Van de Putte says she expects redistricting measure to pass

San Antonio Express News ^ | August 4, 2003 | Guillermo X. Garcia

[hocndoc]

Van de Putte says she expects redistricting measure to pass

By Guillermo X. Garcia Express-News Austin Bureau

Web Posted : 08/04/2003 12:00 AM

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The organizer of the Senate Democratic walkout said Sunday that she expects a third special session on congressional redistricting will be called and that the politically divisive measure eventually will become law.

Democratic Texas Sens. Frank Madla (from left), Leticia Van de Putte, Eddie Lucio and Judith Zaffirini and her son Carlos Jr. say a prayer before Mass. They were at Risen Savior Catholic Church in Albuquerque, N.M., on Sunday. Jerry Lara/Express-News

Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, is greeted by Father Edward Rivera as Deacon Mark Bussemeier greets Sen. Frank Madla, D-San Antonio, after Sunday Mass at Risen Savior Catholic Church in Albuquerque, N.M. Eleven of Texas' 12 Democratic state senators are on their seventh day away from Texas to avoid a special session called by Gov. Rick Perry. # Maverick Democrat goes his own way San Antonio Sen. Leticia Van de Putte made the surprising comment to a pair of hometown Republicans in a private morning meeting.

"She said there will be a third (session) and that they will very probably have a vote on a map that will pass," Joe Solis, a candidate for the Bexar County Republican Party chairmanship, said of his meeting with Van de Putte.

Van de Putte acknowledged the statements but added that "there are a whole lot of 'ifs' attached."

Solis and Jim McGrody, who founded and runs a GOP Internet-based political action committee from San Antonio, made the weekend "Van to Van de Putte Tour" to try to persuade her to return to Texas with them.

Both said she politely declined the offer.

Along with the results of a poll conducted by McGrody on his southtexasrepublican.com Web site, the two came bearing treats. They brought empanadas from Van de Putte's favorite bakery, La Poblanita; her favorite brand of chips and salsa; flowers; and a balloon in the shape of a boot with Texas flag on it.

The poll consisted of an e-mail sent to the 6,000 Republicans who regularly visit the site. McGrody said there were 150 respondents, with 53 percent of those responding saying they favor redistricting and 40 percent in opposition.

Van de Putte, who as chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, planned and led the walkout to New Mexico, repeated her vow that the Texas 11 will remain here and kill any Senate redistricting effort during the current second special session.

Van de Putte's prediction of a third special session was predicated on several scenarios. They include "the Senate deciding to stay (in Austin), the House deciding to stay, the removal of the two-thirds rule," she said, and the settling of an internal Republican squabble between House Speaker Tom Craddick and Senate Jurisprudence committee chairman Robert Duncan of Lubbock.

"You'd agree that's a lot of ifs," she noted.

Van de Putte referred to a clash between Duncan, who heads the Senate committee charged with producing a redrawn map, and Craddick, who has told legislators he wants a congressional district to be based in Midland, his hometown.

The district ,which includes Midland, currently is anchored in Lubbock. Duncan, a Lubbock native, wants to keep it there.

Van de Putte also referred to a longstanding Senate rule, known as the two-thirds rule, which allows 11 senators to block a bill from coming to the floor for debate. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst removed the rule to force Democrats to participate in the redistricting effort.

The Democrats decided instead to leave the state and are personally financing their stay in New Mexico, now seven days long, drawing on savings and officeholder accounts to pay the daily hotel and living expenses.

Van de Putte said she has taken out a loan against her life insurance policy to finance her stay here (about $200 a day) because she didn't feel it is right to take money out of the family budget.

Van de Putte was joined Sunday by three colleagues, Sens. Frank Madla of San Antonio, Eddie Lucio of Brownsville and Judith Zaffirini of Laredo, for Mass at Risen Savior Catholic Church. They were joined by members of Van de Putte's staff and Zaffirini's son, who spent the weekend visiting his mother.

Van de Putte became teary when relating how her eldest son, Henry, on Saturday announced to a religious retreat group in Kerrville his plans to become a lay minister, the first step to the priesthood.

The session was attended "by his best friends and by the entire family, except for his mother," she said. A legislative arrest warrant calls for Van de Putte, along with her AWOL colleagues, to be detained and returned to the Senate floor if they are found in Texas.

"The mommy in me said I should have been there," Van de Putte said. "But I can't."

Van de Putte was less sentimental when speaking to the Associated Press on Sunday about Gov. Rick Perry and Republican support in Washington for congressional redistricting in Texas.

"I don't know whose puppet strings are controlling which puppet at this point in the Republican Party," she said.

Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt responded that Van de Putte is stooping to personal attacks to try to turn the issue away from the fact that the 11 senate Democrats "ran away from their responsibilities."

ggarcia@express-news.net

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

08/04/2003

[Roughneck]

"and a balloon in the shape of a boot with Texas flag on it. "

I'd like her, and the rest of the drooling dems to have a "Big Texas Boot" come re-election time . . .

[newgeezer]

I don't mind reposts of the same story if the first thread has gone dormant.

I do.

If you want to rekindle the fire, bump (post a reply to) it. If you think a repost is necessary -- some of us look at latest threads, rather than latest replies so, we wouldn't see your bump -- start a new thread with only a title and a link to the original.

(Relevant tagline follows.)

[Texan5]

They should have just given her the other stuff and lost the empanadas-she already looks like she's had too many of them..

[DrewsDad]

Thank you for representing the majority of Texans and doing your best to communicate to someone with closed ears.

The majority has spoken by electing their State Senators and these obstructors are doing their best not to let them vote.

[MeekOneGOP]

Thank you Hocndoc for the FReep report/meeting with Senator Leticia Van de Putte.

Heads up Texans !! - post #2. Check out the SouthTexasRepublicans link also. I bookmarked it.

Excerpt:

The Senator declined our offer to give her a ride back to Texas in our van because there was an arrest warrant out for her issued by the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate and allowed by the Constitution of the State of Texas for legislators who willfully refuse to attend the Senate or the House. I’ll admit that I did not know that an actual “arrest warrant” had been issued and said so, but she said that she could show me the faxed copy. (To me, that sounds like she knows she’s breaking the law.)

Senator Van de Putte disingenuously gave a long speech blaming the whole push to redistrict on a supposed feud between Republicans in the Washington House of Representatives, Tom DeLay and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, although she also blamed Governor Rick Perry. She claimed that Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst had told her that he is not in favor of redistricting, but felt political pressure from outside sources. She said that the Democrat and Republicans were all close friends and that the last thing she did before leaving Austin was to hug the Lieutenant Governor.

Her arguments in opposition to redistricting focused on the unfairness of the majority. She said “Anglo” so many times that I was tempted to mention my Cherokee ancestors in the hopes that she would think I had a legitimate voice in Texas politics. She also pointed out that many of the districts that had voted for President Bush, Senator Cornyn and Governor Perry had voted for Democratic Federal Congressional Representatives, but disagreed with me that this fact showed that the people would vote for the candidates they supported, regardless of redistricting. She said that many Latinos and other minorities feel that it doesn’t matter how they vote. I pointed out that shutting down the Senate of the State of Texas by breaking the quorum is more likely to re-enforce that feeling.

The Senator refused to engage in dialogue. Instead, she responded to any requests for clarification - especially any challenging questions - with “Do you want to let me finish?” and “Will you let me answer?” I stifled my inclination to point out that she was making speeches rather than talking with us. Once, she made a movement as though she would follow the current pattern of the Texas Democratic Party members and leave the table. It appears that the Senator’s ego is not up to true debate. Perhaps that’s because the Senator’s facts couldn’t withstand the scrutiny.

The Senator did allow me to take pictures of her with Mr. Solis and Mr. McGrody presenting her with the email messages http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/hocndoc . [It's the one near the bottom labeled 'Trip to'...]

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas ping list!. . .don't be shy.
No, you don't HAVE to be a Texan to get on this list!

Full Texas Ping List

[Dog Gone]

D. Fahleson / Chronicle

Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, irons his shirt in his Albuquerque, N.M., hotel room before meeting with the other members of "The Texas Eleven" today. The Texas legislators left Austin a week ago to avoid a second special session on congressional redistricting.

[MEG33]

Thanks for the ping.

[neutrino]

Wow! Thanks for the ping!

[My back yard]

Thanks for the ping.

Democratic Texas Sens. 'Puke' Madla (from left), Leticia Van de Puke, Eddie Pukio and Judith Pukerini and her son Carlos Jr. say a prayer before Mass. They were at Risen Savior Catholic Church in Albuquerque, N.M., on Sunday.

[hocndoc]

Thank you.

I'm glad I was able to go and glad that I was brave enough to speak up once I got there (sometimes I just melt).

I wish I had had an opportunity to bring up the bought-and-paid attendees at the hearings.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/940629/posts
Why, $5000 would have paid for 15 to 20 senator-days at the Marriott.

[MEG33]

Thanks for the report!

[hocndoc]

Hey! I didn't have an ottoman!

[Dog Gone]

I want to know how legal it was for a corporation to donate the jet aircraft time to take the chickens to Albuquerque. Two jets (which returned empty, presumably) probably would have cost a minimum of $10,000 apiece to charter.

[Dog Gone]

He needs a bra worse than he needs an ottoman.

[hocndoc]

Thanks for pullling out the core of the article.

(sometimes I act like the nerdy woman who tries to tell you how to build a clock, when all you asked was the time)

[CindyDawg]

Was that picture a pose, or for real?

[hocndoc]

Senator Lucio is a very personable man who I met and spoke for a few minutes in June when I was up there for the first day of the 1st Special Session. He was telling several of us that he felt that he needed to show up, even though he had had a heart attack a little over a week before.

What on earth could induce him to leave home, now??

[hocndoc]

Be nice. Only us fat ladies can comment on the weight of other women.

[Dog Gone]

Of course it was a pose. The Houston Chronicle, which took this picture, is solidly behind the Rats on this. The photo, presumably, is to demonstrate how the Rats are actually roughing it in their $159 per night accommodations, and how in touch they are with the common man.

Notice how nicely Eddie has his hair combed. This was staged to the hilt.

[Trajan88]

I read in the DMN this morning that the Democrapic 11 were upset people were following them and taking photos and videos of them in their "new" environment.

Wow... what a great idea... politicians being held accountable for their actions.

Hey Van de Putte, don't come back to Tejas mad; just come back.

Trajan88