Lines in the Sand: Congressional Redistricting in Texas and the Downfall of Tom DeLay

By Steve Bickerstaff

Book Overview

The events of 2003 in Texas were important to the political history of this country. Congressman Tom DeLay led a Republican effort to gerrymander the state's thirty-two congressional districts to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0292714742
• ISBN13: 9780292714748
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr
• Length: 472 Pages
• Weight: 1.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.3" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Political Drama

This book tells the story of Tom DeLay's effort to redraw Texas' congressional district lines in a largely unprecedented mid-decade redistricting. While Texas Republicans had a clear electoral majority in the state, a majority of the congressional delegation were Democrats. Republicans generally, and Tom DeLay in particular, set out to change that. Far from a simple task of redrawing lines on a map, it is an epic tale of long-range political strategy, the corrupting influence of big money in the political process, innovative parliamentary tactics, the impact of race on politics, and ultimately the hubris and overreaching that caused Tom DeLay's fall from his position as perhaps the nation's most powerful member of Congress. While the 2003 Texas Legislature was committed to changing congressional district lines, it was far from easy. Democrats did not have the votes to defeat the redistricting, but they could break a quorum by staying away. That is exactly what they did when more than 50 House Democrats spent four days in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and later eleven Democratic senators stayed in New Mexico for more than 40 days. The Democratic strategy, however, was effective only at slowing the process, and the congressional redistricting bill passed after three special sessions. The book details how Tom DeLay was actively involved in the shape of the final plan, which resulted in switching six seats from Democrats to Republicans and caused a net twelve-seat change in the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives. While the plan to change the partisan balance in the congressional delegation worked, the aggressive use of funds to influence the 2002 elections in an effort to elect legislators who would support the mid-decade redistricting ultimately produced an even greater change in the Congress. As discovery in civil litigation uncovered details of the redistricting-driven 2002 fundraising, the district attorney brought criminal charges, including an indictment of Tom DeLay. Although DeLay pleaded not guilty, he ultimately resigned from the House. The author, who is a redistricting attorney, law professor, and former parliamentarian of the Texas Senate (and in the interest of full disclosure, a friend and former law partner of this writer), brings a special insight to the subject. He is able to identify the key players, the most important sources of pressure, and the key events. He also explains the rationale behind and, occasionally the flaws in, the two sides' strategy. The book is likely to be the definitive history of an important part of Texas and national political history. For persons interested in politics or in modern-day Greek tragedies, this is an important book and fascinating story.