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Posted on 10/12/2003 6:25:44 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Legislature to meet in redistricting finale Associated press
AUSTIN (AP) — With a big Texas football weekend under way, House Democrats took advantage of dwindling legislative attendance and again broke a quorum in their battle to block redistricting.
The lawmakers' disappearance Friday night meant the House — which already had approved a Republican congressional redistricting bill — could not vote on a government reorganization bill some senators coveted.
So Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Senate Republicans decided to wait to vote on new congressional district boundaries that favor the GOP.
Both the House and Senate are to meet today in what could be the redistricting finale in the Legislature.
There is optimism, if not pure confidence, that the House will have a quorum today, Bob Richter, spokesman for House Speaker Tom Craddick, said Saturday.
"The fear is if the Senate monkeys around and doesn't pass this thing, you take a chance on a filibuster or a Senate walkout," Richter said of the redistricting battle. "You have to expect the unexpected at this point."
But Dewhurst said senators can only vote on redistricting today, not filibuster, because he has closed down debate.
Dewhurst remarked: "The House has assured us they are going to pass all this legislation, so we are waiting for them to pass it. As one former president whom I'm a fan of once said, 'Trust but verify."'
The weekend delay was another strange twist in six-month redistricting saga that included a quorum bust by 51 House Democrats who fled to Ardmore, Okla., in May and another by 11 senators who traveled to Albuquerque, N.M., over the summer.
"We never gave up and we never will," Rep. Garnet Cole man of Houston, one of the most vocal of the Democrats, said Saturday.
Democrats hold a 17-15 edge in the state's congressional delegation and want to keep existing district lines that were drawn by a court in 2001. Re pub licans, citing the state's increasingly conservative voting trends, say they should have the majority in the delegation.
The House-Senate redistricting compromise plan reached by Republicans with the help of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay would likely give the GOP an additional six or seven seats.
House Democrats walked out late Friday — even though they were present for the final House redistricting vote earlier in the day — because they decided they had better things to do, Coleman said.
Some of the legislators had weekend trips arranged. Others wanted to spend time with their families, he said.
It was well known that some House Republicans were heading to Dallas on Friday for the Texas-Oklahoma football game on Saturday and parties and fund-raisers that coincide with it. So the Democrats left.
With no quorum, a frustrated Craddick ordered the chamber's doors locked while he tried to round up enough legislators to take a vote. His effort failed, and the House ad journed.
Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, acknowledged that as Republicans trickle back into town for today's House session, it's unlikely Democrats can maintain a boycott and block a quorum.
Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, headed the effort to force the House to vote on government reorganization before the Senate voted on redistricting. He said he expects the House will approve the reorganization bill and the Senate will OK redistricting.
The government reorganization bill has been at the center of a nasty Republican feud between GOP Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and some senators and Dewhurst.
The fellow party members have fought all year over state spending.
Senators made sure that the government reorganization bill strips some high-profile duties from the comptroller, including the e-Texas money-saving proposals program and school performance reviews.
Strayhorn claims she is being targeted for "political payback."
House Democrats this weekend didn't care to stick around for the Republican showdown between the House and Senate, Coleman said.
"They've been playing games," Coleman said. "It's clear that this has been an utter waste of time."
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On the Net:
Texas Legislative Council: www.tlc.state.tx.us
Damn Perry. Moron.
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Well, he is an Aggie....
My comment about Perry being a moron comes from a friend who's a lobbyist that told me that both Bush and Rove think Perry is a dumb a$$. But that's obvious anyway.
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