Texas House Passes Redistricting Plan, Democrats Remain in New Mexico

WOAI/San Antonio News ^ | July 29, 2003 | Jim Forsyth

[woofie]

Thanks

[woofie]

thanks

[Political Junkie Too]

The missing Senators and Representatives who did not show up today utterly failed their constituents.

The ones who didn't show up probably don't have constituents, hence the reason why they didn't show up. They know they will lose seats with the reapportionment.

-PJ

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

flew to New Mexico in two private jets yesterday.

Whose private jets, I wonder?

[Political Junkie Too]

One more point to the one more point: the judicial reapportionment was a stop-gap measure so that the 2002 elections could proceed until the legislature could do its constitutional duty.

-PJ

[swilhelm73]

The current scheme was foisted on Texas by some leftist judges.

Even though Reps make up a clear majority in Texas, and the state voted by a large margin for Bush, Dems still have the majority of the House seats - a fairly clear demonstration of how gerrymandered the current districts are...

[HiTech RedNeck]

When House Speaker Tom Craddick graveled the chamber to session this morning,

Graveled? Jes' haul off and slang a big handful at 'em?

[vaudine]

graveled=gaveled

Forgive my pedantic tendencies.

vaudine

[Let's Roll]

"Whose private jets, I wonder?"

And, who is paying for the hotel? I've heard that it's one of the nicest in ABQ. I thought the DNC was having money problems - even had to get some kind of dispensation to allow unions to raise money to pay for their convention.

[vaudine]

On second thought, maybe the intended word was graveled. I would like to see a few yards of gravel shoveled onto these Dems in Texas. I would especially like to see it in the US Senate.

vaudine

[lowbridge]

The missing Senators and Representatives who did not show up today utterly failed their constituents.

Their constituents are mostly a bunch of mindless Democrats, who gladly put up with this. Fail them? Sure, as long as their representatives are frustrating the Republicans, they're all for it.

[deport]

Who's Jets.........

---

When Mr. Dewhurst left the room the second time to convene the day's Senate session, a cluster of reporters followed him. The senators then left the conference room and headed downstairs to waiting cars bound for the airport, where two private jets awaited. They belonged to constituents of Sen. Juan Hinojosa of McAllen – the David Rogers and Joe LaMantia families. Mr. Hinojosa said the transportation would be regarded as an in-kind contribution to the Democratic caucus.

Jets

[Diddle E. Squat]

Perry doesn't need to call one SS after another over redistricting. Way back before the run to Oklahoma he was talking about calling a SS in the fall over school finance reform. Its a huge issue, since property taxes are so high in Texas(not NJ levels, but high enough, to compensate for the fact that we don't have an income tax), and recent large appraisal increases have magnified the tax hikes. That's the SS that matters to everyday folks, and the one that the Dems will have to come back to(two of the hottest issues right now, education and tax relief). Plus a fall school finance SS would be right before the big mayor's election in Houston, where Orlando Sanchez has a very real chance of becoming the 1st GOP mayor there in who knows how long(he came within 2% last time). Thus Perry still holds a trump.

And he may hold another, albeit far riskier one. If the Dems boycott of the democratic process continues, at some point he has the option of declaring the seats open(I don't remember the exact term, but akin to abandonment/dereliction of duty/etc.) and call a replacement election(but he can't appoint replacements). Obviously this would provoke howls and media outrage, and risk a backlash, but not if the public is sick of their running. Right now I don't yet have a strong sense of majority opinion on the matter, but if the Dems are hiding from the school finance reform SS, it would take some major bungling by the GOP to avoid the Dems taking a serious hit in public perception.

But I didn't see in the media any polling data during and after the run to Oklahoma, and have yet to hear of any in this instance. So that suggests to me that the public didn't care for the running away, else the Houston Chronicle and all the other liberal newspapers down here(it may be Texas, but all the editorial boards of the major cities skew left these days) would be front paging polls trying to influence public opinion(they've tried every other gimmick). That's why I think Perry immediately called another SS, because he thinks it is hurting them. At least a week ago Lt. Gov. Dewhurst stated that he would not use the blocker bill(thus allowing a simple majority, not 2/3rds vote) to bring up a bill. He could have kept his mouth shut, held back on passage of most of the bills until late in the session, then locked the doors, finished the 1st SS, and have Perry immediately call another while the doors were locked. After being burned the 1st time, they had to know the Dems would run, and in fact I think they telegraphed their intentions on the assumption that they would run. I kinda think that the GOP is in no hurry to resolve this, if the Dems want to act that way, and that there may be several more acts in this slow moving play.

[deport]

I kinda think that the GOP is in no hurry to resolve this

---

The only real time constraint is getting it done in time to secure VRA approval and clear any lawsuits that will be forth coming such that it could be implemented for the 2004 elections.... That may not be possible and if so then it's really not any reason to be in any big hurry but rather milk the democrat flight as a dereliction of duty.....

[hocndoc]

I just copied the typos from the website. There were several in the article.

[hocndoc]

First, the redistricting bill would have been the first bill on the agenda for this SS, without the blocker bill. Second, the blocker bill tradition was removed in 1991 by Lt. Governor Bob Bullock in a Special Session called for redistricting:

(from the GallaryWatch.com e mail newsletter,"Cloak Room Articles" by J. Lyn Carl:)

"" Sen. John Whitmire of Houston, dean of the Senate, said the 11 Democrats are not in New Mexico because they are opposed to redistricting, but because they are opposed to Dewhurst's removing the blocker bill, a tradition that requires a two-thirds vote to bring up bills out of order in the Senate. Whitmire, a veteran of more than 20 years in the Senate, said the blocker bill is a long-time Senate tradition that requires all members of the Senate to sit down at the table to negotiate and reach a consensus. Without it, he said, any 17 members of the Senate can control legislation. He said the rule should be returned to use during the second special session. "We feel so strongly about it that it forced us to use our constitutional right to break quorum to bring this to the public and to the legislative leadership," said Whitmire. "We want the rules of the game to remain as they were yesterday." He said as late as Monday afternoon the Democrats were working actively with the leadership and negotiating in good faith. Then they received information from House members that the governor would ask both chambers to sine die at 3 p.m. "under one set of rules (including the blocker bill)" and come back at 3:30 for a second called session "under a new set of rules," they decided to leave the state. He said there also was rumor of a call on the Senate, which would have locked members in the chamber and force them to stay. "The question ought to be, why change the rules in the middle of the game," said the dean. Dewhurst has cited what he calls the "Bullock precedent" for removing the blocker bill because former Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock removed the tradition in 1991 during a special session on redistricting. Whitmire was a member of the Senate at the time. He said that session was a three-day session with one issue on the call. He said there was no conflict, no objecting to removing the blocker bill. He said it was an agreement among the senators to come in and "ratify" a plan. The current called session, he said, is to "undo" a plan. "That is undemocratic. We cannot stand for it." Van de Putte said the Texas 11 are prepared to stay in New Mexico until the governor ends his redistricting efforts or until the normal rules of the Senate are reinstated "so that our vote against redistricting will provide the protection and representation our constituents deserve."""

[hocndoc]

Southwest Airlines could make it easier for the Dems and those who want to visit them - whether to support or protest: Southwest's Featured Destination this week is Albuquerque, New Mexico!

[MeekOneGOP]

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.

Yep ! Not to mention that the 'RATS pitched the 2/3 rule to bring up a bill in 1992!

Here are the OBSTRUCTING 'RATS!:

Photos taken from the Texas Senators of the 78th Legislature website.

The 11 Obstructors:

Gonzalo Barrientos, Austin/Rodney Ellis, Houston/Mario Gallegos Jr., Houston

Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, McAllen/Eddie Lucio Jr., Brownsville/Frank Madla Jr., San Antonio

Eliot Shapleigh, El Paso/Leticia Van de Putte, San Antonio/Royce West, Dallas

John Whitmire, Houston/Judith Zaffirini, Laredo

---

The Lone Democrat that is staying:

Kenneth Armbrister, Victoria

[MeekOneGOP]

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.

I don't get it. What is the point of passing the SAME bill yet again ???????

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.

Oh, yeah ! The OBSRUCTING FLEEING 'RATS in New Mexico are really representing their constituents well, aren't they ? Why didn't they stay and FIGHT FOR THEM, instead of running away ?? The big babies !!

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks for the heads up, btw !!