If Texas won't work, Try Ohio
By Byron LaMasters
Since the GOP is having trouble pushing over Texas Democrats in our redistricting fight here, they've turned to Ohio. But wait, the legislature in Ohio drew the lines in 2001. So it's not about the courts drawing the maps, a frequent arguement that Republicans in Texas make. So, it must be about drawing fair districts so that Republicans would be more "fairly" represented. Bush won only 50% in Ohio in 2000 after all, even though Gore gave up campaigning there in the last month. But wait! Ohio has 12 Republican Congressmen and 6 Democrats. So, what arguement is left? They're partisan thugs for Tom DeLay and want to grab more and more power, so there's no reasonable chance for Democrats to pick up the House this decade, even with a national tide. That's why the Texas 11 are in ABQ.
If redistricting goes through, the House is lost to Democrats for the decade. And it opens up the floodgates for Republican legislatures to do redistricting in every state where they control the state legislature setting a terrible precedent. It allows Republicans to ignore Senate rules such as removing the blocker bill, enacting sanctions without a quorum, holding an illegal closed door meeting, and more. This is why the Texas 11 are in ABQ, and why they have the overwhelming support of their constituents.
Posted by Byron LaMasters at August 20, 2003 02:01 PM
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Like I've said before, the Republicans are not happy with the current redisticting because it is a politically neutral plan drawn up by the courts in 2001. What they want is a plan that is gerrymandered to favor Republicans to make up for past gerrymandering that benefited Democrats. In other words, they want Affirmative Action. Ironic, isn't it?
