Category Archives: Killer D’s

Byron points to this DMN story about Sen. Bill Ratliff, who in an interview was critical of the decision to remove the 2/3 rule from the second Senate special session. How firmly does Ratliff believe in Senate tradition? See here: … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This is the funniest thing you’ll read today. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who is pushing congressional redistricting in Texas, said Sunday that Democratic state senators who fled to New Mexico to prevent a redistricting vote are violating the U.S. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This, via Byron, is unbelievable: McALLEN — Local Democratic leaders are upset about a new radio spot that is running on at least one area radio station attacking State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen. Hinojosa is among the 11 Democrat … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Chronicle reiterates the Democratic strategy of running out the clock. “The clock is ticking. The end game is: At what point does the clock run out on the Republicans’ ability to pass a redistricting plan and have it in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Now that Fair And Balanced Friday is history, I can go back to talking about redistricting. Both sides are dug in for the long haul, though neither side knows where the finish line is. Republicans are talking about postponing primaries … Continue reading → Continue reading →

David Beckwith, spokesman for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, has apologized to Democratic Senators for a remark he made Monday. According to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Beckwith said 11 Democratic senators who fled to New Mexico to prevent Senate action on … Continue reading → Continue reading →

By now you’ve probably heard that the remaining members of the Senate, in the absence of a quorum and without any clear indication of how they might enforce it, voted to fine the boycotting Senators up to $5000 per day … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Is David Beckwith, spokesman for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, a loose cannon? Given some of the things he’s said since the Democratic walkout, I wonder if his boss keeps much of a rein on him. He’s got all of the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Democrats are rejoicing and Republicans regrouping after the State Supreme Court refused to issue a writ of mandamus that would have compelled the boycotting Senators to return to Austin. Chron coverage is here, Statesman is here, and Express-News is here. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The score is now Democrats 1, Republicans 0 as the Texas State Supreme Court refused to grant a writ of mandamus to compel the Dems to return. The GOP is now considering fining the Texas 11 for not showing up, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Somewhere between 2000 and 5000 people rallied in Austin against redistricting, depending on which account you read (“about 5000 Democratic activists”, “As many as 5000 people from across the state”, “between 2000 and 4000 rowdy protesters”, “about 4000 people”). It’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A couple of followups to the flurry of lawsuits that were filed on Thursday. Democrats are wondering aloud if they can get a fair shake from the Texas Supreme Court. All nine justices are Republicans, and one, Priscilla Owen, has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s the wall-to-wall coverage of the dueling lawsuits over redistricting, quorums, the powers of DPS, traditional rules, and whether or not Governor Perry’s harispray habit is accelerating the depletion of the ozone layer (okay, I made that last one up). … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I suppose it was just a matter of time: Both sides in the redistricting standoff have sued each other. The 11 Democrats, who are holed up in a New Mexico hotel, filed a lawsuit in Travis County District Court asking … Continue reading → Continue reading →

All of the papers are reporting on a trip taken by Sens. Todd Staples (R, Palestine) and Robert Duncan (R, Lubbock) to Albuquerque to meet with the boycotting Democrats. The basic information is the same – Staples and Duncan flew … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Byron has found my favorite editorials so far in the whole redistricting mess. They come from the Crawford Iconoclast, and they name New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and State Rep. Jim Dunnam as their Iconoclasts of the Week for their … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is warning that he might go to court to drag the eleven boycotting Senators back to Texas. “I’m not going to discuss our legal options. But it’s very, very clear that there are a number of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A reader with a subscription to TNR sent me a printout of this Peter Beinart article which ties together the recent fights over redistricting and judicial nominees to a new form of identity politics being played by the GOP. I’ll … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Took a day off from obsessing about redistricting yesterday. There really isn’t much to report, and barring either legal action or a sudden turnaround by one side or the other I don’t expect there will be anytime soon. Byron had … Continue reading → Continue reading →

If it’s Sunday, that means it’s time for analysis and overview. We’ll start with the Chron and this piece which looks at Lt. Gov. Dewhurst’s role in the redistricting flap. Elsewhere, in the editorial section, Clay Robison rips into Gov. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Gov. Perry has been pushing the ludicrous line that the Democrats have been holding up “important state business” by refusing to be rolled over on redistricting. Never mind the fact that most if not all of this business was stuff … Continue reading → Continue reading →

TiVo alert! Sen. Leticia van de Putte will be among the roundtable guests on Real Time with Bill Maher, tonight at 11 PM EDT on HBO. Alasi, I’m HBO-free until the Sopranos come back on the air, so if you … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I think we’re pretty safely past all of the excitement concerning the Democrats’ flight to Albuquerque and are now firmly in the human-interest-story cycle. This fluffy front page Chron story about reaction of the locals to their unusual visitors is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

(Note: the title (now corrected, thanks to Omar in the comments) is a hat tip to Angry Bear, who recasts the Democrats’ getaway as a Dukes of Hazzard episode. I can’t tell you how disquieting it is to realize that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

(Note: the subject is cribbed from a commenter on Atrios or Daily Kos, I can’t remember which at this point. Someone other than me came up with it and I thought it was funny.) Rob has a decent answer to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’ve heard it said many times that the Congressional redistricting performed by the Texas Lege in 1991 was a masterful job of gerrymandering by the Democrats. After the 1992 election, the first one held following that session, the Texas Congressional … Continue reading → Continue reading →

According to Byron, the State House has apparently managed to scrape up a quorum, and almost immediately afterwards passed redistricting bill HB1 (2) by a 75-26 margin, with one member voting “present”. I suppose this has to be the same … Continue reading → Continue reading →

As everyone knows by now, the “Texas 11” Democratic State Senators are holed up in Albuquerque, thus denying the Senate a quorum and scuttling (for now) the second special session which was called yesterday afternoon, immediately after the first session … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Some of these are AP wire reports, but they’re all different, so here you go: Statesman Morning News Star-Telegram Express-News Chron More tomorrow. Continue reading →

The special session is ending a day early, with another to start almost immediately afterwards. However, it may be a moot point, for it appears that 11 Democratic Senators have left town. One Democratic senator who asked not to be … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I thought there’d be some editorial action regarding the effective end of this special session in the major dailies today, but pretty much all there is can be found in the Chron, with one minor exception: This Star-Telegram piece attempts … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Redistricting is dead…for now. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on Friday declared congressional redistricting dead for the current special session but said it will pass even if it takes two more sessions. “Sooner or later, we’re going to have a new … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Despite continued wooing from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and redistricting map author Sen. Todd Staples (R, Palestine), Senate Democrats continue to make hints and allegations that they will not stick around for another, blocker-bill-free, special session. Testimony from a defense … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Rob comes through again in the comments on this post, by finding this report on the Montgomery poll regarding redistricting and Governor Rick Perry’s popularity. It ain’t pretty: Surveyors told respondents, “Governor Perry has called an unusual special session to … Continue reading → Continue reading →