Crash Kills Texas Lawmaker

A member of the Texas House of Representatives died early Friday when he flipped his pickup truck after attending an NBA playoff game here. The accident injured a second legislator, along with another lawmaker’s chief of staff.

Rep. Joseph Moreno, 40, a Democrat who had represented a working-class, largely Latino district on Houston’s East Side since 1998, was pronounced dead at the scene, said Tom Vinger, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman.

Moreno had attended Thursday night’s playoff game between the Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks with Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchia of Dallas, 36, and Monica Lisa Pinon, 26, chief of staff for Rep. Joseph Pickett (D-El Paso).

The three were driving back to Austin, the state capital, when Moreno swiped a grassy median dividing Texas Highway 71, Vinger said. He then apparently overcorrected, causing the truck to flip several times.

Anchia and Pinon were taken to an Austin hospital. Anchia was treated and released. Pinon reportedly underwent surgery and was in fair condition.

All three were wearing seat belts, Vinger said. As a matter of policy, he added, the state is investigating whether alcohol was a factor in the accident.

House Speaker Tom Craddick adjourned the legislative session until Monday. Yellow roses were placed on Moreno’s desk. Several of his colleagues, some weeping, gathered in prayer.

“What a loss,” said Gerry Birnberg, chairman of the Democratic Party in Harris County, which includes Houston and most of Moreno’s district. “This was a 40-year-old man with such a bright future in front of him, such a leader.”

Moreno represented the diverse, industrial communities east of Houston, a district where the per capita income is almost half the state average.

In his four terms, Moreno shepherded an eclectic mix of legislation.

He helped expand the Port of Houston, declaring it an international coffee exchange site, and was frequently involved in the oversight of higher education.

This year he had written proposals that would, among other things, tighten restrictions on ticket scalping and increase penalties when a criminal offense, such as a theft, took place in the wake of a hurricane or flood.

He often collaborated with Republicans, but could be fiercely partisan. He was, for example, an enthusiastic participant when Democrats fled in 2003 to Oklahoma in an effort to block a GOP redistricting plan.

Recently, with many of his constituents concerned about poor air quality that plagues Houston, Moreno had become increasingly involved in environmental oversight.

His efforts to push through provisions that would have cracked down on polluters and provided more monitoring of toxic emissions were defeated this week.

But he had recorded some environmental victories, most recently persuading officials to tear down a contaminated building in his district, community activist Joe Padilla said.

“He was genuinely concerned for the public,” Padilla said. “We have lost a true friend.”