My Dear Billy Clyde

May God bless Jim Warren who passed away yesterday from complications of liver disease. He was 42. Jim was a friend who served as an able political consultant and a very humorous blogger. It was this Saturday Night Live video that was his inspiration for the Billy Clyde Political Hot Tub Party weblog that was widely read by many at the capitol when they wanted a good laugh.

Karen Brooks at the Dallas Morning News reports that Jim "had liver problems for the last 15 or so months, and was in the hospital for the last 12 days or so, and wasn't a good candidate for a transplant partly because he hadn't gotten treatment soon enough."

It was like yesterday that Jim Warren aka "Billy Clyde" walked into my office and revealed his alter ego as the humorous political observer:

"Yesterday was a long and busy day - interviewing committee staff, receiving constituents, reviewing bills, meeting with stakeholders from the legal community. At the end of the day, a special visitor stopped by the capitol office. For those of you who read other blogs following the goings on at the state capitol, you may have paid a visit to Mr. Billy Clyde's blog.

Since Billy Clyde is a pseudonym I did not know my visitor was the illustrious observer of all things political at the capitol until he identified himself as the anonymous writer. We exchanged a few pleasantries and admirations but before you knew it the ever pressing demands of office abruptly ended our visit. My thanks to the political humorist and keen observer of our capitol for his visit to our humble office. I will continue to look forward to reading Mr. Hot Tub's observations as we plow through the rest of the session."

Jim visited my office often, not just because he was a good advocate for issues before the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee but because he was fun to be with. He always had a humorous story to tell and knew all the goings on at the capitol.

After he told me back in February of 2007 he was the blogger Billy Clyde our visits became more frequent. It was a small innocuous hobby that we both enjoyed in our free time. Each time I saw him I kidded him with the Eddie Murphy intro from the hot tub video.

I had heard Jim was ill through his friends but in all the time we spent together I never once heard him complain about his health or that he was dealt a raw deal. He was just Jim, light hearted, fun loving Jim.

Sorry we lost you so soon. Thanks for making a sometimes way too serious six months into a serious but more enjoyable experience.

As a fellow blogger at Letters from Texas recently put it, "Mr. Clyde has left the hot tub." Thanks for the memories Jim. Keep them laughing buddy.