Texas House Passes Redistricting Plan, Democrats Remain in New Mexico

Texas House Passes Redistricting Plan, Democrats Remain in New Mexico LAST UPDATE: 7/29/2003 6:28:48 PM Posted By: Jim Forsyth

(AUSTIN) -- It took the Texas House fifteen minutes this afternoon to pass a Republican backed Congressional redistricting plan, and same proposal which was approved by the House during the first special session which ended abruptly yesterday.

The plan now goes to the state Senate, which remains in recess pending the return of eleven of it's twelve Democratic members from self imposed exile in New Mexico.

When House Speaker Tom Craddick graveled the chamber to session this morning, it was unable to proceed due to a lack of a quorum. Craddick dispatched staffers to round up enough Democrats to allow the House to be graveled into session.

Democratic State Representative Garnet Coleman of Houston and other democrats tried in vain to slow down the Republican majority.

"The power grab that is going on is now extended to this House floor," Coleman said of majority Republicans. The GOP is attempting to push through a Congressional redistricting plan which would lead to as many as five new Republicans in the state Congressional delegation. Democrats now hold a 17 to 15 edge in Congressional seats.

Republicans like State Rep. Phil King of Weatherford predicted that the Senate will eventually approve a redistricting plan.

"I think eventually the Senate will pass something different than what we have passed, it will be worked out in conference committee, and we'll emerge with a fair plan," King said.

But from their exile in a hotel in Albuquerque, the eleven Democrats said there is nothing fair about the Republican effort to redraw the Congressional district lines.

"We are fighting to stop an unfair and wasteful redistricting process, and to protect the rights of our constituents," State Senator Leticia Van De Putte of San Antonio said.

She says the state has 'immense problems,' and needs to focus its attention and its resources on reorganizing state government, extending health care, and improving education.

Van de Putte says the current Congressional redistricting map, which was drawn by a federal court after the then Democrat dominated legislature refused to take action two years ago, should stand until the 2010 census.

"The current plan is fair, it is legal, it is a legal plan for all Texans according to all the non partisan experts, and the U.S. Supreme Court," she said.

Texas Republicans have long smarted that Democrats hold a majority in the state's U.S. House delegation, even though the GOP controls all statewide non judicial elective offices, and the state's two U.S. Senate seat, and Texas has been firmly in the Republican column in Presidential elections since the 1970's.

But Van de Putte and other Democrats say changing the Congressional redistricting map would damage minority and rural communities, by including portions of the strongly Republican suburban areas surrounding San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas Ft. Worth into the majority of the Congressional districts.

"In every plan, rural Texas communities are dominated by suburban interests, and lose their right to representation in Congress," she said.

Van de Putte declined to speculate on how long the Democrats are willing to stay in New Mexico, out of the reach of Texas Rangers. Only one Democrat, Ken Armbrister of Victoria, declined to join the group that flew to New Mexico in two private jets yesterday.

The House Republicans were able to suspend the rules today, because they composed 3/4 of the Representatives **who showed up.**

It's all about *showing up*!

The quorum rule was not invented as a tool to obstruct the will of the majority by not showing up to vote. It was intended to prevent obstruction of the will of the majority by a power-hungry minority from holding a special meeting without telling the opposition.

Coleman claims that the vote today is a "power grab" by the Republican House members *who showed up* and was only possible because the Democrats **didn't show up.**

If Coleman wants to get his way, he'll at least have to get his colleagues to show up to vote with him. And maybe he can convince more voters to vote for more Democrats. That's how the system works.

The missing Senators and Representatives who did not show up today utterly failed their constituents. And they obstructed the will of the majority of Texans as shown by the votes at the last election.

Deborah Cannon AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Texas Department of Public Safety Officer Hoyt Agee guards the Senate chamber. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst barred members from leaving the chamber when all but one Democrat failed to show up for the second special session.

House passes redistricting map

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
After spending Tuesday morning trying to round up a quorum, the Texas House got down to business and passed a congressional redistricting map.
The chamber didn't have a quorum when it met this morning at 10 a.m. Only 96 of the 150 members showed up — four short of the number necessary to conduct business.
Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, ordered the doors locked and placed a call, or order to return, on those who are missing — mostly Democrats.
But shortly before 1 p.m., enough members had returned to allow business to resume. The House then voted to suspend its normal rules requiring separate committee meetings for new bills and passed, by a 75-26 vote, the same map it had approved earlier this month during the previous special session.
The suspension of the rules angered some Democrats .
"The power grab that has been going on has extended to the House floor," said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston.
Democrats have spent the last few months fighting congressional redistricting. The state's Republican leadership has said redistricting is necessary because the Texas congressional delegation does not reflect the party's hold on the state.
Several other bills, many dealing with government reorganization, also were voted to the floor by four-fifths of the House members present. The chamber appeared like to adjourn Tuesday afternoon and to await the return of the senators who have fled to New Mexico.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans urged their Democratic colleagues to come back to Texas and work with them on a congressional redistricting plan.
"No Texas problem has ever been solved in New Mexico," said Sen. Todd Staples of Palestine, chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus.
Eleven Democratic senators fled to Albuquerque, N.M., Monday to break a Senate quorum and block consideration of redistricting, the subject of a second special session called by Republican Gov. Rick Perry.
At a news conference in New Mexico Tuesday, the Democrats outlined their case for leaving.
"We believe that Texans deserve fair, honest government that works for us, not against us," said Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus. "There's nothing fair about a partisan redistricting effort that turns a deaf ear to the overwhelming majority of Texans and turns it back on the minority opportunity."
She had said earlier that more than 1.4 million minorities in Texas would lose effective congressional representation if redistricting occurs as Republicans wish.
Republican senators denied assertions from Democrats that GOP-backed redistricting maps proposed so far would violate the voting rights of minorities across Texas. Staples, the chief architect of the Senate map, said the proposals actually improve minority voting strength.
The Democrats' absence Monday prompted Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to adjourn the first special legislative session a day early, without a redistricting bill approved. The House adjourned shortly after that, but Perry immediately called lawmakers back for another session on redistricting. The second session could last up to 30 days.
The Senate met briefly Tuesday morning but broke after a few minutes. Dewhurst said the chamber would reconvene Wednesday morning.

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