Posted on 07/04/2003 2:59:07 PM PDT by GUIDO
GOP irate over busing of temps to hearing
By Mariano Castillo San Antonio Express-News
AUSTIN — When 41 temporary workers, many of them students, boarded a bus from Corpus Christi to McAllen to attend a redistricting hearing there Tuesday, they expected to make easy money as seat warmers.
Instead, their participation has outraged Republicans and raised questions about the intentions of an unnamed businessman who paid $5,000 to send them there.
The Texas GOP on Thursday asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether disruptions at redistricting hearings in Brownsville and McAllen were planned by Democrats.
"It is clear from numerous published reports that certain Democrat elected officials, individuals and organizations have engaged in a concerted effort to disrupt and obstruct public hearings" on redistricting, wrote Republican Party of Texas Chairwoman Susan Weddington.
The president and CEO of the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce, Tom Niskala, refused to name the businessman who paid the bill and rejected the suggestion it was an underhanded tactic by Democrats — or any group.
"I don't think it's unusual," said Niskala, who arranged for the hiring. Parties use temporary workers "to fill out telephone banks and increase audience attendance. Just talk to a political strategist."
One day before the Senate Jurisprudence Committee held its hearings in McAllen, several chamber members approached Niskala. He said they were concerned about the impact that changes to the 27th District would have on the city's ability to keep its military bases open.
Unable to muster many chamber members because of short notice, one businessman agreed to pay the minimum wage for the temporary workers, Niskala said.
Niskala said the businessman's interest was to send a group that could air opposition to redistricting in a civil manner, as a way to counterbalance the rabble-rousers who grabbed attention in Brownsville at House hearings May 26.
"Sometimes decisions are made with limited information, an extremely short time frame and under changing circumstances," Niskala said.
One of those decisions put the temporary workers — who were given little instruction other than to attend — on the same bus as members of the American GI Forum, another Corpus Christi delegation whose protests and heckling had brought the Brownsville hearings to a standstill.
Jeff LeBeau, the general manager of the temp agency, checked on his employees at the bus loading area and promptly was asked to leave. He said he complied, though it added to his suspicion about the project.
"Our understanding was that the job was to ride the bus, attend the hearing, and maybe help out hanging a sign. That was it," said LeBeau, who also would not name the businessman who paid for the workers.
The temps became concerned during a food break outside McAllen, where GI Forum leaders gave instructions on what to do if they were arrested, LeBeau said.
LeBeau assured nervous employees who contacted him by cell phone that they did not have to participate in a demonstration. As many as 15 to 18 employees stayed on the bus, and the other half joined the protest, LeBeau said.
Ram Chavez, commander of the Hector P. Garcia Founder's Chapter of the GI Forum, said he had no idea the bus included temporary workers. He said he remembered seeing them but thought they were university students in a leadership group.
He denied accusations that the GI Forum intended to disrupt the meeting and said his members were among the best behaved at the McAllen hearing.
"Whoever did this was stupid," he said of hiring the temporary workers. "I didn't know anything about this."
House redistricting Chairman Joe Crabb, R-Atascocita, has announced that the House would not hold any more hearings on the issue.
The Senate Jurisprudence Committee, which promised the Corpus Christi contingent a meeting in their city, will meet at the Solomon Ortiz Convention Center at 3 p.m. on July 7.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- mcastillo@express-news.net
He even went to check on his workers and was asked to leave??? This kind of crap the rats pull doesn't surprise me, but still tends to really get me angry. Those of us that have been to protests know and have seen how the rats operate, they bus people in all the time, but this has got to take the cake. I hear that these meetings are full of ignorant, evil, bitter pinheads that have no class or manners and that these meeting really get out of hand. This article confirms what I hear.
BUMP
I am just amazed at some of this stuff. I have yet to hear about a hearing anywhere. We need to keep on top of this and start attending but it sounds like this is it, no more.
CORPUS CHRISTI
Time: 3:00pm
Date: Monday, July 7
Place: Solomon Ortiz Convention Center
402 Harvard Drive
DALLAS
Time: 3:00pm
Date: Tuesday, July 8
Place: University of North Texas System Center at Dallas
Room 224
8915 S. Hampton Rd.
That is what they truly are. And they are getting worse and worse as they quickly become the minority.
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