West TX Congressional District Is Thorn in Republican Plan

AUSTIN - What started as a frenzy between Democrats and Republicans could be determined by roughnecks and cotton farmers.

West Texans in Midland and Lubbock are at the center of a Republican legislative stalemate over congressional redistricting.

Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick of Midland said he's not negotiating over the design of West Texas' congressional districts. Republican Sen. Robert Duncan of Lubbock, chair of the Senate Jurisprudence Committee that is tackling redistricting, says he won't vote on a map his constituents don't like.

"He's got to decide whether he wants to have redistricting. Are we going to have redistricting (or) are we going to have Midland?" Duncan said of Craddick. "Is this about Texas or is this about Midland?"

Craddick spokesman Bob Richter replied that once the Senate approves a redistricting map, a conference committee will work out differences and "try to pass a map that a majority of people can live with."

Craddick, who favors a map adopted Wednesday by the House, wants his home of Midland to anchor a district that could support a congressional representative separate from Lubbock.

With an autonomous Midland district, Lubbock and Abilene would likely have to meld together into one district, forcing either Lubbock's rookie U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer, a Republican, or the popular congressional veteran Rep. Charles Stenholm, an Abilene Democrat, out of office.

Duncan says his constituents strongly oppose a Midland district, but he's searching for a solution.

Craddick, Duncan, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and Republican state Sen. Todd Staples of Palestine, who authored the map under consideration in the Senate, met earlier this month to look for a compromise.

Craddick said he's upset because Duncan reneged on a deal the two struck in May, amid a tight runoff election between Neugebauer and a congressional candidate from Midland.

At the time, redistricting was gaining steam in the Legislature and both Craddick and Duncan were concerned that, whichever candidate won the expensive West Texas runoff, a new redistricting map could possibly eliminate the seat.

The agreement, Craddick said, would have given both Midland and Lubbock "pancake districts," stretching from east to west, so that either candidate would have the opportunity to maintain his seat after a redistricting map had been adopted.

"You're running an expensive runoff but if you win, you may not have a seat. That's not fair to the person who won or to the district," Craddick said.

Duncan said that although he discussed the map with Craddick, no agreement was reached.

"I told him personally that I didn't have an objection to it, but we both agreed that we would forward it to (Neugebauer and the candidate from Midland for input). My feedback was that it was not as favorable to the constituents I represent as I initially thought," Duncan said.

After that, 51 Texas House Democrats fled to Ardmore, Okla., and redistricting died during the regular legislative session. The Legislature has since attempted redistricting during three special sessions, including one in which Senate Democrats fled to New Mexico to block a quorum.

With the Democrats back and the clock running in a third special session called by Gov. Rick Perry, Republican quarreling could be the obstacle to passing redistricting.

"They fight among themselves. They're themselves. They're debating among themselves. They do not even have the votes for a redistricting plan," said Sen. Judith Zaffirini, a Laredo Democrat. "Governor Perry should not have called a special session without the votes in place for a redistricting plan."

Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst maintains that several ideas were being floated around on how to solve the West Texas issue.

Last month, as Democrats fled to New Mexico amid the inter-party redistricting war, Republican Sen. Bill Ratliff of Mount Pleasant prophesied the GOP entanglement. All the bloodletting between Democrats and Republicans may have been for nothing, Ratliff said, because of the Craddick-Duncan dispute.

"From what I hear, one of them is going to have to lose that battle and there is precious little middle ground," Ratliff said. "That would be the greatest tragedy of all, if we've all gone through this and we get to a conference committee and the Republicans can't even agree on a map."

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Craddick has a point: all the districts west of San Antonio run in a general east-west direction except for the Duncan-backed Lubbock-Midland district, which is north-south. Recent history though favors the Duncan plan, because Abilene and Lubbock have been together since the early 1980s. Prior to Larry Combest, Lubbock had the popular Democrat George Mahon, and was it Abilene that had the popular Democrat O.C. Fisher prior to Stenholm? So Craddick would be going back to the format of the Mahon-Fisher years.

All in all, I like the Craddick map better.

I also do not understand why Duncan insists on keeping Lubbock paired with Midland instead of Abilene. His stance will give the Democrats an extra seat -- the Stenholm district.

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