Burnt Orange Report

Re-redistricting

By Byron LaMasters

I decided to take the weekend off in redistricting reporting. I set up my categories, and realized how one-dimentional this blog was becoming, so I took some time out to mix things up a little bit. But, I'll stay here to cover blow-by-blow coverage of the Senate action.

The Senate will meet today at 1 PM. You can watch the chamber live, here. The Senate website also recaps the Senate Committee on Jurisprudence (redistricting) hearing in Austin last week. They will be voting on maps tomorrow. Charles reported one possible Senate strategy via Civic Dialogues. The strategic idea was originally reported by the Quorum Report. The Austin American Statesman editorialized on the idea:

As we have mentioned before, the process of redrawing political boundaries motivates thinking that is base and bizarre, craven and creative. The attempt to redraw Texas congressional districts during the regular session ended when House Democrats fled the state to kill a quorum and therefore the bill.

Like a grenade, the quorum-busting weapon could only be used once. Now in special session to try again on redistricting, the House has dutifully voted on a map and sent it over to the Senate. That map puts senators, both Democrat and Republican, in a quandary. The redrawn House map is not as bizarre as the monstrosity killed by the quorum-busters during the regular session, but it creates problems for Republican Sens. Robert Duncan of Lubbock, Kip Averitt of McGregor and Bill Ratliff of Mount Pleasant.

Ratliff and Averitt have publicly voiced their concerns about the loss of influence that the House map would leave their constituents, and Duncan was on the receiving end of a message in the form of an editorial in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that declared the House map a threat to agriculture and the West Texas economy.

The kicker is that while the Senate can go through the motions of holding hearings, members understand that the map they've been showing people likely will bear faint, if any, resemblance to the finished product. Moreover, any changes the Senate adopts to make the map more politically palatable will likely be steamrollered in House-Senate conference committee.

What to do, what to do?

One way out was outlined on Harvey Kronberg's Quorum Report newsletter. Kronberg reported that senators are considering sending a revised map back to the House and then promptly adjourning, in what is known at the Capitol as "sign-ee dye." (Actually, it's sine die, Latin for "without a day.") Adjourning for good would then put House members in a quandary. With senators gone, there would be no one to negotiate with, so it's either adopt it, or go home without having changed a thing.

Senators supposedly have been mulling a strategy for weeks now, but the talk became louder when they adjourned for the weekend on Thursday. The ploy would be a mainline fix for political junkies, but more important, it would make a loud statement of principle. It would be a strong message that the Texas Senate won't cave in to pressure from U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who hijacked both chambers and the Governor's Mansion during the regular session to try and ram a redistricting plan down our collective throats.

DeLay has been straightforward in declaring that congressional redistricting -- an attempt that failed in the Legislature in 2001 -- is necessary because Republicans deserve a bigger presence in the Texas congressional delegation.

He calls it fair; we think it's a quota system for Republicans who say they don't like them. Five districts that especially irk DeLay are dominated by Republican voters. The trouble is, voters keep re-electing Democrats. Some people might call that a free exercise of democracy. DeLay and his disciples call it heresy.

So as unorthodox -- or fanciful -- as the sine die strategy is, it could provide needed political cover for Republicans troubled by the plan, as well as spare Texans from subsidizing DeLay's temper tantrum power grab any further.

The Houston Chronicle has more on the undecided senators via Off the Kuff.

Posted by Byron LaMasters at July 14, 2003 11:56 AM | TrackBack