Committee passes redistricting bill07/23/2003
By WAYNE SLATER and GROMER JEFFERS Jr. / The Dallas Morning News
Despite opposition from Democrats, a Senate committee on Wednesday approved a bill to redraw congressional districts that would likely give the Texas GOP an advantage in Washington.
The Senate Jurisprudence Committee passed the measure on a 4-3 vote that fell along party lines.
Sen. Todd Staples of Palestine, who chairs the Senate Republican Caucus, sponsored the bill and encouraged his colleagues to work with him as the bill makes its way to the floor.
| • The Senate signed off on House legislation that restores the election date for primary runoffs to the second Tuesday in April. Lawmakers inadvertently set two runoff primary election dates during the regular session, which ended in June. • The bill also restores the first Saturday in May as a uniform election date and creates one deadline for late overseas mail ballots in all elections to address confusion created in previous elections. The governor is expected to sign the bill when it reaches him. • With redistricting stalled in the Senate, some lawmakers have said the special session may end earlier than Tuesday, when the 30-day session is scheduled to expire. But Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said several bills the Senate has approved must go to the House for consideration. Plus, the Senate has not approved a sweeping government reorganization bill already approved by the House. "I just think going forward and concluding the business we have in front of us will take us through Monday or Tuesday," Mr. Dewhurst said. |
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"My door is open," Staples said. "I want to be completely unambiguous. Come join us."
The map's future after a committee vote is uncertain.
Eleven Senate Democrats and one Republican have said they are opposed to taking up redistricting. Under Senate rules, two-thirds of the chamber, or 21 senators, must support a bill for it to be debated. Opposition from 12 senators is enough to kill the bill in the 31-member chamber.
Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick said Tuesday that he expects Gov. Rick Perry to summon lawmakers back into special session next week, and he predicted quick action on a new congressional map.
"We'll go back into session on Tuesday for a second special session and will wind up passing a congressional redistricting plan," Mr. Craddick told delegates at a national legislative conference in San Francisco.
The Republican House speaker conceded that efforts to redraw congressional lines are stalled in the current special session in Austin. He said Texas lawmakers likely will adjourn by Tuesday, then be called back immediately.
"We are committed to pass a plan that basically makes our congressional delegation reflect the makeup of the population of Texas," Mr. Craddick said.
Intentions
Mr. Craddick's comments – which came during his appearance on a panel on redistricting at a meeting of the National Conference of States Legislatures – were the clearest indication yet that Republican leaders plan to immediately ram through a GOP-backed map to increase Republican seats in Congress in the probable second special session.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has said that in such a session, he would dispense with the Senate's requirement of a two-thirds vote before a bill can be considered – removing the main roadblock to a map in the current special session.
"This whole process can take days, not weeks, not a month," he said Tuesday.
A spokeswoman said Mr. Perry is considering calling lawmakers right back into session if no redistricting bill passes before the House and Senate must adjourn by midnight Tuesday.
"But no decision has been made," Kathy Walt said.
Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, warned again that abandoning the Senate's two-thirds rule could destroy the chamber's traditions of bipartisan cooperation.
But she said the 12 Democratic senators have not decided whether to boycott the proceedings – their last resort to try to kill redistricting, much as House Democrats blocked it during the regular session that ended June 2 by going to Oklahoma.
"Nobody relishes having to exercise that extreme option," she said, referring to a possible walkout, which would require 11 senators to break a Senate quorum.
"But it's there, and it's there for a purpose," Ms. Van de Putte said.
Ratcheting up the pressure on Mr. Dewhurst, she said, "This is a real test for our presiding officer."
Mr. Dewhurst had said he was inclined not to suspend the traditional two-thirds rule for the first special session.
But Mr. Dewhurst said redistricting "is an issue ... that doesn't fall within our traditional, bipartisan areas of legislation" and may change the rules for the next session. He cited the late Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock's decision not to require a two-thirds vote to bring up a state senatorial redistricting map in a January 1992 special session.
But Sen. Kenneth Armbrister, D-Victoria, a key undecided senator, said that the current situation cannot be compared with what happened in 1992, when lawmakers faced a court order to redraw districts and Republicans did not object to suspending the two-thirds rule.
On July 8, the House passed a new congressional map that could end the political careers of as many as six incumbent Democrats. But several GOP senators object to that plan, and the Senate's remap point man, Todd Staples, R-Palestine, is trying to craft a map that can win approval from 16 Republican senators.
Mr. Staples said he may have a plan ready for a committee vote Wednesday.
Earlier versions he has proposed would likely lead to the ouster of at least five Democratic congressmen, including Martin Frost of Arlington, Chet Edwards of Waco, Max Sandlin of Marshall, Jim Turner of Crockett and Nick Lampson of Beaumont.
Some of Mr. Staples' maps also might finally achieve the GOP goal of toppling U.S. Reps. Charlie Stenholm, D-Abilene, and Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, which would give Republicans a 22-10 edge in the state's delegation.
2001 maps
Under maps drawn by federal judges in 2001, Democrats won 17 of the 32 seats in Congress.
GOP leaders say the current map fails to reflect the state's shift toward Republicans, but Democratic lawmakers argue that it contains at least 20 GOP-friendly districts and that voters should be free to decide whether to oust senior Democrats or pick Republicans who would become junior members of Congress.
Ms. Van de Putte and other Democrats said that at a dinner meeting Monday in Austin, Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, the author of the House's redistricting plan, was seen reviewing maps with Jim Ellis, a political adviser to U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.
Mr. DeLay has pushed hard for a redrawing of congressional boundaries.
"The process is corrupted when Tom DeLay's guy is sitting there vetting the map," said Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo.
But Mr. King said he and Mr. Ellis were simply "catching up on things." The purpose of the dinner was not to discuss redistricting, Mr. King said.
Staff writer Robert T. Garrett in Austin and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
E-mail wslater@dallasnews.com or gjeffers@dallasnews.com
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/072303dntexredist.5b026.html
Now for the important stuff........
Willie to Play for Democratic Candidate WASHINGTON (AP)--Country music troubadour Willie Nelson will strum guitar and sing for Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich at benefit concerts in Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Venues and supporting performers haven't been chosen, but the first concert will be Labor Day in Des Moines, Iowa, campaign spokesman Jeff Cohen announced Wednesday. Two other shows are tentatively scheduled for early September in Kucinich's hometown of Cleveland and in Madison, Wis.
July 23, 2003, 12:30PM
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
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REDISTRICTING
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 Audio: Representatives comment at redistricting debate in Houston 7/2:
• Chris Bell
• Nick Lampson
• Rick Noriega
Requires the free RealPlayer. • View proposed redistricting maps -- Click on PLANCO1151 for the current congressional map; click on "All Other Redistricting Plans," then Map C-1327, for the latest proposal. (Requires IE 5.5 or later).
• Texas population, 2000 Census: 20,851,820 • Total congressional districts in Texas: 32 • Ideal population per district: 651,619 • Existing partisan breakdown: 17 Democrats, 15 Republicans. GOP wants redistricting to create a Republican majority in the delegation. |
AUSTIN -- A state Senate committee today approved, on a party-line vote, a congressional redistricting map that would increase Republican representation from Texas in the U.S. House.
The map approved 4-3 by the Senate Jurisprudence Committee would create 22 districts with Republican voting histories and 10 with Democratic histories, and probably would result in the defeat of several incumbent Democratic U.S. representatives. The Texas delegation now comprises 17 Democrats and 15 Republicans.
The bill's future is uncertain in the current special session because Senate rules are in place that require a two-thirds vote -- 21 of the 31 senators if all are present -- to bring a bill up for debate. Ten of the chamber's 12 Democrats and one Republican have said they would vote against debate, which would be enough to kill the bill.
That vote is expected Friday.
Gov. Rick Perry has signaled that he will call another special session to consider redistricting if it dies in this session, and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate, has said he might not employ the two-thirds provision if there is another session.
Senate Democrats have not ruled out boycotting the next session, as House Democrats did in the regular session last spring when they fled to Oklahoma to kill a redistricting bill in that session.
The state House has passed a redistricting bill in the special session, and differences in Senate and House versions eventually would have to be reconciled in a conference committee.
Both versions have similar effect on Houston-area districts, most notably slicing U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, D-Houston, out of his district to reduce his chances for re-election.
By drawing boundaries that move the homes of Bell and 95,000 other Anglos out of the 25th District while increasing the district's black population, Republicans say they have created a district that a black politician can win. But more than anything, they hope they have created a district that Bell cannot win.
"It wasn't drawn on a racial basis. It was drawn on politics. It was drawn to defeat Chris Bell," said Jim Ellis, a political aide to U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land. DeLay is pushing redistricting to increase Republican representation in the U.S. House.
DeLay and others argue that the Democratic majority in the Texas delegation is unfair in light of the GOP dominance of statewide offices and the state Legislature.
Bell spokesman Eric Burns said the congressman has not looked at his re-election chances in any of the GOP proposals.
The new 25th District would be numbered the 9th under the Senate map passed today, and the 25th designation would go to a district in South Texas.
Predominantly Anglo neighborhoods including West University Place, Braeswood Place, Meyerland and the Medical Center, no longer would be in the district. Bell's residence would be in the heavily Republican 7th District represented by U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston.
The new district picks up a large black population in the Sunnyside area from the southern end of the 18th District, represented by U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
The district's black voting-age population would be 36 percent, compared with 22 percent in the existing 25th.
The district would lose Anglo areas of eastern Harris County and pick up mixed ethnic neighborhoods around Alief.
The redrawn district would include almost half the people who are Bell's constituents now. But for Bell, who is out and who is in may be crucial.
Bell defeated Houston City Councilman Carroll Robinson 59 percent to 41 percent in the 2002 Democratic primary runoff. But redistricting computers at the Texas Legislative Council show the areas Bell won are mostly out of the proposed district, while the ones Robinson won are in.
Robinson, who is black, could not be reached for comment.
Democrats dismiss Republican claims that the new map creates a black district. They say Bell could move back into the district and win re-election as an incumbent.
Democrats make the same argument for Houston's 29th District, which is almost 60 percent Hispanic.
GOP proposals would cut U.S. Rep. Gene Green's residence out of the district, and Republicans say that would create an open Hispanic seat. But the district's voters have elected Green, an Anglo, for a decade.
Ellis said it may be difficult for minorities to defeat incumbents in the two districts, but he said it is not impossible.
"If they choose to move into those districts and take an opportunity from an African-American or a Hispanic, that is something they will have to deal with," Ellis said.
Ellis said the maps were driven in part by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that gives protected status to minority-influence districts -- those where Hispanic or black voters can affect the outcome of elections, even if an Anglo is elected. Bell's district and the 24th, represented by U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, D-Dallas, fit that category, Ellis said.
Now 11 districts are minority-influence or actually represented by minorities. Ellis said GOP redistricting proposals would retain that number as required by the federal Voting Rights Act.
Frost, a national Democratic leader, is a major Republican target. To eliminate his district and increase Republican representation in other parts of the state while retaining 11 minority districts, Republicans are drawing maps they say create minority districts in Houston -- the 25th and 29th -- and a new Hispanic district in South Texas.
Democrats do not agree that the GOP Republican proposals would be acceptable under the Voting Rights Act, designed to prevent dilution of minority voting strength.
Any redistricting plan that passes the Legislature almost certainly will face a court challenge.
Houston Chronicle reporter Clay Robison contributed to this report.
Yes hope it passes. I will soon be FrostFree!!!!
"The map approved 4-3 by the Senate Jurisprudence Committee would create 22 districts with Republican voting histories and 10 with Democratic histories"
F*ckin' A.
Good for the TX Republicans for taking on the Democrats/Liberal Media. Their double team is always very difficult to contend with but the GOP persevered in the face of very tall odds and constant denunciations by the corrupt press.
The Dims are just trying to delay the inevitable: the day will soon be here when the Senate will have a quorum and a 2/3 majority even if not a one of the Dims show up!
