WASHINGTON -- On the fifth day of the Texas redistricting trial in the nation's capital, it was all about Lon Burnam.
The Democratic state representative from Fort Worth wasn't even in the courtroom, but the state of Texas' lead lawyer and the presiding judge got into a tussle over allowing a question about Burnam's "state of mind" when the lawmaker objected last year to the way his district had been drawn.Adam Mortara, the outside counsel representing Texas, wanted to get Ted Arrington, an expert witness for the Justice Department, to talk about why Burnam was upset about the removal of the African-American community of Lake Como from his Texas House District 90.It's an impossible question for Arrington to answer, contended U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, one of three judges determining whether the Texas redistricting maps for House, Senate and Congress are "pre-cleared" under the Voting Rights Act."You may not ask him about the intent of Mr. Burnam," Collyer said. The judge said that Arrington had testified on statistical analysis and that the outside counsel's question was "speculative."Burnam himself, reached by phone by the Star-Telegram, said he had no qualms about stating what his objections were when he first saw the map: "I was horrified.""The community of Como has been whipsawed around. Como was a community of interest, and we should be protecting communities of interest," he said. "I think the drawing of the lines clearly violates the Voting Rights Act. Taking Como out means they have no influence whatsoever in that House seat," he said.The historic African-American neighborhood was placed in the district of Texas Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth.Burnam objected publicly, on the Texas House floor and privately, as it being "egregious," he said, but it was "a done deal."The state, in its case in the D.C. court, is taking a line that coalition districts between black and Hispanic voters, such as in Texas House District 90, are not protected by the Voting Rights Act.Mortara asked Arrington whether African-American voters would support a Latino candidate, and Arrington, an emeritus professor from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, said that it was "generally true" that African-Americans would not support a Hispanic candidate.An Anglo Democrat, suggested the outside counsel, was vulnerable to a challenge by a Hispanic Democrat in a primary and pointed to Burnam's narrow first election win to the House seat in 1996 when a Latino was on the ballot.And then the attorney showed a posting on PoliTex, the Star-Telegram's political blog, that Burnam had drawn a Latino opponent, Fort Worth school district Trustee Carlos Vasquez.Burnam, asked by phone, whether the removal of Como from his district -- and the loss of some black voters -- would hurt his re-election chances, said, "I don't think so.""I think I'm going to win," he said. The dispute over Burnam between Mortara and Collyer, one of three judges on the trial, although only two are hearing the case this week, popped up several times during the afternoon.When Mortara said that he's like to bring up Burnam again, the judge at first laughed it off and then grew irritated.Asked how he felt at being in the center of the tussle, Burnam said, "I don't take it personally. This is all about the process."Maria Recio is the Star-Telegram's Washington bureau chief. 202-383-6103Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
