Posted on Tue, Jul. 08, 2003
Knight Ridder Newspapers
AUSTIN, Texas - (KRT) - One day after the Texas House adopted a redistricting plan that would likely give Republicans a huge advantage in the state's congressional delegation, key Senate leaders from both parties said Tuesday that the proposed map has little chance of surviving.
"I cannot vote for the House map," said state Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant. "It obliterates Northeast Texas. That is the part of the state that I represent."
Ratliff, who two years ago was the State Senate's presiding officer, said he wants strong assurances from legislative leaders that any redistricting plan would protect the interests of rural Texans before he would vote to let the matter come to the Senate floor for debate.
The stand puts Ratliff at odds with many of his fellow Republicans who want to redraw the congressional lines during the special legislative session to give their party more seats in Congress and solidify the lock the GOP has gained on Texas. Republicans hold every statewide office and have majorities in both state houses.
But Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who was a longtime GOP foot soldier and financier before winning the office that presides over the Senate, acknowledged that the House plan faces serious retooling if redistricting is to move forward in the Senate.
"There are some concerns by members of the Senate on the House map that came over (Monday) night," Dewhurst told reporters. "So we're going to have to go to work on that map if we're going to see a redistricting plan come out of the Senate."
Gov. Rick Perry called lawmakers back to Austin last week for the first special legislative session in 12 years for the primary purpose of redrawing the congressional district boundaries and ending the Democrats' 17-15 majority in the 32-member delegation to Congress. Two years ago when the Texas Constitution required redistricting, the Legislature punted the chore to the federal courts.
Redistricting became an unexpected priority in Austin after U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Sugar Land began urging Texas legislative leaders to revisit the matter.
During his weekly news conference in Washington, DeLay called the House plan "a good start." The plan could give Republicans as many as 21 of Texas' congressional seats.
"It reflects the political voting trends in the state of Texas to a great extent," DeLay said Tuesday. "I'm sure that the senators will have another view. The Senate always does."
Asked whether he would be playing a role in the redistricting debate, DeLay said, "I will be. I'm sure somebody will be talking to somebody."
Meanwhile, hundreds of people packed into a college conference room in Dallas Tuesday to tell a panel of state senators what they think about current redistricting efforts
Most speakers adamantly opposed a new political map that would most likely end the careers of several incumbent members of Congress - all of them Democrats.
There were a handful of Republicans in the crowd, however, who said they strongly support a change in the congressional lines so that voters could send more GOP candidates to the U.S. House of Representatives.
State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said Senators had several concerns about whether the House map was fair, and she said senators would act as "independent thinkers" in drawing their version of what congressional districts should look like.
Another member of the panel, Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, was less polite about what he thought of the House-drawn map.
"They can put that map where the sun don't shine," Gallegos said.
At the Dallas hearing, many in the crowd wore "Deny DeLay" stickers. A large balloon, shaped like a rat, stood in the parking lot with a sign that said: "Rick `The Rat' Perry."
Perry called the lawmakers into special session after Democrats in the Housebolted to Oklahoma for four days in May, effectively killing redistricting during the regular 140-day session.
Republicans outnumber Democrats 19-12 in the state Senate, but under the chamber's rules, 21 members must agree to hear debate on any legislation pending on the agenda. That means 11 members can effectively block any legislation.
Democratic party leaders in Austin and Washington, D.C., have been working feverishly to secure the pledges of at least 11 of the Senate Democrats to keep any redistricting plan from coming to the floor. Two Democrats, Victoria's Ken Armbrister and San Antonio's Frank Madla, have said they might be persuaded to allow at least a debate on the matter.
Houston Democrat John Whitmire, the Senate's longest-serving member, said redistricting is the one issue that demands party loyalty even in the Texas Senate, where crossing party lines is an everyday occurrence on a wide range of issues.
"This is a defining vote," Whitmire said. "You can't be a Republican `and' a Democrat on this. You've got to choose. … I would urge them to vote with the party that has given you the opportunity to be on the ballot."
Armbrister said he's planning to offer an alternative that he believes will be fair to both parties.
"Forget the Ds and Rs," Armbrister said, using shorthand for Democrats and Republicans. "People are going to vote for who they want to vote for (in congressional races). We're looking to make sure that rural Texas still has its voice because we still drive a lot of the economy."
Ratliff said that he, too, might offer the same plan for congressional redistricting that he developed two years ago would contain as many as 19 safe GOP seats. Ratliff said the current map favors Republicans and yet several incumbent Democrats continue to be re-elected by GOP-leaning voters.
But before he agrees to vote to bring redistricting to the Senate floor, Ratliff said he wants assurances that a map to his liking will not be replaced with a plan similar to the House's version when the two chambers reconcile their differences.
"I would need some very strong assurances from the right people," he said.
Staff writers Jack Douglas Jr. in Dallas and Maria Recio in Washington contributed to this report.
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© 2003, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Approved map will likely be rejected by Senate
7/8/2003 5:48 PM
By: Eric Allen
Democrats and some Republicans in the Texas Senate aren't satisfied with the congressional redistricting map recently approved by the House.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he was disappointed in the House not including the Senate in the map-drawing process."I'm not at all complaining, but as we go through this process, as we start to draft our maps on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we're going to do everything we can to keep the House advised," Dewhurst said.
The Senate poses the immediate obstacle to redistricting. Senate rules require 21 of the 31 state senators to agree for the map to go to the floor for a vote.
There are a few of the 12 Democrats that are possible swing votes, but in order to secure their vote, the map will have to change and more minority and rural districts must remain intact.
Dewhurst said an ideal map would create more Republican seats from Texas in the U.S. House. Right now Democrats have the advantage 17-15. Dewhurst said a more fair representation would be 19-20 Republicans and 12-13 Democrats.
Senators say there is no way the approved House version of congressional redistricting map will be considered by the Senate.
"The map that came out of the House last night, I've talked to a number of senators, both Democrat and Republican, and they've got some problems with the House map," Dewhurst said.For example, Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mt. Pleasant, said the map is "totally unacceptable to the people of Northeast Texas" and will have to be redrawn.
"The House appears to have overreached, and I don't think you'll find the Senate operates that way," Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, said.
It seems the Senate will take it upon itself to draw another map that reassigns congressional districts across the state, keeping in mind that at least two Senate Democrats and every Republican will have to be on-board to move the process forward.
"A fair plan is in the eye of the beholder. I don't think we ought to be here for this purpose. We're wasting $1.7 million," Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, said.
The average cost of a special session is $1.7 million
