Two months before the Texas Legislature reconvenes, Speaker Joe Straus is getting hammered over the way the House handled redrawing of voting districts in 2011.
Democrat Trey Martinez Fischer called on Straus in September to tell Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to stop appealing a federal court ruling that legislative and congressional maps don't comply with the Voting Rights Act. The court also said the Legislature acted with discriminatory intent in devising congressional districts and Fort Worth's state Senate District 10.On the opposite end of the political spectrum, conservatives who bitterly oppose Straus as too moderate are outraged at e-mails sent during the redistricting machinations. The blog RedState.com fumed about rude messages exchanged by Straus staffers and advisers and GOP operatives, calling them evidence of a "war against conservatives." (bit.ly/SJsJ7t)Some e-mails contained vulgarities, including a compound expletive directed at aides to Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis.Another revealed tensions over a proposed map for the State Board of Education that Tea Party conservatives opposed, saying it would strengthen only the districts of moderate Republicans. (The final board map was approved by the Justice Department and took effect for the Tuesday elections.)A slew of e-mails actually came out months ago during litigation over the redistricting maps, despite lawmakers' attempts to block their disclosure. Those revealed horse-trading; snarling between map-drawers and Barton, whose chief aide complained that a congressional map would never get required federal pre-clearance; and strategizing over getting the maps through the courts.Because e-mail addresses are blacked out on the versions redstate.com posted, it's not clear whether they were exchanged on public or private accounts. But they sure weren't smart.In an analysis of Texas' redistricting in the September Atlantic, Robert Draper wrote that Republican National Committee consultant Tom Hofeller advises that "e-mails are the tool of the devil." (bit.ly/PZss1h)Of course, the online messages are only a small part of what went wrong.Draper wrote that Texas is Hofeller's "new horror story ... a powerful example of how reckless a redistricting process can become."The ramifications will carry into the 2013 session.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
