HELLO, STRANGER -- Only a politician could love this redistricting map

Houston Chronicle ^ | October 12, 2003 | Editorial Board

[Dog Gone]

Claiming to have acted solely in the public interest, Republicans in Austin devised congressional districts that will place almost half of all Texans, against the wishes of most, in a different congressional district. This is not the first time the good of one party's politicians has outweighed the will of the people.

The compromise bill was fashioned in the absence of Gov. Rick Perry, who was in New York promoting Texas business and raising campaign funds. Since his presence had done so little to advance either public or party interest, little was lost through his absence.

U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay abandoned Washington for Austin in order to cement the deal that only he and a few others wanted in the first place. His role from start to finish demonstrated that his only goal was consolidating his power.

Some Republican legislators said they took pains to keep natural community interests together. That is why west Harris County and north Austin will be joined, and why some voters on the outskirts of Houston will be joined with some in parts of South Texas. That is why south Austin and the Mexican border will be linked. That is why people living on one side of some West Texas towns will be separated from their neighbors on the other side.

The redistricting struggle's legacy of dislocation, resentment and needless expenditure of millions of tax dollars is bad enough without having its sponsors pretend that the majority of Texans are now better off.

We haven't even begun to talk about the costs and complications of redrawing local precinct lines to accommodate the new map. That's a hidden cost DeLay and Co. aren't speaking much about.

Democrats argue that the new district lines will be dead on arrival when they reach the U.S. Justice Department for review. The transfer of thousands of minority Galvestonians, mostly Democrats, to DeLay's heavily Republican district alone would justify rejection.

However, it is folly to think the highly politicized Justice Department under Attorney General John Ashcroft would thwart DeLay's dream of 20 or more Republicans in the Texas delegation to Congress

[friendly]

Lying whining from democrats. This is standard practice invented by the democrats: Just look at most of the democrat districts in most democrat states!!!

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[goldstategop]

The Houston Chronicle should put some ice on their whine. Gerrymandering never disturbed them when the Democrats did it. The reason they're so high-falutin' minded now about it is that Republicans are in charge. Liberals are so predictable and their editorial board has not a single of reproach to the Democrats for fleeing to Albuquerque this past summer instead of staying in Austin and doing their duty to their own constituents. Public interest indeed. The Democrats wanted to keep power they didn't deserve but its Republicans who get the short end of the stick for trying to make the Texas Congressional delegation reflect the way the majority of Texans do vote.

[deport]

Did they eat a load of sour grapes before penning this diatribe......

But I do agree that the maps look like crap with the gerrymandered districts. Compare the 2002 districts versus the proposed 2004 and it's amazing. At least the 2002 districts had some sense of continuity within the districts...

My gripes said I'm still glad to get the Republican Representatives it appears that may be possible...

[Clara Lou]

After having rad the Chronicle for some years, I can tell you that, in the opinion of the Chronicle, Republicans can do nothing right. Even when they do it right, according to the Chronicle, they do the right thing the wrong way. You cannot be Republican and "win" with the Chronicle.

[deport]

2004 Proposed Districts......
http://www.tlc.state.tx.us/research/redist/pdf/map_plan01374c.pdf

[aristeides]

You're right about the hypocrisy of the Democrats on this issue.

However, it would be a good thing for this country and most of the people in it (although not for professional politicians) if a way were found to end gerrymandering by both parties. The way gerrymandering has made most congressional districts uncompetitive is bad in many ways: it makes representatives unresponsive to their constituents, it has driven both parties to their extremes and made compromise more and more difficult to achieve in legislative bodies.

I don't know if an act of Congress attempting to prohibit gerrymandering of congressional districts would be constitutional. But I think this issue is important enough to be worth a constitutional amendment, which could cover all offices, federal, state, and local. It's possible to define gerrymandering mathematically. (With computers, you can determine what the minimum sum of perimeters of electoral districts is for a set of offices. You then prohibit districting that has a sum of perimeters that is more than some multiple of that minimum sum of perimeters, say, 110%, or whatever other factor seems desirable and is politically possible to push through.)

Unfortunately, since such a change would be very much counter to the wishes of members of the House of Representatives (and of members of state legislatures,) I think it's quite impossible that this could be done.

[Dog Gone]

Not only that, but it would gut the Voting Rights Act, which ensures that nincompoops like Sheila Jackson-Lee have districts drawn to ensure a lifetime of Queen Sheila.

[SwinneySwitch]

Sorry, I love the new district I'm in.

"Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, I am free at last!"-MLK Jr

[thoughtomator]

Okay... maybe I'm just slow, maybe that map isn't the right one... but what in that map is gerrymandered? That looks like a pretty damn good map, with compact and contiguous districts and no stretched-out weirdness. What am I missing that people are up in arms about?

[Dog Gone]

What am I missing that people are up in arms about?

The liberals are all upset that the map dissects Austin, the center of Texas liberalism, and makes it likely that most of the representatives will be conservative, or not from Austin.

[thoughtomator]

Ah ok... I guess I didn't understand the map, first time I saw it.

Districts 15, 25, and 28 do appear to be gerrymandered. But I wonder how bad they really are compared to the last Democratic redistricting.

[deport]

Look at some of the following districts.......

#6 of Joe Barton...... one county wide streching up and down I-45....... #'s 15, 25, 27, 28 most streching from Austin/San Antonio south to the Mexican Border, one county wide or so for some 300 to 400 miles... Look at the interplay in #11, 13 and 19, one county in another county out.....

Now look at the 2002 map for comparisons

[hoot2]

"This is not the first time the good of one party's politicians has outweighed the will of the people. "

oh c'mon, most people don't know what district they're in, or who their rep is...
its just politics as usual...

[hoot2]

"Sorry, I love the new district I'm in. "

i'm in kali....can i get re'D to yours?

[thoughtomator]

The 2002 map looks just as gerrymandered as the new one, if not more so. If one is legal, so is the other.

[hoot2]

"But I wonder how bad they really are compared to the last Democratic redistricting. "

whats the fuss?
demonRATS are king of gerrymandering...
north carolina had a district that was n inter-state highway...
they probably have some that are "funnier" than that out there,
we just haven't heard about them...

[engrpat]

It would seem to me that if the democrats are upset and feel that they can't win under the new map they should do what the republicans did, run better candidates. The republicans have overcome the democrats in Texas by putting up the best possible candidate for each office. But I guess the demorats feel it is their birth right to be elected.

[deport]

Whatever..... Gerrymandering is legal so nothing wrong with it per se..... I just don't like it from either side....