JMM Ain’t From Around Here

 Or he’s too young:

Twenty-two years ago, mid-decade redistricting was unheard of. There was, as we say now, a very strong norm against it. The U.S. Census comes out every decade and then congressional seats are redistricted for the next election. That created regularity and prevented the chaos and gamesmanship of state legislatures rushing to redistrict at every moment of partisan advantage.

In 2002, Republicans had secured full control of the Texas state legislature for the first time since 1873. Texas was already a fairly conservative state. And it was trending increasingly Republican. But inertia and incumbency had allowed Democrats to hold on in the House. That ended in 2002. Too bad for Texas Republicans that it hadn’t happened two years earlier! Then they could have used those new majorities to redistrict the state in Republicans’ favor. Oh well!

But that didn’t account for Tom DeLay, House Majority Leader and largely the power behind the throne of House Speaker Denny Hastert. DeLay, who was also facing an increasing swirl of legal troubles, saw an opportunity to pad the Republican majority in the House, and he took it.

Again, this all sounds rather quaint today. There was no law prohibiting mid-decade redistricting. And there was a decent argument that the state was more Republican than its state delegation would suggest. But it simply wasn’t done. And for good reason. It was a significant brake on the inherently anti-democratic potential of the redistricting power, where politicians chose voters as opposed to vice versa. Tom DeLay didn’t care about any of that crap. You have your power and you use it. Period. End of story.

I’m finding youth to be the reason more and more, because 23 years BEFORE 2002, there were the "Killer Bees."

37 years ago, during the 66th Regular Session, a group of 12 state senators nicknamed the "Killer Bees" organized in the Texas Legislature. From May 18 - May 22, 1979, the Killer Bees hid offsite to prevent the 31-member Senate from reaching a quorum on two bills: S.B. 602, which proposed an early date for a Texas presidential primary, and S.B. 1149, which related to filing fees for primary elections. S.B. 1149 was broad enough that it could be amended to include the provisions of S.B. 602.

According to the The Miracle of the Killer Bees (below), the group got its name from Lt. Governor Hobby, who told a reporter he called them that because "you never know where they're going to hit next." The Killer Bees were Senators Carl Parker, Carlos Truan, Chet Brooks, Ron Clower, Lloyd Doggett, Gene Jones, Glenn Kothmann, Raul Longoria, Oscar Mauzy, W.N. 'Bill' Patman, A. R. 'Babe' Schwartz, and Bob Vale.

They hid out in Austin, and weren’t successful, if memory serves. But they followed their ancestors in the Senate from 1870…who also weren’t successful. And another effort in 2021. These are, usually, symbolic actions.

And, yeah, Tom DeLay was majority leader in the House, basically carrying the torch Gingrich had lit. Until pictures of him in a hot tub with women he was not married to were published. It was a different time, and probably a different district. All politics is local, after all.

And no politics are more local than Texas politics. It’s like a whole other country down here.