The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 218, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 1, 2003 Page: 4 of 17
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Congress shall ma ke no law respecting an'
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the light of the peo-
ple peaceably ip assemble, and to petition the
. Government for a redress of grievances.
_
31
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Wanda Qamar Cash, Editor and Publisher
Wt)t Jiaptoton ikut
til -V
David Bloom, Managing Editor,
Founded 1922
Fred Hartman, Publisher Emeritus
1950-1974
Redistricting debate
Democrats must face up
to redistricting:
Ordinarily, -special legislative sessions
are a bad idea, they’re costly and divisive,
; and the people of Texas generally are bet-
; ter off without them.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry probably
would agree with that under ordinary cir:
curhstances. However, the circumstances
- he and his Republican colleagues face are
anything but ordinary.
Perry called a special session for this
summer to deal with the difficult issue of
congressional redistricting. Perry had no
good choices in this matter, and he took
the one we believe a majority of Texans
would prefer facing up finally to an issue
that has stymied two legislative sessions.
In 2001, after the 2000 census, the
Legislature attempted to devise a redis-
*■ trlcting plan acceptable to majorities in the
; House and Senate. That effort failed
because Republicans opposed it, and a fed-
eral court eventually set the new district
boundaries.
That court action always was viewed by
most as a temporary solution.
Redistricting is by law the Legislatures
job. State governments, elected by the peo-
ple, should not by default allow appointed
judges to become masters of the state’s
politicSPdestiny. That’s the position Texas
is in now.
; Then, in 2003, after an election that saw
Republicans win majorities in the Senate
and House, the Legislature again failed to
pass a plan, that’s because more than 50
Democrats fled Austin for Oklahoma,
delaying their return until it was too late to
pass a plan.
It was a successful tactic, but it may
come to haunt both Democratic and
Republican legislators because it demon-
strated how easily a -determined minority
can thwart majority action. If you’re irre-
sponsibly inclined, its pretty easy to derail
state government.
Now, Democrats oppose the session.
They say its too costly, that its partisan pol-
itics out of control and may yet produce no
workable redistricting plan.
We hope they ’re wrong, and we also
hope the so-called Killer Ds, those
Democrats who played hooky from the
Legislature this spring, realize they are at
least as responsible for the special session
as Rick Perry.
They walked away from resolving the
issue. Gov. Perry’s only choices were to
fight back with the only tool at his dispos-
al, a special session, or simply to knuckle
under to an aggressive Democrat minority
in the Legislature.
Neither option was very appetizing, but
working to resolve the issue is the better of
the two.
Eventually, Democratic legislators are
going to have to face the inevitable: a
^ majority of Texas voters chose Republican
leadership at the state level. Republicans
sought to work the will of the state s major-
! ity just as Democrats did for more than a
: century after the Civil War.
If Perry chose not to fight on this Issue,
he would simply be admitting that Texas
voters don’t count.
— The Galveston County Daily News
About Us
‘Special session a mistake:
Well, isn’t Gov. Rick Perry special. Two
years after the fact, when all the v^Ud rea-
sons have given way to unworthy/ones, he
* decides that the time is right for a special
session on congressional redistricting.
Forget that school finance still is a
conundrum. By golly, who could dispute
that rejiggering congressional voting dis-
tricts is the state’s most crucial need? The
good governor apparently has less memo-
ry than he has shame.
In 2001, when the Legislature was sup-
posed to redistrict based on 2000 Census
figures, Perry had a prime opportunity to
show leadership. Instead, he just threw up
his hands. The House was controlled by
Democrats and the Senate by Republicans'
and it would kick up a mighty fight and
take some fine gubernatorial skill to make
the twain meet on a common plan. Too
hard, Perry said — let the courts do it. But,
governor, you shoulcPcall a special session,
said Attorney General John Cornyn. And
acting Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff. And Sen. Jeff
Wentworth‘ of San Antonio. And Rep.
Delwin Jones of Lubbock. (All
Republicans, by the way.) •-< ‘
Too expensive, Perry said — let the
courts do it. But we’re elected to hash
things out and make tough decisions, and
we could do it if you insisted, they said. No
thanks, Perry said — let the courts do it.
Now that he’s apparently been cowed by
U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay,
Periy wants to overhaul a map that’s
already been used fpr one congressional
election. Even though Republican voters
dominate 20 of the 32 districts, the bound-
aries weren’t skewed enough to give the
GOP a majority of Texas’ seats in
Congress in the last election.
DeLay doesn’t want just the opportunity
to control the delegation — he wants a
done deal. So, when it’s excruciatingly
obvious that the Legislature is more divid-
ed than ever over redistricting, Perry has
decided that it’s not a good thing that fed-
eral judges shouldered the lawmakers’
responsibility in 2001.
Calling a special session was right then.
It’s not now.
First of all, there is the expense. By
some estimates, the bill for a special ses- ‘
sion could run to $1.7 million, though that
could be trimmed by getting it over in just
a few days. But the ensuing litigation is
certain to cost millions — the state spent
more than $3 million defending lawsuits
from the 2001 redistricting.
Second, there is the necessity. In terms
of immediacy and far-ranging impact,
finding a better system of school finance
remains the most important concern on the
Legislature’s plate. School districts are
reaching their maximum taxing ability but
need more money to adequately educate
their students. Taxpayers are balking at
ever-escalating property tax bills. During
the just-finished session, lawmakers only
put a bandage on a hemorrhage.
Legislators who are duly chosen by their
constituents and who they believe serve
them well should not be tossed aside light-
ly to promote the party-building ambitions
of a congressman who knows little and
cares less about the concerns of Texas vot-
ers. Regardless, an exercise this ill-advised
is bound to produce one ugly map.
— Ibrt Worth Star-Telegram
Our editorial board
The Baytown Sun’s editorial board meets
weekly at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Individuals are
encouraged to visit the editorial board to
discuss issues affecting the community. To
make an appointment, contact Managing'
Editor David Bloom, 281-422-8302.
Members of the editorial board include:
Wanda Gamer Cash, editor and publisher
David Bloom, managing editor Joseph
Lohan, city editor; Dee Anne Navarre, busi-
ness manager Jim Finley, retired Sun man-
aging editor and Jane Howard Lee, retired
Sun reporter. ; *
Let us hear from you
The Baytown Sun welcomes letters of up
to 300 words and guest columns of up to
500 words on any Item of public interest.
Guest columns should include a photograph
of the writer. We publish only original materi-
al addressed to The Baytown Sun bearing
the writer’s signature. An address and
phone number not tor publication should be
included. We ask that submissions be limit-
ed to one per month. Ail letters and guest
columns subject to editing.
The Sun reserves the right to refuse to
publish any submission.
Letters endorsing or opposing political
candidates or issues will not be published
within two days of an election, except in
direct rebuttal to a letter previously pub-
lished In The Baytown Sun. Please send
signed letters to: Wanda Gamer Cash or
David Bloom, The Baytown Sun, P.O. Box
90, Baytown, TX 77522.
Or, fax them to: 281-427-1880. Or,
email us at: sunnews@baytownsun.com.
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A RAPPORT WITH
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Guest column
ForThomas, favoring race no favor at all
“Clarence Thomas is my color,
but he’s not my kind.” So sneered
A1 Sharpton, die black preacher •
and presidential hopeful during a
recent Democratic candidates’
forum sponsored by Jesse
Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH coali-
tion. Sharpton s remark reportedly
elicited one of the loudest
applause lines.
The predominandy black, over1
whelmingly liberal, .decidedly
Democratic audience apparentiy
shared the insinuation that
Thomas is a traitor to the race, not
the least because’the Supreme
Court justice opposes racial pref-
erences.
This week, Thomas joined the
high court’s 6-to-3 majority in
Gratz v. Bollinger, which struck
down a point system by which the
University of Michigan’s under-
graduate admissions office gave a
decided advantage to minority
applicants over comparably quali-
fied whites.
He also sided with the 4-to-5
minority in Grutter v. Bollinger, in
which the court contradictorily
decided it was OK for Michigan’s
law school to give minority appli-
cants an advantage oyer compara-
bly qualified whites.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor,
who wrote the majority opinion in
Grutter, offered a tortured expla-
nation of why the university’s law
school admissions practices
passed constitutional muster while
the practices of undeigrad admis-
sions did not.
The undergrad admissions’
point system was blatantly prefer-
ential to minorities, she reasoned,
whereas the law school’s admis-
sions system was more nuanced.
Yet the law school’s practices
were no less preferential to
minorities, no less discriminatory
toward whites — that was borne
out during lower-court considera-
tion of Grutter. An analysis of
admissions data provided by the
law school revealed that race was
not just one of a number of fac-
tors in the admissions9 process, but
a “super factor.”
An African-American or
Mexican-American or Native
Perkins
American or Puerto Rican appli-
cant with the same LSAT score
and grade point average as a
white applicant was many, many
times likelier to be accepted by *
Michigan Law — tens to hun-
dreds of times likelier, according
to expert testimony.
Such grossly unequal treatment
of minority and white students
offended Thomas’ sensibilities. “I
believe,” he wrote, "blacks can
achieve in every avenue of
American life without the med-
dling of university administra-
tors.”
By “meddling,” the justice
referred to admissions policies
that artificially increase the num-
bers of minorities on university
campuses by holding blacks and
Hispanics to lower admissions
standards.
To Sharpton and others of his
kind, that colorblind view
amounts to racial heresy. How
dare Thomas, how dare any black
man or woman, think, write or say
such a thing?
But Justice Thomas is hardly
breaking new philosophical
ground. In fact, his views on
racial preferences sound very
much like those of several much
revered figures in black history
men whom Sharpton almost cer-
tainly would count among his
kind, like Frederick Douglass, one
of the foremost leaders of the abo-
litionist movement. In 1865,
Douglass delivered a message to
well-meaning, but misguided,
whites who thought they were
doing blacks a favor by giving
them preferential, rather than
equal, treatment.
In “regard to the colored peo-
ple,” he said, "there is always
more that is benevolent, I per-
ceive, than just, manifested toward
us. What I ask for the Negro is
not benevolence, not pity, not
sympathy, but simply justice.
- “The American people have
always asked what they shall do
with us. I Have had but one
answer from the beginning. Do
nothing with us! If the apples will
not remain on the tree of their
Own strength, if they are worm-
eaten at the core, if they are early
ripe and disposed to fall, let them
Ml” ,
Justice Thomas cited Douglass’s
words in his opinion this week in
the University of Michigan affir-
mative action case. One wonders
if Sharpton would have accused
Douglass of betraying his race, or
if the preacher-tumed-presidential *
candidate would have spoken con-
temptuously of W.E.B. Du Bois,
. the famed black historian, educa-
tor and civil rights leader.
“The Negro (should) bend his
energy to the solving of his own
social problems,” wrote Du Bois,
100 years ago, in “The Souls of
Black Folk.”
“For the accomplishment of
this, the Negro has the right to
demand freedom for self-develop-
ment, but no more aid from with-
out than is realty helpful for fur- 1
thering that development. The
bulk of the work raising the
Negro must be done by the Negro
himself.”
Finally, there’s Martin Luther
King Jr., in whose shadow
Sharpt on, Jackson and every other
latter-day civil rights leader
stands.
“I have a dream,” King famous-
ly said, 30 years ago, at the March
on Washington, “that my four lit-
tle children one day will live in a
nation where they will not be
judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their charac-
ter.”
Clarence Thomas is faithful to
the vision set forth by Douglass
and Du Bois and King, those
great black historical figures.
Sharpton and his kind are not.
Joseph Perkins Is a columnist
lor The San Diego Union-Tribune
and can be readied at
Joseph.Peridns@UnionTrib.com.
Letters to the editor
Bad repotting by Sports Illustrated
EDITOR’S NOTE: This letter is being rerun
because a portion of the letter was inadvertently
omitted. ,
Mr. Schrock, Victor and I were also both disap-
pointed by the negativity of the Sports Illustrated
article authored by Yi-Wyn Yen. VicM even made,
reference to the misquotes in the article when he was
televised live June 5, 6, 7, and 8 on the Nationwide
Tour at the La Salle Bank Open in Chicago.
He was quoted as saying the article left out part of
the interview and portrayed him unfavorably.
Deleted from the interview were his positive memo-
ries of growing up in the Baytown area, the good
influences of people, such as former teachers, the
many golfing supporters from the Goose Creek
Country Club, and Coach Joe Herzik who coached
his REL golf team.
The 45-minute taped interview about Victor's
childhood that Miss Yen and I had over the phone was
left out entirely. Some of Victor's friends who are
PGA pros have told him it is not uncommon for SI to
misquote or slant articles in order to portray a certain
image during interviews. Some of these pros even
refuse to give interviews to SI and will even ask them
to leave the room when reporting is taking place.
When we as a family agree to give these inter-
views, we trust the information {Hinted will be accu-
rate and complete without deletions. It is indeed
unfortunate that the media instead sometimes has its
own agenda and chooses to selectively report in
order to give a certain “slant” to an article for what
they assume to be better reading.
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 218, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 1, 2003, newspaper, July 1, 2003; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1052440/m1/4/?rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.