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:: 7.12.2004 ::
Remembering redistricting
For the backstory on Texas redisctricting, there's this Washington Post article. Here is the new stuff: The [e-mail to Kenneth L. Lay from lobbyists Rick Shapiro and Linda Robertson], which surfaced in a subsequent federal probe of Houston-based Enron, is one of at least a dozen documents obtained by The Washington Post that show DeLay and his associates directed money from corporations and Washington lobbyists to Republican campaign coffers in Texas in 2001 and 2002 as part of a plan to redraw the state's congressional districts. Unfotunately for those involved, Texas law bars corporate financing of state legislature campaigns, and a Texas criminal prosecutor is in the 20th month of digging through records of the fundraising, looking at possible violations of at least three statutes. A parallel lawsuit, also in the midst of discovery, is seeking $1.5 million in damages from DeLay's aides and one of his political action committees -- Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC) -- on behalf of four defeated Democratic lawmakers. What kind of effect did the corporate moolah have on the makeup of the Texas legislature, you ask?By investing as much as $2.5 million in corporate money in the 2002 election, TRMPAC and another group, the Texas Association of Business, were able to help elect 26 new Republican candidates to the Texas House. The new Republican majority then redrew the congressional district boundaries and, as a result, five Democrats are likely to lose in the Nov. 2 election, according to political experts. [emphasis added] Full story on MSNBC, c/o Fark.
:: Deb 6:23 PM :: permalink ::
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