Posted on 07/08/2003 1:19:06 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
AUSTIN -- Democrats vainly battled against inevitable defeat as the Texas House approved a Republican redistricting plan early today that likely would eliminate six incumbent Democratic congressmen in next year's elections.
"We are all tired, and some of us have been beaten up and bruised in this process," Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, told the House as debate began on the measure Monday afternoon.
Democrats argued that the public had no meaningful input into drawing the maps and that the proposed congressional districts would harm rural representation and dilute minority voting rights.
But with Republicans holding a substantial House majority, passage of the partisan measure appeared likely from the moment the mostly somber debate started. Republican lawmakers rarely bothered to counter Democratic arguments, and the House officially approved the bill at 12:03 a.m. today on an 83-62 vote.
Five Republicans voted against the measure and two Democrats, Reps. Ron Wilson of Houston and Vilma Luna of Corpus Christi, voted for it.
"It's a fair map. It's been an open process," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford. "Race had nothing to do with the drawing of the district lines. Our purpose was purely political."
The Democrats admitted they fought not so much in hopes of stopping the bill in the House but to help build a federal court case if redistricting passes the Legislature.
The legislation now heads to the state Senate, where its fate is less certain.
A two-thirds vote by those present in the 31-member Senate is required to bring a bill up for debate, and Democrats hold 12 Senate seats. At present, three swing Democrats and one Republican have said they are unsure how they will vote on any congressional redistricting bill.
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Jim Dunnam of Waco said he is worried that a moderate redistricting map bill will be presented to the Senate to win Democratic votes for debate.
But he said any Democratic vote for debate on redistricting "would just let the genie out of the bottle," allowing Republicans to create a more partisan map in floor debate or through a conference committee.
"Anyone who votes to suspend is culpable for the final bill," Dunnam said.
House Democrats killed a redistricting bill in May by staging a four-day walkout during the regular session. Gov. Rick Perry called the current special legislative session on redistricting after consulting with U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.
Democrats currently hold a 17-15 majority in the state's congressional delegation, but the Republican measure likely would result in a 21-11 GOP majority after the 2004 elections.
Democratic incumbents who likely would lose their seats include U.S. Reps. Max Sandlin of Marshall, Jim Turner of Crockett, Ralph Hall of Rockwall, Nick Lampson of Beaumont, Chet Edwards of Waco and Charles Stenholm of Abilene.
As King began his argument for the new congressional boundaries Monday afternoon, about 30 Democrats in the gallery donned white socks as hand puppets to mock King. Every time he spoke, the little white mouths flapped.
The House voted down an amendment by state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, that would have turned the Republican redistricting bill on its head.
Thompson's amendment would have moved six Republican incumbents' residences into districts held by Democrats, including a provision to put DeLay's home into a proposed 64 percent black and Hispanic 18th District along with district incumbent U.S. Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee, D-Houston.
"I don't think Tom DeLay's going to have a problem running against Shelia Jackson Lee," Thompson said, adding that her map "helps out the minorities and does not dilute the Anglo voting strength."
At one point, McClendon, a member of the House Redistricting Committee, offered the current congressional boundaries as a substitute to King's map.
"This plan protects the choices made by voters," McClendon said.
King asked the House to reject the amendment, saying the current districts are based on a 1991 Democratic redistricting plan that he called "the shrewdest gerrymander" in the nation that year.
The House voted against adopting the current districts on an 83-59 vote, with six members absent and two not voting. Wilson was the only Democrat present to vote against retaining the current districts.
Wilson has said he supports the Republican map because it increases the possibility that a black politician could win election in District 25, now held by U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, D-Houston. Wilson has said he does not plan to run for Congress.
Speaker Pro Tem Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, a candidate for mayor, voted against the Republican redistricting proposal because he thinks the process is unnecessary and expensive for taxpayers. Turner said he also thought the Republican proposal is bad for Houston.
At a news conference before the debate, McClendon said the Republicans, driven by DeLay, worked in secret to produce a map that harms rural interests and minorities. She said "bait and switch" tactics were used to produce three different maps last week, with the sponsors working in a room with newspaper taped over the glass door.
Republicans argued that the map is fair to Republicans and does no harm to minorities. DeLay has said Republicans should have a congressional delegation majority because they control every statewide office and a majority in the Legislature.
Republicans also said it is the Legislature's duty to redistrict because it failed to do so in 2001, resulting in the current districts being drawn by a three-judge federal court.
King said there were plenty of public hearings on redistricting. He said he only covered the door because he wanted to draw the map in private with advisers using a wall projector.
"You don't want people standing at the door, looking in and reporters trying to see what they're drawing. You just want some privacy," King said.
Yeah, well if you hadn't scurried off to Ardmore like the sniveling little cowards you are, you could be at home watching porn now or whatever it is you Dims do in your leisure time.
Here's a quarter. Call someone who gives a rat's about how tired you are.
Pic I found on The Dallas Mourning News now:
AP
Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon,
D-San Antonio, speaks during
debate on congressional redistricting
on Monday.
Except that it would possibly add one black and one hispanic DEMOCRAT to the congress. Never let facts get in the way of politicizing.
The radio news has been blaring how many seats that the Republicans (could) have as a result 21 seats! Why not say they could pick up an additional 6 seats? Why not say that Republicans hold all of the major offices in Texas (for the first time in history) giving them the first opportunity (in history) to draw up the district lines and yet despite the Republican majority, the existing district lines favor Democrats so much that they have a majority in Congress.
Boo hoo.
"Go try and find a map in 1991 where we paired a Republican sitting member or where we threw out a Republican sitting member," Mr. Dunnam said. "It didn't happen."
The Republicans would have to grab 24 out of 32 seats to match the RAT's 1991 "shrewdest gerrymander of the 90's" which gave them 70% of the seats with under 50% of the vote in 1992 and 63% of the seats with 43% of the votes in 1994.
Maybe they should revisit the Texas Legislature redistricting and gerrymander out this RAT's *SS for such a hypocritical statement.
Stay Safe !
Living in Travis county, I'm glad we are mostly being left alone
It will be nice to see Rep. Lloyd Dogmeet get beaten next year and he can't blame redistricting for it.
I thought we were stuck with Dog$#*t. Who is going to beat him? Travis County wouldn't even oust Barrientos with his DWI, worst Senator label, and the misStatesman even endorsing his opponent.
The Democrats admitted they fought not so much in hopes of stopping the bill in the House but to help build a federal court case if redistricting passes the Legislature.
These two quotes put the Rat attitude in perspective. They first claim the support of the people, but are planning to go to court to overturn the will of the people, as expressed through their elected representatives.
Typical Democrat M.O. When they cant win at the ballot box, try to find a liberal activist court to impose their agenda on the people. (the 2000 election is just one of many examples).
Hey Democrats! Put a sock in it!
Typical Democrat "fair play." Disgusting.
And deeply saddened.
In the current scheme, it has parts of nine!
Accordingly, the new plan is going in the right direction...
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