West Texans Fire Away at Redistricting -- Want Three House Seats in Region

City and chamber officials said Friday that Austin legislators should take heed: Don't mess with West Texas.

Lubbock Chamber of Commerce President Eddie Mc Bride made the comment at a news conference where he also noted that U.S. Rep. Charlie Stenholm, D-Abilene, was elected from a district that voted 67 percent Republican in November.

"They want to pit Republicans against Democrats in districts that are already Republican," McBride said.

In a plan approved by the state House, Lubbock and Midland/Odessa would be in separate congressional districts, and Lubbock would be paired with Abilene.

Lubbock Mayor Marc McDougal said, "This is not about redistricting, in my opinion, it's about political posturing and trying to get rid of certain members in the House."

Under the House redistricting plan, Stenholm, the second ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, would be forced to run against newly elected Randy Neugebauer, R-Lubbock, who also serves on the committee. The result, Mc Dougal said, guarantees that West Texas would lose one of the committee seats.

The House map leaves Midland in a district without a representative, opening the door for a representative to be voted in from that district in the next election.

"We don't need to redraw the maps just to allow Midland to have a representative in Congress," McBride said.

Despite opposition from Senate Democrats to passing a congressional redistricting plan, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said Friday he believes lawmakers will come together to approve a map, although it may not be until August.

"Quite frankly, we are either going to come up with a fair plan now or we are going to come up with a fair plan later," said Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate. "I'm committed to having a fair plan whether we are talking about July, August or September."

The current special session ends July 29. If a redistricting bill has not been approved by then, Dewhurst has said Gov. Rick Perry will call lawmakers back for another special session.

If he does that, Dewhurst said he will abandon a long-standing Senate tradition so that only a majority of senators would need to vote to let a redistricting bill be debated on the floor. Traditionally, two-thirds, or 21 of the chamber's 31 senators must agree to allow a bill to come up for debate. Republicans have a 19-12 majority in the Senate.

Twelve senators, including one Republican, have signed a letter saying they are opposed to taking up redistricting.

Dewhurst said he hopes that if there is another session that Democratic senators "sit and work with us."

Lawmakers failed to draw the districts during the 2001 legislative session, leaving federal judges to draw the current plan that favors Democrats 17-15. Republicans, led by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, say voting trends show that the Texas GOP should have more representation in Congress.

The chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, meanwhile, said she does not believe a compromise can be reached on the issue. Dew hurst met Friday with the Democrats.

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio said the 12 senators are firm in their opposition to redrawing the districts and are considering their options if a second special session is called.

"Our options are showing up and getting rolled over or having to leave," said Van de Putte, meaning the senators could boycott the Senate. She said nobody wants to go to extremes.

During the regular legislative session, 51 House Demo crats fled to Oklahoma and blocked a quorum in that cham ber, killing a redistricting bill.

The Senate Jurisprudence Committee, chaired by Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, continued Friday to take public testimony on redistricting. The committee will break for the weekend and return Monday.

Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, unveiled a plan Fri day that he predicted could give Republicans a 19-13 advantage in Congress. Went worth said his plan leaves West Texas districts largely as they are now, keeps Webb County all in one district and keeps McLennan County in one district.

Sen. Todd Staples of Palestine, the chairman of the Sen ate Republican Caucus, laid out a proposal Thursday that could give Texas Repub li cans as many as 22 seats in Con gress and Demo crats 10 seats.

There may be a second special session. If so, Dewhurst says he will abandon the 2/3 rule. This means therefore that the Democrats have lost the redistricting battle, as I read it.

I can not believe I just recieved an email from a friend who is defending
Bill Ratliff .............He says

"Bill Ratliff is moderate and is one of the most respected members of the Senate. If you will recall he was elected as Lt.Gov. by the Senate when Perry became Gov.The right-wing of the Republican Party ran an opponent against him in the primary and did a bunch of attack ads. So his attitude toward the Rep Party is ambivalent at best. Also, most of the proposed maps have created districts where a lot of East Texas where he is from would be represented by Dallas suburbs and he will not go along with that."

Any one care to add to this!

As I recall, BellStar, Ratliff was elected acting lieutenant governor by the Democrat senator. At the time of his election, December 2000, the Senate was 16-15 Democrat. Ratliff convinced all 15 Democrats to vote for him, and he was elected 16-15, based on his own vote. He is considered very moderate and a strong believer in activist, well-funded government.

If there is a second special session, the GOP plan should prevail. Now new Senator Todd Staples, R-Palestine, seems to be rolling with the ball, as the older senators sit back and belly-ache.

Charles Stenholm may have to run in Lubbock as well as Abilene. Do you think that would signal his pending defeat? or do you think he would retire?

No, I meant to say 16-15 Republican, with Ratliff taking the 15 Democrat votes to become acting lt. governor. He did not run for a full term as lt. governor but was reelected to the state senate, defeating a conservative in the primary. I presume that he had Democrat opposition in the fall but do not know about that.

Just got a reply:
"Actually, it was a secret vote so no one really knows how anyone voted. He is not a very partisan guy, but he is clearly not a big government advocate. I would describe him as pretty conservative. But the right wing of party has really pissed him off. He is also very popular in his district."
Hmmm!

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