I love to watch the sharks turn to feed on each other.
Dems in Texas face racial rift over new map
By Sam Dealey - "The Hill"
The new congressional map that emerged from the contentious Texas redistricting effort has created a rift between minority and white lawmakers in the state’s Democratic congressional delegation.
Claiming not to trust Rep. Martin Frost, who heads the delegation’s opposition to the GOP-drawn map, two African-American Texas lawmakers have retained their own lawyer to represent them in court challenges.
“I don’t have any basic trust with [Frost] when it comes to drawing maps,” said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas). She and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) have hired civil-rights lawyer Anthony Griffin to safeguard their interests. Attorney Gerry Hebert represents Frost and most other Texas Democrats.
Also adding to the split are the interests of at least two white Democratic incumbents — Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Chris Bell (D-Texas) — who are eyeing seats in new districts crafted for minority representation.
Johnson’s wary eye for Frost is rooted in the redistricting battles of the previous decade.
In 1996, a federal court ruled that the lines drawn five years prior were racially gerrymandered to safeguard the state’s white Democrats in Congress. During efforts to correct that, Johnson claimed to have assurances from Frost and Hebert that a map she drew would be used. Instead, another map drawn by Frost was adopted. It substantially diluted Johnson’s Democratic base while adding to that of his own.
“I was talked into using Martin Frost’s lawyer, this Hebert, and he switched maps on me,” said Johnson. “And it became labeled the Eddie Bernice Johnson map when it was really the Frost map.”
In a statement, Frost sought to downplay the long-simmering rift.
“Eddie Bernice Johnson is a good member of Congress,” Frost said. “We have had our differences in the past on redistricting lines, but we are both in agreement that the current map is retrogressive and bad for our constituents.”
Democrats say the redrawn map packs minorities into districts in violation of the 1966 Voting Rights Act. The Department of Justice (DoJ) is expected to approve the plan by late December, and the battle will likely turn to the courts where Democrats have filed several lawsuits.
“Eddie Bernice Johnson and I both have the best interest of Texas and our constituents in our hearts and have consistently worked together to the benefit of North Texas,” Frost said.
“It was underhanded,” Johnson said. “I felt double-crossed because I had already told Martin I didn’t want that map.
“I can’t say it would happen again, but I wouldn’t put it past them.”
Republicans were gleeful at the fracture on the Democratic side.
“I was amused and interested to see that,” said Jim Ellis, who heads Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s (R-Texas) leadership committee ARMPAC and is a Republican point man in the redistricting effort. “All is not well on their side, I suppose.”
In what may compound the split, two white Democratic incumbents who face difficult reelections are poised to campaign in two new seats designed for minority representation.
Rep. Chris Bell (D), a freshman whose present district has been redrawn to put it safely into Republican hands, will likely opt to run in a newly created majority-minority district near Houston.
“If it passes court muster, that’s the plan,” Bell spokesman Eric Burns said.
Several African American Democrats are seriously considering entering the race, but none has announced yet.
Similarly, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D), who has held his 10th District seat for four terms, has said he will seek election in a newly created district. The heavily Hispanic district stretches south from Doggett’s home base in Austin to the Mexican border.
With more than $2.2 million in his campaign war chest, Doggett hopes to fend off at least one minority primary opponent, state Rep. Kino Flores (D). With roughly 70 percent of the district Hispanic — and most of that bloc from Flores’s base in the south — ethnicity will likely play a key role in the race.
In announcing his candidacy in late October, Flores said the voters “want a Hispanic to represent a minority district. They want a minority to represent a minority district.”
Another Hispanic lawmaker, state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos (D), is also eyeing the seat. His base of support overlaps Doggett’s in Austin and could make the distinction sharper.
“It’s absolutely disgraceful that the same Democrats who are trotting down to the DoJ in the name of protecting minority voting rights are seeking to save their own political hides by stepping on opportunities for minority representation,” said DeLay spokesman Jonathan Grella. “They should just admit this was about protecting Anglo Democrats and immediately drop the façade that they’re looking to protect anybody but themselves.”
Democrats respond that they, on the whole, better represent the views of minorities in Congress than do the Republicans.
“The problem with DeLay and a lot of the Republicans on this is that they want to confuse the difference between voters and politicians,” said Tom Eisenhauer, a spokesman for Frost.
“This is a red herring to hide the fact that Tom DeLay’s plan gives the lie to the [Republican] party’s approach to Hispanics and African Americans,” Eisenhauer added.
“Republicans would rather nullify their votes than win their hearts.”
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