New Battles over Redistricting

One of the hearings almost turned into a riot.

Houston Chronicle -- Officials with both parties are working to get their loyalists to a House Redistricting Committee hearing beginning at 9 a.m. today at Texas Southern University.

"Bring your flak jacket," advised state Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, warning of rhetorical fireworks at the hearing.

The state Senate panel working on redistricting, the Jurisprudence Committee, has a Houston hearing scheduled for Wednesday at Cesar Chavez High School.

Both committees also are conducting hearings in other cities.

U.S. Rep. Chris Bell of the 25th Congressional District said he and other Democrats have activated their campaigns to get supporters to the hearings.

The Harris County Republican Party is doing the same thing, partly through e-mails featuring pictures of Houston-area Democrats. "She will be there to express her views," says a caption under an unidentified photo of U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. "Will you be there to express yours?"

Unidentified so it just so's an uppity black lady to the hicks.

Jim Ellis, executive director for Americans for a Republican Majority, a DeLay-sponsored group pushing for congressional redistricting, said the exact opposite is true.

"What we have tried to do is keep the rural counties whole because they tend to lose influence when they are split," Ellis said. "We have multi-splits in metro areas like Houston and Dallas because that gives them more advocates in Congress."


Say that again?