The Chronicle weighs in on redistricting
Two days ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a two-sentence order that remanded a series of related Texas redistricting cases back to a lower court for "further consideration."
In short order, local blogger and attorney William Dyer explained in a lengthy post what the decision meant, and why it's not much of a "victory" for hopeful Texas Democrats (despite major media characterizations to the contrary). His post came only a few hours after the decision, and is well written and reasoned.
Today, the Chronicle came out with a staff editorial that is neither well written nor well reasoned.
It begins as follows:
One of the arguments against redrawing congressional districts more often than once every 10 years is the endless litigation and unwanted uncertainty that inevitably result. The U.S. Supreme Court action Monday sending the Texas redistricting case back for review confirmed nothing in the law. However, it proved that the litigation over redistricting would last beyond the November election.
I can't even figure out what the second sentence means. Or what the writer even intended it to mean.
This seems to be the main contention (to the extent I can find one):
The redistricting plan, which required one regular session and three special sessions to pass, gives the Supreme Court justices plenty of cause for concern. The redrawn district map is outlandish on its face and suspect in nature.
Outlandish on its face? Only to those who dislike it, one supposes. The courts haven't found it "outlandish on its face" or on its merits, and seem unlikely to do so.
The Chronicle goes on to offer something that finally does at least resemble an argument:
The fault of the new district map is not that it threatens to shift six seats in Congress from the Democratic to the Republican column. As Texas is so heavily Republican, a Republican advantage could have been gained without doing so much damage to communities and common interests. The plan's demerits result from the legislative majority's complete disregard for the state's need to have a strong, experienced, knowledgeable, effective delegation in Washington — a delegation in which each member is familiar with his constituents and their needs.
To summarize, the reason the editors contend the new map is "outlandish" is because it does "so much damage to communities...." We have to give the Chronicle credit for coming up with a unique new twist on a tired topic. We tend to think of communities in terms of neighborhoods, and schools, and families, and neighbors, and shared experiences. At Minute Maid Park during Game 5 a few nights ago, for example, I felt like a genuine part of the Houston sports community! I feel like a part of a different community when I walk my dog and see neighbors. But I've never been out and about in Houston or anywhere else, and thought to myself "Darn that Tom DeLay for destroying my sense of community by obliterating Chris Bell's Congressional district!" What a novel new argument against redistricting.
Even more amusing, the Chronicle urges "strong, experienced, knowledgeable, effective" representation in Washington -- yet itself endorsed an environmental lawyer from the minority party over the House Majority Leader who just flexed his muscles in delivering a sales tax deduction for many Texans who itemize their federal income taxes. But Tom DeLay is a "bad guy," so that probably trumps the other considerations. It's hard to know from day to day with Chronicle editorials.
As we say frequently, if the Chronicle wants to write childish left-of-center editorials that frequently don't measure up to the best work by bloggers (on the left and the right), that's certainly the newspaper's prerogative. But one would think it might cause Jeff Cohen some concern that a post by a blogger only hours after a Supreme Court decision beats any commentary that has appeared on the Chronicle's news or editorial pages on the topic so far.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/20/04 10:07 PM | Print |
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