Central Texans voice opinion on congressional redistricting

By JULIET BRISKIN | Staff writer

New Congressional Map Approved Oct. 12 Click on map for larger image

October 23, 2003 -- The issue of congressional redistricting in Texas has captured state and national headlines for months, but how is this going to effect the local agricultural community?

For many area business people the issue has become a sore subject, and after speaking with members of the agricultural community, it is clear that frustration levels are running high. "I don't feel like my vote matters anymore," explained one producer who asked that his name be withheld. "The politicians are going to do what they want, when they want and how they want to do it. It's ridiculous. Where's the democracy in all of this?"

Gene Hall, Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) public relations director, explained on Oct. 15 that while the TFB has not yet seen a map that was as good for agriculture as what was originally in place, their job is to build a positive working relationship with whomever the representatives in Washington, D.C., may be.

"As Texas becomes more urban, those of us with agricultural interests will have to just work harder to bring our issues to our representatives attention," stated Hall. "We are concerned about what will happen to Reps. Stenholm and Edwards, but many of the players will remain the same; even with the redistricting," Hall said from his office in Waco.

Shane Skylar, executive director of the Independent Cattlemen's Association of Texas (ICA) in Lockhart, feels the new map represents a loss for rural Texas.

"This isn't good for agriculture in Texas, none the less, we have to continue working for our membership no matter who our representatives are," said Skylar. "The agriculture community is going to have to work even more aggressively with the new representatives, especially if they come from predominantly urban areas."

On Tuesday, Oct. 14, the Texas Democrats filed a motion in federal court seeking to prohibit the state from implementing the new congressional redistricting map. If the courts uphold the passage of the new map, Congressman Chet Edwards of Waco stands to loose a great deal.

"Rural Texas was a target of redistricting from the very beginning," explained Edwards in a statement released by his office late Wednesday, Oct. 15. "The illegally proposed map seeks to undermine the congressional influence of the agricultural community by shifting their influence to suburban districts. Historic, rural Central Texas communities that have shared the same values, traditions, and interests for decades would be carved up into three new congressional districts.

"This was not politics as usual. It was politics at its worst," Edwards continued.

"The Tom DeLay scorched-earth policy of partisanship at all costs has ripped apart historic communities of interest, ended the Texas tradition of a bipartisan Legislature and cost taxpayers millions of dollars that should have gone toward worthy public policy. The good news is that this map so overreached, so ignored communities of interest, it will certainly be overturned by the courts.

"The inevitable public backlash will hold those accountable who chose narrow partisan goals over the needs of the majority of Texans."