[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11361]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      PRINCIPLE ABOVE PARTISANSHIP

  (Mr. TURNER of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. TURNER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as a former member of the Texas 
Senate and the Texas House, I know the value that the 53 Texas 
Democrats who are in Ardmore, Oklahoma, today place on the proud 
tradition of placing principle above partisanship. When the Republican 
leader of the Texas House agreed to the political handiwork of the 
majority leader of the U.S. House, he abandoned a tradition that has 
served Texas well.
  When Texas House Republicans drew a redistricting map without public 
hearings, behind closed doors, a map handed to them by Washington, they 
trampled on a tradition in Texas, and they trampled on bipartisanship, 
which has always been the hallmark of the Texas Legislature.
  In Texas, the name Texan has always meant more than Democrat or 
Republican. The Texas Democrats from my area, Jim McReynolds, Chuck 
Hopson, Dan Ellis and Joe Deshotel, were denied the right to protect 
the interests of rural east Texas. They were shut out of the process, 
and they joined in breaking a quorum, a regular feature of American 
politics, practiced by none other than Abraham Lincoln as a member of 
the Illinois Legislature in 1840 when he had to do so when he was under 
the heavy hand of the majority.
  All Texans who believe in fair play owe a debt of gratitude to our 
Texas legislators who have said to Washington today, Do not mess with 
Texas.

                          ____________________