The "redistricting" plan was designed to gerrymander Democrats out of their seats and lock in a Republican majority in the House. Naturally, this is the sort of thing House Leader Tom "Sounds French" DeLay has an interest in.
To prevent the gerrymandering from going through, the "Killer D" Democrats left Texas so the legislature had no quorum. The Republicans then used the by now highly politicized Department of Homeland Security to track them down. (We don't know whether DeLay directed that the call be made to DHS or not, although the Texas state Republicans have refused to release complete records, and have "redacted" what they did release.)
The latest from R. G. Ratcliffe of the Houston Chronicle: Firm's Texas donation has suspect DeLay ties. More:
When an executive of a Kansas energy company learned last year that his firm was about to make a $25,000 donation to a political committee associated with U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the executive sent a colleague an e-mail: "DeLay is from TX. What is our connection?"
The response came moments later: For Westar Energy Inc., the connection was part of a plan to get a "strong position at the table" on federal utility legislation that would benefit company executives -- legislation a company memo said could not pass without DeLay's help.
For DeLay, the Westar donation to Texans for a Republican Majority was part of a $1.5 million campaign to help the GOP gain a majority in the Texas House of Representatives. DeLay's ultimate plan, still unfolding, is for that new Republican state House to draw Texas congressional districts that would solidify the GOP hold on the U.S. House.
A little quid pro quo ....
And now the part that I think is truly the most beautful, because of its utter lack of shame:
At a briefing with reporters last week, DeLay dismissed the connections between the Westar legislation and the donations to Texans for a Republican Majority.
"It never ceases to amaze me that people are so cynical they want to tie money to issues, money to bills, money to amendments," DeLay said.
So very, very duck-pit ready...
Great to see the national media all over this one. Ha ha ha.