Send this man a fruit basket

If Texas State Senator Bill Ratliff sticks to his guns, I just may send the man a fruit basket. As of now, he is the main hurdle to the Tom DeLay pushed Republican-oriented redistricting in Texas that the Democrat State Representatives fled Texas earlier this year to prevent.

After the "Flight of the Killer D's", as it's been called, Governor Rick Parry decided to call a special summer session to try and force the issue again. This time, the Dems stayed in the state. The plan, however, has to go to the Senate as well, and that's where Senator Ratliff comes in.

[Sen. Bill Ratliff (R-Mount Pleasant)] today issued a statement saying he is adding his name to a statement signed by 10 members of the Texas Senate stating "their unalterable opposition to any motion to bring a congressional redistricting bill to the Senate floor."

The rules of the Texas senate require a two-thirds vote of the 31 members - or 21 votes - to suspend the rules and bring legislation to the Senate floor for debate.

If the 11 senators who signed the statement stick to their guns, a congressional redistricting bill headed to the Senate floor is DOA.

Why is Ratliff against the redistricting? Believe it or not, he actually is listening to his consitutents, plus he doesn't feel that it's in anyone's best interest (something rather remarkable for a politician of any stripe these days). Tom DeLay is all hot and bothered for the redistricting because he wants to make sure that Republicans are able to keep the majority in both houses that they currently have, which is unusual in Texas.

In his statement, Ratliff noted that Senate Jurisprudence Committee Chair Sen. Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock) has reported to the Senate that at statewide hearings, "the overwhelming majority of citizens appearing at these statewide hearings are opposed to such redistricting," and said those numbers include "many local activist Republicans and locally elected Republican officials."

Ratliff said maps produced so far have indicated "a total lack of concern for the communities of interest in rural Texas." He said those driving the redistricting effort clearly have "no knowledge of, or regard for, the representative balance between the urban/suburban power base and the diminishing influence of the rural/agricultural community."

The Mount Pleasant Republican said the current congressional lines produce 20 Republican seats, 19 with GOP strength of at least 55 percent. He said the majority of both parties in the Senate have indicated "that the costs associated with this effort are not justified by the marginal gains to the Republican congressional delegation."

He said members also anticipate a huge financial burden on the state for litigation they feel "is sure to follow." However, he said their biggest concern is the level of "animosity and distrust" that will ultimately be harbored for members of the Senate as a result of "such a vitriolic battle."

Of course, if the redistricting doesn't go through, Tom DeLay isn't going to be happy, so there's talk that if Ratliff kills it for this session, the Governor may call yet another special session, and some are even considering changing the rules in the Senate so that it wouldn't take so many people to bring an item to vote - essentially to get around Senator Ratliff. If they do that, however, it should clearly show just how far these people will go to get what they want.

What's said is how everything about this episode says that. Essentially, the whole plan is for the Republicans to change the rules of the entire districting process in mid-game by doing a redistricting now, just two years after the last redistricting was done. While there's nothing that requires them to only do redistrictings following a national census, redistricting in non-census years is very rare in any state. Most people have felt that redrawing the district lines once ever 10 years is enough.

But its not enough for Tom Delay who wants to ensure that as many districts as possible lean strongly Republican so that the Democrats can't win back a majority of the State Congress anytime soon.

The Democrats, desparate to stop it, fled the state to prevent a vote from beinga ble to be taken in the House - a tactic that the Repulicans had previously used themselves, back in the 70's. The Republicans, in turn, called in the state Department of Public Safety (which has since been determined to have been an illegal use of the DPS by a Judge brought in to examine the situation), which contacted a division of the Homeland Security Agency and the Federal Aviation Agency. As noted a couple days ago, there are still questions about the use of the FAA.

Since none of that worked to get the redistricting passed, now they want to change the rules by which a vote can come to the Senate floor - just to get this through (and echoing the threats made by Republicans in the national Senate about changing the filibuster rules to prevent Democrats from being able to use them to quash some of Bush's judicial nominees.)

The whole thing has been a disgusting, disgraceful mess, but even in all that, Senator Ratliff deserves recognition for his willingness to stand up to his party and do what he believes is right - not just to get attention or to promote his own career (indeed, he may have sunk it - as a Republican at least) - but because he believes it is the right thing to do. Glad to see there's at least one left (and yes, somedays, I do wonder).

Posted by thorswitch at July 16, 2003 07:05 AM | TrackBack