[EM] Redistricting

[Alex Small]

I found this on Salon.com.  In two states, the GOP-dominated legislatures
are trying to redraw Congressional districts to give an advantage to the
GOP in 2004.  This is most unusual, since normally we only gerrymander at
intervals of 10 years.

Most interesting is how Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Stalingrad) accidentently made
the case for proportional representation:  He pointed out that 57% of
Texans voted for the GOP in last November's House races, but the GOP got
only 15 out of 32 seats.

I wonder what DeLay would say about large multi-member districts that
award seats according to how people voted.  For that matter, I wonder what
he would say about electing Presidents according to how the American
people voted...




GOP tries to redraw districts before 2004


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By David Espo



May 8, 2003  |  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Over the vehement protests of
Democrats, Republicans are trying to use newly won clout in the Colorado
and Texas legislatures to redraw congressional districts that are less
than two years old, part of a highly unusual tactic to strengthen their
control over the House of Representatives.

In Denver, Republican lawmakers pushed through legislation Wednesday that
is designed to give first-term GOP Rep. Bob Beauprez political breathing
room in a district he won by only 121 votes last fall. White House
political adviser Karl Rove lobbied for the plan, and Republican Gov. Bill
Owens is expected to sign it.

In Texas, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay flew to Austin and made a
personal pitch on Thursday to Republican legislators expected to vote soon
on a new, GOP-drafted plan. Democrats say it could cost them six or seven
seats, while forcing the state's senior Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Martin
Frost, into an extremely difficult race next year.

"In Texas, politics is a contact sport," Frost said wryly in an interview.
"This isn't patty cakes."

Republicans say that legislatures are exercising their legitimate powers.

"For several years now, we've allowed judges to draw districts. Our
founders never intended it to be that way," DeLay told reporters this
week. "They are very specific in the Constitution that the State
legislatures are to draw congressional districts."

But Democrats say the Congressional Research Service has found no
mid-decade redistricting has occurred for at least 50 years, and they
accuse Republicans of a raw power grab. "Are we going to turn this into a
country where every election, whoever is in power, whoever takes the
majority, then decides to redraw the lines? I think it's really a
disservice to the American people," said House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi, D-Calif.

Whatever it is, in Texas, Democrats are battling to block passage of the
GOP-engineered plan. With a 29-12 margin in the state Senate, the GOP
needs two Democratic votes to achieve the needed two-thirds majority, and
the bill's prospects are uncertain.

Democrats have pledged court challenges if either plan is approved, and
racial politics has become entwined in the redistricting battles, as well.

Texas State Rep. Richard Raymond filed a complaint with the Justice
Department alleging violations of the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights
Act, and DeLay and Frost have clashed publicly over which plan -- the one
in effect or the GOP proposal -- would do more for minority
representation.

Republicans control the House of Representatives by a margin of 229-205,
with one Democratic-leaning independent. Victory in a new round of
redistricting, particularly in President Bush's home state of Texas, would
significantly aid them in a drive to retain or boost their majority in
2004.

The struggles are leftover business from the past two years, when the
states were required to adjust congressional district boundaries based on
the 2000 census. In both Colorado and Texas, the state legislature
deadlocked, and judges implemented new district maps on their own.

Republicans saw an opportunity for gains after the voters handed them
control of the state Senate in Colorado and the state House of
Representatives in Texas.

DeLay argues that in Texas, voters cast 57 percent of their votes for
Republican candidates, but the GOP holds less than a majority of the seats
-- 15 -- compared to 17 for the Democrats. Republicans also say the
current district map is little changed from the one put in place in 1991,
when, they argue, Frost and Democrats used their political power to
partisan advantage.

Democrats say the redistricting offensive is simply bare-knuckled
politics. "It's a naked power grab by the Colorado Republicans and I think
it's coordinated by the White House," said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo.,
who challenged Beauprez earlier in the week to disown the effort.

In an interview on Wednesday, he said he had not seen the new map.

In Texas, the stakes are higher, and spiced by antagonistic remarks from
DeLay and Frost, two senior lawmakers from different parties.

"Tom DeLay is not telling the truth on this," Frost says of the
Republican's claim that the GOP-sponsored redistricting plan would
increase minority districts.

"Well, I have noticed that Mr. Frost and others will make any argument out
of desperation that they can, and they have changed their arguments almost
on a daily basis trying to find one that may work," DeLay said.

The issue of race has emerged as a key point of controversy in Colorado,
as well.

The Colorado legislative map turns a district that had roughly equal
percentage of Republicans and Democrats into a district where the GOP
would have a 29,000-person voter registration advantage. When the new map
was released in Colorado, Democrats accused Republicans of "weakening
Hispanic voters" by reducing the Hispanic population from 19.6 to 14.3
percent.