Stephanie Herseth Sandlin: “the improper and purely partisan power grab by Tom DeLay and Washington, D.C., Republicans to redistrict Texas and…”

“the improper and purely partisan power grab by Tom DeLay and Washington, D.C., Republicans to redistrict Texas and destroy rural representation is an affront to the citizens and the voters of the great State of Texas. This arrogant play is not about our State, our communities, our constituencies. This is political gluttony, selfishness. Even the Republicans' own witness in their 2000 redistricting battle has acknowledged that this plan is a partisan feeding frenzy. Listen to what the Republican witness said in a trial in 2001. The Republican expert witness, Rice University Professor John Alford, called the plan ``a pro-Republican partisan gerrymandering, on top of an already pro- Republican existing plan.'' That is what their expert has said about the current map. Mr. Speaker, in Texas, we say pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. Overreaching is apparently the word of the day. Mr. Speaker, this plan does not just destroy Democratic representation, this map destroys rural representation. This map displaces rural northeast Texas into a Dallas suburban district. Southeast Texas becomes dominated by Houston suburbs. Deep east Texas becomes a Tyler district just east of Dallas. Waco would become a part of Fort Worth. And Abilene would be dominated by Lubbock. In addition to arrogant politics, this is poor public policy. Urban districts and rural districts have different interests, different needs, different representations.”