Burnt Orange Report

There's a Deal! Wait, there's Not!

By Byron LaMasters

Another Snafu for Republicans, via the Quorum Report:

October 8, 2003 1:27 PM WE JUMPED THE GUN ON THE REDISTRICTING MAP No map yet. Confirmation is that House and Senate adjourned until Friday If there was a map, it would be laid out today on brought to the floor of both chambers tomorrow. While there has been some modest movement, as far as we can tell, it is marginal at best.

October 8, 2003 12:13 PM
HOUSE AND SENATE REDISTRICTING NEGOTIATORS REACH DEAL
Official announcement to be made early this afternoon

Republicans new found progress is largely due to Tom DeLay's visit to the capitol yesterday:

U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay spent his second day at the Texas Capitol Tuesday, trying to hammer out a Republican deal on congressional redistricting.

DeLay, R-Sugar Land, declared victory near after a meeting with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Sen. Todd Staples, R-Palestine, the lead Senate negotiator.

"It's very, very close. The lieutenant governor has laid out some very interesting maps. We're almost there," DeLay said. But late Tuesday, Staples said no agreement could be reached.

"I really thought we might have reached something tonight, but that escaped us," Staples said.

But Staples and Speaker Tom Craddick's spokesman, Bob Richter, indicated there still were problems in working out districts for West Texas -- problems that have halted a final deal on the map since last week.

"It's generally west of I-35 where we're trying to resolve the differences," Staples said.

DeLay is deeply invested in the Texas redistricting process. He prompted lawmakers to start the battle in April. And last year he founded Texans for a Republican Majority, which poured almost $1.5 million into capturing the Texas House majority for Republicans.

In other redistricting news, House Democrats released the following statement yesterday in a press conference:

Today, House Democrats cited three abusive examples of a redistricting process that seeks to cancel the votes and the voting rights of Texans at the expense of the state’s real priorities at a press conference today.

1. The actions of last Sunday on the House floor, when the Speaker refused to recognize the majority of members on the House floor who had the votes to adjourn sine die;
2. the effort to change the primary election date - a completely unnecessary and
unwarranted move that will take this abusive process from the halls of the Capitol to neighborhoods and a polling places across the state; and
3. the ultimate “bait and switch” Republican map trick - one that ignored Senate and House passed plans that left the existing minority opportunity districts intact and appears certain to produce a “new” and very different final plan that ignores the legal record made on the House and Senate floor to dramatically alter minority districts, illegally reducing the number of effective minority opportunity districts from 11 to 10.

“The press should cover redistricting like a crime instead of a sporting event - because the participants are not “players,” they are perpetrators of a historic and blatant abuse of power that has never been seen before in the halls of this Capitol,” said Rep. Garnet F. Coleman (D-Houston).

“The victims of this abuse of power are the people of Texas who have seen their leaders spend $57,000 dollars a day, wasting millions of tax dollars on a partisan power grab while basic needs like health care and education go unmet,” said Rep. Elliott Naishtat (D-Austin). “Political power has taken priority over the people's business.”

“The Speaker’s actions on Sunday have put any bill adopted this session in jeopardy, because by all rights, the House should no longer be in session,” said Rep. Joe Deshotel (D-Beaumont).

“Today, Democrats and minorities are being treated like an afterthought in a ‘bait and switch’ process that is stalled by a West Texas power melodrama, but the whole redistricting effort will come undone because it blatantly violates the Voting Rights Act,” concluded Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin).

Meanwhile, newspapers across the state have renewed their slaming of the redistricting effort on the editorial pages. Predictably, the Austin American Statesman denounced redistricting again, as does the San Antonio Express-News here and here. The Dallas Morning News editorializes against Republican plans to move the primary date, and the Amarillo Globe-News just wants the clowns sent home. The Fort Worth Star Telegram lists Redistricting Wrongs I, II and III. Even the conservative El Paso Times got into the act, urging Gov. Perry not to call a fourth special session on redistricting. Lastly, the Lufkin Daily News . aand the Abilene Reporter News lashed out at the Republicans lack of leadership. Wow. Links via Save Texas Reps.