Having just gotten back

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Having just gotten back into town, I’ve been able to give much less attention than I’d like to the on-going story of the Texas re-redistricting fight. I guess we might actually call it the re-re-redistricting fight now since they’re taking yet another stab at it on Monday when Gov. Perry’s special session for redistricting convenes.

This weekend is being taken up by what might be politely called sham public hearings meant to give the process the coloration of standard procedure. (Here’s a report of one interesting flap about the GOP Chair from the Dallas area seemingly having the ability to secure special speaking slots at the hearings in which members of the public are supposed to be allowed to speak on a first-come-first-serve basis. Let me know if you want to speak, he said in his email to local Republicans, “as I will need to get you a place in speaking order AHEAD of time.” Here’s an article on just how raucous the situation is getting. And finally we also found out last week that the Justice Department’s Inspector General started its own investigation back on June 4th into what if any of its resources were pulled into the original Dem manhunt.)

Also of note is a part of the backstory of the redistricting fight which has never gotten that much attention: the at least innovative levels of political money Tom DeLay poured into the state in 2002 to set the stage for the redistricting fight. The juice DeLay got played a pivotal role in the intensity Republicans have shown in their quest over recent months. Here’s a few grafs from an article in tomorrow’s Dallas Morning News

For the first time in state politics, large amounts of corporate contributions made their way into political races during 2002, helping cement a GOP takeover of the Texas House, state and federal records show.

U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, and the state’s largest business group led behind-the-scenes efforts that have prompted lawsuits and investigations into whether the infusion of money was legal – which they vigorously contend it was.

“That was a sea change. The soft money game that played in Washington for years – no one had done that to any appreciable degree before this in state races,” said Fred Lewis, director of the watchdog group Campaigns for People.

It is illegal for corporations or unions to donate directly to candidates in Texas, and the extensive ways corporate money became involved in the low-ballot legislative races raised the legal questions.

The expenditures have led to a grand jury inquiry into the Texas Association of Business; a citizen’s criminal complaint against Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee – an offshoot of Mr. DeLay’s Americans for a Republican Majority; and a series of civil lawsuits.

Directors of the committees that used corporate money said their actions represented a smart use of available resources, but were not illegal or improper.

The emergence of corporate money – whether used to produce advertisements, pay administrators or hire consultants – in 22 key House races last year helped the GOP overrun the last Democratic bastion in Texas government, campaign experts said.

As you might imagine, there’s also a Westar Energy connection

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