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August 11, 2003

Another Round of Editorials

By Byron LaMasters

On Friday and Saturday, a new round of editorials blanketed the state. The Fort Worth Star Telegram, Houston Chronicle and Waco Tribune Herald wrote relatively pro-Democratic editorials, while the Austin American Statesman wrote a mixed one today, lamenting the fact that both sides have taken to the courts.

The Fort Worth Star Telegram:

Mid-cycle redistricting was a bad idea when it came up during the regular legislative session; it was a bad idea when Perry put it on the agenda for the first special session; it remains a bad idea as the clock ticks down on the second special session.

Frustrated taxpayers, who are toting the note for this exercise in one-upsmanship, are rightfully asking: What's the endgame for this costly scrimmage of partisan politics?

Short-term, there's no telling. Ultimately, it will come when lawmakers run for re-election.

In the case of Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, it will take longer for the people to register their official support or disdain, given that their terms run until 2006. But for House members and some senators, the day of reckoning will come in November 2004 -- or sooner. Who knows what might happen in the spring primaries?


The Houston Chronicle:


Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst last week told the Chronicle Editorial Board that U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay does not "jerk his chain," and that the lieutenant governor answers to no one but the voters of Texas. This is but the latest inaccuracy that Dewhurst, Gov. Rick Perry and Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick have used to justify their destructive and unpopular campaign to redraw congressional districts.

The undeniable truth is that many Texans actively oppose redistricting this year. Almost all the testimony at statewide hearings on redistricting was negative. The majority of Texans and their elected representatives are against or indifferent to DeLay's political power play and believe issues such as school finance and property tax reform should take precedence.

Could there be a harder tug than this on Dewhurst's leash? Dewhurst says he is a loyal Republican, but party loyalty should not require denying or misrepresenting the truth.

Months ago, at the start of the regular legislative session, Perry, Dewhurst and Craddick all suggested that redistricting would disrupt and perhaps destroy the bipartisan comity necessary to solve Texas' problems. All three indicated there was little enthusiasm among legislators for redistricting this year, and that the issue was likely to be a nonstarter.

None of the three said anything to suggest that redistricting would soon become the Republican leadership's No. 1 priority. Ordered to seek redistricting by DeLay, none of the three had the courage to refuse DeLay and to act on the assurances each had given to Texans.

Calling from the Democratic senators' sanctuary in New Mexico, state Sen. Mario Gallegos reminded Texans that when the Legislature failed to agree on congressional district lines in 2001, Gov. Perry could have called it back into special session. Perry did not think it necessary, nor did the state appeal the lines drawn by a panel of federal judges. Perry's failure to act then betrays his true sentiments about redistricting's lack of urgency -- sentiments Perry is disowning today.

On top of his false portrayal of the merits of redistricting, Perry has dishonestly tried to blame Democrats for the state's inadequate support for health care and other vital social services. The Democrats are not innocent of selfish partisan motives, but at least they are not misrepresenting the facts with every breath.

On the same conference call with Gallegos, Sen. John Whitmire said the senators would return if Dewhurst would restore the Senate's traditional two-thirds rule. The tradition calls for a parliamentary procedure requiring a two-thirds majority of those present before a bill can be brought up for debate and action.

Sen. Rodney Ellis points out that the Senate has never suspended the rule for bills on important matters such as civil rights or criminal jurisprudence, no matter how urgent the need. Ellis and Whitmire note that the Senate's two-thirds rule resulted in a superior insurance reform bill in the regular session.

As if Texas' political mess were not embarrassing and distracting enough, both Republicans and Democrats are pursuing unpromising litigation to further the dispute.

Even if the Democratic senators returned Monday, a disagreement among Republican legislators over how to divvy up rural West Texas could thwart redistricting until the clock runs out before next spring's primaries.

There is only one reasonable, prudent way to end the mess redistricting has inflicted, and that is for Dewhurst to agree to reinstate the two-thirds rule. Redistricting's few proponents will have a fair chance to gain a consensus. Should they fail, the Legislature will be free to move on to more important matters.


And the Waco Tribune Herald:


Texas Democrats holed-up in New Mexico may not win their new court challenge, but they certainly have a good point.

They have sued to stop the current special session because the Texas Constitution says one can only be called in "extraordinary occasions." Party-driven redistricting isn't one of them. It isn't even in the neighborhood. Texas districts were redrawn in 2001 as required by law.

What Gov. Rick Perry has ordered as the basis for two special sessions is vital only to partisan schemers in Austin and Washington, most venally Congressman Tom DeLay.

Oh, yes, some important issues were left stranded by the 78th Legislature. But Perry and the Republican leadership have no one but themselves to blame for not addressing them before.

Fortunately, Wednesday by executive order Perry released some $700 million from the Foundation School Fund. The money was needed by school districts that are about to open their doors. Because of a bookkeeping error, the funding stood to be hung up until September.

In the days before making that announcement, Perry said these dollars were being held up by the boycotting Democrats. Surely he was joking. GOP leaders let an entire 30-day special session expire knowing the $700 million was in limbo.

The fact that the matter was allowed to be tucked into a monster government reorganization bill that died in the last day of the special session is the fault of GOP leaders who decided to put the interests of the party ahead of those of their constituents and tried through stealth to force 11th-hour passage of a redistricting bill that effectively killed lagging legislation.

Were Perry not transfixed on redistricting and games of political payback, we would wager that these problems would have been identified and fixed in the regular session.

And if the Legislature truly needed a special session to address such things, these matters would have been addressed promptly in Special Session No. 1.

Every time the governor and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst say "there's important work to be done" in the special session, voters should ask, "Is this work for the majority party or for Texans?"

Perry and Dewhurst know how the work for Texans can get done. They can listen to the Waco City Council, the McLennan County Commissioners and so many Central Texans urging that they pull a divisive and disabling matter off the table. Redistricting has been done. It was done in ’01.


Meanwhile, the Austin American Statesman which has been pretty consistently pro-Democratic throughout the redistricting debate had problems with the seperation of powers with everyone suing. The editorial is in today's paper.


The current legislative standoff in Texas is many things: unusual, frustrating, sometimes entertaining. But the one thing it is not is a crisis.

State government is working as usual, a budget is in place and the flag still flies above the Capitol each day. The special session called by Gov. Rick Perry to redraw Texas congressional districts was an act of political partisanship, not a response to an emergency.

Still, the way this situation is playing out, with hard feelings and dueling lawsuits, could have a dramatic impact on Texas. The lawsuit filed by the Senate Democrats in district court in Travis County, and one filed with the Texas Supreme Court by Attorney General Greg Abbott, representing Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, go to fundamental aspects of how state government operates.

The 11 Senate Democrats who fled to New Mexico last month to prevent a quorum, paralyze the Legislature and kill Perry's redistricting effort are directly challenging the governor's power. They are asking the district court to rule that the special session called for redistricting does not meet the constitutional requirement of an "extraordinary occasion," and is therefore illegal.

The Senate Democrats are asking the courts to define "extraordinary," and to limit the power of the executive. This is deep water because the question goes to the heart of the separation of powers among the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government.

One need not be a fan of Perry or his slavish determination to redraw the state's congressional districts to question the wisdom of asking a judge to limit the governor's power to call the Legislature into session. There are other checks and balances, including the Legislature's right to exercise its own power to kill bills the governor wants.

Asking the courts to determine when a governor can convene the Legislature is an extraordinary and risky move. But Perry and Dewhurst are gambling as well in asking the Supreme Court to order the absentee Democrats back to work in Austin.

Does compelling the Democrats to return to town mean they can be arrested, although no crime has been committed? A lower court already has ruled that leaders of the state House of Representatives, whose Democratic members absconded in the spring, cannot order state troopers to arrest them.

Abbott's petition, which argues that the court can force the senators back to work, raises another question of separation of powers. The remedy for elected officials not doing their jobs is not at the Supreme Court, but the ballot box. If they aren't doing their jobs, citizens can vote them out of office.

The courts might not wish to get in the middle of this partisan fray and might leave it up the Legislature to clean its own house. That already is under way, with efforts to change the rules so a minority of members cannot disrupt legislative business in either house.

Posted by Byron LaMasters at August 11, 2003 11:13 AM | TrackBack


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