May
31
Written by:
William Lutz
5/31/2011 5:16 PM
On a conference call with bloggers today, Gov. Rick Perry explained his decision to allow the State Board of Education redistricting map to become law without his signature. Many conservatives are upset about how the map treats some of the more conservative members of the State Board of Education.
“I wasn’t particularly happy with that piece of legislation,” Perry said. “I think there was some clear evidence from my perspective that the Legislature was engaged in some gerrymandering – I’ll use that term – against some of the more conservative members of the State Board of Education. As disappointed as I was in that map, I’d rather the Legislature deal with that issue rather than the courts, and that was the option there. If I vetoed that bill, then it went to the courts, and it could have been even worse.”
While Perry didn’t mention it directly, the danger from a Republican perspective of a court-drawn SBOE map is that the court would put all of Travis County in one district, which would likely shift one of the districts from Republican to Democrat.
The conference call occurred this afternoon prior to Perry’s formal decision to place congressional redistricting on the special session call, but Perry was asked about congressional redistricting.
When asked [by another blogger] about the topic, Perry replied, “You appropriately bring up a very important issue, and it’s one the Legislature should – and I will suggest to you will – take up.”