May 12, 2003
Congressional Redistricting
In response to an earlier entry a commenter asks if such a redistricting effort is something that should be considered fair. I don't know if it's explicitly disallowed, but it seems to go against the intent of fairly representing populations. It's required when Census is taken, but I don't know that it's prohibited at other times. I think it's another case of the republicans having no problem with breaking an unwritten rule, or in other words, completely ignoring the intent of the law. It's quite controversial, as illustrated in this other article via Salon. Pretty rare that opposing lawmakers would resort to truancy.Update: Check out the more detailed description of the Texas situation over at msnbc. I love the quote at the end from the New Mexico Attorney General (democrat): "I have put out an all-points bulletin for law enforcement to be on the lookout for politicians in favor of health care for the needy and against tax cuts for the wealthy."