Free Republic

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today submitted the following statement for the Congressional record on the Iraq amendments offered by Senators Warner and Levin: “Mr. President, the Iraq amendment under consideration today constitutes no run-of-the-mill resolution and reporting requirement. It is much more important than that, and likely to be watched closely in Iraq – more closely there, in fact, than in America. In considering this amendment, I urge my colleagues to think hard about the message we send to the Iraqi people. I believe that, after considering how either version will be viewed in Iraq, we must reject both....

For the first time in almost 30 years, District 131 in Houston will have a new representative in the Texas Legislature after Alma Allen upset longtime incumbent Democratic state Rep. Ron Wilson, an often controversial figure who most recently drew fire after siding with Republicans in last year's acrimonious battle over redistricting. With all precincts reporting, Allen, a member of the State Board of Education, beat Wilson by a margin of 55 percent to 44 percent. Allen will face no Republican opposition in the November general election. According to one of his fellow Democratic state representatives, Wilson lost the seat...

AUSTIN -- In a surprise legislative twist Friday, the Texas Senate took the congressional redistricting bill hostage until the House votes on a controversial government reorganization bill. The House at 9 p.m. lacked a quorum to pass the government reorganization bill. The House put a call on the missing Republican and Democratic members and locked the chamber doors so those who were there could not leave. About 11 p.m., the House and Senate postponed any further business until Sunday. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said the Senate was afraid the House would not pass the reorganization bill with Senate amendments. The...

Go here: http://gis1.tlc.state.tx.us/ The proposed map is the last one listed: Proposed Congressional Districts - HB3 CCR 10-09-03, plan C01374 Current districts are the third option: US Congressional Districts, 108th Congres, plan C01151

Rep. Dan Branch of the Texas House was just on Gary McNamara's show on WBAP and he mentioned that Rep. Chris Harris is looking into lowering the quorum requirement(with the blessing of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.) Said that currently only a simple majority is required for a quorum in 45 states. The change would be put into an amendment to the TX constitution, which must first be ratified by the voters(simple majority), just like Saturday's election.

Sept. 12, 2003 | AUSTIN, Texas -- A three-judge federal panel in West Texas on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by senate Democrats hoping to derail a new round of redistricting in Texas. The Democrats argued that Senate rule changes by Republicans to further the redistricting effort violated federal law. The judges, who listened to two hours of oral arguments Thursday in Laredo, dismissed those claims but withheld a decision on an amended complaint of threats to arrest Democrats and require them to pay fees for their failure to appear at a special legislative session on redistricting. "The arrest issue...

I'm just curious about something: why is it OK for a Supreme Court to arbitrarily determine the outcome of future elections by drawing legislative districts himself, despite the fact that the districts are in no way representative of the voting populace, yet it isn't ok for a Supreme Court to say that recounts are unconstitutional, vis a vis Florida? OHHHH, I get it, the Democrats benefit in the former and lose in the latter. Makes perfect sense... ...I think Texas Democrats (the voters) need to wake up. These 11 fugitive lawmakers are shirking their duties, and running up a bill...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Democratic Sen. Mario Gallegos of Houston had two shirts and he was wearing one of them. Sen. Rodney Ellis, also of Houston, longed for a pair of cuff links and at least one pair of jeans. And it seemed like everyone needed more underwear than they had brought. The 11 Democratic senators from Texas had known for weeks that the moment might come when they would have to flee Austin to try to thwart a congressional redistricting bill. But as events developed quickly at the state Capitol in Austin on Monday, a decision to leave had to...