( - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
During the 80th Session of the Legislature two years ago, when I was a lobbyist for TexPIRG, I spent a good chunk of my time running from Capitol office to Capitol office, cajoling anyone I could get a meeting with to support redistricting reform legislation. I was told that it was a quixotic quest and that I was wasting my time. After all, in the previous session of the legislature, the House Redistricting Committee (led by Representative Joe Crabb, a fierce Craddick loyalist) had not even held hearings on the redistricting reform bills that were filed.
Despite the poor prospects for redistricting reform, Representative Mark Strama had filed legislation in the House and Senator Jeff Wentworth had done the same in the Senate. Wentworth's bill, as it had previously done, eventually passed through the Senate and was sent to the House. Rather to everyone's surprise, Representative Crabb did hold hearings on both bills (on my birthday, which was a nice treat). Of course, that was as far as either bill progressed through the legislative process, but the very fact that hearings were held at all marked an improvement on the previous session.
Nothing daunted, both Strama and Wentworth have again filed their redistricting reform bills in the 81st Session. Is there any chance they might advance beyond the committee stage this time around? With the Republican majority shaved down to a single seat, and with the iron hand of Craddick no longer hanging over the legislators, could we finally see action on this issue?
The legislation of Strama and Wentworth both envision removing the power to draw congressional districts from the state legislature and giving it to some kind of nonpartisan commission. Wentworth's bill, for example, would create a commission of nine members, with two members chosen by the House Republicans, two by House Democrats, two by Senate Republicans, two by Senate Democrats, and a nonvoting chair chosen by the other eight. Both bills would restrict political activities by members of the commission; for example, no member of the commission could campaign for political office or actively support a candidate for political office during their tenure.
Perhaps more importantly, the bills lay out standards which must be adhered to by the commission in drawing up redistricting plans. Strama's bill stipulates that the commission cannot take into consideration the residency location of specific individuals or the past political performance of geographic areas. Wentworth's bill requires ("to the extent reasonable") all new districts to be "compact and convenient" and to take into account natural barriers and political subdivision borders (i.e. county lines). Previous bills that Wentworth has filed have also included a prohibition against using political performance in considering new districts, but he has apparently concluded that his bill has a better chance of becoming law without that provision.
Such commissions as Strama and Wentworth envision are currently in operation in several states around the country. While certainly not without their problems, it does appear that they have increased electoral competition and contributed to a more equitable representation of the voters within the congressional delegations.
Neither Strama's nor Wentworth's bill is perfect, but either would be a massive improvement on the current situation. As we saw during the chaotic spring and summer of 2003, there is presently nothing that prohibits the party in control of the legislature to blatantly draw congressional districts in such a way as to maximize their own partisan advantage. This is an affront to anyone who sincerely believes in the ideals of representative democracy.
One of the things which most surprised me when I lobbied for redistricting reform was in 2007 the reluctance of many Democrats to support it. As the reasoning went, eventually the Democrats would regain control of the state legislature, and we could then screw the Republicans just as the Republicans had screwed us in 2003. Even from a purely partisan point of view, this seemed silly to me; while we have an excellent chance of regaining the House in 2010, it will obviously be some time before we regain the Senate. But more to the point, it struck me as a violation of our party's ideals. Hypocrisy may not be one of the Seven Deadly Sins, but it should be.
We live in a state with a fascinating and dynamic political landscape, and genuine redistricting reform would enhance electoral competition and serve to encourage greater political participation. And for those of my fellow Democrats who relish the idea of using the redistricting power to screw the Republicans when we are able to regain control of the legislature, I would simply ask them to consider being democrats as well as Democrats. |
