The hearings on the Delay plan to eviscerate Travis County continue today at 4pm in the State House. The plan splits Austin into three pieces — each a little bit of city, glommed onto a large swath of countryside. A new plan will be proposed today by Rep. King. Austinites who want congressional representation, head over to the Statehouse if you can.
I attended this hearing. It was, actually, a complete waste of time. A committee member was working on a new version of the map, so the one we were all discussing was going to be thrown out anyway.
I signed a form to go on the record, but choose not to give testimony. One of the committee members (Grusendorf) started to challenge that. I told them I could testify if they really wanted to listen, but I didn’t have anything to add. The chair, fortunately, allowed people put their position on the record without giving testimony.
This is really ugly stuff. In most battles you can usually pick out the good guys and the bad guys. When it comes to redistricting, it is all naked partisan power grab. If you aren’t discouraged enough by the political process, try following this.