Seliger stops in Odessa

State Sen. Kel Seliger gave thanks several times to Rep. Buddy West at Thursday’s town hall meeting at Odessa College — both for what he has and hasn’t done.

“I applaud him not saying anything about senators and airport bathrooms,” Seliger, R-Amarillo, said. “I flew from here to Arizona recently and never got near the airport bathroom.”

Seliger was joking about the trouble U.S. Sen. Larry Craig is facing after his arrest in an airport restroom.

But Seliger took pride in work he and the Odessa state representative had done for education in the 80th legislative session. This included his part in passing a bill changing standardized testing from the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills to end-of-course tests.

“Some schools are completely taken over by the TAKS test,” he said. “It was a bad system and it needed to be replaced.”

Kopia Keculah, a student at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, said he liked what Seliger had to say.

“I feel the same way as him,” he said. “It’s overforced, teaching to the test.”

Seliger also took questions on legislation involving the Texas Youth Commission, eminent domain and illegal immigration.

“We have laws against it,” he said of the latter. “And those laws must be enforced. Period.”

With Odessa reeling from the fatal shootings of three police officers, Seliger said state lawmakers could only do so much to prevent future incidents.

“One of the most dangerous situations for police officers is domestic violence — that’s not going to change,” he said. “There’s three counts of capital murder. We have laws against domestic violence, but people still commit it.”

Seliger said this is about his eighth stop on his tour of the 26 counties he serves. About 60 people showed up for the question and answer session, but he said he’s just as happy to speak to constituents over the phone.

“It’s great,” he said. “It’s a good turnout by people obviously interested in their community and their state.”