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"Texas Rangers in pursuit as protest politicians vanish
By David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 14/05/2003)
Almost the entire Democratic membership of the Texas House of Representatives has fled to the neighbouring state of Oklahoma, pursued by Texas Rangers.
Arrest warrants were issued on Monday for the return of more than 50 state representatives amid rumours that they had flown to New Mexico or New Orleans.
The politicians fled Texas rather than be forced to vote on a Republican-backed plan to redraw the boundaries of their state's 32 seats in the US Congress. Democrats in the state described the bill as a "power grab".
The fugitive politicians were finally tracked down at a Holiday Inn in the small town of Ardmore, where they were staying under assumed names.
Four Texas police officers, dispatched by the state's Republican governor, confronted two dozen of the representatives, but failed to persuade them to return. They were unable to press the matter further, lacking the power of arrest in Oklahoma.
The dispute has far-reaching consequences for American national politics.
Texas Republicans - who control the state government after more than a century of Democratic dominance - have used their power to draw a series of bizarrely shaped districts, designed to clump together pockets of Republican voters, and split up Democrats. The map is designed to ensure that Texas sends up to seven extra Republican congressmen to Washington at the 2004 elections.
With Democrats unable to vote down the map, they hatched a plan to flee en masse, depriving the 150 seat state house of a quorum, and effectively shutting it down.
Lawyers were hard at work for both sides yesterday, as enraged Republicans struggled to press federal charges against their errant colleagues and drag them home by force.
The original plan called for the 53 Democrats to hide out somewhere near the state capital, Austin. However, they decided they would swiftly be caught, and needed instead to leave the state. Groups of legislators met "team leaders" on Sunday, who led them to two coaches, for a midnight flit across state lines.
When the walkout was discovered, state police, acting for the House sergeant-at-arms, were deputised to seek the Democrats' return, in handcuffs if necessary.
Three missing Democrats appeared at the State Capitol yesterday, one of them in a police car. Their arrival, and the earlier defection of a group of centrist Democrats, brought the number of sitting members to 95 - leaving the chamber five members short of a quorum."
By David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 14/05/2003)
Almost the entire Democratic membership of the Texas House of Representatives has fled to the neighbouring state of Oklahoma, pursued by Texas Rangers.
Arrest warrants were issued on Monday for the return of more than 50 state representatives amid rumours that they had flown to New Mexico or New Orleans.
The politicians fled Texas rather than be forced to vote on a Republican-backed plan to redraw the boundaries of their state's 32 seats in the US Congress. Democrats in the state described the bill as a "power grab".
The fugitive politicians were finally tracked down at a Holiday Inn in the small town of Ardmore, where they were staying under assumed names.
Four Texas police officers, dispatched by the state's Republican governor, confronted two dozen of the representatives, but failed to persuade them to return. They were unable to press the matter further, lacking the power of arrest in Oklahoma.
The dispute has far-reaching consequences for American national politics.
Texas Republicans - who control the state government after more than a century of Democratic dominance - have used their power to draw a series of bizarrely shaped districts, designed to clump together pockets of Republican voters, and split up Democrats. The map is designed to ensure that Texas sends up to seven extra Republican congressmen to Washington at the 2004 elections.
With Democrats unable to vote down the map, they hatched a plan to flee en masse, depriving the 150 seat state house of a quorum, and effectively shutting it down.
Lawyers were hard at work for both sides yesterday, as enraged Republicans struggled to press federal charges against their errant colleagues and drag them home by force.
The original plan called for the 53 Democrats to hide out somewhere near the state capital, Austin. However, they decided they would swiftly be caught, and needed instead to leave the state. Groups of legislators met "team leaders" on Sunday, who led them to two coaches, for a midnight flit across state lines.
When the walkout was discovered, state police, acting for the House sergeant-at-arms, were deputised to seek the Democrats' return, in handcuffs if necessary.
Three missing Democrats appeared at the State Capitol yesterday, one of them in a police car. Their arrival, and the earlier defection of a group of centrist Democrats, brought the number of sitting members to 95 - leaving the chamber five members short of a quorum."
