I have no sympathy for the Texas Dems on this one. Both parties do the best they can to slant the seats their way
Texas Democrats Trying Fight, Not Flight, Over Districts
By Lee Hockstader
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 1, 2003; Page A04
AUSTIN, June 30 -- Six weeks after a crew of Democratic state lawmakers in Texas fled to Oklahoma for four days to kill a Republican redistricting scheme, they were scrambling again today to devise a fresh strategy to halt a renewed GOP assault.
Called back to Austin by Gov. Rick Perry (R) for a 30-day special session of the legislature, Texas Democrats may face steeper odds this time around for a repeat of their rare triumph in May.
In addition to a strong Republican majority determined to take control of at least five -- and as many as eight -- more of the state's 32 congressional seats, the Democrats are squared off against a governor equipped with a formidable grab bag of political enticements and the combined political muscle of the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, and the White House political chief, Karl Rove.
This time, Democrats in the state House of Representatives have concluded that they cannot pull off another bolt across the border -- not for a month-long session that could be extended at Perry's say-so. Instead, they hope to corral 11 of the state's 31 senators -- enough under the Senate's rules to block any redistricting bill from coming up for a vote.
"We don't have the votes in the [Texas] House," said state Rep. Elliott Naishtat, an Austin Democrat. "It's going to be up to the Senate. If Tom DeLay gets his way, he'll pick up five or six to seven or eight seats, which will significantly solidify the Republican hold on the House of Representatives, perhaps for decades."
Texas Republicans are engaged in a rare effort at redistricting, which normally occurs only once a decade, after the census. Texas redrew its congressional districts in 2001, but in the 2002 elections the GOP won major gains in the legislature, giving Republicans the sway to go back to the redistricting map and try for more.
The vote in the Senate could be close. The Democrats control 12 of 31 seats there -- in theory, enough to halt any redistricting proposal in its tracks. But three of them appear shaky, or at least willing to hear what the Republicans have to offer.
One of the Democrats is state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., who represents a district along the Mexican border. He said he has little interest in a new map -- unless it includes three new Hispanic-dominated border districts. Another wavering Democrat is state Sen. Kenneth L. Armbrister, who has signaled that he might play ball on redistricting in return for benefits for health care facilities and teachers.
Speaking to reporters today, Armbrister said he had received calls over the weekend from two Democratic congressmen whose districts might be carved up by a new map. Asked whether he had returned their calls, he said, "I got other things to do."
The third fence-sitter, state Sen. Frank L. Madla of San Antonio, said today he is "praying" he will make the right decision. Previously, however, he has suggested that what really matters to him is his bill that would allow Texans to order wine over the Internet.
But Republicans in the Senate have their own problems. Sen. Bill Ratliff, a moderate Republican and former lieutenant governor, has said he would not automatically back any redistricting plan -- particularly one that would destroy the rural east Texas district that is his home.
That earned Ratliff a telephone call from Rove. Ratliff said Rove told him that a redistricting bill "could be important to the president."
Much of the impetus for the redistricting plan comes from DeLay, who made a personal visit to Austin to push the scheme this spring and whose chief political aide, Jim Ellis, has returned frequently.
DeLay, once a member of the Texas legislature, has said he regards strengthening the GOP's reed-thin majority in the U.S. House as a key goal.
When the legislature was unable to settle on redistricting after the 2000 Census, a new map was drawn for the state by federal judges in 2001. Democrats have said Texas does not need yet another map two years later.
But Republicans say that the Democrats' 17 to 15 edge in the congressional delegation does not reflect a state where every one of 29 office-holders elected statewide is a Republican. They also say that until they took over both houses of the state legislature last fall for the first time since Reconstruction, the Democrats had often redrawn maps to suit their whims for decades.
"This happened many times before," said state Rep. Bill Zedler, a Republican from the Dallas area. "The difference is the shoe was on the other foot."
washingtonpost.com |
