Posted on 09/09/2003 5:58:42 AM PDT by Dog Gone
Senator says they won't come back to Austin until quorum achieved
The renegade Texas Democrats decided late Monday to leave the New Mexico hotel that they've made their home for the last six weeks and to come back to the state for a court hearing Thursday before returning to their homes.
"We will say goodbye to the great people of New Mexico, probably on Wednesday, and then we will be in court on Thursday" in Laredo, said Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, chairwoman of the Senate Democratic caucus.
The runaway senators had vowed to stay out of Texas until another redistricting session was called and a quorum established on the Senate floor. However, Ms. Van de Putte said, the decision last week of Houston Democrat John Whitmire to return to Texas changed the other Democrats' thinking.
They will still stay out of Austin until Mr. Whitmire helps the Republicans reach the 21-member quorum needed to do business but will return to their families in Texas, she said.
"We're not at risk of being captured," Ms. Van de Putte said.
Meanwhile, in Austin, Gov. Rick Perry met Monday with Republican leaders to plan another special session on the issue amid one remaining obstacle – getting agreement among the Republicans themselves.
At issue is a squabble between House and Senate Republicans over the shape of a West Texas congressional district that currently includes Midland and Lubbock.
Sen. Robert Duncan of Lubbock wants to keep the district largely intact. House Speaker Tom Craddick wants new boundaries in which Midland has its own district.
"There is no deal on West Texas," Craddick spokesman Bob Richter said Monday after a meeting of the state's top three GOP officials. Mr. Craddick, Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst met for about an hour in the governor's office.
Mr. Dewhurst said only that the governor could summon the Legislature back into a third special legislative session as early as this week, but he cautioned that the House and Senate still needed to break the deadlock over new congressional boundaries.
The Republican lieutenant governor predicted that lawmakers, who failed to draw a new map during a regular session and two 30-day special sessions, will return soon and complete the task of redrawing congressional boundaries. He said the session should last no longer than two to three weeks.
"I think we're going to reach agreement on a whole map" before the governor summons lawmakers back into special session, he said. "That's my goal."
Democrats have stymied Mr. Perry's efforts to force the Legislature to redraw congressional boundaries to boost the number of Republicans in the state's 32-member delegation. Democrats have 17 seats, and Republicans 15. Republicans hope to pick up at least five new seats in next year's elections under a new map.
Over the weekend, two of the Democratic senators zipped in and out of Texas for family visits.
News accounts back home quoted two as saying the group would make a "barnstorming tour" of Texas this week or next week if that is when Mr. Perry calls another special session on redistricting.
Mr. Whitmire's return gives the Republicans the quorum they need to consider and pass a new congressional map.
The Democrats say that Mr. Dewhurst violated minorities' voting rights in late July when he chose in the redistricting flap to dispense with a Senate rule in use since the 1950s. The rule says two-thirds of the senators must agree to debate a bill before it can be heard.
The Democrats say Mr. Dewhurst and the Senate needed to obtain federal approval for the change in parliamentary procedure because it could propel to passage a map they say would dilute the voting power of 1.4 million black and Hispanic Texans.
Republicans hold 19 of the Senate's 31 seats – two short of the 21 needed to take up a map if the two-thirds rule is followed.
The governor has indicated it is time for the Senate to end the two-thirds tradition and simply go by majority rule.
Mr. Whitmire said a big reason he returned to Texas was worry over loss of the rule, which he said would leave Democrats with no voice on education, the state budget, health care and abortion.
On Monday, three Texas senators visited South Florida to say Republicans have shown a "national pattern of abuse of power" by trying to scrap Democratic congressional districts and overturn elections the GOP lost.
Texas state Sens. Mario Gallegos, Eliot Shapleigh and Gonzalo Barrientos were joined by several Florida Democratic legislators, who wore small Texas flag pins.
Monday's visit comes one day before President Bush visits Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale. Other senators spoke at a similar event Monday in Philadelphia.
"We're here to tell the story of recount, recall and re-redistricting, the new three R's of Republican extremism," said Mr. Shapleigh, of El Paso.
Mr. Shapleigh said that the recount in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, redistricting conflicts in Colorado and Texas and the California gubernatorial recall are all troubling examples of Republicans trying to make power grabs in several states.
The Democrats said they are trying to expose involvement of the president, presidential adviser Karl Rove and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in the Texas redistricting battle.
Some of the runaway senators have begun shipping personal effects home to Texas, and staff members to the Democrats have been seen carrying boxes into the hotel, although they said they simply were trying to organize all of the gifts and food items that supporters have sent the lawmakers.
I think the 'RATS don't have much choice on coming back. Supposedly they are coming back Wednesday night for the Thursday 3 judge hearing. They will get a bloody nose that day.The 'RATS and the media keep spinning this story that it is the GOP that is setting a 'precedent' of dropping the blocker bill 2/3rds thing. It's a big LIE ! The 'RATS did it in 1992 and most of the media don't even MENTION that ! G-r-r-r !!
Yep ... the GOP would NEVER break quorum. The GOP has NO ties to the Communist Party like the 'RATS do ...
Oh, and I might as well link the latest news here, eh ?? ...
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.