Posted on 08/21/2003 7:33:25 PM PDT by hoaxbuster1
State Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, has just about had all he can take of his fellow Republican lawmakers on redistricting, and he isn't afraid to speak out about the harm it has caused the Texas Legislature.
"There are those who are supporting these actions that believe that everybody will all come back together and it will all be cum ba yah again," Ratliff said Wednesday. "I believe it won't be like that."
Ratliff is currently at home in Mount Pleasant, having walked out of a meeting last week of Republicans wanting to impose certain fines on the 11 Democrat senators who fled to New Mexico when they got wind Gov. Rick Perry would call a second special session.
Early Associated Press reports said Ratliff was contemplating resignation.
However, Ratliff said that inaccurate report came as an answer he gave to one of the reporter's questions. He said there were no plans to immediately resign.
"It's a month-to-month decision," said Ratliff.
Ratliff's term expires in 2006, and his intentions for another term are crystal clear.
"I made no secret that I will not seek another term," said Ratliff. "I so seriously disagree with what the Republicans in the senate are doing right now."
What the GOP is doing is not backing down from a congressional redistricting issue that was pushed by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and is being carried out diligently by Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, both Republicans.
If Ratliff were to step down as senator before the end of his term, the governor would be required to call a special election within a certain number of days. However, there would be no primary.
Ratliff did not agree with the decision to fine the Democrats.
"I just thought that was one more escalation of the hostilities, one more nail in the coffin, one more action that wouldn't make it possible to heal the wounds," said Ratliff. "They weren't going to make them pay it anyway. I was violently opposed to it."
He also said his return to Austin depends on whether Perry calls a third special session. The current special session, called July 29, will end Aug. 26.
Ratliff also wonders how things would be different if the two-thirds rule were in place.
"All I can tell you is that when I was lieutenant governor, Tom DeLay called me and asked me if I would do away with the rule and I refused," said Ratliff. "It (the rule) forces the Texas Senate to reach across the party lines and come to compromises that are good for the state."
The two-thirds rule requires 21 of the 31 senators to support legislation before it can be brought up. It was successfully used by Democrats in the first special session to block redistricting, but Dewhurst revoked it for the second.
Ratliff said the Texas Legislature has often been looked up to for its bi-partisan relationship.
"Other states have looked at Texas with wonder that our Senate is so bi-partisan," said Ratliff. "The reason for that, in my opinion, is the two-thirds rule."
With the Democrats and Republicans trading barbs across state lines, Ratliff said all the negativity is doing the Texas Senate harm that could take years to reverse.
"I think there is every chance that it will be a generation," said Ratliff, who said the fines imposed on the exiled Democrats were the last straw.
"I don't think it will ever be the same," he said.
He said the Texas Legislature will become just one of many that is divided along party lines, like Washington, D.C.
Because of his bi-partisan nature, Ratliff has made many friends, both Democrat and Republican, who would hate to see him go.
"As the Texas State Democratic Chair, I'm proud to call him my senator," said Texarkana native Molly Beth Malcolm.
Malcolm said if Ratliff were still the lieutenant governor, there would not be the problems there are now.
"He is a man with backbone. He is a profile in courage. He represents the people who elected him," said Malcolm. "He's 100 percent Texan and has no use for the Washington political games. His voice is very much needed."
Malcolm also said the same lawmakers who are pushing for the redrawing of the congressional district lines, namely DeLay, are the ones who supported Ratliff when he was lieutenant governor.
Bowie County Republican Chair Marjorie Chandler said Ratliff has done such a stand-up job for his constituents and the state, she doesn't want to see him resign either.
"He is a gentleman. He is honest and he has made an excellent senator," said Chandler.
One of the Texas 11, state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, said Ratliff knows how to prioritize Texans' needs and how to say no to powerful political players.
"Politics rank last in Bill Ratliff's world, as it should in the state's Republican leadership," said Van de Putte in a statement.
Not necessarily. We might arrest him and bring him kicking and whining back to the capitol.
I'm willing to let it happen.
Says it all.
Not "still" - she's new in the job.
The Dims were scraping the bottom of the barrel to find someone to take that job.
Up here in Denton County, the local Dimocrat Party group is meeting this Saturday in a small local restaurant - in one corner of it.
Probably won't need more than three menus!
But you're right, I don't care if he ever comes back.
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