By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX – A surprise move in the Texas House today netted massive rules suspensions and passage of bills without the usual committee hearing process. When the smoke died down, the call on the House issued this morning was dissolved and the House adjourned until Tuesday, Aug. 5.
While that was going on in Austin, 11 Texas Senate Democrats were still in Albuquerque, New Mexico, holding out to break Senate quorum to ensure that the Senate cannot take up HB 1, the congressional redistricting bill, that was passed in the House today.
Among those in New Mexico is Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas), who explained why he joined ranks with his fellow Democrats to flee Texas.
"First, to engage in a redistricting process just three years after the most recent United States census is ill-advised," said West. "Second, approving a redistricting map at a time when this state and country should focus its attention on issues that directly affect the welfare of its citizens would set an infamous precedent for partisan politics."
He called the redistricting effort an "unadulterated grab for power" orchestrated by U.S. Congressman Tom DeLay. DeLay has been called the driving force for congressional redistricting in Texas, as he seeks to increase Republican representation in Congress.
West, who sits on the Senate Jurisprudence Committee that heard the redistricting bills in the Senate, noted that nearly 90 percent of the more than 3,000 who testified at those hearings were opposed to the legislature taking up redistricting. Many were among the 900 who offered testimony in his hometown of Dallas.
Thus, he said, "I cannot in good conscience take part in a process where a plan will be approved that does not represent the interest of my constituents."
West said the plan that came out of the Jurisprudence Committee by a 4-3 vote along party lines dilutes minority representation and puts minority Democrats in Congress in districts that are Republican dominated and where the votes of minorities in those new districts "will no longer count."
West said he is joining his 10 Democratic colleagues in the walkout because his position "best represents the will of the people of Texas."
"In 2003, congressional redistricting should not take place in Texas," said West.
On the House side, Rep. Barry Telford (D-DeKalb) said he was disappointed that Gov. Rick Perry called yet another special session to address the redistricting issue
Prior to the vote on the redistricting bill today, Telford said that in every map he had seen, "rural Northeast Texas is lumped in with Dallas or its fast-growth suburbs." Citing that fact, Telford worried that issues such as water, health care, public education, transportation, property rights, and "just about every other major policy area" would have different priorities under urban leadership.
He said that is why he is "vigorously" opposed to any redistricting plan that dilutes or diminishes the ability of rural Northeast Texans to choose their congressman.
"We should not waste another dime of the taxpayers valuable money on redistricting," he said, hopeful that the Democratic senators could hold out long enough to end the current session. "We should be working on issues that matter to our constituents - issues like public school finance reform and property tax relief."
Rep. Patrick Rose (D-Dripping Springs) was among the Democrats in the House who broke quorum in May and fled to Ardmore, Okla., until a legislative deadline passed that killed the redistricting bill.
Today, when numerous Democrats did not show up on the House floor and there was no quorum, Rose was there. "In May, there was no public input in the process," he said of the redistricting battle. "Since that point, I have worked diligently with the House leadership to get a better map for my district."
Although he did not join many of his Democratic colleagues to break quorum briefly today, Rose added, "I understand what they're doing. But I'm working on making my representation as strong as possible and getting the best map possible."
On the other side of the fence, longtime Democratic Rep. Paul Moreno of El Paso was not on the floor for roll call. In a personal privilege speech on the floor later in the day after a quorum was established and the House ran through a number of bills by suspending rules, he admitted he was not on the floor early on for a purpose - to break quorum.
But he warned members, "What we have done today, you are going to regret. You must know that this is not democracy."
He said even Mexico has a better system of government than what the House displayed today.