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Texas democrats flee oklahoma { May 14 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.napanews.com/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full&id=A9D573C2-49CA-44D7-AC0D-E11261758610http://www.napanews.com/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full&id=A9D573C2-49CA-44D7-AC0D-E11261758610
Texas Democrats flee to Oklahoma, refuse to come back
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
By APRIL CASTRO
Associated Press Writer
AUSTIN, Texas -- Rebellious Democrats who fled the state Capitol spent a second day in Oklahoma on Tuesday and criticized U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay for pushing the GOP drive in Texas to redraw the state's congressional districts.
"We have a message for Tom DeLay: Don't mess with Texas," House Democratic Legislative Caucus leader Jim Dunnam said at a news conference in Ardmore, Okla. "We did not choose the path that led us to Ardmore, Oklahoma. Tom DeLay chose that path."
Fifty-eight Democrats sneaked out of Austin on Sunday after spending several days discussing ways to derail the GOP redistricting plan. Although three Democrats returned to the Capitol Tuesday, more than 50 remained in Oklahoma, denying Republicans a quorum needed to conduct business for a second day.
Delay, also a Texas Republican, has been the driving force behind the redistricting effort. The Democrats said his involvement in redistricting, which they dubbed a power grab, as the key reason for their walkout.
The GOP redistricting plan could add five to seven GOP House seats to the 15 it already has. The state has 32 congressional districts.
In Washington, DeLay said the Democrats were disloyal for fleeing Texas. "I have never turned tail and run," DeLay said. "Even when I'm losing, I stand and fight for what I believe. It's so Texas contrary."
In Oklahoma, the defiant Democrats said they would stay away until Republicans agreed to drop the redistricting plan.
"Congressman DeLay is wrong to upset a process that should be dealt with every 10 years, not every time someone chooses to manipulate the process," said Rep. Richard Raymond, a member of the Texas House Redistricting Committee.
States must redraw their congressional districts every 10 years to reflect population shifts found in the U.S. Census. Texas lawmakers failed to agree on a new plan following the 2000 Census, and a court-ordered map was put into place in late 2001.
Republicans say it doesn't match state voting trends and want to redo the plan.
The three returning Democrats were welcomed back into the House chamber with hugs and supportive words from their Republican colleagues. One Democrat, Rep. Helen Giddings, fought back tears as she stated her desire to stop the redistricting plan.
Republicans had constructed signs and gimmicks ridiculing their colleagues. They plastered the Democrats' faces on milk cartons, and Susan Weddington, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Texas, borrowing from the "most wanted Iraqi" cards, announced she had playing cards featuring the missing legislators.
House rules allow state troopers to arrest lawmakers and bring them back to the Capitol. On Monday, Craddick had ordered troopers to find the missing lawmakers, arrest them and bring them back to Austin. Several agents arrived at the Democrats' hotel in Ardmore on Monday night but they did not have jurisdiction outside of Texas and did not have a warrant issued by Oklahoma authorities.
Instead, the troopers asked the legislators to board their aircraft and return home, but the lawmakers refused.
The walkout capped months of tension between Democrats and the Republicans, who took control of the House in January. The GOP already controlled the Senate.
The Democrats said they were taking a stand for fair treatment of the minority party.
The Texas House cannot convene without at least 100 of the 150 members present. The body has 88 Republicans and 62 Democrats. Four Democrats had stayed behind and the whereabouts of four others were not known.
The missing Democratic lawmakers spent Monday in a hotel conference room, where large sheets of paper taped to the walls were used as makeshift chalkboards and long tables were filled with laptop computers, stacks of papers and notebooks.
They said they discussed school financing, homeowners insurance and other issues.
Craddick said Perry assured him he would call a special session after the regular session if it's needed.
The walkout came 24 years to the month since a group of 12 Texas state senators defied then-Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby by refusing to show up at the Capitol.
Some of the "Killer Bees," as the 12 Democrats came to be known, hid out in a west Austin garage apartment while troopers, Texas Rangers and legislative sergeants-at-arms unsuccessfully combed the state for them.
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