Posted on 08/03/2011 1:29:30 PM PDT by Todd Kinsey
Galveston, TX - A standing room only crowd overflowed the Galveston County Commissioners Court on Tuesday. Normally it’s easy to get a seat to watch the proceedings, however, the unveiling of the proposed countywide redistricting maps was on the agenda so Judge Mark Henry was treated to a packed house.
As you might expect emotions were high with such a hot button issue on the schedule. Joe Nixon and Trey Trainor, attorneys from Beirne, Maynard and Parsons, presented the maps with the underlying demographics behind them and then commissioners began asking questions. Commissioner Holmes led the charge asking a number of questions about the process and timeline which was probably a question better asked of Judge Mark Henry. In effect, Commissioner Holmes appeared woefully unprepared and ill-informed for the meeting. If the Daily News had the information in the paper, surely the commissioner had access to the same information.
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Galveston, TX - A standing room only crowd overflowed the Galveston County Commissioners Court on Tuesday. Normally it’s easy to get a seat to watch the proceedings, however, the unveiling of the proposed countywide redistricting maps was on the agenda so Judge Mark Henry was treated to a packed house.
As you might expect emotions were high with such a hot button issue on the schedule. Joe Nixon and Trey Trainor, attorneys from Beirne, Maynard and Parsons, presented the maps with the underlying demographics behind them and then commissioners began asking questions. Commissioner Holmes led the charge asking a number of questions about the process and timeline which was probably a question better asked of Judge Mark Henry. In effect, Commissioner Holmes appeared woefully unprepared and ill-informed for the meeting. If the Daily News had the information in the paper, surely the commissioner had access to the same information.
After the commissioners asked their questions, Judge Henry opened the floor up for comments. Chairman of the Galveston County Democratic Party Lloyd Chris made predictable accusations of gerrymandering. Perhaps Chairman Chris should take a long look in the mirror since the current map was obviously drawn to stack as many Republicans as possible into precinct-four while the remaining three precincts were drawn to benefit the Democrats.
The fact of the matter is that there has been a dramatic population shift in Galveston County. Ten years ago Galveston was the county’s seat of power with a population over 80,000 people conversely League City’s population was just over 40,000 people. Fast forward ten years and those numbers have completely reversed with League City’s population now over 85,000 people and Galveston’s population plummeting to 48,000 people according to the Daily News.
Whether the Democrats like it or not the United States is a representative republic and every ten years those numbers are evaluated then reapportioned so that the populace is fairly and accurately represented.
As expected, the Democrats also resorted to playing the race card. To be fair Commissioner Holmes in precinct 3 has a largely minority population and that remains unchanged with either the new proposals. Under plan one his district would be expanded to pick up eastern Galveston and under plan two it picks up part of east Galveston and the Bolivar peninsula.
The other big changes come to Commissioner Clark’s district four which now holds well over one-third of Galveston County’s population. Understandably his precinct is dramatically reduced to include Friendswood and western League City. Both proposals have Commissioner Doyle’s precinct extended north to include a part of eastern League City. Plan one sees it taking a smaller portion of League City and incorporating the Bolivar peninsula - plan two simply incorporates a larger portion of League City.
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Ryan Denard, a local attorney and Republican challenger for precinct one said “he prefers proposal one. My experience in real estate and legal issues would be well suited to tackling many of the important issues facing Bolivar.”
Quite a few of the counties constables and justice’s of the peace were on hand since the proposed plans would do away with three constables and four justice of the peace courts. Many of the Democrats in the audience, led by Commissioner Doyle, talked about the convenience of the current locations and intimated that convenience should trump sound fiscal policy. Commissioner Doyle argued that the JP courts are “revenue producers,” however, as the Daily News pointed out a few weeks ago, several of the JP courts are costing the county a considerable amount of money to operate and come nowhere close to covering their own expenses.
The new proposal of five JP precincts would mean that most residents of the county still live within an easy ten to fifteen minute drive to one of the courts. The exception to this might be precinct three which incorporates Galveston and La Marque. County Judge Mark Henry said that he might be willing to have that particular JP split time between a location on the mainland and on the island to accommodate constituents.
Similar arguments were made for the counties constables but there is likely a considerable disparity in cost and workload amongst these elected officials as well.
One lesson Democrats need to learn is that the tax dollars that they spend are produced from the labor of its citizens. Every effort should be made to spend these dollars as wisely as possible and it is clear that Judge Henry intends to do just that. His approach is likely to save Galveston County residents a significant amount of money. That is a welcome approach given the fact that economic conditions in America are now worse than they were during the Great Depression and governments, at all levels, are raising taxes to make ends meet.
After the meeting, Joe Nixon said “that these proposals are meant to be a jumping off point so that the county can begin discussions.”
Since the population has shifted so dramatically over the last decade these maps are a fair representation of that. Short adding a fifth county commissioner these maps are likely to be adopted fairly close to the current rendition, its simple arithmetic.
Around the country Democrats are talking about shared sacrifice, perhaps the Galveston County Democrats should heed this advice.
Galveston, TX - A standing room only crowd overflowed the Galveston County Commissioners Court on Tuesday. Normally it’s easy to get a seat to watch the proceedings, however, the unveiling of the proposed countywide redistricting maps was on the agenda so Judge Mark Henry was treated to a packed house.
As you might expect emotions were high with such a hot button issue on the schedule. Joe Nixon and Trey Trainor, attorneys from Beirne, Maynard and Parsons, presented the maps with the underlying demographics behind them and then commissioners began asking questions. Commissioner Holmes led the charge asking a number of questions about the process and timeline which was probably a question better asked of Judge Mark Henry. In effect, Commissioner Holmes appeared woefully unprepared and ill-informed for the meeting. If the Daily News had the information in the paper, surely the commissioner had access to the same information.
After the commissioners asked their questions, Judge Henry opened the floor up for comments. Chairman of the Galveston County Democratic Party Lloyd Chris made predictable accusations of gerrymandering. Perhaps Chairman Chris should take a long look in the mirror since the current map was obviously drawn to stack as many Republicans as possible into precinct-four while the remaining three precincts were drawn to benefit the Democrats.
The fact of the matter is that there has been a dramatic population shift in Galveston County. Ten years ago Galveston was the county’s seat of power with a population over 80,000 people conversely League City’s population was just over 40,000 people. Fast forward ten years and those numbers have completely reversed with League City’s population now over 85,000 people and Galveston’s population plummeting to 48,000 people according to the Daily News.
Whether the Democrats like it or not the United States is a representative republic and every ten years those numbers are evaluated then reapportioned so that the populace is fairly and accurately represented.
As expected, the Democrats also resorted to playing the race card. To be fair Commissioner Holmes in precinct 3 has a largely minority population and that remains unchanged with either the new proposals. Under plan one his district would be expanded to pick up eastern Galveston and under plan two it picks up part of east Galveston and the Bolivar peninsula.
The other big changes come to Commissioner Clark’s district four which now holds well over one-third of Galveston County’s population. Understandably his precinct is dramatically reduced to include Friendswood and western League City. Both proposals have Commissioner Doyle’s precinct extended north to include a part of eastern League City. Plan one sees it taking a smaller portion of League City and incorporating the Bolivar peninsula - plan two simply incorporates a larger portion of League City.
Ryan Denard, a local attorney and Republican challenger for precinct one said “he prefers proposal one. My experience in real estate and legal issues would be well suited to tackling many of the important issues facing Bolivar.”
Quite a few of the counties constables and justice’s of the peace were on hand since the proposed plans would do away with three constables and four justice of the peace courts. Many of the Democrats in the audience, led by Commissioner Doyle, talked about the convenience of the current locations and intimated that convenience should trump sound fiscal policy. Commissioner Doyle argued that the JP courts are “revenue producers,” however, as the Daily News pointed out a few weeks ago, several of the JP courts are costing the county a considerable amount of money to operate and come nowhere close to covering their own expenses.
The new proposal of five JP precincts would mean that most residents of the county still live within an easy ten to fifteen minute drive to one of the courts. The exception to this might be precinct three which incorporates Galveston and La Marque. County Judge Mark Henry said that he might be willing to have that particular JP split time between a location on the mainland and on the island to accommodate constituents.
Similar arguments were made for the counties constables but there is likely a considerable disparity in cost and workload amongst these elected officials as well.
One lesson Democrats need to learn is that the tax dollars that they spend are produced from the labor of its citizens. Every effort should be made to spend these dollars as wisely as possible and it is clear that Judge Henry intends to do just that. His approach is likely to save Galveston County residents a significant amount of money. That is a welcome approach given the fact that economic conditions in America are now worse than they were during the Great Depression and governments, at all levels, are raising taxes to make ends meet.
After the meeting, Joe Nixon said “that these proposals are meant to be a jumping off point so that the county can begin discussions.”
Since the population has shifted so dramatically over the last decade these maps are a fair representation of that. Short adding a fifth county commissioner these maps are likely to be adopted fairly close to the current rendition, its simple arithmetic.
Around the country Democrats are talking about shared sacrifice, perhaps the Galveston County Democrats should heed this advice.
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