Texas Redistricting

Texas Governor Rick Perry officially called for a Special Legislative Session to begin on June 30th; the focus will be on Congressional redistricting. Chron.

by David Remer --Political News and Analysis--

This is a very dangerous precedent for the American people. In Texas, the Republican Party holds the governorship, The Senate and House majorities. Until now, redistricting has been an activity to occur every 10 years following the census, as a means of insuring the proper number of seats and representatives in the House. While over the decades, this exercise has become very political resulting in gerrymandering and very oddly shaped districts for political advantage by one party or another, the costly affair only occurred every 10 years.

The Republicans in Texas are setting a precedent which if followed elsewhere in the country, could end up costing tax payers excessive tax increases to support redistricting every two years, instead of ten, for the benefit of whichever party has control of the government controls. This could result in 5 times the tax payer cost for redistricting for the benefit of one party. In some states, the process could even end up resulting in a virtual one party state, where redistricting insures the dominant party greater representation than actually exists in the public at large.