No matter how they map it, redistricting still a bad idea
Leave it to Texas' Republican Legislators to take a bad idea and convert it into an absolute PR nightmare. Things have gotten so bad that even a good portion of those Texans who normally vote Republican oppose redistricting. So why the fire drill? It's simple, really. This all has very little to do with what best serves the interest of the people of the Great State of Texas. Indeed, there is only one interest being served here, and that is...
...to give U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay a map that guarantees him the 21 GOP House members he insists on.
The state Republican leadership has been jerked around like puppets trying to satisfy DeLay's lust for more power in Washington. After Republican state Sen. Bill Ratliff's principled stand against the redistricting plan, the long knives came out, and Dewhurst and Gov. Rick Perry threatened still another special session to get DeLay's bidding done.
What a sad season this has been for the GOP leadership. Republicans gain all the administrative and legislative power in Texas and wind up looking like rag dolls tossed around by a power-hungry Washington pol. And the damage they're doing to Texas and Texans is appalling. The Democrats targeted for defeat hold important positions in the U.S. House, and if they go, Texas will lose a tremendous amount of seniority and clout.
A Senate committee report shows that 89 percent of those who have testified in redistricting hearings throughout the state oppose redistricting. The report showed strong opposition in every region of the state in which hearings have been held. Yet, the GOP leadership continues to insist that the people of Texas want and need this redistricting.
"Perrymandering" (so named for Governor Goodhair's attempt to deliver redistricting to DeLay at all costs) has turned the concept of redistricting into a parody of itself. Political maps should not resemble Picasso renderings. Unfortunately, in their lust to deliver what their Master demands, Republicans have spared no effort to create a political landscape that is closer to bad modern art than a reflection of what their constituents want and deserve.
There are some real issues in this state that our elected representatives should be attending to: shrinking revenues, education reform, health care, homeowner's insurance reform...need I continue? So what are our leaders wasting their time on? Yep, creative map-making. Texans deserve better, but when has Tom DeLay ever cared a whit about anything except his own self-aggrandizement?
