Posted on 08/05/2003 4:48:24 AM PDT by Libloather
LIFE IN EXILE
Texas Eleven say constituents oppose remap
By ARMANDO VILLAFRANCA
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Eleven Texas senators began their second week in self-imposed exile Monday by firing salvos at Gov. Rick Perry and at their Senate colleagues, urging them to gauge constituents' sentiments on congressional redistricting.
State Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, said 90 percent of the testimony in hearings around the state last month opposed redistricting.
"I'm telling you, Waco said `No.' San Angelo said `No.' Lubbock said `No,' " Gallegos said.
The eleven Democratic senators fled to Albuquerque last week to break quorum on the eve of a second special legislative session on redistricting. The Senate was unable to pass redistricting in the first special session because of a Senate rule requiring a two-thirds vote to open debate.
In May, state House Democrats killed a redistricting bill during the regular legislative session by leaving Austin and breaking quorum.
Perry, U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, and other Republicans are pushing redistricting because Texas now sends 17 Democrats and 15 Republicans to Congress, while the state's voters have leaned Republican in recent years.
Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, urged fellow senators in Austin to return to their districts and listen to what their constituents have to say about the issue.
At a news conference in Albuquerque, the senators said Republican state Sens. Robert Duncan of Lubbock and Kip Averitt of Waco should join them because of citizen opposition in their districts to redistricting.
"Where are those senators who need to be representing their constituents?" Gallegos asked.
Duncan's constituents oppose a redistricting plan passed by the state House that would put Lubbock in the same district as Abilene to create a congressional district that would be dominated by Midland. That plan is supported by state House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland.
Lubbock now dominates a district that includes Midland. About 30 West Texas officials met with Duncan and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst last month to oppose any major change in the district.
"I figure we will eventually work out those issues in West Texas, and an overall map is the objective," Duncan said Monday.
Averitt said redistricting is a delicate issue in his district, but not one that would motivate him to go to New Mexico.
"There are a lot of people in my district who don't want to do redistricting," he said. "But for the most part, the Republican folks would see a benefit in sending President Bush reinforcements, people who are working with his program rather than against it."
Averitt said people in his district oppose the state House plan that divides McLennan County from other neighboring counties in the district now held by U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco. A Senate proposal keeps McLennan County and its neighboring counties together.
"This transcends Chet Edwards. This transcends the Republican Party," Averitt said. "What they don't want is a congressperson from Tarrant or Brazos or Williamson county."
All but one of the Senate's 12 Democrats have been in Albuquerque since July 28. Their absence from the Capitol means the Senate does not have a quorum and cannot take up legislation.
The Senate could not take up redistricting in the first special session because the chamber was operating under the long-standing rule requiring a two-thirds vote -- 21 senators if all 31 are present -- to open debate. All 12 Democrats and one Republican said they would vote against debating redistricting.
State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, said the senators broke quorum in this second session because Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate, said he would not operate under the two-thirds rule.
Van de Putte said the senators will not return unless the two-thirds rule is restored or Perry withdraws the call for a redistricting bill, both of which appear unlikely.
Democrats are contemplating a federal court lawsuit alleging that withdrawal of the two-thirds rule violates minority voting rights. But the senators in Albuquerque said Monday they haven't decided when or if they will take that action.
Dewhurst said he is willing to negotiate with the Democrats over how to draw a redistricting map, but he indicated there is nothing to negotiate about their return to Austin.
"I don't think our eleven colleagues are in a position to ask for anything," Dewhurst said. "They have broken the Texas Constitution. They were elected for a job. They need to come back to do it."
Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, said he has heard of talk in Austin that the Democrats will return sometime this week, which he denied. "We're strong, we're determined and we've been reinvigorated by the overwhelming support that we received from the public that we are doing the right thing for all of Texas," West said.
The senators said they have received thousands of e-mails, phone calls and letters in support of their cause. State Sen. Frank Madla, D-San Antonio, said his office has received more than 4,000 messages, of which all but 300 oppose redistricting.
Kathy Walt, the governor's spokeswoman, dismissed the senators' claims of public support. She said public sentiment is clearly against walking off the job as the Senate Democrats have done.
The runaway senators -- seven Hispanics, two African-Americans and two Anglos -- also said Monday that they have received attacks containing racial slurs.
In another redistricting development Monday, state House redistricting sponsor, Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, filed legislation that would allow the secretary of state to set primary filing deadlines for later than Jan. 2, 2004, in congressional races if implementation of a congressional redistricting bill is delayed.
King said the bill has the blessing of Craddick and Perry. He said he did not want to change the actual primary date because that would affect Texas' standing in the national presidential primaries.
Villafranca reported from Albuquerque and Ratcliffe from Austin.
State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, said the senators broke quorum in this second session because Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate, said he would not operate under the two-thirds rule.Van de Putte said the senators will not return unless the two-thirds rule is restored or Perry withdraws the call for a redistricting bill, both of which appear unlikely.
Separated at birth ?
Leticia Van de Putte/Linda Ronstadt
Prove it, Mario. Show the public some numbers.
I wish these yahoos would quit wasting my tax dollars and get their arses back to work.
I wonder which one had the better golf score today.
"I'm telling you, Waco said `No.' San Angelo said `No.' Lubbock said `No,' " Gallegos said.
Their paid 'rat meeting packers said "no". Those of us who work for a living say "yes".
Congressional Oath of Office (similar to Texas oath):
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."
The Yella' Rogues of Texas
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