guanajuato, down on Mexico’s central plateau, a year later.

Those are the latest two victims of the Texas myth – or in this case the Texas lie.

February 5, 1983:

The 68th session of the Legislature had just begun and Lt. Gov William P. Hobby was in town, staying at a duplex he shared with his ...

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Show dates:

Friday, September 16th at 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, September 17th at 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, September 18th at 8:00 p.m.

Special Guests:

Senator Sarah Eckhardt - Friday

Representative Gina Hinojosa - Saturday

Representative Erin Zwiener - Sunday

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Cast:

Host: Stephanie Chiarello

Comedians: Aaron Salinas

Shawn Fernando

Special Guest: Monty Exter, ATPE Director

Announcer: Debbie Odette

Writers:

Stephanie C.

Shawn Fernando

Joe Green

Amy K.

Carolyn Kelleher

Show Notes:

Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/overthelege

• all the podcasts.
• our FB page
• our website.
• our Youtube channel.
• our patreon.
• our Twitter.
• our Insta.
• Our TikTok.
• Our Reddit.
• Our newsletter signup
• Come see our live show! October 11-13th, 2024 at the Scottish Rite Theater in Austin, Texas.

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STARRING

John Moritz - He's covered two major-party national conventions, three governors, five lieutenant governors, five House speakers and more mass shootings and executions than he cares to recall over the course of 14 legislative sessions and interims.The bulk of is time in Austin was spent with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, but since 2016 John has been a Capitol correspondent for the USA Today Network where his stories regularly appear in about a dozen Texas newspapers and occasionally in the national publication. His political column runs on Page 2 of the Sunday in the print editions of the Austin American-Statesman and in sundry USA Today Network papers.

Aaron Salinas - Aaron is a writer, actor, director and all around fun guy between the hours of 8-9 central time. He loves to share a laugh with folks almost as much as he loves to share a meal with them. A native Texan with a penchant for good times and good BBQ, if you can't find Aaron on Over The Lege, he's either at a storytelling show, or playing with his sweet pup, Mango. She'd love to meet you too.

Paul Normandin - Paul is a large man with a big mouth who loves to tell stories to anyone who can’t outrun him. Paul is an award winning storyteller, an improvisational comedian, actor, producer, and the Dean of the Merlin Works Institute for Improvisation. When not on a stage, in a classroom, or playing Ultimate Frisbee, Paul loves to go bicycle riding with one of his best friends.

With announcer, Amy Lowrey, and host, Stephanie Chiarello.

Games Played: Wrote or Wroten't and Bill or Bluff.

Most KnowLEGEable Comedian:

Edited by: Aaron Salinas and Stephanie Chiarello

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• Come see our live show! October 11-13th, 2024 at the Scottish Rite Theater in Austin, Texas.

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Charlie Bonner is a youth voting rights advocate and communications professional working to engage a new generation of civic leaders. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Charlie majored in government and Plan II Honors where his thesis, A Republic If You Can Jeep It, was awarded the Lois Baird Trice Prize for Creative Scholarship after he drove 10,000 miles across the country to interview strangers about democracy.

Currently, Charlie runs state-wide communications and outreach at MOVE Texas, a non-partisan non-profit dedicated to empowering young people in civic life and tearing down barriers to the ballot box. As a spokesperson for the voting rights movement, he frequently appears in local and national outlets including The Texas Tribune, The New York Times, National Geographic, CNN, and MSNBC.

Cast:
Host: Stephanie Chiarello
Comedians: Dave Ronn & Kirsten Anderson
Special Guest: Charlie Bonner
Announcer: Jasmine Owen
Podcast Editor: Tom Booker
Writers:
Stephanie Chiarello, Amy K.

• all the podcasts.
• our FB page
• our website.
• our Youtube channel.
• our patreon.
• our Twitter.
• our Insta.
• Our TikTok.
• Our Reddit.
• Our newsletter signup
• Come see our live show! October 11-13th, 2024 at the Scottish Rite Theater in Austin, Texas.

.