Posted on 05/10/2003 7:51:09 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Redistricting expert slams Texas plan Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A redistricting expert who has advised Texas Republicans said Friday that the GOP already has the power to add Republican seats and that a proposal to redraw congressional boundaries is a "partisan gerrymander" that may violate the Constitution.
"The overall nature of the proposed plan is troubling," said John Alford, a Rice University political science professor. "It is a pro-Republican partisan gerrymander on top of an already pro-Republican existing plan.
"It attempts to achieve for the Republican Party in Washington, through artificial pairings and partisan packing and cracking, what Republican voters in the existing districts could already do easily on their own — elect a disproportionately Republican delegation," Alford said in a written report.
Under the Republican plan pushed by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom Delay, Congressional District 19 would be radically altered and U.S. Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Stamford, would essentially be legislated out of office. West Texas would lose representation in Washington.
Alford's analysis was sent to Texas Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, who has been spearheading Democrats in the Senate to block the redrawn congressional map. Alford said the analysis was requested by someone he has worked with previously on redistricting. He said he would be paid for the work.
"It's pretty much what we've been saying all along. It ap pears to say that those maps are wrong," said Barrientos, who distributed the analysis to colleagues.
Alford advised Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Attorney General John Cornyn, now a Republican U.S. senator, and others in the 2000 redistricting round. He also has consulted on redistricting in other states, working for Democrats and Republicans.
The Texas House plans to vote on the redistricting bill Monday.
If Republicans are successful, some voters could find them selves with a new representative. Democrats were elect ed in November to 17 of Texas' 32 U.S. House seats, although voters elected Re pub licans to every state wide-elected office.
DeLay, with help from the White House, has been pushing the Texas Legislature to redraw the districts drawn by a federal court in 2001. The court drew the districts after the Legislature failed to do so. DeLay has said the court-drawn districts don't reflect Texas' Republican majority.
But Alford said Republi cans actually got more than their fair share.
Although Re publicans hold only 15 seats in the U.S. House, Alford said they could hold as many as 20, because Democrats hold five seats in districts that have a majority of Republican voters.
Alford said those seats are held by: Rep. Ralph Hall, D-Rockwall, whose district is 68 percent Republican; Stenholm, whose district is 67.2 percent Republican; Chet Edwards, D-Waco, with a 62.8 percent Republican district; Max Sandlin, D-Marshall, 58 percent Republican; and Jim Turner, D-Crockett, which is 56.4 percent Republican.
"They've got the voters there. They have to make the argument to voters in the district that their candidate would represent them better than Rep. Hall. So far they haven't been able to do that," Alford said.
Jonathan Grella, DeLay's spokesman, disagreed with Alford's analysis. "The current map is a map from the (former Gov. Ann) Richards era, when Austin was dominated by Democrats. It's a new day now," Grella said.
To increase Republican seats, crafters of the House plan pack Democratic voters in fewer districts, reducing districts with Democratic majorities from 12 to 10 and making all Democratic districts into minority districts, Alford said.
Also, the plan shifts more minorities into districts where minorities already are the majority. The plan stretches boundaries many miles and in odd configurations to draw in minorities from separate areas of the state, he said.
"The focus, in other words, is on the ethnicity of the representative, not the ethnicity of the voters and their ability to elect their candidates of choice — the test under the Voting Rights Act," Alford said in his report.
The Supreme Court has previously rejected districts that were irregularly drawn and overly race conscious, in cluding some in Texas, Alford said.
Meanwhile Friday, state Senate Democrats continued trying to solidify the 11 votes needed in the 31-member Sen ate to block the redistricting bill from coming up for a vote.
There are 12 Democrats, but Sen. Ken Armbrister of Victoria said Friday he would vote to allow the bill to come up for a vote. Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, said he is still "a soft no on the issue." Lucio has been considered one of the Democrats who might vote with Republicans.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who presides over the state Senate, said that on Friday there were not the 21 votes needed for a vote on the bill.
So that means the only people standing in our way are RINOs Wentworth and Ratliffe. Methinks Mr. Bush should show up at their front doors in full flight gear and administer an attitude adjustment.
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