Texas Democrats complain of Republican 'overreach'

Attorney General Greg Abbott caught a break on Thursday when the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans granted Texas a stay of a federal injunction that had barred enforcement of the state's tighter voter registration requirements.

Abbott had asked the appeals court to stay an August order that prevented the state from enforcing provisions of a new law regulating third-party registration activities. The attorney general praised the ruling as a victory for voter integrity.

That "victory" came in the wake of two major defeats for the attorney general in recent days. A federal court in Washington found that the redistricting maps drawn by the Republican-dominated Legislature last session did not protect minority voters as federal law requires. Another court ruled that the state's new voter ID photo requirement places an unfair burden on poor and minority voters. Abbott has pledged to appeal the voter ID ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Although Texas Republicans insisted otherwise, Democrats immediately saw the court rulings as confirmation of overreach by GOP lawmakers taking advantage of their overwhelming dominance during last year's legislative session.

'An intentional act'

Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, cited not only the redistricting maps and the ID law, but also sharp budget cuts in public education, the law requiring sonograms for women seeking an abortion and restrictions to the Women's Health Program that prompted the federal government to cut its funding.

"It's more than overreach. It was an intentional act," said Martinez Fischer, chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus and an outspoken opponent of the Republican redistricting plans, voter ID and other GOP initiatives.

"Not one person can tell you that for the first time they're learning about the issues in these actions. We told them," he said.

On Voter ID, the court agreed with Martinez Fisher.

"The State of Texas enacted a voter ID law that - at least to our knowledge - is the most stringent in the country," the court wrote. "That law will almost certainly have retrogressive effect: It imposes strict, unforgiving burdens on the poor, and racial minorities in Texas are disproportionately likely to live in poverty. And, crucially, the Texas legislature defeated several amendments that could have made this a far closer case."

Abbott said that courts have validated Voter ID laws in Indiana and Georgia and that the Texas plan was little different.

Counter-productive?

Rice University political scientist Mark Jones suggested that, "whether due to hubris or ignorance," the GOP majorities in the Texas Legislature undermined their own objectives.

"Had Republicans simply adopted Voter ID legislation similar to that utilized in Georgia, then it is quite possible that voters who turn out this fall in Texas would have needed to provide a photo ID to vote," he said in an e-mail. "But, given that instead Sen. Troy Frasier, R-Horseshoe Bay, and his colleagues pushed through the most strict voter ID legislation in the nation, there will be no change this year in identification requirements for Texas voters."

The redistricting plans also were counter-productive, Jones said, in that they undermined the GOP's longer-term goal of removing Texas from the strictures of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The act requires Texas to show proof that any voting law changes do not adversely affect minority voters.

"The (redistricting) legislation is, in fact, manna from heaven for VRA supporters," Jones said, "since it supports their position that nearly 50 years after its initial passage, the VRA is still relevant and necessary in states such as Texas."

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, rejected the notion of overreach. "From a Republican standpoint, I don't think we overreached last session," he said. "On virtually every key piece of legislation, we reached out to the other side." He identified the key issues as budget cuts, sonogram legislation, redistricting and voter ID.

Extend the reach

Patrick defined overreach as "taking a mandate you have and extending it beyond the limits to the extent that you actually undermine the mandate that you have, and I just don't think we did that."

Anticipating "the most conservative Senate in the history of the state" next legislative session and an equally conservative House, the senator insisted that Texas Republicans have an obligation to reach for all they can get.

Carolyn Boyle, of Austin, who heads the Austin-based Parent PAC, said that cuts in public education may or may not have been an overreach, but she maintains that they have prompted a counter reaction.

"It's hearsay, I realize," she said, "but so many candidates told us so many people said them, 'I can't believe what they did down there, cutting our schools' budgets.' Clearly, people were angry. We do think it was reflected at the ballot box."

Eleven of the candidates Parent PAC supported were victorious in primary elections, including several with backgrounds in education.

Martinez Fischer predicted that if the time comes when roles are reversed and Texas Democrats are again in the driver's seat, he, for one, will legislate judiciously.

"History shows that both political parties in Texas, when in power took the opportunity to disenfranchise minority voters," he said. "I know what it feels like. It makes me realize that we need balance. It's not healthy for our state to be controlled by one party."

joe.holley@chron.com

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