Posted on 11/29/2001 12:26:54 PM PST by BellStar
Staff and wire report
The Daily News
Published November 29, 2001
AUSTIN — A federal court ordered new Texas House district boundaries Wednesday, boosting Hispanic voting strength but mostly leaving in place a Republican-drawn map.
The court also upheld the GOP-leaning Texas Senate plan enacted by the Legislative Redistricting Board.
The new plans mean big changes for Galveston County. The house plan puts incumbents Patricia Gray and Craig Eiland in the same district, meaning only one can head back to Austin for the 2003 session. The new senate lines fillet Galveston Island down Broadway, putting the south side and Bolivar Peninsula in Senate District 17 now represented by Sen. Buster Brown. The north side will be in District 11, represented by Sen. Mike Jackson.
Republicans applauded the court’s decisions.
Ninety-eight percent of the House map approved by the GOP-controlled redistricting board and the entire Senate map were preserved by the court, said Republican Attorney General John Cornyn, the LRB chairman.
“Our goal was to produce maps that comply with the law and preserve minority voting rights. Today’s rulings show that the LRB was successful in achieving these goals,” Cornyn said.
Despite his loss in court, Democratic House Speaker Pete Laney was resolute about his future.
“The court’s map does not change my plans to seek re-election to the House and another term as speaker,” Laney said.
By some estimates, the map approved by the redistricting board could give Republicans as many as 88 to 90 seats in the Texas House. Currently, Democrats hold a 78-72 edge.
In the Senate, the GOP, which held a 16-15 edge in this year’s legislative session, could gain three or more seats under the new plan.
Most of Galveston Island will share a Senate district with west Houston and portions of Fort Bend and Brazoria counties. District 17 extends up the Texas coastline to the Louisiana boarder.
Jackson opposed the senate plan but said he believed Galveston Island would not have a diluted voice in the two senate districts.
“I just think communities are better represented where you don’t have two neighbors that live across the street from each other but have a different senator up in Austin,” he said.
The new House plan puts all of Galveston Island into one district, along with Texas City, the Bayshore communities, Kemah and Chambers County. District 24, which had included the west end, now is comprised of League City, Clear Lake Shores, Friendswood, Dickinson, La Marque, Hitchcock and Santa Fe.
Gray said she and Eiland, both of whom live on the island, had not decided who would seek the House District 23 seat.
She was disappointed with the new split.
“I don’t think it bodes well for the county for the near future because both seats as cast now are partisan seats,” she said. “I think when seats are too partisan in either direction the candidates look toward the party to get elected instead of toward the people they represent.”
Galveston Island really lost in the new Senate plan because it will be the smallest constituency in two districts, Gray said.
She said Cornyn’s first assistant testified that the large J-shaped District 17 was drawn in hopes of ending Sen. David Bernsen’s career in the Senate. Bernsen (D-Beaumont) represents Bolivar Peninsula.
It was unlikely the judges’ decisions would be appealed, Gray said.
Latino plaintiffs got what they were pushing for in the House plan with the creation of a new Hispanic majority district in South Texas, said Nina Perales, an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
“We prevailed in the House,” Perales said. “It means more representation for Latinos, more districts in which Latinos can elect candidates of their choice.”
Latinos did not get additional seats in the Senate, however.
Although the U.S. Justice Department gave preliminary approval to the board’s Senate plan, it said two weeks ago that the board’s House plan violated the Voting Rights Act by denying Hispanics opportunities to elect candidates of their choice in some districts.
The three-judge federal panel said its House order Wednesday was intended to address those problem areas cited by the Justice Department in West and South Texas.
The judges restored a Latino district in Bexar County, boosting the total number of Hispanic majority districts there from six back to its original seven.
As a result, Democratic Reps. Mike Villarreal and Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio no longer will be “paired,” or forced to run against each other in 2002.
“I’m very happy that we will be getting back our district,” Villarreal said. “I think this is a real blow to Attorney General Cornyn’s political maneuvering.”
The judges also made changes to two Hispanic majority districts in the Rio Grande Valley and one in far West Texas.
In the process, the judges created a new district in South Texas for a total of 35 districts where Hispanics can elect the candidates of their choice, Perales said.
The LRB plan had only 34 Hispanic districts, up from the current 31 Latino districts, she said.
The Legislative Redistricting Board approved new legislative plans for both chambers in July after state lawmakers failed to do the job. The plans then faced multiple court challenges.
Wednesday’s court ruling comes just before candidates can begin filing Monday for 2002 legislative elections.
State GOP Chairwoman Susan Weddington applauded the court’s decisions, saying they reflect “a Republican Party that is emerging as the new majority and a growing Hispanic population.”
Sen. Jackson, a Republican, said the legislature should more reflect the increasingly GOP-voting trends in the state.
Texas Democratic Party Chairwoman Molly Beth Malcolm said the ruling was unfair to blacks and Hispanics. “But Texas Democrats are not going to hand the state over to Republicans who put partisan interests above what’s best for the state,” she said.
Bite Me!
As for CA, here in the most liberal state in the west, the CA liberal leg left things pretty much intact...why? Cause Gary Conduit and they can't do anything about the Central Valley but thank their luck stars they have been winning there.
CA picked up a house seat with the new Census, but I'm not sure they can ensure a Dem will get it.
GA is what I'm worried about. 2-3 new seats and a state controled by dems....
The reapportionment in California leaves the Dems in the majority in both houses of the Legislature, and in the Congressional delegation, but there are (I think) no Republican incumbents threatened by the plan, and there are more competitive districts once Dems leave office due to term limits than one might expect from the usual overly-partisan reapportionment process. In fact, when the plan was approved in the Assembly, Republican members there actually applauded.
As a result, "moderate" Democratic districts were eliminated and the GOP now controls Florida.
GA and NC have the same problem. These states have been controlled by Dems at a local level FOREVER!!! Contrary to popular belief, transplants from outside the state have been voting Republican. Many native rural voters, however, are still attached to the Dems, thinking that there is such a thing a "conservative Democrat."
And those moderate dems are the WORST of all. Michigan is putting the squeeze on them finally for Congress, and will be expanding the st house and st senate.
Bye Bye Rivers.....
“I don’t think it bodes well for the county for the near future because both seats as cast now are partisan seats,” she said. “I think when seats are too partisan in either direction the candidates look toward the party to get elected instead of toward the people they represent.”
Nope, as usual with the Dems, its ok when they abuse the process, but unfair when used against them. Cry me a river, that area knows how to handle runoff.
The dems and pubs both acted together to protect the incumbents, EXCEPT for Gary Condit. His district has been modified to add liberals that will not vote for him in the primary. About 40% of the voters will be those that have never voted in a Condit election before. This will also make it more democratic to prevent a republican challenge.
Earth to Molly Beth; the State of Texas has done been handed over to the Republicans. Or better said the Republicans took it from you cause you don't represent Texans.
I really don't think the Spanish are all that stupid. In fact, it is a lot harder to manipulate them, then the current line of Democrats think!
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