Columnist Dave McNeely Says Perry-Dewhurst Ambitions Are Fueling Redistricting Fight

Austin, TX, American-Statesman ^ | 08-21-03 | McNeely, Dave

[Theodore R.]

Ambitions are fueling this fight Thursday, August 21, 2003

Folks wonder why Gov. Rick Perry, and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, are risking political capital on congressional redistricting.

Perhaps Republican politics.

When Perry switched to the GOP in 1989, his mentor, then-U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, a party-switcher himself, said a former Democrat had to be more Republican than other Republicans.

Perry listened. Yet speculation continues that either U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or another former Democrat, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, will challenge Perry in 2006.

Dewhurst's presumed game plan is to win another term in 2006 and then run for governor in 2010. Carrying water for the GOP on redistricting helps guard against a potential Republican primary challenger.

Are Perry and Dewhurst hoping to curry favor with U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay? That's harder to figure. For House Speaker Tom Craddick, it made sense because DeLay helped Craddick win the post. It's harder to fathom why it might be important to Perry and Dewhurst.

Some Democrats opine that DeLay would help Perry stave off competition from Hutchison.

Another presumption is that the Bush administration is involved. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, has made calls pushing for a new map to help elect more Republicans. The idea would be to cement Republican power not just for Bush's tenure but for decades.

Nicholas Lemann, a former writer for Texas Monthly, recently wrote on Rove for The New Yorker: "The real prize (for Rove) is creating a Republican majority that would be as solid as, say, the Democratic coalition that Franklin Roosevelt created — a majority that would last for a generation . . ."

Another thought is that Perry and Dewhurst presumed they could have their way with the newly minority Democrats. But faced with an extraordinary re-redistricting situation, 11 Democratic senators responded with an extraordinary flight to New Mexico to break a quorum.

Both sides appear dug in, with no end in sight. It's become a question of whose endurance is longer.

Perry, Dewhurst and other Republicans insist there's other important work for senators. But when asked if it's so important they'll pull down redistricting, they always sidestep.

In 2001, Perry refused to call a special session on redistricting because legislators couldn't agree upon a plan. He let it go to a three-judge federal court.

Had he used the same logic in 2003, when even Republicans can't agree on a map, he might not be out on a limb of hardball pride, dragging Dewhurst along to take bullets for him.

There may be no graceful way out.

But they could listen to Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, who succeeded Perry and preceded Dewhurst as lieutenant governor:

Reinstate the Senate's two-thirds rule to bring up redistricting. The 11 Democrats come home, and either a bill will pass or it won't.

It makes so much sense that, in the current white-hot political climate, it probably won't even be considered.

Dave McNeely's column appears Thursdays. Contact him at (512) 445-3644 or dmcneely@statesman.com.

[Theodore R.]

Wow, McNeely has a "great" idea: reinstate the 2/3 rule. That means the Democrats win the fight, but he doesn't explain it for the sheeple to understand.