Texas House Gives Initial OK to Redistricting Plan

[sonias]

Texas Tribune 4/28/11
Texas House Gives Initial OK to Redistricting Plan

The Texas House tentatively approved new political districts early this morning on a 92-52 vote after hours of nips and tucks that left the proposal they started with mostly intact.

They turned back wholesale redesigns presented by various groups, including the Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force, a coalition of Latino groups, and a map prepared by the Texas Legislative Black Caucus. They also got a look at a map drawn by Republicans who wanted to press for more GOP seats than in the proposed map, though that one never came to a vote. And they picked and chose their way through amendments that changed the political lines only in particular regions, counties, cities and neighborhoods.

"I recognize that some members are not going to be pleased with the results of the map," Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, predicted at the beginning of the 16-hour debate. He said the lines and the stakes were "very personal" to each of the 150 House members in the room.

The Republicans, with a 101-49 supermajority, easily fended off Democratic attempts to overhaul the maps to increase the voting power of minorities. But not all of the votes split along party lines. In fact, three Democrats voted for the map when the debate ended, and 10 Republicans voted against it.

:puke:

[sonias]

1. The Top Redistricting Fight Moments

Texas Observer 4/28/11
The Top Redistricting Fight Moments

(snip)

Valley Democrats vs. Aaron Peña

Aaron Peña isn't popular with Democrats these days. After all, he was elected as a Democrat and then switched parties, helping give the Republicans a super-majority. So they were especially upset when his new district, shaped a bit like a Transformer figurine, cut out most of McAllen Democrat Veronica Gonzales' district—the new maps give her only has 1.5 percent of the same territory she currently represents. She will likely still win since the region is heavily Democratic, but Valley Democrats weren't happy. While the map was supposed to have been drawn with input from each region, no one in the Valley delegation said they had offered such a plan. Unspoken was the belief that Peña was somehow responsible for the new set of districts, since it drew his district to maximize conservative votes.

(snip)

"Under what party did Peña run this past election?" he asked Gonzales.

"He ran as a Democrat," she replied.

"He bamboozled all the folks who voted for him!" Farias exclaimed. Boos and hoots echoed off the walls. Gonzales, wisely, refused to respond, except to say, "There's been some hanky panky going on."

The amendment failed.

Aaron "Vendido" Peña :puke:

[douglas9]

2. State Rep. Peña responds to redistricting-driven criticism

snip>

The Weslaco-based Mid-Valley Town Crier reported Wednesday on long-circulated rumors that Peña doesn’t live inside House District 40, based in his hometown of Edinburg. The Monitor first reported on Peña’s residency during his 2004 re-election bid after a Cedar Park man filed a complaint with the Secretary of State’s Office alleging the entrenched Edinburg legislator lived outside his district.

http://www.themonitor.com/news/state-49756-rep-responds.html

[sonias]

3. Hit and run Peña

Looks like Peña threw his bomb and is going to run away. He says it's not about him at all.

Peña said he is in employment negotiations with a law firm that would require him to move out of the Valley. If he does take the job, he said, he won’t seek office in 2012.

:grr:

[sonias]

4. House draws new lines after 16 hours of debate

Houston Chronicle 4/28/11
House draws new lines after 16 hours of debate

(snip)
Not minority districts?

"When we divide our communities of interest, that's the kind of frustration that drives our constituents up a wall," Hochberg said.

Solomons maintained that, based on the legal advice he was getting, Hochberg's district was not a minority district protected by the Voting Rights Act. Nor was Vo's district, he said, even though, as Vo noted, it's 40 percent Asian, 20 percent Hispanic and 20 percent African-American.

"It's hard to please everybody in every area and every district," said Solomons, who chairs the House Redistricting Committee and was at the mike defending his bill for most of those 16 hours.

Although colleagues on both sides of the aisle lauded Solomons' fairness and equanimity, some Democrats questioned his commitment to minority representation.
"Our state is changing rapidly, and it is so important that we create a map that reflects those changing demographics," said Mike Villarreal, the San Antonio Democrat who co-chaired the committee.

State Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, also voted no, in part because the Solomons plan would reduce the number of Harris County districts from 25 to 24. Solomons argued that the county's population justified 24.4 House districts, and there was no rationale for rounding upward. Farrar contended he was merely trying to maximize Republican representation.

:kick:

[Vogon_Glory]

5. Congratulations, 2010 Texas Non-Voters! This Is Your Handiwork, Too!

Congratulations, 2010 Texas non-voters! This is your handiwork, too! Your silence and your non-participation in the elections last year were taken as a green light by Radical Right Republicans to stomp all over middle-class and working-poor citizens of Texas. In most of the world, people getting oppressed by a selfish, uncaring kleptocratic elite are out there on the streets waving placards, banging pots and pans, and turning out in droves to throw the rascals out; here in Texas you and your buddies gave away your power by staying home when it counted.

Game over til 2012. It's rigged against us this time. We lose.