Perry redistricting plan, brought to you by Acme

The State Senate Democrats remain in Albuquerque. Denied a quorum, the State Senate cannot take up redistricting in the second special session ($1.7 million per special session). Governor Goodhair (Rick Perry) and Lieutenant Governor Do-Nothing (David Dewhurst) are stymied. They fume that the Democrats are wasting public funds. They fume that the Democrats won't stay and fight. Do-Nothing changed the Senate rules so that the Democrats would be powerless to halt the redistricting juggernaut. So, the Senate Democrats bolted for Albuquerque. They have more sense than the House Democrats who fled to Edmond, OK during the regular session in May. Denied a quorum, the redistricting bill in the House died for lack of a vote. Goodhair has called two special sessions of the Legislature. California? Texas is wackier. I hope that Goodhair calls another special session. We only suffered cuts (No new taxes was the Republican mantra.) to deal with a $4 billion deficit. Who was governor before Goodhair? W! I rest my case. California may get a governor on steroids, but Texas has a blooming idiot (Wiley E. Perry). If this be treason, make the most of it.

[x Austin American-Statesman
Arnold García Jr.
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Thursday, August 7, 2003

Q: How does an Aggie do redistricting?

A: Dunno. He hasn't done it yet.

Watching the redistricting bluster emanating from the governor's office made me think about John Connally. In "Death of a President," author William Manchester recounts that Connally was running late getting to Dallas on that ill-fated day in November 1963. Trying to zoom into Love Field on a private aircraft, Connally was informed by the tower that he couldn't land because an important visitor was due shortly. Connally informed Love Field controllers that, as governor of Texas, he was fairly important himself. He landed.

Whatever else you may think of Connally, he didn't let many people push him around. Interesting contrast with the current occupant of the mansion who has failed twice now to get redistricting done (once in the regular session and once in the first special session) and is tempting fate yet a third time. He may win eventually, but he'll look like the cartoon coyote doing it. And if he wins, what does it gain him?

Drawing childproof Republican districts isn't a feat for the history books -- especially when the common belief is that Gov. Rick Perry is merely doing House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's bidding. People squawk when we write that, but DeLay certainly hasn't done anything to dispel that notion, and Perry hasn't either.

That's not to say Democrats were any fairer at the redistricting game when they controlled it or come off looking much better in this ongoing public relations war. Your average disinterested observer may question why legislators took a powder rather than stay and stand for principle.

Even if you believe that redrawing Texas congressional districts -- five of which house substantial Republican majorities who insist on re-electing Democratic incumbents -- is necessary, you've got to wonder about Perry's ability to carry out an assignment. After House Democrats busted the quorum by fleeing to Oklahoma and killed redistricting, the Austin assumption was that there would be a second attempt in a special session called after Perry had Senate votes nailed down.

The calculator the governor used to count votes needs batteries. Even Republican stalwart Sen. Bill Ratliff voiced his opposition to redistricting in strong and unequivocal terms, but Perry forged ahead with his Acme redistricting plan and . . . splaattt! On the canyon floor again.

Senators were upset over the tampering with Senate tradition that requires two-thirds to pass legislation, so 11 of them took off, busting the quorum and putting the senate out of business.

OK, said Wile E. Perry, those roadrunners can't stay gone forever and when they come back, I'll call another special session. Instead of calling a special session, the governor ought to call the makers of his Acme redistricting strategy -- if you can call it that -- and demand a refund.

What he's got now is the worst of all possible worlds. He can't go back and he can't go forward. If he quits on redistricting now, he'll look weak. If he calls another special session and fails again, he'll look weak. If he calls a special session and succeeds in passing some sort of redistricting bill, some will wonder what took him so long while others run to the courthouse to sue him over it.

Since the ground breaking redistricting decisions of the mid-1960s, the federal courts have done all the line drawing anyway. The last set of lines, contrary to Republican myth, were not the products of a gerrymandering Democrat-dominated Texas Legislature, but of a federal court system. (Quick civics quiz, kids: Who was president between 1981 and 1989? Who was president between 1989 and 1993? Now, who appoints federal judges?)

Speaking of judges, if you think this round of redistricting is something, you should have been around in 1992 when people were suing left and right and filing ethics complaints against federal judges. As we've said before, this is no business for the faint of heart. You don't win wars, though, by shooting yourself in the foot. Maybe the Democrats are shooting themselves, but there are 11 of them and only one governor, so when Perry reloads, the audience is focused.

I was never much of a John Connally fan, but Perry makes me miss him more each day.

© 2003 Austin American-Statesman