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A Texas Turnoff
Thursday, August 14, 2003;
THE REPORT OF TEXAS Democratic legislators fleeing their state to New Mexico to boycott a Republican-sponsored congressional redistricting plan might be amusing were it not for the sheer arrogance and unfairness of the Republican power play. Texas Republicans are trying to redraw the state's 32 congressional districts for the second time in three years. How did it come to this?
Because of a failure to redraw congressional boundaries after the 2000 Census when the Texas legislature -- under Democratic control at the time -- deadlocked, a federal judicial panel was forced to do the two parties' job. That should have settled matters. But after taking over the legislature, Republicans decided to capitalize on their advantage this year by undoing the work of the federal judges. Since this is a non-census year, Democratic legislators cried foul and stymied the GOP by fleeing in May to Oklahoma, beyond the reach of the legislature's sergeant at arms.
Now, for the second time, Texas Democrats have sought refuge in another state to derail a renewed redistricting effort. The plan is being pushed by the Lone Star State's Republican governor, Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the state Senate's presiding officer, and Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick -- all doing the bidding of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who wants congressional lines redrawn to give Republicans more seats in the House.
As with the earlier exodus to Oklahoma, the Democrats' journey to New Mexico deprives the legislature of a quorum to conduct business. The tactic is hardly the stuff of valor, and it prevents the legislature from conducting other state business. But the highly partisan and irregular mid-cycle redistricting power play instigated by Mr. DeLay is an odious piece of political business that risks creating a dangerous new norm, and the 11 Democratic senators who fled the state are right to fight the redistricting plan with all the legal means at their disposal.
The whole sorry episode, which has paralyzed the legislature, is being carried out with a wink and a nod from the White House. The hands of presidential strategist Karl Rove are said to be all over the game being played down in Austin. The president can end this standoff, and he should. This bit of political ugliness could spread to other states, where Democratic governors and state legislatures might elect to redraw their already redistricted legislative maps during the same census cycle, just as the DeLay-and-Rove-led Texas Republicans are attempting to do. How much worse does the White House want to make the already unseemly business of partisan legislative line drawing?
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