Posted on 05/14/2003 5:50:41 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Local Republicans express mixed feelings
BY TRICIA CORTEZ Times staff writer
Local Republicans had sharp words for state Rep. Richard Raymond (D-Laredo) and the 52 other "Killer Ds" who crossed state lines into Oklahoma Sunday night in protest of a controversial redistricting map.
The "midnight map" was headed for a Monday vote on the 150-member Texas House floor.
Area Republicans differed on their opinions of the rushed redistricting process that took place in Austin. They also had mixed feelings over the splitting of Laredo and Webb County down I-35.
"I think that would benefit Laredo because Laredo would be split into two heavily Democrat (congressional) districts," Webb County Republican Chairman Javier Mendoza said. "This talk of it diluting our voting power is just political rhetoric from the other side."
Gary Jacobs, president of Laredo National Bank and active Republican, disagreed.
"It's insane to split Laredo down the middle. Laredo should have one representative (in Congress). To take a city as small as Laredo, whose interests and issues are very, very concentrated and homogenous, and split it up among two different representatives makes no sense," Jacobs said.
Laredo City Councilman Gene Belmares, past Webb County Republican chairman, was more guarded with his comments.
"I think there may be an advantage to having two representatives that represent the county and city, but my concern is for the dilution of our voice with all the other cities and municipalities outside of the border boundary," Belmares said.
Fernando Cantu, a former Webb County Republican chairman, said "I don't like the idea of them splitting Laredo in half. As a community, our voting power would be divided, and would almost guarantee that we would never have a congressional representative from Laredo."
Linda Pease, secretary of the Webb County Republican Womens Association, said the actions of Raymond and the other "Killer Ds" "is disgraceful. There are too many issues in the state that need to be taken care of. They are failing in their responsibility to the whole state."
Pease and Mendoza both decried allegations made by Raymond that the redistricting process has been tainted by racial and ethnic discrimination.
"The rep. is making this a racial issue, which it isn't. It's not a Mexican-American versus Anglo issue because we are all Americans," Pease said.
Mendoza had harsher words for Raymond.
"This issue is not about race. It's about political rhetoric and Raymond wanting to advance his political career by running in a district that he think he can win," Mendoza said. "When the districts were first drawn (right after the 2000 Census), Raymond set up an exploratory committee to run for U.S. Congress. Now that the new congressional lines would not be in his favor, he is calling Republicans bigots. In essence, he is calling me a bigot and a racist. It's absurd and I'm sick of it."
In his federal lawsuit filed Monday, Raymond charges the House Redistricting Committee and its chairman Joe Crabb (R-Atascocita) with violating the Voting Rights Act because of their failure to post hearing notices in Spanish.
Raymond also criticized Crabb and the committee for failing to hold public hearings statewide.
Crabb did not return a Tuesday phone call.
During one marathon session, Crabb told Raymond, "Mr. Raymond, there are only two people that I know of on the committee that speak Spanish. The rest of us would have a very difficult time if we were out in an area other than Austin or other English-speaking areas to be able to have committee hearings or to be able to converse with people that did not speak English."
Cantu of Laredo said "a fairer thing" would have been to hold hearings around the state.
"I think there are enough of us down here who speak English," Cantu said.
Mark Pease, husband of Linda Pease and active Republican, said he could not comment since he was not well informed on the issue.
"I haven't studied this, so I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing. Locally, I hate the idea of losing Henry Bonilla (R-San Antonio). Long-term that would not help Laredo. Laredo could be better served by developing a two-party system. With Henry Bonilla, we were started in that direction," Pease said.
Roughly 95 percent of Laredo and Webb County voted Democrat in the last primary.
Cantu and Mendoza agreed that the proposed redistricting map would better reflect the face of Texas.
"Texas has become a Republican state, and we all know that," Cantu said. "If we had a Republican state representative, it would give us a better voice in the state, and I think we would have a better working relationship with the state (Republican) leadership."
Cantu added that "it doesn't do Laredo much good to have all these Democrats if the rest of the state is Republican."
Mendoza said he had no problem with how Crabb and the Republican leadership have handled the redistricting issue.
"They didn't hold public hearings because they had to hurry up the process since the legislative session is about to end and they were running out of time," Mendoza said.
If Raymond or the other Democrats felt there was something unconstitutional with the process, "Take it to court, but don't hold up the legislative process," Mendoza said. "Raymond's allegations are frivolous, and I don't see why the Democrats have done this. They're not there to interpret the law but to make the law. They need to come back to work."
(Staff writer Tricia Cortez can be reached at 728-2568 or tricia@lmtonline.com.)
05/14/03
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