West Texans Take Redistricting Complaints to Legislature in Austin

Fearing diminished representation in West Texas, Lubbock banker W.R. Collier is among a group planning an Austin trip today to discourage state senators from drawing new congressional districts.

"A number of people from Lubbock are going to meet with Sen. (Robert) Duncan ... and (Rep.) Tom Craddick in the House concerning this redistricting that we're all faced with," Collier said Sunday.

Duncan, a Lubbock Republican, is chairman of the Senate Jurisprudence Com mittee charged with drawing a map to present to all 31 state senators. Getting them all to agree to one plan promises to be a difficult task.

Duncan is just settling in from six committee hearings across the state, and now he wants to meet privately with constituents.

"I had asked a number of people to come down from throughout the district to talk about a number of issues," Duncan said Sunday. "It's kind of an informal sit down, tell me what you think, where you stand on these issues."

While he said he was uncertain who was making the trip — perhaps representatives from San Angelo, Big Spring, Abilene as well as Lubbock — the message may be easier to predict.

"If you look at the numbers of the people who came to the hearings, you'll find quite a few more people opposed to redistricting," he said. "Most people are in opposition. The concern is rural West Texas and rural agriculture influence in Washington."

A House plan that would boost the GOP's strength in the Texas congressional delegation in Washington met sharp criticism from lawmakers in the upper chamber last week, and some of the harshest words came from Republicans.

"I'm a 'no' on the House map. I saw that map, and it stinks," said Sen. Kip Averitt, R-McGregor. "It decimates Central Texas' ability to have congressional representation."

Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, wants to protect his rural district. He said the House map obliterates northeast Texas, noting that Texarkana would be represented by someone in east Dallas County.

Protecting rural strength has emerged as a major concern, especially in West Texas.

Nearly the entire western half of Texas has only five of the state's 32 congressional districts, including one that covers a portion of El Paso County. The other four western districts are by far the state's largest and most rural.

Two of those four districts — 13 and 23 — would remain in the hands of tenured GOP incumbents.

One of the remaining two districts would be open and the other, District 19, puts U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Lubbock, who just completed his first month in office, against U.S. Rep. Charlie Stenholm, D-Abilene, a longtime friend to agriculture.

Collier said he was still assembling a delegation for the trip to Austin and was uncertain who was going. He hoped to have people representing business, education, agriculture and the medical community.

"Pitting Randy Neugebauer against anybody around him is unfair to him," Collier said. "He's invested a lot to get there. ... Charlie Stenholm is important to agriculture, and that's important for Lubbock. It's just bad, bad, awful politics.

"We need stability, not to be switching congressmen every couple of years. There's too much at stake for our farmers; too much at stake for agriculture, and that impacts Lubbock and Abilene and the whole West Texas," Collier said.

Sen. Chris Harris, R-Arlington, is expected to be the lead sponsor of a Senate-proposed map, likely to be unveiled and debated in the Jurisprudence Committee this week.

Republican Gov. Rick Perry called lawmakers into a special legislative session to redraw congressional district lines. Legislators failed to do it in 2001. The current map, which gave Democrats a 17-15 majority in the delegation, was drawn by federal judges.

Republicans, led by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Sugar Land, have said the state should have more Republican districts to reflect the state's voting trends.

House Speaker Craddick, R-Midland, presided over the House-approved map which could send as many as 21 Texas Republicans to Washington, but that doesn't mean that all Republican state lawmakers are applauding the plan.

"I don't represent a political party," said Averitt, a member of the Jurisprudence Committee. "I'm all in favor of sending Republican reinforcements to President Bush, but not at the expense of the interests of the people that I represent."

Averitt, who represents Waco, said there are ways to draw a district so it could mean Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, would be defeated. But the problem, Averitt said, is fitting it into a map that is reasonable in other parts of the state.

Each time someone moves a boundary line for one district, another district changes, too. Perfecting a district to one state senator's liking could mean problems for other districts.

With 31 state senators, who represent an average of 672,639 people each — about 21,000 more than each one of the 32 Texas congressmen represent — designing a map to please almost everyone can be difficult. Many senators have specific ideas for their districts.

For instance, Sen. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, wants to ensure that rural Texas is represented in Congress. He criticized the House bill, noting that Victoria County now is the largest county in its congressional district, but under the proposed House plan, it wouldn't be.

Duncan may be in one of the toughest spots of the lawmakers. As chairman of the Senate committee that will handle the Senate redistricting bill, he has yet to weigh in with either support or criticism of the House plan.

"Ultimately, I will have to register a vote on the bill, but I think my role as chairman of the committee requires me to maintain a position of objectivity," he said. "But I certainly have an opinion."

Asked if he was feeling pressure from his hometown, Duncan said: "It's my district. Certainly."

Duncan has said the impact of any bill on rural Texas needs to be examined because any rural issue affects the entire state.

"For our region, we have to make sure that we don't lose any representation in Congress, that would mean keeping the same number of seats out here that we have now," he previously said.

"My primary concern is that we don't lose political influence in Washington for agriculture and West Texas and oil and gas interests."

Duncan said he needs to study the possible effect of stretching the district past Abilene to the east.

"I have some concerns when a district runs as many miles east and west," he said. "You have to make sure you are not isolating people. That's a concern you have."

While some Republicans have concerns that may be difficult to work out, most Democrats do not want redistricting taken up at all.

"That thing would have to have peaches and cream and strawberries and everything," said Sen. Mario Gallegos, a Democrat from Houston and vice chairman of the Senate Jurisprudence Committee. "It would have to have all the trimmings for me to come off of my position."

If a bill gets approved in committee, it would be sent to the Senate floor. Senate rules require two-thirds of its 31 members to vote to bring up a bill up for debate.

The Senate is dominated 19-12 by Republicans, but only 11 Democrats would be needed to block consideration of redistricting.

This is shaping up as Republican-Republican disharmoney, with the Democrats likely to emerge with victory!

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2 posted on 07/14/2003 7:28:06 AM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)

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