Texas: an independent state of mind

Rep. DeLay makes 'worst lawmakers list' in Texas
The Associated Press
Last Updated 10:19 a.m. PDT Friday, June 20, 2003

WASHINGTON (AP) - He's not a Texas state lawmaker, but because he messed with state business, U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay ended up on Texas Monthly magazine's list of Top 10 Worst legislators.
Only one other federal official has made the Texas Monthly lists of best and worst legislators, compiled as a report card on state lawmakers for 30 years.
Federal district Judge William Wayne Justice was put on the best list because of his many rulings that prompted state reforms, said Texas Monthly executive editor Paul Burka.
Under the heading "Pest," DeLay is criticized for pushing the Texas Legislature to take up a congressional redistricting bill late in the 140 day, biennial session. The bill prompted state Democratic representatives to head to Ardmore, Okla. for nearly a week and an ensuing manhunt that involved a federal anti-terrorism agency.
"He's a member of the House of Representatives, all right, but it's the one in Congress, not the one on Congress Avenue," Texas Monthly wrote. The Texas Capitol is on Congress Avenue in Austin.
DeLay spokesman Jonathan Grella declined comment Thursday.
The magazine's criteria for making the best list is for legislators to "work hard, understand the process, check their egos at the door (usually) and tell the truth." Those who make the worst list, "don't do any of the preceding," the magazine said.
"I haven't seen any DeLay ego checked at the door lately and I think it was enormously presumptuous to demand the Legislature ... with 21 days to go in the middle of an enormous legislative logjam and very difficult session to demand everything stop while he does redistricting," said Burka, co-author of the list and its accompanying text.
DeLay has argued for a change in the makeup of the Texas congressional delegation - 17 Democrats, 15 Republicans - because he said it doesn't reflect the state's voting patterns. Republicans hold every statewide office.
Gov. Rick Perry has called a special session beginning June 30 to take up redistricting.
The list appears in Texas Monthly's July issue, but The Quorum Report, a Texas news political newsletter, provided a sneak preview to subscribers on its Web site through Friday.

http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/politics/story/922662p-6425495c.html

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The new budget was passed. It contains no new taxes but a number of user fees have been upped. (backdoor tax increase)

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House committee to take public testimony on redistricting
By Lynn BrezoskyWith a special session just four days away, the House committee began taking public input on a bill to redesign the state's congressional districts in favor of Republicans.
In an effort to comply with federal regulations, committee members spread across the state to listen to Texans' opinions on how their vote will be counted in the next congressional election. Hearings were also being conducted Thursday in San Antonio and Lubbock.
During the regular session, embattled Democrats effectively killed congressional redistricting legislation by fleeing the state line and hiding out in Ardmore, Okla. until after a House deadline had passed.
The redistricting legislation that would likely increase the number of Republican districts from 15 to 19, while decreasing the Democratic districts from 17 to 13.
Two San Antonio Democrats who helped stymie the redistricting measure during the regular session were assigned to hearings in other parts of the state in what they believe was retribution.
Rep. Mike Villarreal and Ruth Jones McClendon ignored the assignment, sitting in on the San Antonio panel anyway."Three members of the committee who went to Ardmore are the three members displaced and not allowed to participate in the hearing in our district," McClendon said.
The third member, Rep. Richard Raymond of Laredo, was assigned to Lubbock but did not attend that hearing. Instead, he went to Brownsville, his office said.
An auditorium was packed for the San Antonio meeting by a raucous crowd whom Subcommittee Chairwoman Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria, repeatedly asked to be quiet. Most seemed to favor the Democrats, but the Republican side was also represented.U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, has implored the Texas Legislature to redraw congressional lines with 20 Republicans to reflect the state's GOP majority.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry earlier this month called a special legislative session on redistricting, scheduled to begin June 30.
"When the state of Texas is forced by budget constraints to cut essential health care and education funding for our children, it is outrageous for the governor to call a special session on redistricting," said U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio. "He's going to waste millions of dollars to feed Washington Republicans' lust for power at the expense of our state and our children."
A federal court drew Texas' congressional districts after state lawmakers failed to do so in 2001, leaving open the possibility that the districts could be redrawn by the Texas Legislature.
Democrats argue that they are not required by the Constitution to redraw district lines, particularly in a non-redistricting year.
The original map proposal, by Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, drew criticism for breaking up Harris, Travis, Hidalgo and Bell counties. Opponents said dividing those counties would dilute the strength of communities like Houston's Fifth Ward and the Hispanic influence of the Rio Grande Valley.
Republicans have touted a redistricting plan as a gain to Texas minorities because it would add up to two Hispanic districts and one black district.
But Democrats contend that the loss of four Democrats, who historically vote in favor of minority interests, would counteract the addition of minority members.
Texas currently has six Hispanics in Congress and seven Hispanic districts. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, who is white, represents one of those districts.
King has said his plan would likely lead to the election of eight Hispanics and seven Hispanic districts.
But some Democrats have argued that Hispanics would not make gains in representation because Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio, also has a majority Hispanic district, but does not win a majority of that group's vote.
For that reason, Democrats say Bonilla, although Hispanic, is not the preferred candidate among Hispanics.
Texas currently has two black members, but King has said his map provides for another predominantly black district in Harris County.
http://www.statesman.com/legislature/content/coxnet/texas/legislature/0603/0626redistrict.html

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Tartarin, I know this is off subject but didn't know of a better place to put it. Wondered if you had seen it?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/26/politics/main560570.shtml

Quote:

GOP Wants Lock On Lobbyists

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2003

(CBS) Republicans have succeeded in placing loyalists in most of Washington's top lobbying positions after a concerted effort that included pressuring firms that flirted with hiring Democrats, a newspaper reports.

The Washington Post reports that one party official recently told a group of lobbyists that the GOP's so-called K Street Project has netted 33 of the 36 Washington posts he monitors.

Several Fortune 500 companies have recently named well-connected Republicans to top lobbying slots, and influential jobs in the lobbying arms of the entertainment and telecommunications industries could soon go to GOP members.

The GOP began targeting these top lobbying jobs in 1995, naming the effort after the street where most Washington lobbyists have their offices, the newspaper says.

With Republicans in these jobs, they can channel campaign contributions from the organization and its employees or members to the GOP, its candidates and PACs. Those in the top lobbying jobs also make enough money to be generous donors themselves.

Lobbyists and corporate leaders also shape legislation on key policy issues. They have the ability to hire subordinate staff members, meaning more potential jobs for Republicans.

The effort to place GOP members in the jobs has occasionally raised ethics questions.

Texas Congressman and Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay was cited by the House Ethics Committee for delaying action on a 1998 bill covering intellectual property because the Electronics Industry Association planned to hire a Democrat.

Democrats have raised questions about a GOP effort to research lobbyists' political affiliations and campaign contributions, accusing Republicans of preparing to limit access to their offices by Democrat-connected lobbyists.

They've also slammed staff for Rep. Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, the Financial Services Committee chairman, for telling the mutual fund consortium Investment Company Institute that a congressional probe of mutual funds might relent if the company fired its Democratic top lobbyist.

According to The Post, top Republican lawmakers discuss key job openings with Republican lobbyists on a regular basis, suggest GOP candidates for the jobs, contact search firms hunting for people to fill the new posts and push their picks.

That process could rev up again as the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association look to fill top posts.

Among recent appointments:
· Mississippi Senator Trent Lott's former aide David Hoppe was hired by Quinn Gillespie & Associates.
· Bill Paxon, a former Republican Congressman from New York, was recently hired by the Foundation Executives Group to fight changes to laws affecting charities.
· Former GOP Congressman and Hall of Fame receiver Steve Largent now works for Wiley Rein & Fielding.
· President Bush recently named Ed Gillespie to head the Republican National Committee. Gillespie has lobbied for companies like Microsoft, Verizon and the National Association of Realtors.

You, of course can use it elsewhere if you like!

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Given my druthers, Bill, that's where I'd start with my Abrams tank when I get to DC -- K Street. Seriously, I think if we don't actively seek to disgrace those responsible for the overgrowth of the system of lobbying, we aren't going to get anywhere. Redefinition/limitation and REGULATION are badly needed.

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Not in this regime - hope there is another chance, but most lobbyists butter the toast on both sides!

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Third party? Reform?

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Biocracy, firmly prevents a third party from getting a foothold. All third parties are considered the same; so you get in-fighting and splits that prevents cohesion. Without changes in the political spectrum, it can't happen. It would take grass roots organization of a making that is unknown to unite everyone in forgeting their pet goals for the common good. Tough, tough job!

My desire is and has always been for America to be composed of 15-20 (100, the more the better) parties of varying strenghts that coalese into major forces of 3-5 (10?) that are ever changing, yet ruling the country. The Executive would include a branch composed of parties in the out that oversee everything and the Branch would be made up of multiple parties to be able to control power.

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Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick overstepped his authority by dispatching state troopers to search for Democratic state representatives who bolted in May to kill a redistricting bill, a state district judge ruled Thursday.

State District Judge Charles Campbell ruled that a state government code defining the role and limits of Texas Department of Public Safety officers superseded a House rule employed by Craddick to hunt down the legislators.

More than 50 Democratic representatives fled the Capitol May 12. Craddick, citing House rules, ordered the DPS to try to find the missing legislators. Most of them soon turned up in Ardmore, Okla., outside DPS jurisdiction.

Their absence deprived the House of a quorum until a deadline passed for debating a redistricting bill that would have increased Texas' Republican representation in the U.S. House.

"Based on this judge's ruling, what (Craddick) did was illegal," said state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, who sought a court ruling on whether it was legal for state troopers to be used in the search for the "Killer D's."

"Basically what the judge is saying is exactly what the Killer D's had been saying all along -- the (DPS) needs to be chasing criminals and not doing the political work of the speaker," said Burnam, one of the Democrats who went to Ardmore.

Houston Chronicle

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AUSTIN -- A key Republican senator joined Democrats Monday in vowing to block any congressional redistricting bill from coming up for Senate debate, but Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he may counter that by changing the Senate's standard operating procedures.

Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mt. Pleasant, joined 10 Democrats in promising to block Senate floor debate on any congressional redistricting bill. Ratliff said he believes any plan would harm rural Texas and force some Republican senators to vote for the party against the interests and desires of their constituents.

"I don't believe even a good product of this process justifies the pain, the blood, the sweat, the tears that are going to be necessary in the Senate to get there," Ratliff said. BREAKING WITH TRADITION
Here's how Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst could get a redistricting bill to the state Senate floor and get around the tradition that two-thirds of senators must agree to bring a bill up for debate:
The rule is put into effect with a "blocker bill," an inconsequential measure put at the top of the calendar. As long as the bill is first in line, it takes a two-thirds vote -- 21 of the 31 senators if all of them are present -- to suspend rules and consider another bill out of order.
As presiding officer of the Senate, Dewhurst can ask sponsors of the blocker bill and any others ahead of a redistricting bill to withdraw them, putting redistricting at the top of the list.
If that doesn't work, Dewhurst also can ask Gov. Rick Perry to call another special session with redistricting as the only issue. Then Dewhurst can decline to refer any other bills to committee, so there would be no blocking bill.

The dramatic turn of events threatened to doom Gov. Rick Perry's $1.7 million, 30-day special session on congressional redistricting. State Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, Monday estimated the Legislature already has spent $800,000 in the session.

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Reinventing government -

Quote:

DeLay denies misuse of FAA in redistricting dispute
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Asking the Federal Aviation Administration to search for a Texas legislator's plane was not a misuse of government resources because the agency answered questions using the Internet, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said today.

DeLay, in a briefing with reporters, said he has no second thoughts about his office's decision to call the FAA May 12 to locate the plane of Rep. Pete Laney. Laney used his plane to join other state Democrats in Ardmore, Okla., where they stayed four days to prevent a vote in the Texas Legislature on a GOP-favored redistricting bill.

"The IG report went and pointed out exactly what we did. We asked for publicly available information. In fact, I think the report pointed out that in order to answer our questions, they went to the Internet to get the answers quicker, than they could going through their own processes," DeLay said.

DeLay's comments preceded a House hearing this afternoon that was to focus on a Department of Transportation investigation into the eight-hour search for the Laney's plane. An investigation report was released Friday.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/1995529

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I caught a piece of a radio news story that seemed to be saying the Texas Senate Democrats have fled the special session. I don't have any more info just now.

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Texas Democrats Skip Town Again in Political Fight
Mon July 28, 2003 07:16 PM ET

DALLAS (Reuters) - Texas Democrats skipped town again on Monday in a replay of a May walkout to Oklahoma to thwart a White House-backed power grab for more Republican seats in the U.S. Congress.
Eleven members of the Texas Senate fled the state capital of Austin for Albuquerque, New Mexico, to prevent a vote on a Republican redistricting plan that likely would add seven Republican seats in Congress, a state Democratic Party officials said.

Their departure meant the state senate did not have a quorum and therefore could not vote, officials said.

The Democrats' departure came near the end of a special 30-day session called by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, at the urging of national party leaders to push through the proposal. Redistricting is in the hands of state officials.

News reports said the Democrats left because of fears that Perry suddenly would adjourn the session, call a new session and lock them in the Senate chamber to force a vote on the proposal.

Television reports showed the senators leaving a capitol conference room and hurriedly walking out of the chamber.

Soon after they fled, both houses of the Republican-controlled state legislature adjourned and Perry immediately called a new 30-day session

In a jab at his Republican neighbors, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a Democrat, said: "I am proud to welcome the Democratic lawmakers from the Texas legislature who are visiting the State of New Mexico. We send Texas our water, they send us 11 Democratic legislators -- not quite an even trade, but it's a start."

Democrats in the state House of Representatives fled to Ardmore, Oklahoma, in May to derail a similar redistricting proposal. Republicans raised eyebrows when they called in the Department of Homeland Security to help search for them.

This time the Democrats' task is harder because they will have to stay away at least until the end of August -- and even then Perry could call new special sessions until he gets his way.

He blamed the Democrats for the impasse and said their departure meant monies that would have helped the young the sick would go unallocated because several bill were not enacted.

"Today's development are disappointing, not just to me, but to the many Texans who would benefit from the services $800 million would provide," he said.

Texas has 17 Democrats and 15 Republicans in Congress, but based on past voting patterns the proposed redistricting likely would give the Republicans 22 seats to the Democrats' 10.

U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Houston, is leading the push to redistrict, with help from White House political director Karl Rove, in a bid to increase the Republican 229 to 205 majority in House.

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If they have to ride out their terms in exile I don't want them allowing this vote.

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Here is a list of the Texas Democratic Senators and their websites.

Please e-mail and call or write to support them. Even if you're not a Texan, feel free to adopt one to contact!

1.Senator John Whitmire represents the 15th Senatorial District comprised of north Houston and north Harris County. He was first elected to the Texas Senate in 1982 after serving 10 years in the Texas House of Representatives. With over 20 years of service in the Texas Senate, Senator Whitmire ranks first in seniority and serves as the "Dean" of the Texas Senate. http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/members/dist15/dist15.htm

2.Gonzalo Barrientos represents Senatorial District 14, which for the past 10 years included most of Travis County (Austin) and part of Hays County.
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/members/dist14/dist14.htm

3.Rodney Ellis has served 13 years as a Texas State Senator from Houston, and is my representative.
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/members/dist13/dist13.htm

4. Mario V. Gallegos, Jr. was elected to the Texas State Senate in 1994; he is the first Hispanic Senator elected to represent Harris County (Houston).
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/members/dist6/dist6.htm

5. Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa served his South Texas constituents for 16 years in the House of Representatives and was elected to the Senate in 2002 to represent District 20. He represents McAllen and Corpus Christi.
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/members/dist20/dist20.htm

6. Eddie Lucio, Jr., a Brownsville native, is one of ten children.
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/members/dist27/dist27.htm

7. Senator Frank Madla has given the state of Texas 20 years of service as a member of the Texas House of Representatives where he was an outspoken advocate for health care and education issues. He is now in his third term as a senator from San Antonio.
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/members/dist19/dist19.htm

8. Senator Leticia Van de Putte, a pharmacist for more than 20 years, represents a large portion of San Antonio and Bexar County. http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/members/dist26/dist26.htm

9. A fifth-generation El Pasoan whose roots in his community trace back to 1847, Senator Eliot Shapleigh represents Senate District 29, which includes most of El Paso County.
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist29/dist29.htm

10. Senator Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) represents the 21st Senatorial District from Laredo. http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/members/dist21/dist21.htm

11. Royce West was first elected to represent the 23rd Senatorial District in November of 1992 from Dallas.
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/members/dist23/dist23.htm

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I've been contributing to Barrientos for years. Feel like I'm gettin' mah money's worth, PDiddie!!

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You know, the wailing and gnashing of teeth from conservatives over this one really displays their ignorance. The rural voters of Texas troop to the polls to dutifully cast ballots for Republican candiates--except for their House districts. For more than 150 years, they have been electing conservative Democrats to the House, they don't intend to change, they like their Representatives, and appreciate the blend of rural conservativism with limited social programs. This is the first time in the history of Texas that the state legislature has been so dominated by Republicans, who want to put a powerful Republican delegation in the U.S. House to back their boy De Lay. In order to do so, they have to gerrimander to the point where a great many rural districts will get submerged in urban and suburban districts, and the voters there don't like it one bit. In the long run, they're shootin' themselves in the foot on this one.

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Interesting point Setanta - it will take a while though for me to fully absorb it Smile

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The general feeling is that the more the Republicans press this issue, the worse they will look. On a rightwing San Antonio talk show this morning, it was 54% pro-Dem. The other percent quoted the Alamo and Sam Houston and got all muddled and angry and said they thought choosing Albuquerque was dumb because it's so hot there. HOT THERE?!!! HOTTER 'N' DOWNTOWN AUSTIN IN AUGUST??!!

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gosh does it get hot in Austin? how about when i show up in Oct? I may have to cancel my plans!!!

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Texas: an independent state of mind

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