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Tension may soar as map debate hits House floor - Texas redistricting
Associated Press ^ | July 7, 2003 | Associated Press Staff

Posted on 07/07/2003 6:21:30 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP


Tension may soar as map debate hits House floor

07/07/2003

Associated Press

AUSTIN – In the last round, Democrats in the Texas House battled a congressional redistricting bill by fleeing to Oklahoma. They aren't divulging what they'll do when the House fight resumes Monday.

"Show up and find out," Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco, leader of the House Democratic Caucus, said before the July Fourth weekend.

It's certain to get nasty.

Also Online
Maps:
Current Texas Congressional districts
Proposed Texas Congressional districts
Special Session: Redistricting hearing schedule, summary, maps
(from the Texas Legialtive Council)
More Politics

That's been the tone for the last week, since a special legislative session for congressional redistricting began.

The GOP is gunning for a grip on the 32-member Texas delegation in Congress. Democrats hold a 17-15 advantage, but Republicans – urged on by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Sugar Land – say existing congressional boundaries don't allow for the election of Congress members who reflect the state's increasingly GOP voting patterns.

"We just want lines that are more fair than they are now," said state Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock, on the House Redistricting Committee.

On Saturday, in a mostly party-line vote, the panel approved a plan that supporters say could allow for the election of as many as 21 Republicans from Texas to Congress. The proposal moves to the full House, where the GOP is in control, 88-62.

The Calendars Committee on Sunday set House floor debate for Monday.

Calendars chairwoman Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, said she expects a tense atmosphere in the full House.

"Judging by the committee hearings, I'm sure there will be lots of objections," Ms. Woolley said. "But I believe we've got a map that does represent the population of the state."

It was one of several maps the redistricting committee considered last week. Its author, Rep. Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington, said his plan was fair. He said it would allow for effective rural representation and improve on a previous Republican map by ensuring that minority communities in Waco are not divided.

Most Democrats on the committee cried foul. Rep. Richard Raymond of Laredo said the proposal would eliminate rural and minority representation across Texas.

He has accused Republican lawmakers of trying to create "political ghettos" where minorities have no voice.

Any redistricting plan must receive approval from the Department of Justice that it is fair to minorities under the federal Voting Rights Act. New congressional lines also would probably be challenged in court.

Mr. Raymond has continuously argued with Republicans on the redistricting committee and repeatedly suggested that Chairman Joe Crabb, R-Atascocita, had discriminated against Hispanics during the process.

Mr. Raymond questioned whether public hearings provided sufficient access for Spanish speakers. He criticized Mr. Crabb for asking a Hispanic Korean War veteran who was testifying to provide his Social Security number. Mr. Raymond said that was inappropriate.

After Saturday's committee meeting, Mr. Raymond said he might have the grounds for a "point of order" – a parliamentary move to stall debate on the bill – because he was not recognized by Mr. Crabb to continue discussion on Mr. Grusendorf's proposal.

In May during the regular legislative session, 51 Democratic legislators staged a walkout to prevent a quorum in the House, blocking a vote on redistricting.

The lawmakers traveled to Ardmore, Okla., and stayed in a Holiday Inn for four days. They were beyond the state line so Texas troopers couldn't bring them back, as ordered by Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick.

A similar tactic isn't likely this time, said Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, the only dissenting vote on the Calendars Committee on Sunday.


Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/070703dntexredist.534ae.html


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: democrats; redistricting; republicans; texas

1 posted on 07/07/2003 6:21:30 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: yall
Texas Redistricting Articles:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/k-redistricting/browse
2 posted on 07/07/2003 6:25:30 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP (Bu-bye Dixie Chimps! / Coming Soon !: Freeper site on Comcast. Found the URL. Gotta fix it now.)
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To: yall
Here is a list of recent articles on Redistricting:

FR Search: Keyword "Redistricting"

07-07-2003
Tension may soar as map debate hits House floor - Texas redistricting


07-06-2003
House panel quickly passes Republican redistricting plan -
map likely to unseat six Democrats


07-04-2003
New GOP map restores (Rep. Martin Frost's) district


07-03-2003
Republicans pull proposed map - redistricting


07-03-2003
Chamber of Commerce and GI Forum Hire Temps to Testify


07-02-2003
The Great Texas Power Grab - redistricting


07-01-2003
Tx Democrats Trying Fight, Not Flight, Over Districts
(The-Terrific-Texan-Special-Session)



3 posted on 07/07/2003 6:47:08 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP (Bu-bye Dixie Chimps! / Coming Soon !: Freeper site on Comcast. Found the URL. Gotta fix it now.)
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To: MeeknMing
Good. Hopefully when we pack the house and senate further with R's in '04 we will get something besides more affirmative action nonsense and sodomy protections for all our efforts. The tax cut was nice, but there are so many big issues the R's are not getting the job done on it's rather discouraging.
4 posted on 07/07/2003 7:00:25 AM PDT by Jack Black
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To: yall
From the Houston Comical:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/1982414


July 7, 2003, 9:12AM

Redistricting plan set for debate

House Democrats promise a fight, urge Senate colleagues to block bill

By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN -- A Republican congressional redistricting bill is set for full House debate today -- 57 days after Texas Democrats created a political legend by killing a similar measure with a dramatic regular session walkout.

The House Calendars Committee on Sunday formally set the special session debate of a proposed new map of the state's congressional district boundaries. Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, was absent from the meeting.

Democrats say a walkout is impractical to stop this House debate. But they vowed to fight the measure vociferously, even knowing the Republican majority will pass the measure in the House and send it to the state Senate.

"We can't just roll over. We can't just hand it to them," said Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, the only calendars committee member to vote against debate.

Menendez said that soon it will be Senate Democrats' turn to block redistricting.

"Many of my colleagues already have put their careers at risk with the last walkout," Menendez said. "I hope we can count on our Democratic colleagues to stand by the people in Texas and not allow the train to run over ... us."

Prospects for redistricting remain uncertain in the state Senate. A two-thirds majority of the 31-member body is required to bring a bill up for debate, and so far four swing votes (three Democratic, one Republican) remain undecided.

State Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, the map sponsor, said his mission is political: "My objective always has been to send more Republicans to the United States Congress."

Democrats hold a 17-15 majority in the state's congressional delegation. The map before the House likely would result in a 21-11 Republican majority after next year's elections by dividing minority populations and shifting dominant voting populations from rural to suburban areas.

Democrats who likely would lose their seats under the Republican map include U.S. Reps. Max Sandlin of Marshall, Jim Turner of Crockett, Nick Lampson of Beaumont, Ralph Hall of Rockwall, Charles Stenholm of Abilene and Chet Edwards of Waco.

The strongest argument Democrats make against the map is that it may violate minority voting rights protected by federal law.

Democrats say black voters make a difference in electing some white Democratic representatives and that blacks and Hispanics have their interests better represented by Democrats.

Almost 1 million blacks and Hispanics live in the districts of six Anglo Democratic congressmen who likely would lose re-election under the proposed Republican redistricting plan.

Any map approved by the Legislature will face scrutiny under the Voting Rights Act by the U.S. Justice Department and the federal courts.

Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, a redistricting committee member, said the Republican proposal for dividing up Lampson's 9th District is a violation of the act.

She said Beaumont is split to put black voters into two proposed Republican districts, a redesigned 9th and a new 4th District that would include Lampson's residence.

And she said blacks and Hispanics in Galveston are taken out of Lampson's current 9th District and put into House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's proposed 22nd District.

"It puts the African-Americans in Galveston County into Mr. Tom DeLay's district, where you know they will have absolutely no influence," McClendon said. "It takes away the voting rights of those citizens who have worked so hard to keep from being disenfranchised."

King said his plan does not violate federal law.

An issue that divides the minority community is whether minorities are better represented by having white Democrats in several districts supported by minorities or by having fewer districts that elect minority politicians.

``We cannot afford to trade six or seven congress-people that vote in the interests of minority people for one minority incumbent,'' said Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston.

During a recent congressional redistricting hearing in Houston, the issue set off a heated exchange between state Reps. Garnet Coleman and Ron Wilson, both Houston Democrats.

Coleman accused Wilson of "shilling" for the Republicans and noted he drives a 2000 Lamborghini. Wilson responded that Coleman has worked as a consultant to Democratic campaigns.

Wilson said he believes blacks are better represented by one of their own than a white Democrat.

Wilson said he supports the Republican map because it turns District 25, now held by Democratic Rep. Chris Bell, into a district that could be won by a black politician. The map moves Bell's residence out of the district. Bell could move back in and likely win re-election, except he would be vulnerable to a Democratic primary challenge from a black politician.

"I like the fact it (the Republican map) creates another opportunity district in Harris County," Wilson said. "The population has always been there, and they (Democrats) would never draw it. They (Republicans) have finally drawn it."

Wilson's House district is completely within the proposed new 25th District, but he said he will not run for Congress if the map passes.

"I'm going to stay home," Wilson said.

The redrawing of legislative or congressional district boundaries usually is as inside baseball as politics gets.

But when 55 Democrats shut the House down in May to kill a Republican-backed plan, the nation's eyes turned to Texas politics.

Gov. Rick Perry revived redistricting by calling the current special session after consulting with DeLay, R-Sugar Land, and White House political adviser Karl Rove. President Bush, the state's former governor, publicly has expressed indifference to redistricting in Texas.

But the outcome of the fight is crucial to Republicans who hold just a 12-seat majority in the U.S. House and where the president's agenda sometimes passes by less than five votes.

Democrats call the Republican effort nothing less than a "power grab" by DeLay.

"The House redistricting process is a corrupt, partisan exercise driven by Republicans who brazenly shut out the voices of the people and turn their full attention to Tom DeLay's call," said House Redistricting Committee member Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo.

Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, said DeLay's push for a Republican redistricting plan is no different from when Democratic delegation leader U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, D-Arlington, orchestrated a 1991 redistricting that the National Journal called the worst gerrymander in U.S. history.

"Another Republican can't get elected, although we have almost 60 percent of the votes cast" in congressional races in Texas, said Berman,who lost a 1978 congressional race to Frost. "The lines were drawn by Democrats for Democrats. Now, after 130 years, it's our turn to draw the lines."

While each congressional district contains about 651,619 people, voter turnout in Democratic districts in 2002 was far less than turnout in Republican districts.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, received more than 139,000 votes in winning re-election against a token opponent. Bell won election to Congress in a contested race with about 63,000 votes.

The 1991 map was the basis for current congressional boundaries drawn by a three-judge federal court in 2001 when the Legislature failed to act.


5 posted on 07/07/2003 3:44:09 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP (Bu-bye Dixie Chimps! / Coming Soon !: Freeper site on Comcast. Found the URL. Gotta fix it now.)
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To: Jack Black
I've been searching on and off today, and not ONE WORD on what's going on in Austin today.
6 posted on 07/07/2003 3:49:35 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP (Bu-bye Dixie Chimps! / Coming Soon !: Freeper site on Comcast. Found the URL. Gotta fix it now.)
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To: Jack Black; yall
I'm on Channel 5 here in D/FW and they said that the House started debate around 2:30 today. Looks like the 'RATS are stalling in the debate, taking issue with every little thing, even WHETHER it is the Legislature's responsibility to take up the issue. Sheesh !!

They also said that it is expected to pass the House, but that the REAL fight will be in the Senate. They could possibly work on it in the Senate yet today, they reported.


7 posted on 07/07/2003 4:11:32 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP (Bu-bye Dixie Chimps! / Coming Soon !: Freeper site on Comcast. Found the URL. Gotta fix it now.)
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