By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX – The winds of war may yet become the winds of compromise in the battle over congressional redistricting in West Texas.
Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford) today floated what he calls a "reasonable compromise" map drawn by the governor's office to help settle the battle between House Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland) and Sen. Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock) over proposed district lines in West Texas.
Craddick wants Midland to anchor a district that could support a congressional representative separate from Lubbock. Duncan believes that would force either first-term Republican Congressman Randy Neugebauer of Lubbock or popular veteran Democrat Congressman Charles Stenholm of Abilene out of office.
Duncan's constituents are strongly opposed to a Midland-based district and Duncan is doing his best to represent their concerns.
"West Texas has been an issue that we contend needs to be dealt with before the rest of the state," said King at a press conference today to explain the compromise proposal. "Although Speaker Craddick prefers the map that we passed out of the House, this design for West Texas is acceptable to him as a compromise."
King, who co-authored HB 3, said he prefers the map passed out of the House but is willing to compromise. He said the governor's office became involved "to help move along this process."
"This isn't perfection, but we think it's a reasonable compromise," said King.
King offered the following snippets on some of the districts:
District 19 - Congressman Randy Neugebauer continues to hold Lubbock. The current map has Midland-Odessa, this proposal moves them Southeast.
District 13 - Congressman Max Thornberry's district includes Amarillo and Wichita and Grayson counties and "looks a lot like the current district."
District 17 - Congressman Charles Stenholm's district continues to be Abilene and Taylor County based.
District 11 - Described as "open" district and includes the Permian Basin and San Angelo.
District 23 - Currently served by Congressman Henry Bonilla remains unchanged.
District 16 - Currently served by Congressman Silvestre Reyes with El Paso seat remains unaffected.
District 12 - Currently served by Congresswoman Kay Granger takes in more rural area in Johnson and Wise counties.
King said there are several pluses for the newly proposed West Texas map. "It gives West Texas a shot at four rural seats as opposed to the three under the current configuration," he said. Also, there are no incumbents - either Republican or Democrat - who are paired. King said there was a lot of discussion about Stenholm's seat in Taylor County and it remains the seat for the newly designed District 19. Another unique thing, he said, is that the new district looks very similar to Sen. Troy Fraser's Senate district. "Folks used to being represented by the geography of Sen. Fraser's district should feel comfortable with the new design for District 17."
The Weatherford Republican said District 11 on the new proposal combines oil and gas and farming and ranching communities of interest. It is not necessarily a Midland seat, he said, because it certainly could be won elsewhere, but "it does give Midland a fair shot at having its own congressman."
King said he is not saying the map is approved. "What we're saying is it is a compromise plan that's been prepared and being shopped by the governor's office" and that it is "an acceptable compromise" for both King and Craddick.
"Once the West Texas area is settled," said King, "we can go to conference committee or negotiation and the rest of the state will roll out. The rest is open for negotiations if there is an agreement on West Texas."
He continued to call the proposal a "compromise option."
"In West Texas, anything you do out there you've got to put a lot of counties together. Everything is going to be a wagon wheel coming off a suburban area. We prefer the map the House passed out but think this is a reasonable compromise."
Now the question remains whether the proposal will be acceptable to Duncan.
Duncan was in a meeting following the press conference today and unavailable for comment but his staff said he would likely release a statement later today.
King said he was told that the Lubbock senator saw the proposal last Friday and requested that Hill and Jones counties "not be in this configuration." King said they were taken out and the new proposal given to Duncan last night. "They (governor's staff) believe this should be an acceptable map to him now," he said.
"I'm not speaking for the Senate and I'm not saying we have an agreement with the Senate," warned King. "As an author, it's acceptable to me as a compromise. I can speak for Speaker Craddick and say it's an acceptable compromise for him as well."
Reminded that the congressional redistricting bill (HB 3) is slated for debate in the Senate on Tuesday and that the Senate today passed a motion requiring that all amendments to HB 3 be pre-filed in the Senate by 5 p.m. today, King was asked if this proposal would have to be submitted as an amendment in the Senate and if it would meet the deadline.
King said he did not know but added, "The Senate certainly has room to change the rules," he said.