Laredo Democrats Salute "Ardmore" Peers at Webb County Courthouse

Members of the Webb County Democratic Party, led by party chair Robert Balli Friday, honored state Rep. Richard Raymond and the 54 state Democrats who fought the Republicans "who were trying to pull the wool over on citizens."

By setting up camp in Ardmore, Okla., the Democrats did not allow for the House of Representatives to have a quorum, fighting off a redistricting proposal that would have split Webb County.

would have hurt the local process, Webb County Judge Louis Bruni said in a prepared statement.

Bruni also praised the Democrats who fought so South Texas could still have a voice at the state level.

Raymond took a break from the House floor Friday morning and came to the telephone to thank the local Democrats and Laredoans for their support.

After the telephone call, District Attorney Joe Rubio also praised Raymond's wife Michelle for her courage during the last four days.

Michelle Raymond thanked the family's friends and people in the community who stood in support of her husband and "supported him in what I believe was a courageous stand."

"They (Democrats) stopped an injustice. Now, they stand ready to join as one House of Representatives, with Democrats and Republicans alike. Putting aside the highly partisan issue of redistricting and solving the problems that need to be addressed, such as improving education, health care and addressing the issue of skyrocketing insurance costs," she said.

She said that her husband feels very strongly that the most cherished right people have in this country is the right to vote and to be fairly and equally represented.

"What was being done was neither fair nor equal, and it threatened the voting rights of Laredoans and millions of Texans all over this state," she told the gathering.

"Speaker, the redistricting bill was brought forth essentially because the rules set forth by our forefathers of redistricting once every 10 years were changed. Now that the bill is dead, we respectfully ask that you allow the suspension of rules to help bring up bills concerning education, healthcare and many other important issues facing our state," she said. "We ask that you bring the bills before our House, our voice for our vote."

Michelle Raymond also provided details of her husband's efforts and the starting hours of the four-day ordeal to fight off the "midnight map."

Raymond sat in a hearing as a member of the House Redistricting Committee until 6 a.m. He then began again four hours later at 10 a.m. until nearly midnight.

A great majority of that time, Raymond was the only Democrat on the committee, often with seven or eight Republicans opposing him, she continued.

"Richard was the only member of the redistricting committee who was there the entire time. But he did it for a reason," she said.

Michelle explained that her husband then asked his colleagues to join him in using one of the protections offered in the U.S. Constitution.

"That protection says when a majority of lawmakers try to do something that so clearly violates people's rights and the will of the people, then the minority must be able to stop it. This is what my husband and 51 other Democrats did, " she said.

Her comments brought about loud applause from the local -Democrats, including 341St District Judge Elma Salinas Ender, Municipal Judge Alfonso Ornelas, Webb County Tax Collector Pat Barrera, District Judge Andy Reyes and County Commissioner David Cortez.

The supreme irony for these Laredo Democrats is that they did all they could to kill the redistricting plan that would have removed Webb County from the district of Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-TX, the bete noir of the Laredo "democracy." I guess helping Nancy Pelosi is their highest priority even though many Democrats, including some lower-level elected officials, could not identify Nancy Pelosi if asked.

"They (Democrats) stopped an injustice. She said that her husband feels very strongly that the most cherished right people have in this country is the right to vote and to be fairly and equally represented.

The injustice was that the democrat party would lose seats nationally.

And this statement was the biggest lie of all... the Texans are voting 60% Republican and they don't like it, they DONT want to be represented fairly in Washington, because then the democrat party would lose there too.

what hipocrites!!!

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