DROP IT -- Redistricting would benefit few Texans, harm many

Houston Chronicle ^ | July 9, 2003 | Editorial Board

[Dog Gone]

Just hours after the Texas House passed a congressional redistricting bill, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and key senators all but declared the House map dead.

They had many good reasons to do so.

The House map, drawn at the behest of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, would be vulnerable to court challenges that it violated both the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution. If adopted, the map would ensure that few Texas voters would know either the incumbent member of Congress or the challengers.

The House plan would disrupt longstanding representation of rural, urban and minority interests. Is there anything left to be served but DeLay's ambitions for greater and more permanent power?

Republicans in the Texas House passed their redistricting bill with such thoughtless haste that they did not bother to establish its merit in debate or counter the many arguments made against it. The lieutenant governor said House Republicans did not bother to consult him. Since his support is vital to final passage of a redistricting plan, House Republicans proved they were less concerned with passing legislation beneficial to Texans than with blindly doing DeLay's bidding.

Rep. Ron Wilson of Houston was one of only two House Democrats to vote for the redistricting map. He said it would improve the chances that a black candidate could replace U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, a Democrat, in District 25. Whatever motives Wilson had for making his pact with the House leadership, a genuine desire to advance the interests of Houston's minority residents was not among them.

Gov. Rick Perry bears ultimate responsibility for pointlessly prolonging the agony of the redistricting battle in a special session.

Perry might not care that editorials in most of the state's major papers oppose redistricting. He might not care that most of the voters who attended public hearings on redistricting spoke vehemently against it. But he should have some regard for his own honor and credentials as a leader who puts the good of the state above the whim of a Washington powerbroker.

Perry, like other state leaders of both parties, acknowledged before the start of the regular session that Texas had more crucial needs than redistricting. Many of those needs, such as school finance reform, have not been met. Perry should not have wasted the Legislature's time and the taxpayers' money on a divisive issue that offers benefits to few and harm to many.

President Bush publicly feigns indifference to redistricting but has his aide, Karl Rove, lobby for it behind the scenes. The president diminishes the bipartisan credentials he earned as governor of Texas and ignores his campaign promise to unite rather than divide.

Dewhurst and some senators say they want to craft a more reasonable district map than the one the House adopted. Any map they drew, however, would not correspond to the conservative dictum of compact, geographically logical districts. Worse, a reasonable map adopted by the Senate would be subject to sabotage in conference committee with the House.

State Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, said he could not vote for the House map. He and other senators not yet committed to vote along partisan lines should advertise their opposition to harmful redistricting long enough to convince their colleagues to drop the matter.

Redistricting more than once every 10 years would be bad for voters of both parties. The Senate would acquit itself well by acting on that realization

[Kuksool]

The Houston Chronicle ought to change its name to Down with Delay.

[ken5050]

IMHO, this is a done deal...the GOP will get this through....teh louder the Dems and the media scream, the better the sign they know they're in trouble......BTW..wonder what special proviso in some bill somewhere Ratliff is holding out for..?

[Dog Gone]

A bait and switch tactic could work wonders in the Senate. Make a bunch of concessions to get the bill on the floor with a 2/3rds vote.

Once it's there, hose the Rats and RINOs, and pass whatever map we want.

But shhhhh, don't tell the Chronicle.

[deport]

IMHO, this is a done deal...the GOP will get this through....

---

I agree I think it will be passed in some form/version. People seem to be thinking the House version is the only thing out there, but the Senate is an equal participant and will make some changes I believe. If for no other reason than to show some autonomy.

The Senate's last public hearing is today in Waco at 1pm. Then they will begin the process of putting together their version of a redistricting map in the Senate Committee on Jurisprudence ... At that point things will become better focused as to how they compare with the House version and where the real hang ups are at, if any.... It's still a few days out for the rubber to meet the road.

[ken5050]

Thanks for the info..please bump me if you post any more on this topic...The reason I believe it's in the bag is simply that the GOP..DeLay and Perry, would NOT have brought it up unless they knew they had the votes...Wonder how many Dems in the Senate are gonna go along...I'll wager at least 4..all minorities..there's safety in numbers...BTW..where's the Texas Dem Ditz these days....Molly Beth Malcom.......?..you can bet she's gonna be the sacrificail lamb for this fiasco...

[linn37]

I'm glad that for a few moments these folks from the Insane Asylum were allowed out in public to play.

[Dont Mention the War]

Nothing should be reprinted from the Houston Chronicle without including their official policy statement. Remember their recent statement that they would use their news and op-ed pages to influence elections and public opinion.

Was that posted on FR anywhere? I'd like to read it.

[johnb838]

Perry might not care that editorials in most of the state's major papers oppose redistricting.

If this statement is not the height of hubris, I don't know what is.

[MeekOneGOP]

LOL ! Lookin' at that pic, they DO look they might have broken out of there !

[johnb838]

Why would a republican like Dewhurst say something like that? He is not a RINO, I do not believe.

[johnb838]

Is that like three-of-a-kind to open and jacks-or-better to win? That doesn't even make sense.

[Dog Gone]

Don't believe the Chronicle's spin on this. The Senate is highly unlikely to pass the House map without tinkering with it.

That's all that was meant by Dewhurst's comments.

[Redbob]

"The problem is the RINOs in the Texas State Senate.
They want to be on the good side of the Austin American Statesmen and Houston Chronicle. As a result the bill passed by the House will probably be watered down into something the Democrats can live with.
Its not a done deal."

What do you mean?
It's alREADY been watered down - so that Martin Frost's gerrymandered district would still be intact.

Those RINO's who want to stay on the good side of the Austin fishwrapper are a bunch of country boys who can't stand the thought of not returning to the "big city" of Austin.

[Xenalyte]

Violet! I mean, violin! I mean . . . oh, hell, here you go.

[Redbob]

"DROP IT -- Redistricting would benefit few Texans,..."

Just that 60% who are Republicans...
plus all those Dimocrats who would be better-represented by a member of the MAJORITY party in Congress!

[Redbob]

Chances of this passing?
They're doggone good, or else there'll be some wholesale housecleaning of the GOP "leadership" in this state!

"Wanted: Political leaders for major party in major state.
Qualifications: Must have a brain and a spine; may be required to submit to periodic verification testing."

[FreePaul]

Don't know if the Chronicle's internal memo was published on FR but it got pretty wide distribution in Houston, particularly on talk radio. I'll see if I can find it.

[FreePaul]

I found it easier than I thought I would. Houston Review printed this Houston Chronicle memo.

Houston Review

[Impy]

"DROP IT -- Redistricting would benefit few Texans, harm many" ___________________________________________________________

You "drop it" you anonymous editorial asswipe.

[MeekOneGOP]

Aw, man. The Comical changed the cartoon !! :O(