Burnt Orange Report

The 73 page memo is here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/documents/texasDOJmemo.pdf

Pfiffle & Pfluff. Think Two Toms would let such a minor thing, like the law, stand in their way? Whatever else are political hacks & appointees for, if not for doing your bidding?

I did pre-clearance work for the state and find it difficult to believe that people really think the "professionial" staff at DOJ are more impartial than the "political" staff or the U.S. court system. The professionial staff are 90-percent hacks; the political staff are 90-percent hacks.

Democrats screwed Republicans to the wall in the 80s and 90s. Republicans screwed Democrats to the wall in the 2000s. I'm not a fan of any of it, but there has to be a point when you let it go.

Rs and Ds should come together and support the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act -- but with a catch. It should apply nationwide.

The VRA is a wierd duck. It applies in Virginia, but not West Virginia. It applies in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx, but has no effect in Queens and Staten Island. New Mexico? Not covered. Arizona? Yep. Rhode Island? A VRA state. New Jersey? Nope, not covered.

I handled a case two years ago to get preclearance for a Groundwater Conservation District in Brenham. (DOJ granted permission for the election, but the voters said no to the District.) Many of these types of elections are never held because rural counties in Texas don't have the jack to battle DOJ over preclearance.

If the VRA is a good idea in 2005, then it should be a good idea in Idaho, Florida, and Arkansas. The VRA was passed in 1965 to PREVENT discrimation. But a bunch of dead white guys got their state/county/city/region exempted, and those exemptions have stayed on the books for three decades.

If a lawmaker from Maine or Alaska wants to vote to re-up the VRA, fine. But make them included in the law.

The VRA does cover the entire country. The preclearance provisions apply to those areas with a history of voting discrimination.

Stop the presses! Inherently political process is infused with politics.

So now Republicans are racist? And when did the mainstream media give any coverage to how the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee illegaly secured the credit history of Maryland Lt. Gov Michael Steele, a black Republican running for the U.S. Senate? As far as we know, hasn't quite happened yet. And how many Democrats stood up and denounced the liberal talk show host who referred to Condolezza Rice as "Aunt Jemima?" Surely not Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Jesse Jackson or John Kennedy. Nor the Grand Kleagle of the Senate Democrats, Robert "KKK" Byrd.
My, my, just how disgusting can liberal hypocrisy get?

My mistake..I meant to say John Kerry, not John Kennedy. The Powerade hasn't taken effect just yet.

Redistricting was all about securing political power before the electorate matured and translated into voting power. The Republicans are no dummies - just sinister and evil. Oh yeah, racist too.

I object to the comment that all "professional" staff are 90% hacks. I am an MPA student and have internshipped for the City of Dallas. It was not my experience at all that public administrators were hacks (at least in Dallas). We bureaucrats are a pragmatic lot!

Daniel: My comments were limited to the career folks at DOJ. Trust me, those folks couldn't fix a parking ticket. I have no doubt that the City of Dallas staff is excellent.

Also ... Anon's comments are just wrong. Without preclearance, there is no VRA. Unless the DOJ wants to go after someone after the fact, there is no enforement except in "covered" jurisdictions.

BTW, today's Washington Post has a great article about a non-existent candidate winning office in West Virginia (non-covered) during an undercover sting.

I'll give up my crusade for expanding voting liberties nationwide and enfrancising minorities regardless of where they live if ANON will list three Texas counties (out of 254) that he/she would permit to ecsape preclearance. Then we'd be at least like most states.

The big problem here is that since 58% of Texas voters vote for the Republican candidate for congress it is unfair for only 47% of our congress members to be Republican. The argument that minorities are being discriminated against because they will lose influence in some districts is ridiculous. Based on that reasoning Republicans can never gain a district through redistricting since every district has minorities who prefer to vote Democrat. Following this reasoning would mean under the VRA DEmocrats can never lose seats, which is obviously what they want.