Free Republic

Redistricting fight continues Gov. Perry calls for third special session BY TRICIA CORTEZ Times staff writer After more than six weeks of personal financial and family sacrifice to fight the Republican leadership on congressional redistricting, the "Texas 11 Minus One" are coming home Wednesday. Laredo will be their first stop in the Lone Star State. Eight of the 10 Democratic state senators are expected to fly in from Albuquerque, N.M. Wednesday. They will land at 4:30 p.m. at Labata FBO, a private hangar at the Laredo International Airport, and will be joined later by senators Eddie Lucio Jr. of Brownsville...

Cost of exile adds up for Democrats BY LISA FALKENBERG Associated Press Writer Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos passes up lunch at the Hilton for a $6 chili dog with sauerkraut. Sen. Eliot Shapleigh has asked the other two partners in his El Paso law firm to take on his clients while he's away. Sen. Leticia Van de Putte took a loan out on her life insurance policy to make up for lost wages. In their 30 days of self-imposed exile, the 11 Texas Democrats who fled the state to block a vote on congressional redistricting have found their own ways of...

Five senators coming for redistricting lawsuit BY TRICIA CORTEZ Times staff writer Wednesday promises to be another hot one for Laredo - politically speaking, that is. Five of the 11 Democratic state senators are scheduled to fly in from Albuquerque for the first hearing on the congressional redistricting lawsuit that involves Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. Chief U.S. District Judge George P. Kazen will preside over all pending legal motions in federal court. The five state senators scheduled to attend the Laredo hearing are Judith Zaffirini (Laredo), John Whitmire (Houston), Eliot Shapleigh (El Paso), Royce West (Dallas)...

Absent Democrats sharpen rhetoric against Perry, Dewhurst Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Democrats boycotting the Texas Senate over congressional redistricting lashed out against the state's Republican leadership Friday who have gone to the Texas Supreme Court to try to compel the Democrats back to the Capitol. The court action by Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on Thursday "signals another hostile act in an escalating war on the constitutional rights of Hispanics and African Americans in the state of Texas," said Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso. Dewhurst has said the Democrats gave him no other option. "We...

Family, friends bring support, supplies to Texas Demos in NM Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Family and friends of the self-exiled Democratic senators from Texas who are engaged in a stalemate with their Republican counterparts began arriving Friday to lend their support — and in some cases bring supplies. The Democrats — who refer to themselves as the "Texas 11" — bolted for New Mexico on Monday to protest Republican plans to redraw Texas' congressional districts. The Democrats hold a 17-15 advantage, but Republicans say that does not reflect the state's increasingly Republican voting patterns. The 11 have vowed...