Friday's Internet Edition, September 10, 2010.
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Leader-Press staff writer -
Copperas Cove Mayor Rodney Nauert would like to speak directly to a couple of Republican state Senators, if they would give him the time.
Nauert says Todd Staples of Palestine and Robert Duncan of Lubbock appear to be the major players in the ongoing redistricting battle that he and 14 other Central Texas politicians and leaders spoke against on Friday. The 15 expressed dissatisfaction with redistricting, but said that if it has to be done they hope the current U.S. 11th Congressional District can stay intact.
Several said their appeals seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
“We need to have somebody listen to us and stop this charade,” Milam County Precinct 3 Commissioner Dale Jaecks said.
Staples and Duncan are on the 10-member conference committee, which consists of eight Republicans and two Democrats and no area office holders.
Nauert would like to see area Representatives and Senators forget party lines and lobby the conference committee to keep as much of District 11 together as possible. Coryell, Bell and McLennan counties have been in the same district for a little over 100 years.
Nauert says Sen. Kip Averitt, R-McGregor, has been involved in the process, but seems to lean too much toward party plans. Nauert would also like to see Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, become more involved in the tri-county unity cause, leaving the party line behind.
“Let the voters decide,’” Nauert said.
Nauert notes area Representatives Sid Miller and Suzanna Gratia Hupp are also Republicans, but Chet Edwards, D-Waco, is with the other party.
“All of them are Republicans, but people like what Chet Edwards does for this district,” Nauert said.
Nauert and several area politicians, leaders and city staffers are in Washington, D.C. for the annual Association of the U.S. Army convention, seeking to bolster Fort Hood’s favoring there.
Politicking is taken seriously when big dollars are involved, as Fort Hood is important to Central Texas’ economy.
“You better talk,” Nauert said.