I doubt that was the reason.
You doubt but you are not sure.
I also doubt that we will both simultanously be hit by lighting tomorrow at noon Eastern time, but then again I can't really be sure.
Also apparently minority representation was not reduced.
"Actually, though, what Pelosi and others are upset about is not that minority voters in Texas lost power under the new plan — they didn’t — but rather that the 2003 redistricting plan bumped off four white Democrats and replaced them with Republicans. That sounds like redistricting business as usual to us: After the 1990 census, Texas Democrats had drawn an equally gerrymandered map. In other states — such as Maryland — Democrats remain in control and Republicans have lost congressional seats. Nobody has called the process in Maryland “illegal” or demanded a special inquiry. That Texas (unlike Maryland) is “covered” by the Voting Rights Act has given Democrats in the Lone Star State an excuse to use the statute to camouflage what are, in fact, partisan charges.
In the case of Texas, it is a pretty flimsy excuse. Minority voting strength was not, in fact, reduced as a consequence of the new districting lines. Under the old map, Texas sent two black representatives to the U.S. House of Representatives, one from Houston, the other from Dallas. The new plan added a third black district, and raised the number of majority Hispanic districts from seven to eight."
nationalreview.com
Yes, that's true. But the Dems have never tried to do two redistrictings in 3 years as Delay did in TX. Its an insult to every voter.
The DEMS having a majority in Texas house seats before the redistricting is an insult to voters. (as would be the reverse if the Republicans had such a majority in a strongly Democrat state).
From a May 04, 2004 article
"The liberal press has only now noticed the problem of gerrymandering, its outrage apparently piqued by the fact that Republicans are now in a position to draw district lines. Governors and state legislatures collaborate in the process of redistricting every ten years with the new census. In 1990, their position in the states was so weak that Republicans alone could only draw lines for five congressional districts. In the 1980s districts were so heavily gerrymandered by Democrats that Republicans probably needed to win 60 percent of the total congressional vote to have a shot at a majority.
One of the chief outrages of liberal reformers, Tom DeLay's recent redistricting of Texas, is only an effort to wipe away the effects of such a Democratic gerrymander. The Texas congressional delegation has been marginally Democratic, although the state is as "red" as they come and Republicans hold every statewide elected office. Now the delegation will be more representative.
But reform that gores both Republicans and Democrats is necessary nationwide. The Supreme Court was right to take a pass in the Pennsylvania case. The court, already notorious for Bush v. Gore, shouldn't get any more involved in partisan politics. It is the public that will have to pressure the political system for change.
States should adopt objective criteria for the drawing of districts, including contiguity and compactness that will limit somewhat the ability of the parties to play games. Bipartisan commissions should be given a significant role in drawing district lines. In Washington state, such a commission has created generally competitive districts so even a speaker of the House (Tom Foley) has lost a race there in recent memory."
nationalreview.com |
