Ocotillo
11-14-2006, 05:28 PM
Fort Worth Star Telegram (http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/15995431.htm)
Remap is costly to Texas in clout By JAY ROOT
STAR-TELEGRAM AUSTIN BUREAU
AUSTIN -- Charlie Stenholm waited for years for his party to take back Congress. As the senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, the Texan knew he'd instantly become a leading voice on U.S. farm policy. And bringing home a little pork would never be easier.
But on election night, Stenholm could only dream about the chairmanship that might have been. Like other once-powerful Texas Democrats, he is a casualty of the 2003 redistricting effort spearheaded by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.
GOP leaders, including Gov. Rick Perry, say the Republicans who replaced Stenholm and other Democrats in Washington better reflect the conservative Texas electorate, making it worth the effort even with the loss of seniority.
Others say that throwing top Democrats in Congress overboard has left the Lone Star State with a fraction of the clout it once had on Capitol Hill. With three would-be chairmen gone, including Stenholm, Texas will be lucky to get a single chairmanship in the House. And there are no high-ranking Texas Democrats in the leadership of either chamber.
"I couldn't tell you if it's an absolute low historical point, but if you're talking about ebb and flow, this is definitely an ebb," said James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas in Austin.
Stenholm, now a consultant in Washington, said he's gotten over any bitter feelings and has nothing but high hopes for Rep. Collin C. Peterson, who is in line to be the new Democratic chairman of the Agriculture Committee, even if he is from Minnesota.
"Was there a small tinge of regret? Sure," Stenholm said, describing his feelings on Election Day. "Having looked forward for years to that date ... and then to have it taken away in the way it was, that was tough. But that's politics."
Besides the Agriculture Committee, Texas had been poised to take the helm of the key Homeland Security panel and the agenda-setting Rules Committee. U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, is the only Texan with a shot right now at becoming a chairman, in this case over the House Intelligence Committee, a post selected by incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Edwards moving up
Meanwhile, Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco -- a rare Democratic survivor of the redistricting effort -- is in line to exert influence as chairman of a key House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees military quality of life and veterans affairs. Leading an appropriations subcommittee would make Edwards a so-called "cardinal" in the House, an informal title that reflects the position's power to steer federal funding.
Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, and Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, also figure among the subcommittee chairs in-waiting. Johnson would head a panel on water resources and Lee would be in charge of a subcommittee on immigration -- both issues of great importance to Texas.
But for a state that has produced three House speakers, a Senate majority leader and scores of powerful party honchos and chairmen, one would have to reach back at least 100 years to find less influence exerted by Texans in Congress, said former Rep. Martin Frost, D-Dallas, who was in line to take over the Rules Committee before he lost in a reconfigured district.
"Thanks to Tom DeLay, Texas was the biggest loser on election night," he said.
While Republicans strongly defend the redistricting effort, many of them will be feeling a little wistful when the new Congress convenes early next year. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, anticipated becoming the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. But with Democrats in charge, the best he can expect is to be the highest ranking Republican on the panel.
"Certainly the preference was to be chairman," said Smith. "You live with the circumstances."
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, will also lose his job as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but has launched a campaign to become House minority leader -- a move that, if successful, would put him in line to seek the speaker's job if the Republicans regain majority status while he's still in office.
Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, also is seeking a leadership position, saying her candidacy for GOP conference vice chair is to "play my part in helping us return to a strong majority."
Texas' two Republicans in the U.S. Senate -- Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn -- also will lose power as Democrats take control. Both are seeking minority leadership positions, and Cornyn stresses that they will be able to exercise clout even with the changes.
"In the House, the majority pretty much runs everything," Cornyn said. But because of Senate rules, "the minority has the power to stop or shape legislation," he added.
Smith and others say that DeLay's controversial redistricting plan was needed to counter years of Democratic gerrymandering that left the Texas delegation in Congress oddly out of step with a state that has become increasingly Republican. The bill sparked a Democratic walkout and internal GOP bickering in the Texas Legislature.
The governor had to call three special legislative sessions to finally get it passed in time for the 2004 elections.
Perry, DeLay: No regrets
But Perry downplays the partisan tensions the effort produced and, in a recent interview before he was re-elected governor, said he would do it all over again. :dizzy
"The result was we got congressional districts that substantially more reflect the voting patterns of Texas," he said. "It has always been a messy process, and I figure it always will be."
Likewise, DeLay has expressed no regrets and insists that the reason the GOP has fallen out of power is that the party wasn't as aggressive and tenacious as it should have been in the home stretch of the campaign. "We took a whipping," DeLay said on CNN after the election. "The Democrats didn't win; the Republicans lost."
The irony that the leader of the redistricting effort has also left the congressional stage is not lost on his enemies. DeLay gave up his powerful leadership post after being indicted on corruption charges stemming from his effort to elect more Republicans to the Legislature and Congress. DeLay, who denies any wrongdoing, later gave up his own Houston-area seat, which has since gone to Democrat Nick Lampson.
"DeLay succeeded in blowing up the entire Texas delegation," said Matt Angle, a Texas Democratic strategist. "And he included himself in it."
:donkey :donkey :donkey :donkey :donkey :donkey
Remap is costly to Texas in clout By JAY ROOT
STAR-TELEGRAM AUSTIN BUREAU
AUSTIN -- Charlie Stenholm waited for years for his party to take back Congress. As the senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, the Texan knew he'd instantly become a leading voice on U.S. farm policy. And bringing home a little pork would never be easier.
But on election night, Stenholm could only dream about the chairmanship that might have been. Like other once-powerful Texas Democrats, he is a casualty of the 2003 redistricting effort spearheaded by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.
GOP leaders, including Gov. Rick Perry, say the Republicans who replaced Stenholm and other Democrats in Washington better reflect the conservative Texas electorate, making it worth the effort even with the loss of seniority.
Others say that throwing top Democrats in Congress overboard has left the Lone Star State with a fraction of the clout it once had on Capitol Hill. With three would-be chairmen gone, including Stenholm, Texas will be lucky to get a single chairmanship in the House. And there are no high-ranking Texas Democrats in the leadership of either chamber.
"I couldn't tell you if it's an absolute low historical point, but if you're talking about ebb and flow, this is definitely an ebb," said James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas in Austin.
Stenholm, now a consultant in Washington, said he's gotten over any bitter feelings and has nothing but high hopes for Rep. Collin C. Peterson, who is in line to be the new Democratic chairman of the Agriculture Committee, even if he is from Minnesota.
"Was there a small tinge of regret? Sure," Stenholm said, describing his feelings on Election Day. "Having looked forward for years to that date ... and then to have it taken away in the way it was, that was tough. But that's politics."
Besides the Agriculture Committee, Texas had been poised to take the helm of the key Homeland Security panel and the agenda-setting Rules Committee. U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, is the only Texan with a shot right now at becoming a chairman, in this case over the House Intelligence Committee, a post selected by incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Edwards moving up
Meanwhile, Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco -- a rare Democratic survivor of the redistricting effort -- is in line to exert influence as chairman of a key House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees military quality of life and veterans affairs. Leading an appropriations subcommittee would make Edwards a so-called "cardinal" in the House, an informal title that reflects the position's power to steer federal funding.
Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, and Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, also figure among the subcommittee chairs in-waiting. Johnson would head a panel on water resources and Lee would be in charge of a subcommittee on immigration -- both issues of great importance to Texas.
But for a state that has produced three House speakers, a Senate majority leader and scores of powerful party honchos and chairmen, one would have to reach back at least 100 years to find less influence exerted by Texans in Congress, said former Rep. Martin Frost, D-Dallas, who was in line to take over the Rules Committee before he lost in a reconfigured district.
"Thanks to Tom DeLay, Texas was the biggest loser on election night," he said.
While Republicans strongly defend the redistricting effort, many of them will be feeling a little wistful when the new Congress convenes early next year. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, anticipated becoming the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. But with Democrats in charge, the best he can expect is to be the highest ranking Republican on the panel.
"Certainly the preference was to be chairman," said Smith. "You live with the circumstances."
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, will also lose his job as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but has launched a campaign to become House minority leader -- a move that, if successful, would put him in line to seek the speaker's job if the Republicans regain majority status while he's still in office.
Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, also is seeking a leadership position, saying her candidacy for GOP conference vice chair is to "play my part in helping us return to a strong majority."
Texas' two Republicans in the U.S. Senate -- Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn -- also will lose power as Democrats take control. Both are seeking minority leadership positions, and Cornyn stresses that they will be able to exercise clout even with the changes.
"In the House, the majority pretty much runs everything," Cornyn said. But because of Senate rules, "the minority has the power to stop or shape legislation," he added.
Smith and others say that DeLay's controversial redistricting plan was needed to counter years of Democratic gerrymandering that left the Texas delegation in Congress oddly out of step with a state that has become increasingly Republican. The bill sparked a Democratic walkout and internal GOP bickering in the Texas Legislature.
The governor had to call three special legislative sessions to finally get it passed in time for the 2004 elections.
Perry, DeLay: No regrets
But Perry downplays the partisan tensions the effort produced and, in a recent interview before he was re-elected governor, said he would do it all over again. :dizzy
"The result was we got congressional districts that substantially more reflect the voting patterns of Texas," he said. "It has always been a messy process, and I figure it always will be."
Likewise, DeLay has expressed no regrets and insists that the reason the GOP has fallen out of power is that the party wasn't as aggressive and tenacious as it should have been in the home stretch of the campaign. "We took a whipping," DeLay said on CNN after the election. "The Democrats didn't win; the Republicans lost."
The irony that the leader of the redistricting effort has also left the congressional stage is not lost on his enemies. DeLay gave up his powerful leadership post after being indicted on corruption charges stemming from his effort to elect more Republicans to the Legislature and Congress. DeLay, who denies any wrongdoing, later gave up his own Houston-area seat, which has since gone to Democrat Nick Lampson.
"DeLay succeeded in blowing up the entire Texas delegation," said Matt Angle, a Texas Democratic strategist. "And he included himself in it."
:donkey :donkey :donkey :donkey :donkey :donkey