The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, June 03, 2003, Image 5

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Opinion
The Battalion
Page 5 * Tuesday, June 3,
Lone star showdown
Democrats’ actions were noble
Democrats walked out on Texas
D uring the night of May 11,
2003, 58 Democratic
members of the Texas
House of Representatives secretly
boarded buses and headed out of
state. Their trek into Oklahoma
came after a month of fighting an
unfair and unconstitutional redistricting plan
specifically designed to eliminate districts held
by Democratic representatives in the U.S.
Congress. By leaving that night,
not only did the Texas
Democrats save Texans the right
to choose their own representa
tives instead of hav
ing them chosen for
them, but they also
brought attention to a
nasty, mean-spirited
and raw grab for politi
cal power by House
Majority Leader Tom
Delay.
The existing district map
was designed by a federal
three-judge panel in the
eastern district of Texas
on Nov. 14, 2001 after the
Legislature failed to do so,
according to The Houston
Chronicle. In accordance to
Supreme Court rules, redistrict
ing must be done to reflect pop
ulation changes after every cen
sus, meaning redistricting does
not need to occur in Texas for
another eight years.
The proposed redistricting plan
killed by the Democrats had clear
| political purposes, which DeLay
does not deny. He told reporters,
Tm the majority leader and we
want more seats.”
Democrats hold 17 of Texas’ 32
I congressional districts. DeLay’s
| wdistricting plan would give
| Republicans at least five more con-
f sessional seats by pulverizing the
j districts currently held by Chris Bell
ofHouston, Martin Frost of Dallas,
Max Sandlin of Marshall, Jim
Turner of Crockett and Charles
Stenholm of Abilene, according to
The Chronicle. Republicans would
also have a good chance of winning
districts held by Lloyd Doggett of
Austin, Chet Edwards of Waco and Ralph Hall
of Rockwall.
DeLay defends the proposed changes by
saying that they will more accurately reflect
Texas' Republican majority, and that the cur
rent map benefits Democrats. However, John
Alford, a Rice University professor who has
advised Democrats and Republicans — includ
ing Gov. Rick Perry — on redistricting, dis
putes this claim.
Alford told the Associated
Press that 20 out of the 32
districts in the existing map
actually contain a majority of
Republican voters. Five of
these districts are held by
Democratic representatives
-Crockett, Edwards, Hall,
Stenholm and Turner —
because the voters want them
to be.
The proposal to do away
with these districts instead of
trying to win them fairly, which
should be a cakewalk with a
majority of Republican voters, is
cowardly and undemocratic.
People have the right to choose
their representatives. DeLay does
not have the right to choose repre
sentatives for them.
Alford also called the partisan
gerrymandering (or as the
Democrats have dubbed it
“Tommymandering”) unconstitutional. The
Supreme Court requires that districts be
compact and contiguous, which some
of the proposed districts fail to meet.
Take, for example, the state capital.
In the existing map (which, with
the redistricting map, is available
online from the Austin American-
Statesman), Austin is only a part
of one district. Under the new
map, Austin would be divided by
four districts. The proposed 15th
district would run from the southeast corner of
Austin, down toward Laredo and then wrap
around the southern border with Mexico,
almost 350 miles away. This ludicrous slicing
of the state led Rep. Nick Lampson to nick
name the plan the “Texas Chainsaw
Massacre,” an apt description.
Luckily, the Texas Constitution provides
a way to stop such clear, massive abuses of
power, and the 55 Democrats who actual
ly stayed out of state — minus the three
who came back earlier in the week —
were brave enough to use those means.
It is unfortunate that other bills
died along with the redistricting plan,
but the Legislature had been in session
for 118 days before the Democrats
left. It was the Republican leadership
that decided to bring up the redistrict
ing map before other important legis
lation during the last four days to con
sider bills. It was also the Republican
leadership that decided not to pull
redistricting off the table, which
would have brought the Democrats
back in time to address some of the
remaining legislation.
Redistricting should never have
been an issue; it was not necessary,
and the Legislature had more
important things to do. However,
once it was clear that the plan
would be brought up, the
Democrats were forced to
respond.
Leaving the state was the
only certain way of stopping this
abuse of power specifically designed to give
Republicans even more power. Preventing an
undemocratic and unconstitutional piece of leg
islation was the right thing to do.
Representatives have an obligation to stand up
for and protect their constituents, and that is
exactly what the 55 Texas Democrats did.
Jenelle 'Wilson is a senior
political science major.
Graphic by Ivan Flores.
T hink of a spoiled child play
ing with other kids. When
something doesn’t go his
way, what happens? Likely, he will
throw a fit, cry some, and if he is a
real brat, he might just take his toys
and leave. On May 11, in the fash
ion of children a tenth their age, Democrats in
the Texas House of Representatives quit working
for Texans and left for Oklahoma. In the most
partisan and undemocratic action since recon
struction, House Democrats, nicknamed the
“Chicken D’s,” fled Austin to shut down the
Legislature. The cost will be high for the
citizens of Texas, and those legislators
should pay with their jobs.
The Democrat flight was ill-timed.
Redistricting, a process that deter
mines the shape of U.S. congres
sional districts, was slated for a
vote on May 12. Since Democrats
had long controlled the redistricting
process, they were upset
Republicans would get their way
now that they were in power.
Without at least some of those 58
Democrats present, the House of
Representatives did not have a
quorum to conduct business. In
accordance with state law, the
Speaker of the House Tom
Craddick dispatched state troop
ers to capture the fugitive law
makers. By hiding out of state
until the deadline for a floor vote
on all legislation, the redistrict
ing bill, along with the hundreds
of others, died without a vote.
Supporters of the
Democrats say that their
week-long vacation in
Oklahoma did not cost the
taxpayers anything.
However, there are costs larger
than a Holiday Inn suite and a
Greyhound bus ticket involved.
The shutdown means the
Legislature will have to hold a spe
cial session, which will cost at
least $1.7 million, according to
Citizens for a Sound Economy.
The group also states that it cost
taxpayers $365,000 a day to
operate the capital while the
Democrats lounged by their
hotel pool. Other costs, such as the
death of public health and homeland security
bills, don’t have a tangible price tag. This is too
steep a fee for a political ego trip.
Democrats argue that since redistricting just
occured, it is not needed. Legally, redistricting is
required to be done by the Legislature after every
census. However, after the last Legislature failed
to finish redistricting, the courts imposed their
own unrepresentative plan. In 2002, Republicans
won all 29 statewide offices, control of the state
Legislature by a wide margin and
57 percent of the vote in congres
sional races. But because of the
court’s own gerrymandering,
Democrats somehow beat
Republicans 17 to 15 in congres
sional races. The only fair map for
Texans is one drawn by the Legislature, as pro
vided by law.
Rep. Jim Dunham, a fugitive Democrat, is
among those complaining that redistricting in a
non-census year is wrong. According to National
Review, Dunham had his own district redrawn in
1997 so that he could build a house in a different
neighborhood without having to run
in a new district. And no, 1997
was not a census year.
Now that they are out of
power, Democrats are crying
that Republican-led redis
tricting is unfair. In 1990,
Democrats implemented one
of the most skewed redis
tricting plans in recent histo
ry. According to analyst
Michael Barone, Democratit
U.S. Rep. Martin Frost’s plan
was “The most partisan
redistricting in the ’90 cycle
in the nation.” Barone's
1991 Almanac of American
Politics called it “the
shrewdest gerrymander” of
the decade.
Some have applauded the
Democrats’ use of the quorum
rule and their desertion across
state lines. However, the quo
rum was invented so the
minority party could not
be locked out of business,
not as a tool to hold the
democratic process
hostage. This is apparent in
the power entrusted the
Speaker of the House to use police
force to arrest truant members. “The
founders debated the idea of requir
ing more than a majority. They con
cluded that putting such immense
power into the hands of a minority
ran squarely against the democratic
principle. Democracy means majori
ty rule, not minority gridlock.” These
wise words were spoken by U.S.
Sen. Tom Daschle-D, on Jan. 30,
1995.
The liberal media’s favorite whipping boy,
U.S. House Speaker Tom DeLay-R, has taken
heat from the press for the gridlock. Busy point
ing the finger at DeLay for encouraging redis
tricting, they have overlooked the meddling from
the other side of the national isle. They don’t
bother to ask who urged the Democrats to run for
the border. According to the Fort Worth Star
Telegram, staff members of Frost stayed with the
fugitive Texas Democrats in Oklahoma and even
welcomed them back at Austin when they
returned. Both staffers claimed that they were
vacationing. Apparently, vacations are a popular
activity with Democrats these days.
Those Democrats who escaped to
Oklahoma were not working to represent
their constituents, rather, they were working
to protect their own incumbency and party:
the most selfish and partisan of motives.
Redistricting and voting out of office
those members who chose to run
rather than work is the best way to
stop this tyranny of the minority. Be
thankful it was not Texas House Democrats
Matthew Maddox is a senior
management major.
JENELLE WILSON
MATTHEW MADDOX
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Universities must not abuse
Editor’s note: The following editorial appeared in the June 1,
2003 issue of The Bryan-College Station Eagle:
By the time you read this, Texas A&M and The University
oflexas — and 11 other state-supported schools — most likely
have been given authority to set their own tuition rates. Earlier
this weekend, a conference committee of legislators from the
Texas Senate and House were working out details of the bill,
which is part of the overall appropriations bill.
If passed as expected, the schools which now can charge
tuition of $92 per semester hour would be authorized to
increase the rate up to $115 this fall and up to a whopping $142
for the fall of 2004. That’s an increase of 54 percent in little
more than a year if the schools take full advantage of their
authority.
Of course, the per-hour tuition doesn’t take into account the
ever-increasing fees, the rising cost of books and housing and
other expenses associated with attending college.
The legislation as proposed would direct some of the addi
tional tuition money to help middle-class and low-income chil
dren attend college. Even so, if A&M and UT in particular take
full advantage of the authority to increase tuition, they will
price themselves out of the range of many Texas families. They
already are in danger of becoming institutions peopled only by
u
...ifA&M and UT in particular take full
advantage of the authority to increase
tuition, they will price themselves out of
the range of many Texas families. They
already are in danger of becoming
institutions peopled only by children of
well-to-do families.
children of well-to-do white families.
In passing the tuition increase legislation, lawmakers are
going back on their promise of no new taxes. The tuition
increase certainly is a tax increase of families with children in
college or about to enter one of the schools with deregulated
tuition. It most assuredly is a disincentive for poor children and
those from lower middle class families to try and better them
selves with a college education. A&M, UT and the other
schools need to be sensitive to those families in raising rates.
If A&M does raise its tuition fees, A&M President Robert
tuition hikes
Gates wants to spend most of the extra money hiring new facul
ty. That’s great, but there are a few things A&M and UT must
do to keep faith with their shareholders — the people of Texas.
The schools really need to scrub their budgets before raising
tuition. We know they have made money cuts already, but there
are no doubt more cuts that can be made.
Both schools need to require more of their professors to
actually teach. Research is important, but teaching is the pri
mary reason UT and A&M exist. At the prices students and
their families are paying, they deserve to be taught by more
professors than people working on their own degrees. And the
teachers who do teach need to be able to communicate effec
tively with their students, whatever the subject being taught.
A&M and UT need to ensure that classes are offered in suf
ficient numbers and times so that students can graduate on
time. We continue to hear of students who must return to cam
pus for another year or sometimes longer because they are
unable to get into the courses they need to graduate in a timely
fashion.
As famed coach Darrell Royal once said, “You have to dance
with who brung you.” That’s good advice for A&M and UT,
both of which have grown and thrived because of the support of
Texas working families and their children for well more than
100 years.