September 18, 2003

Duncan's Dilemma

West Texas showdown puts pair of Red Raiders on collision course as Republicans become their own worst enemy

By MIKE HAILEY

State Sen. Robert Duncan was discussing the trials and tribulations of Congressional redistricting with reporters in his office when asked about reports that House Speaker Tom Craddick is using Tech Tech medical school money as leverage in a dispute between the two. The normally-staid Republican from Lubbock almost got animated - and his eyes lit up as he fired back the answer.

"It would be ludicrous for the Speaker to threaten his own alma matter," Duncan bristled. "That's like threatening your mother."

While that might be stretching it a bit, the analogy illustrates the delicate dilemmas that redistricting is creating for Republicans as they try for the fourth time this year to draw a new Congressional map. It's the ultimate example of how the process has become a litmus test of priorities and allegiances, forcing members to choose between the party they represent and the people who elected them.

In the case of Duncan and Craddick, the GOP has taken a backseat to constituents in their West Texas districts. The Senator is under pressure from local leaders to protect their hometown's position as the power base of a Congressional district. Craddick favors the map the House passed again this week because it gives his hometown of Midland an opportunity to have its own Congressional member. Apparently the Speaker doesn't think that will happen as long Midland and Lubbock are paired in the same district. So Craddick wants to shuffle Lubbock into a district with Abilene - a move opposed by Duncan and his constituents because it would force their hometown's rookie Congressman to run against a Democrat who they think could win.

But there's a catch that complicates the issue even more. They also are worried that the Democrat - U.S. Rep. Charlie Stenholm of the Abilene area - might lose. Considering that Stenholm is one of the highest ranking members of the House Agriculture Committee, which oversees the leading industry on the High Plains, the folks in Lubbock don't seem to like that option any better. Craddick has all but accused Duncan of conspiring with the enemy by trying to protect Stenholm. But the Speaker at the same time appears willing to risk the GOP's hold on the seat that U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer of Lubbock won in a special election this spring if that's what it takes to have an open district anchored by Midland.

With both men vowing to hold their ground, Craddick had hoped to break the deadlock with a threat to block funding for a Texas Tech University medical school in El Paso. Both men went to Texas Tech - and Duncan points out that there are about 7,000 Red Raider alumni in Midland or students at the university from there. In the eyes of Duncan, that's playing with fire on sacred ground.

While Democrats managed to string out the debate, the West Texas showdown has exposed Republicans as their own worst enemy in the redistricting battle. But the two West Texans are not the only GOP members who've put personal loyalty over party in the redistricting debate. The net effect of that is that Democrats are being protected in a process that's supposed to run them out.

The three most vulnerable Democrats are all getting help from within the GOP. President George W. Bush has sent down the word to leave Democratic U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall of Rockwall alone with the lines are redrawn. The House map would pit Hall against Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions of Dallas in a district tailor-made for the GOP. But that won't happen because Hall has saved some of Bush's most important programs - and the President feels like he owes him one.

State Sen. Kip Averitt, a Waco Republican has hinted that he could be a no vote on redistricting if a map carves up McLennan County as a way to eliminate a Waco Democrat - U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards. Republican State Sen. Troy Fraser has a district that overlaps with Stenholm's - and his voters are more interested in keeping Stenholm than Republican statistics.

It's the same story in the House, where rural Republicans have voted against redistricting because the folks back home like their current Congressional members just fine and don't really care whether they have an R or a D beside their name.

The first thing freshmen legislators are told when they show up to take the oath is that they should vote their districts - and it looks like some of them actually believed it.

Mike Hailey's column appears weekly in the Viewpoints section