I wondered how long it would take for this to happen
Texas GOP Has Intraparty Dispute Over Redistricting
By Lee Hockstader
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 18, 2003; Page A03
AUSTIN, Sept. 17 -- Texas Republicans, having finally muscled the Democrats into a corner in their four-month fight to redraw the state's congressional district lines, have moved on to a new phase of the operation: Now they are brawling among themselves over how to draw the map.
The internecine dispute has embarrassed Republican leaders and may imperil the party's plans to use its new dominance of the state legislature to push through a map designed to shift as many as six additional congressional seats into Republican hands.
That would expand the party's margin of control in the U.S. House and give Texas 21 GOP House seats, more than any other state.
Last week, Texas GOP lawmakers celebrated a victory when they broke the unity of 11 Democratic state senators who had fled to New Mexico, forcing them to return to the State Capitol and take up the redistricting proposal in a third consecutive special session called by Gov. Rick Perry (R) since early this summer.
Before dawn this morning, the Republicans, who control the Texas House and Senate, pushed a new congressional district map through the House over bitter objections by Democrats.
But the House's version is unacceptable to some moderate Senate Republicans, and a public squabble over district boundaries between one west Texas state senator and the speaker of the Texas House{ndash}both Republicans -- has stalled progress toward a new map, at least temporarily.
The intraparty dispute has become so intractable that Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), the House majority leader who has been actively involved in pushing the redistricting idea in the state legislature, flew to Austin last week to broker a compromise among the Republicans. He failed.
For their part, the Democrats, even while licking their wounds, are hoping that the GOP's fraternal quarrels may yet delay any new redistricting plan from being implemented in time for next year's general election.
The chief problem for the Republicans involves how to draw the congressional district lines in west Texas. Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick is insisting on a district dominated by his hometown (and President Bush's boyhood home) of Midland, an oil and gas hub overshadowed in the current congressional map by Lubbock, a city to the north with twice Midland's population.
But state Sen. Robert Duncan (R), who represents Lubbock, said his constituents ardently oppose splitting Lubbock from Midland on the congressional map.
Republicans insist they will find a compromise by next week. "There's a lot of ways to skin this cat," said David Beckwith, spokesman for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R).
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