Thursday, July 4, 1996

Morales Says State Should Solve Redistricting Problem

By By TERRI LANGFORD
Associated Press

HOUSTON - Texas Attorney General Dan Morales asked a three-judge panel Wednesday to wait to redraw three unlawfully designed congressional districts while Texas officials try to settle the matter.
In a two-page motion filed in Houston, Morales asked the panel to oppose a request by seven voters to have the judges go ahead and redraw the predominantly black 18th District in Houston, the mostly Hispanic 29th District in Houston and Dallas' mostly black 30th District.

"The defendants strongly urge the court to give the state the opportunity to affect a remedy by settlement agreement with the plaintiffs," said Morales, responding for the state, the primary defendant in this redistricting case.

Last month, the Supreme Court sided with a voters' lawsuit which argued the three districts relied unlawfully on race when boundaries were drawn.

The case is now before the federal panel of U.S. District Judges David Hittner and Melinda Harmon and Appeals Court Judge Edith Jones. The three must decide whether to impose their own boundaries; allow the current, unconstitutional boundaries to remain in effect until the 1997 Legislature; or order Gov. George W. Bush to call the Legislature into special session soon to adopt a new plan.

Bush has made it clear he will not call a special session.

A status conference, in which all parties to the suit are to sit down and come up with a way to solve the problem, is scheduled for July 11.

Noticeably absent from the Morales' filing was a timetable for the redesign. He did say the parties were negotiating.

However, Morales spokesman Ron Dusek says the attorney general believes Texas voters will not want to choose representatives for illegally drawn districts. Leaving the redesign to the Texas Legislature only will complicate matters and fuel the court battle, Dusek said.

"He (Morales) doesn't believe ... the legislature with their partisan and personal interest can get the job done in a fashion that will keep it out of court," Dusek said.

That stance has put Morales at odds with fellow Democrats now seated in those districts. They want the November elections to go as planned and leave a redesign to the Texas Legislature when it convenes in January.

The 29th District is represented by Democrat Gene Green, who is white. The 18th District seat is held by Sheila Jackson Lee; the 30th District is held by Eddie Bernice Johnson. Both women are black and Democrats.

New primary elections in just the three districts would cost the state $3 million.
Any redesign, however, would likely affect adjoining districts.

Other briefs filed Wednesday came from Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock and Texas House speaker Pete Laney, the League of Latin American Voters, U.S. Representatives Martin Frost, John Bryant and Ms. Johnson - all Democrats who urged the panel, all Republican appointees, to let the state decide the matter.