Way Too Little, Far Too Late

It was a small aside in a larger unsigned editorial about the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission, but today the Amarillo Globe-News took us back to the heady days of May, 2003, when fifty-two Democrats walked out of the Texas House in a doomed attempt to keep the Republicans from abusing their power and gerrymandering the state to their own advantage. Today's editorial by the AGN points out that redistricting was

a partisan process that proved many lawmakers, at least among the Republican leadership, take the GOP-leaning Panhandle for granted.

Thanks, AGN. Woulda been even better if you coulda stood up for the Panhandle when it counted. Back then, you took the side of that Republican leadership. On May 14, 2003, you chortled over State Rep. David Swinford side-splitting comment that "it's a good thing those guys weren't at the Alamo." Heh. You also called the walkout "unacceptable." A day later, AGN editorial writer Dave Henry called the legislators "knuckleheads."

In recent months, as the electoral process has made clear just how much the Panhandle got screwed by the redistricting process, the Globe-News has cautiously begun to oppose redistricting. A bit too cautiously. The stand should have been taken when it could have made some difference.

SPACEDARK