Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Rep. Allen Ritter

The congressional redistricting fight of 2003 in Texas was one of the lowest points in the history of the Legislature. The effects of that period are still being felt.

Texans can hope such an ill-advised and damaging exercise will never happen again — but we might be disappointed. That episode proved too clearly that politicians sometimes put partisan gains above all else. We need to make sure it isn’t repeated, and that means the Legislature must pass a law prohibiting it.

Rep. Allen Ritter, D-Beaumont, has filled a bill in advance of the 2007 session to limit congressional redistricting to the session following the national census, which occurs every 10 years. The only exception would be if a court ordered it.

To refresh memories, here’s a review. Because the Legislature failed to approve a congressional re-map in 2001, the issue went to a panel of three federal judges who decided how lines were drawn. After Republicans won control of the Legislature in the 2002 elections, Rep. Tom DeLay, then the majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, pushed for a new map that not only would favor Republicans but also would purge several senior Texas Democrats.

Initially there was little appetite in Austin for picking that fight, but DeLay, the man they call “the Hammer,” twisted arms and in 2003 new districts were drawn.

The most memorable fallout of that effort was the flight of Democratic representatives and senators to Oklahoma and New Mexico in an attempt to block it. Less visible to ordinary Texans was the acrimony that split Democratic and Republican lawmakers after the deed was done. The hard feelings still linger.

Now that a precedent has been set for redistricting at any time, imagine a Legislature closely divided between Democrats and Republicans. Lines could be redrawn for political advantage every time control switched from one party to the other. Not only would there be chaos and perpetual enmity, but Texas would lose many of its most influential members of Congress.

Texans know now they can’t rely on lawmakers’ good judgment to do what’s best in regard to drawing lines for congressional representation. Only a law forbidding them from acting improperly will prevent future political calamities.