The Texas Tribune reports that the Texas Rangers will be investigating the American Phoenix Foundation’s practice of secretly taping Texas Legislators.  The right-wing group has apparently been taping the lawmakers to find out if they are conservative enough and ostensibly to use the videos to support campaigns of Tea Party primary opponents for incumbent Republicans.

But the real news is that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick knew about the surreptitious videos and simply chose to not tell anybody about it.

A senior staffer for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick was told by DPS about the secret tapings but senators were not told of it at the time “because no senators were believed to have been targeted by the group.” One senator, Houston Democrat Rodney Ellis, said Monday, “I would have preferred to have known if it was a possibility.”

In the words of Al Czervik, “Now I know why tigers eat their young.”