Posted on 11/16/2001 1:08:07 PM PST by Dog Gone
American-Statesman Staff
Wednesday, November 14, 2001
To view the map, go to www.tlc.state.tx.us/tlc/research/redist/redist.htm. The new plan is 1151C.
Federal judges Wednesday issued a new congressional map for the 2002 elections that puts new districts in Central Texas and Dallas County while pitting no two incumbents against one another.
The judges denied claims by Latino activists for seven — instead of the current six — congressional districts with Hispanic majorities along the Mexico border. They failed to create the first Hispanic-majority district in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and rejected arguments for another African-American district in Houston.
The judges' plan, adopted unanimously, appeared to try to make as few changes as possible while adding the two new districts. During the trial, the judges expressed concerns about making political policy — as opposed to legal decisions — normally reserved for the Legislature. The legislators failed to agree on a congressional map, kicking it to the courts.
The judges' plan appeared to give an edge to Republicans in the two new districts. Texas currently has 13 Republican and 17 Democratic incumbents, but it is getting two additional seats in Congress because it grew faster than most other states.
The new map, according to political experts, is almost an even split along major party lines and could result in a delegation made up of 17 Democrats and 15 Republicans — or 16 from each party.
In Central Texas, under the new plan:
• U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett will represent the eastern half of Travis County. Western Travis County, as well as western Hays, becomes part of a Hill Country district now represented by Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio.
• Williamson County is split in half. Southern Williamson will make up District 31, one of the state's two new districts. That district includes Bastrop County north of the Colorado River and stretches east to Bryan/College Station and south to Huntsville, taking in some of the Houston suburbs. More than 200,000 Williamson County residents are included in this district and are the largest population block in the district, suggesting that any new member of Congress could hail from Williamson County.
The northwestern portion of Williamson County will now be part of District 11, represented by Chet Edwards, D-Waco.
• The eastern portion of Hays County, all of Caldwell and Bastrop counties south of the Colorado River are in District 14, now represented by Ron Paul, R-Surfside.
After each census, the Legislature is required to equalize the population between the congressional districts. This year, however, the Legislature deadlocked without a map and Gov. Rick Perry refused to call legislators into a special session to try again. The Texas Supreme Court then ruled invalid a plan drawn by State District Judge Paul Davis of Travis County after a two-week trial.
That left the political future of the state's congressional delegation in the hands of three federal judges: Patrick Higginbotham, a Dallas Republican and judge on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and US. District Judges John Hannah Jr. and John Ward, both Democrats from Tyler.
The decision could have national consequences. Republicans hoped to use gains in Texas to offset Democratic domination in other states such as California. The partisan division of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2003 also could determine which Texan, U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, D-Dallas, or the Republican Delay, has a leadership post in Congress.
Although the judges' decision may be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, the map is likely to survive long enough for the 2002 elections. It could be considered too disruptive if the higher court ordered changes in the middle of the election.
While the stakes of redistricting are partisan, the battle often was fought in the legal guise of protecting minority voting rights.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) brought the suit in federal court.
Its lawyers argued that Hispanics accounted for 60 percent of the state's dramatic population growth in the 1990s and was entitled to two additional districts with Latino voting-age majorities.
"Texas got its two new districts because of that growth," said MALDEF lawyer Nina Perales.
But others, including Democrats and Republicans, disagreed.
U.S. Rep. Charles Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, testified that creating a new Hispanic district along the Mexico border could endanger the Hispanic majorities in other border districts.
In the Dallas area, the issue was if Hispanics were too dispersed to be drawn into one political district. In Houston, the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats argued for another district that might elect an African American and the state, through GOP Attorney General John Cornyn, accepted the Houston-area map with that district.
Despite predictions how the map will affect the partisan and ethnic make-up of the congressional delegation, voters often defy the redistricting experts' best guesses. Ten years ago, a Houston district was created that many said would elect a Hispanic to Congress. Instead, former state Sen. Gene Green defeated a Hispanic council member by less than 200 voters and has been re-elected comfortably since.
Unless a map matches incumbents against one another, GOP analysis Royal Masset has warned partisans from anticipating a dramatic change in the delegation. He noted several Democratic members have been elected from Republican-leaning districts for years.
At the polls, Masset says, "Incumbency is worth at least 10 percent points."
One interesting development is that hispanics have an excellent shot at helping to elect the next mayor of Houston on December 1. Although he's Cuban, Orlando Sanchez is staunch conservative and is drawing most of the hispanic support.
The trick will be getting them to continue to vote for conservatives in 2002.
Right. Bentsen would lose, but Morales is also damaged goods. He can brag about the tobacco settlement, but he'll have to explain to the voters why his trial lawyer buddies got all the dough. Still, Hispanics would vote for him. I still wish they had put Bonilla on the ticket.
One interesting development is that hispanics have an excellent shot at helping to elect the next mayor of Houston on December 1. Although he's Cuban, Orlando Sanchez is staunch conservative and is drawing most of the hispanic support. The trick will be getting them to continue to vote for conservatives in 2002.
Wrong. The trick is to keep them from finding out that Sanchez is Cuban. Mexicans hate Cubans.
Sanchez received 60% of the hispanic vote in a three-man race last week. His features, including blue eyes (I think), are European. He's not a stranger to Houston politics having served six years on the very important and prominent City Council.
I'm sure there are some who will vote for him thinking he must have strong ties to Mexico because of his last name, but there is a certain percentage of voters who are idiots.
I hope you aren't arguing that the 60% who voted for the conservative Sanchez are idiots, while the remainder who voted liberal are intelligent.
I think Tony Sanchez has blue eyes, too. Hopefully, Hispanics will be turned off by his not-so-scintillating riches-to-riches story. But I wouldn't count on it.
I'm sure there are some who will vote for him thinking he must have strong ties to Mexico because of his last name, but there is a certain percentage of voters who are idiots.
An ethnic group that usually gives 75% of its vote to Democrats doesn't just suddenly give 60% of its vote to a Republican. When Brown starts to tell Hispanics that Orlando Sanchez is Cuban and opposes racial quotas, Sanchez will start to slip.
AUSTIN -- The U.S. Justice Department Friday rejected the state House redistricting plan adopted by the Legislative Redistricting Board, saying the plan violates the voting rights of Hispanics in South and West Texas.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Ralph F. Boyd Jr. advised the state of the decision in a letter to the Texas Secretary of State's Office.
The House plan was adopted 3-2 in July by the Legislative Redistricting Board, five top state officials charged with drawing new maps for the state Senate and House of Representatives after the Legislature failed to do so.
One of the board members, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn, drew the original map. Two other members, Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander and Land Commissioner David Dewhurst, amended it before the trio voted it into law. All three are Republicans.
The other two LRB members, House Speaker Pete Laney, a Democrat, and Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff, a Republican, voted against the plan for redrawing the state's 150 House districts.
The LRB map would have given Republicans substantial control of the Texas House after the 2002 election. Democrats now hold a 78-72 majority.
In its session this year, the House approved a map for its own redistricting, but the plan never was voted on by the state Senate.
The Justice Department rejection of the LRB map could be significant to the considerations of a three-judge federal court panel now reviewing the House map. The department's action means there now is no official state plan before the court, increasing the likelihood that the judges will draw their own.
In a congressional redistricting case decided earlier this week, the federal court showed it is not inclined to change the political status quo in Texas by judicial fiat. Under that plan, which probably will be used in next year's elections, U.S. representatives likely can be re-elected, even though districts were adjusted to accommodate population growth measured in the 2000 Census. Texas is gaining two seats, bringing the delegation to 32.
The state House map was subject to Justice Department review because Texas falls under the Voting Rights Act. The department previously approved the LRB's plan for the state Senate, which is now under consideration by the three-judge panel.
The department reviews political maps to make sure they do not eliminate minority legislative districts.
Boyd said the plan violates minority voting rights by eliminating Hispanic districts in Bexar and Cameron counties, as well as in District 35 in South Texas and District 74 in West Texas, without creating offsetting gains elsewhere.
He also said the LRB packed Hispanics into several other districts. He said if those voters had been spread more evenly, at least two South Texas Hispanic districts would not have been lost.
Despite rejection of the map as a whole, Cornyn claimed victory because the Justice Department did not object to the remaining portion of the LRB's House map. He said he plans to propose some changes to the federal court.
"I am pleased that the Department of Justice has approved 98 percent of the House plan," Cornyn said. "I am confident that the department's letter can be fully addressed with minor alterations to three districts, and I look forward to presenting them to the court next week."
A spokesman for Rylander said she had not yet read the Justice Department letter and did not want to comment. Dewhurst, Ratliff and Laney were traveling and unavailable for comment.
The Mexican-American Legislative Caucus praised the action.
"John Cornyn's map was a disservice to Hispanics throughout the state," said Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, caucus chairman. "This clears the way for the federal courts to draw a new plan that protects the voting rights of Texas Hispanics in accordance with the law."
Gallego said he was pleased that a Justice Department run by Republicans "did the right thing" by rejecting a map drawn by Texas Republicans.
Nina Perales, a lawyer representing the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said it is impossible to know how the federal court will react to the ruling.
She said Laney's lawyers will argue that the court should now turn to the plan passed by the House with his support, while Cornyn will argue that simple repairs to the LRB map are all that are needed.
"We're pleased because we're not going to be put into the position of losing districts," Perales said. "Now the question is whether we are going to gain seats."
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