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Democrats betting race card Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=1041037http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=1041037
Democrats betting on race card
By W. Gardner Selby
Express-News Austin Bureau
Web Posted : 08/17/2003 12:00 AM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Eleven Texas Democrats roosting here to stop Republican legislators from redrawing congressional districts describe themselves as stalwarts for minorities.
Republicans call it "baloney," but starting in April, when GOP lawmakers in Austin announced they'd return to the drawing board to tinker with congressional districts settled by the courts in 2001, many Democrats have said the issue is all about race.
The Democrats say they are fighting for 1.4 million Hispanic and African American residents now represented in Congress by seven Anglo Democrats. They say the residents would lose a say in their representation under a GOP-written map.
They also cite differences in the people they represent as senators and those who elected their 20 colleagues still in Austin.
Eleven of 12 Senate Democrats flew to New Mexico just before a special session began July 28, leaving the Senate without a quorum and unable to take up proposals — thus blocking action on redistricting for the third time this year.
Gov. Rick Perry has vowed to call another session if the impasse isn't broken, and Republican senators have sanctioned the absentees with fines, staff cuts and loss of parking spaces.
Democrats responded with comparisons to the civil rights era, casting themselves as the freedom riders and the GOP leaders as the ones with the police dogs and fire hoses.
In a federal lawsuit filed in Laredo, the Democratic senators maintain their predominantly minority constituents give them protections under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, widely interpreted as preventing states from weakening minority voting rights.
"For the first time in history," said Sen. Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso, "the minority 11 reflect a constitutionally protected class of voters."
All but one of the Democratic holdouts represent districts that are at least 61 percent minority, with three of them — Sens. Shapleigh, Royce West of Dallas and Eddie Lucio of Brownsville — in districts that are 79 percent minority or more. Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos of Austin, a Hispanic lawmaker, is the only one whose district is majority Anglo.
Each of the senators still at the Capitol serves a district that's 40 percent minority or less. Eleven of those districts are 28 percent minority or less, bottomed out by that of Sen. Craig Estes of Abilene at 16 percent.
Democratic absentees termed last week's decision to fine them up to $5,000 a day a "poll tax" and fresh evidence of anti-minority bias.
"It is very clear. All of the Anglos who are representing Anglo districts are in Austin taking unprecedented illegal, immoral actions against all of us who are either minorities or representing minorities," said Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo.
But Republicans charge Democrats with trying to cloud their real fear that Republicans will unseat six or more Anglo Democrats once new congressional districts are in place. Democrats hold a 17-15 advantage in the Texas congressional delegation that Republicans intend to erase.
"This race card is sheer Democrat partisan baloney," Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said. "Here in Texas, we all believe in protecting all voters' rights, including minority rights."
Republicans say the impact of new districts on minority representation always is reviewed by the U.S. Justice Department and the federal courts.
GOP consultant Royal Masset said Democrats ignore the reality that not all minorities vote Democratic. The message being sent by the Democrats "gets Bubba to be more Republican," he said.
"They'll fire up Hispanics in the Rio Grande Valley," he said. "But racial polarization will basically swing more Anglos to (the Republican) column."
Democratic consultant Ken Bryan disagreed, saying the Democrats' message does play to their home districts but has little impact statewide.
Republicans hold all 29 statewide elective offices, and Bryan said the Democrats' risk of alienating Anglo voters is minimal.
"Can you hurt the Democratic Party any more than it is right now?" he asked.
A map of districts approved by the Senate Jurisprudence Committee would yield three incumbent-free, minority-dominant districts — two in Houston and one stretching from Travis County to Hidalgo County and the Rio Grande — and two new incumbent-free, Republican-leaning districts.
Sen. Mario Gallegos of Houston said the possible minority gains look good on paper but said "the end result is a wash" because any map will dilute minority influence in other districts.
Republican Sen. Todd Staples of Palestine countered that the map endorsed by the Senate panel reduces minority influence in only two of nine districts now represented by Anglo Democrats.
Bottom line: the Democrats say "no deal" to gaining minority-dominant seats at the cost of Anglo Democratic incumbents whose voting records generally align with the League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
"How stupid do they think we are?" asked Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston.
"In the not too distant future, the districts we represent will be much more reflective of the people of Texas than those of our colleagues," Ellis said. "At some point, the minorities of Texas will vote in numbers that reflect their percentage of the population."
By the numbers, Texas is rapidly changing.
By 2010, according to state projections, Texas will be home to 24 million people, with growth driven by immigration, almost all of it non-Anglo.
Anglos, who comprised 61 percent of the population in 1990, will make up less than half by 2006. Hispanics, who were 26 percent of Texas residents in 1990, will account for half by 2020. African Americans will dip from 12 percent of the population in 1990 to 10 percent by 2020.
Zaffirini said Republicans are trying to "solidify their gains and be in solid positions as incumbents and in control of agencies so they will be fortified, so to speak, before the Hispanics become a majority."
Staples, chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus, declined to respond to that, but said: "Did our forefathers intend for one third of a legislative body to dictate the agenda?
"It's no longer about a fair and balanced map, it's about effective governance. Fighting for your beliefs is one thing. Walking off the job is another.
"It's not about race. It is about party. And party has no color."
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wselby@express-news.net
Austin Bureau Chief Peggy Fikac in Austin contributed to this report.
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