SCOTUS issued an opinion today instructing the San Antonio panel that drew the interim maps to toss out those interim maps and draw new interim maps. The SCOTUS logic is based on the fact that since the San Antonio maps where based on the districts used in the 2010 election and not the illegal racist gerrymander of the 2011 legislature. Evidently SCOTUS thinks that the San Antonio panel needs to make a silk purse from a sow's ear and somehow turn the racist maps from the Legislature into something that's not a wild, minority-stifling gerrymander.
In a unanimous, unsigned opinion, SCOTUS writes:
"To the extent the District Court exceeded its mission to draw interim maps that do not violate the Constitution or the Voting Rights Act, and substituted its own concept of "the collective public good" for the Texas Legislature's determination of which policies serve "the interests of the citizens of Texas," the court erred."
This past Wednesday marked Earth Day, a day meant to promote awareness and appreciation of our natural environment.
There's a great opportunity to do something for the environment this Saturday, April 25th, when volunteers all across the state join forces for Texas' annual Adopt-A-Beach cleanup. This is important not only for the environment, but for our state's economy. Clean, beautiful beaches are key to our tourism industry and our fishermen.
To locate and register for a Texas Adopt-A-Beach Cleanup in your area, visit:
www.TexasAdoptABeach.org
Taking care of Texas also means doing our part to reduce fossil fuel consumption and minimize emissions that can harm our air quality. One way to do this is to promote the use of renewable energy technology. Earlier this week, the House Committee on Energy Resources held a hearing on my bill that exempts small-scale renewable energy devices for homes and businesses from state sales tax, making them more affordable for consumers.
Johnny O'Neal, one of my constituents in Flour Bluff, made the news last year when he installed a small-scale wind generator in his back yard. At the hearing, the Texas Renewable Industries Association and Public Citizen spoke out in favor of HB 1823, recognizing the need to make renewable energy devices more affordable for consumers like Johnny.
Also moving through the state legislature is SB 545, a measure that implements a $500 million rebate program to encourage solar power projects. Bills like this have the potential to help make Texas, and the Coastal Bend in particular, a center for renewable energy jobs and development. The recent completion of the Peñascal wind project is further evidence that Texas and Coastal Bend can be a leader in the new green economy.
To learn about ways to save energy and find out other things you can do to help take care of Texas, visit www.TakeCareOfTexas.org.
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.
(This is cool. I first met Donna Howard in 2002 when I was still in high school in Fredericksburg and she was running for the State Board of Education (yes, the Austin district goes out there). - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
House Bill 420, entered by Representative Donna Howard, would remove declared partisan races in the State Board of Education race. As you know this is a way down ballot race which seldom gets attention.
One of the SBOE members representing Austin has recently gotten plenty of attention with her wacky rants. She is also now a poster child for why the partisan label from the SBOE should be removed. Otherwise we end up with people like this in office. Mrs. Dunbar was unchallenged by a Democratic opponent in the general election, so her place on the SBOE was virtually sealed when she beat a better Republican opponent in the primary. The straight party ticket voters, many probably not aware of her extreme views, swept her into office.
It is hoped that if HB 420 is passed it will allow candidates for this office to have more substantive debate than appealing to the primary voters only. If you are interested in this bill and in the SBOE races in general please see this listserv group site. And contact your House Rep and urge her to support this bill today.
The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club has released a couple of videos on their legislative priorities, and how to contact your legislators.
Legislative Priorities:
(Cliff's Notes version:
1. Water Conservation
2. Parks and Wildlife Funding
3. Smart Transportation
4. Clean Energy
5. Clean Air)
How To Contact Your Legislator:
On Feb 17-18, the Sierra Club and the Alliance for a Clean Texas (ACT) are hosting a Citizen Lobby Training evening followed by a citizen lobbying day and a legislative conference. You can register now.
When the Texas State Legislature reconvens in 2009 it must remedy the de-regulation of the Public Utility Commission that occurred at the hands of Speaker Tom Craddick. Thanks to his actions, the PUC no longer has oversight over actions of Municipally owned utilities or co-ops. In the case of big cities like Austin and San Antonio, the city staffs have sufficient expertise to evaluate actions of their public utilities, but smaller towns like Kerrville do not, and therefore the utilities have a free hand to do what they want. Being unfamiliar with modern innovations such as alternative energy (solar, wind, etc.) these communities are at the mercy of uneducated utility operators. Either Craddick's laws must be repealed or there must be new laws enacted.
The election of 2008 could be a replay of the Texas election of 2002.
In Texas in 2002, it had been 8 years since the defeat of Ann Richards by George Bush. The state was in a recession. The recession had caused a decrease in sales tax receipts. Important social programs were being cut right and left. It was a midterm election following a Republican Presidential victory. There was every reason to believe that it would be a good year for Democrats.
In response, Democrats put up a "dream ticket" in Texas in 2002. At the top of the ticket were Tony Sanchez, a wealthy Laredo banker running for Governor, and, for U.S. Senate, the charismatic Afro-American former mayor of Dallas, Ron Kirk. Other statewide democratic candidates included Marty Akin, who had been the quarterback of a national champion University of Texas football team, who was running for Comptroller. Running statewide for Texas Attorney General was Kirk Watson, whose 15 seconds of fame years later caused him to look a fool on nationwide TV; as he was unable to cite a single accomplishment for his candidate Obama. Another well known statewide candidate was John Sharp who was running for Lt. Governor (essentially a "Prime Minister" in Texas).
In November of 2002, after the dust had cleared in Texas, there was not a single successful statewide Democratic candidate. All statewide offices had been lost. And, the legislature had gone over to the Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction.
Hillco PAC, Speaker's Craddick's trojan horse, is up to its same old trick: cleaning up Bob Perry's Republican money and giving it to Craddick Ds. In 2007, Kevin Bailey got $21,000 from Hillco, Kino Fliores $11,000 and Dwanna Dukes $10,000. Bailey would have essentially a zero cash balance without Hillco, the Speaker's closest lobbyists.
Bob Perry, the largest donor in Texas and the nation, gave $125,000 to Hillco PAC so far in 2007 and over $1.2 million since 2000. Shameless.
