To illustrate the Dems’ point, Rep. Mike Villarreal (D-San Antonio), the vice-chair of the redistricting committee who had been marginalized by the Republican majority, placed a tall stack of papers beside a smaller one on the podium. With a ruler he showed how those who had indicated they were against redistricting amounted to 12-inches of paper. The stack of those who supported the Republican plan stood only 1 inch tall. (Nothing pleases bored reporters and photographers more than a solid visual illustration, and Villarreal’s uneven stacks of testimony made it into most state newspapers the next day.)
"The controlling influence of this legislature is wielding the sword of redistricting for their own purposes, not for the larger purposes of this state," said Villarreal. "Not only does this stack represent where the people of Texas stand on redistricting, but polling that has taken place ... has come out to say that 80 percent of our fellow citizens are against ."
Through friendly questioning of Villarreal, Rep. Elliott Naishstat (D-Austin) wondered whether the redistricting debate would increase public apathy. The citizenry might cease to participate in the process once they understood their lack of influence. Villarreal allowed that such a result could occur. (More .. much, much more) (My emphasis in bold - DT)
http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1402Read this article. Every word of it. Scary shit here, my friends.
On edit: I'm going to post this
Texas Observer article by Jake Burnstein in Editorials & Other Articles also. Maybe it will stay up longer that way.
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