Rural Communities Divided by Redistricting in Texas

Laredo, TX, Morning Times ^ | 11-29-03 | Castro, April, AP

[Theodore R.]

Rural communities divided by redistricting

BY APRIL CASTRO Associated Press Writer

SONORA, Texas - To folks in this hamlet on the western edge of the Texas Hill Country, redistricting seemed an issue for cities such as Houston, Dallas or San Antonio.

That was until state lawmakers divided Sutton County between two U.S. congressmen, splitting a place where natural gas fuels the economy and where hunters fill the main drag each autumn.

"It's an absolute absurdity," said John Tedford, the Republican party chairman for Sutton County. "With just 3,000 people here, it's just absurd."

The Texas Legislature approved in October a congressional redistricting plan that split many Texas counties. The plan must still clear the U.S. Justice Department and court challenges.

A critical deadline looms: the state's March 9 primary election.

Republicans redrew congressional lines to put more members of their own party in Congress, including one boundary down the middle of Sonora, Sutton County's seat.

U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio, represented the 1,200 residents in the northeast half of the county for 11 years. They are now in a newly drawn district, likely anchored in Midland, some 180 miles away. The other half of the county remains in Bonilla's district.

"It's always been my contention that if it ain't broke, don't fix it," said Mallie Turner, a retired natural gas well operator.

Under the new map, Turner and his wife move from Bonilla's district.

"I don't know who will represent us. He may be good as gold, but I'm more than pleased with Henry Bonilla to represent us and this district," Turner said.

Many residents praise Bonilla's representation of Sonora's ranching and natural gas industries.

"A lot of ranchers in Sonora really liked him. He's done a lot for agriculture and for our county," John Creek, a former high school football coach and government teacher, said as he prepared his father's ranch for the first day of deer hunting season.

Like many in Sonora, Turner and Creek describe themselves as independent, but say they tend to vote mostly Republican.

Others in Sonora aren't concerned with the impending congressional district changes.

"As long as there's a roof over their head and three square meals on the table, they're not going to gripe," Creek said. "Most people are worried about taking their kids to soccer practice ... they're not worried too much about this."

The Sutton County split was a last-minute move during a series of marathon map-drawing sessions as Republicans sought a compromise over the shape of a West Texas district.

State Sen. Todd Staples, R-Palestine, a lead map-drawer, said dividing Sonora was an unavoidable consequence of the requirement that the congressional district contain exactly 651,619 residents, with no deviation. It's federally required that districts be evenly divided according to census figures.

"Realistically, it could have been one of a hundred different towns where the boundary eventually stopped," Staples said. "In this instance, it just happened to be in Sutton County."

Staples said the split was probably drawn "in the wee hours of the morning, as we analyzed the map." He said Sutton County was not a political target.

Sutton County must pay to bring all four precincts in line with the new congressional districts before the March primary, a job that will cost the county an estimated $1,500, said Sutton County Clerk Veronica "Betty" Hernandez.

"If it was up to me, I wish it would remain the same. But we have to change according to the new lines now," Hernandez said.

Sutton and other counties with new boundaries must scramble to meet an array of election filing and ballot deadlines. Counties need time to print ballots, mail new voter registration cards and alert voters of new polling places.

"Once you add in everything, we're looking at at least $5,000," said Sutton County Judge Carla Garner, a Democrat. "That's a considerable amount we didn't budget for."

They'll likely use money earmarked from a local improvement project, Garner said.

"It's absolutely ridiculous," Garner said. "They split our votes, and we don't have that many to begin with. I don't understand why they did it. It can't make any difference to either district that we're in."

Tedford, a jewelry store owner, said he's considering leaving his post as county Republican chairman after 40 years rather than take on the responsibilities of working in two districts.

"We haven't been well represented, haven't been considered at all," he said. "We could be thrown to the wolves and there's not enough people here to matter."

Creek said sparsely populated areas like Sutton County are logical casualties of Republicans trying to leave their mark.

"We're the minority out here," Creek said. "When it comes to getting things done, we don't have many representatives that stand up for West Texas."

11/29/03