NEW: Audio of Rats in Albuquerque:
Texas RAT Liberals Run to Albuquerque !!
(To the tune of Locomotion)
Chicken D's Anthem
Click here or on the pic !
Posted on 08/26/2003 10:22:22 AM PDT by pogo101
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Texans and the rest of the nation soon will be hearing more about the 11 Senate Democrats who are boycotting GOP attempts to redraw the state's congressional districts.
Moveon.org, an activist group founded in 1998 by two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, has raised almost $1 million via the Internet and within days will launch a national ad campaign featuring the Texas senators, said Glenn Smith, spokesman for the Internet group.
He said the TV, radio and print ads will be different outside of Texas. There will be a broader national message accusing Republicans of trying to steal elections, perhaps using as examples the 2000 presidential campaign, the California recall and the Texas redistricting controversy.
In Texas, the ads will try to educate voters about why the Senate Democrats left the state July 28 rather than vote on plans to increase the number of congressional districts with Republican representatives from 15 to 21. The state has 32 districts.
The Democrats insist the current court-drawn map is fine, while Republicans say it is just another version of the gerrymandered map that Democrats drew in 1991. The GOP says a new map would reflect the state's recent voting trends that favor Republicans.
Some of the Democrats concede that the state's GOP leadership has done a better job of getting out its message that the Democratic senators should return to work in Austin. (The Senate cannot conduct business without a quorum.)
"It's an easy message," said Kathy Walt, Gov. Rick Perry's press secretary. "Texans understand the issue here. The senators need to get back to work."
At the senators' daily press briefing, Royce West, D-Dallas, said the Democratic message is, "You don't rig the game in order to win."
The Democrats object to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's decision to abandon a Senate tradition, dating to the 1950s, that requires two-thirds of the Senate to agree to debate a bill. Under that provision, the 11 Democrats could have killed redistricting.
Dewhurst, a Republican who presides over the Senate, has cited examples of his Democratic predecessors abandoning the tradition in past redistricting controversies.
But Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Galena Park, on Monday showed a newspaper photo of a former Republican senator and President Bush to illustrate that the tradition has also worked in the Republicans' favor.
Gallegos said former Sen. David Sibley, pictured in a golf cart with Bush in Crawford, and 11 other Republicans used the tradition two years ago to stop redistricting. Now, he said, the Republicans want to deny Democrats the right to use the tradition.
Moveon.org was prominent in raising money to fight President Clinton's impeachment and has helped Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean become an early fund-raising giant. The group is broadcasting a TV ad questioning President Bush's case for invading Iraq. The ad is labeled, "MisLeader."
"It's sad to see our senators being used by this hard-left, anti-Bush group," said David Beckwith, a spokesman for Dewhurst.
On Monday, a state district judge in Travis County effectively ended the battle of the redistricting war that was being fought in her court by throwing out Dewhurst's request that she order the Democrats to return to work. The Democrats had initially filed suit against Dewhurst and Perry in state district court in Travis County but had withdrawn that suit. State District Court Judge Darlene Byrne ruled that she had no jurisdiction to rule.
The Legislature will adjourn today, ending the second 30-day special session without a redistricting plan.
Perry has promised to call a third session but has refused to say how soon.
The Senate Democrats remained coy Monday about when they will return to Texas.
Some want to be reassured by their lawyers that they can return to Texas without being detained. Others are waiting to see whether a federal judge in Laredo gets involved after a hearing Wednesday. The senators also are waiting to hear if representatives from the U.S. Justice Department will meet with them Thursday to discuss whether dropping the two-thirds tradition is a voting rights issue.
Although the group has not decided its next move, several indicated that they are willing to continue the boycott.
"You don't go this far and turn around," West said.
lcopelin@statesman.com; 445-3617
NEW: Audio of Rats in Albuquerque:
Texas RAT Liberals Run to Albuquerque !!
(To the tune of Locomotion)
Chicken D's Anthem
Click here or on the pic !
Please, please, pleeeeze spend as much money as you can to constantly remind Texans that these 11 cowards fled the state to avoid a vote.
I would love to see them spend 10 times that amount on this.
The Democrats object to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's decision to abandon a Senate tradition, dating to the 1950s, that requires two-thirds of the Senate to agree to debate a bill. Under that provision, the 11 Democrats could have killed redistricting.Dewhurst, a Republican who presides over the Senate, has cited examples of his Democratic predecessors abandoning the tradition in past redistricting controversies.
And since the StatistMan (hehe! I like that) didn't specify, I will cite them ...
07-31-2003
Dewhurst: I'm honoring tradition and precedent
(Article exposes ‘RAT Lies!!)
Congressional districts in Texas today are essentially those drawn by a partisan Legislature in 1991. At that time, a national publication called the Texas map the most outrageously gerrymandered redistricting effort in the nation, resulting in Democratic strength in our congressional delegation well beyond its representation among voters.Our congressional lines are even more outdated today. When the Legislature failed to draw new lines to accommodate Texas' two new congressional seats in 2001, the job fell to a federal court. The judges made the fewest changes possible to the existing 1991 map, in essence protecting incumbents.
07-19-2003
[Texas] Senators talk of boycotting any redistricting session
Mr. Dewhurst said he would be on solid ground in working around the Senate tradition requiring a two-thirds vote to take up a bill. The late Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, a Democrat, did the same thing in a 1992 special session on legislative redistricting, Mr. Dewhurst said.07-15-2003
Ratliff joins Democrats to oppose redistricting
The state Republican Party was quick to point out that the [2/3rd’s] rule has been abandoned on occasion – such as when the Senate took up a state senatorial redistricting plan in 1992.
Here is a list of recent articles on Redistricting:FR Search: Keyword "Redistricting"
08-26-2003
MoveOn.org Aiding Fugitive Texas Democrats (Update!)
08-25-2003
Costs for Democrat exiles may hit $400,000 -
MoveOn.org, DNC, Texas 'RAT Party raise funds for them
08-21-2003
MoveOn.Org Supporting the Texas Chicken D's -
Letter from Senator Rodney Ellis
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
