Posted on 01/27/2012 5:21:34 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
CORPUS CHRISTI — Candidate: Solomon Ortiz Jr.
Medium: online newsletter, dated Jan. 24
Claim 1: "The United States Department of Justice is concerned that the Republican-drawn map violates the rights of voters in House District 33, my old seat. Our very own delegation even voted to erase the local district!"
Fact check: True. House District 33 vanished, its precincts folded into Rep. Todd Hunter's District 32 or Rep. Connie Scott's District 34, under the map that Torres, Scott and Hunter all voted for during the 82nd legislative session. The map has faced legal challenges under federal voting laws from the moment the gavel fell on the final House vote approving its passage. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia included House District 33 in Nueces County as one of several in Texas where Hispanic voters may have lost their collective voice when the district was eliminated.
Claim 2: "Last Friday, January 20th, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected both the Republican-drawn maps and maps drawn by Federal Judges in a San Antonio Court."
Fact check: False. The unanimous Supreme Court opinion dealt with the state's motion to block the use of temporary maps drawn by a three-judge federal panel in San Antonio, not the state-drawn maps that currently are suspended pending the outcome of trials to determine whether they meet the requirements of the Voting Rights Act.
The Supreme Court on several occasions alluded both to the Legislature's central role in the map-drawing process and that the state's maps should be used as at least a template for those drawn by the court:
"Because the District Court here had the benefit of a recently enacted plan to assist it, the court had neither the need nor the license to cast aside that vital aid," read the 11-page opinion.
The San Antonio court drew temporary maps to ensure elections could be held should the state-drawn maps not be approved or replaced in time for Texas' primary deadlines.
Ortiz complains that the local delegation voted to erase his seat, but they had no choice. Due to higher population growth in other parts of the state, Nueces County only had enough population to qualify for 2.04 state house districts. After the 2000 census we had enough population for 2.4 districts. We no longer have enough population to have 3 representatives.
Ping!
Any gerrymandered democrat district going away is almost always a good thing.. anywhere, anyplace, for almost any reason..
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