06.26.06
Tipping Point, John Carter Flip-Flops On The VRA
When I saw Harvey Kronberg’s Commentary about Rep. John Carter’s comments last week on the Voting Rights Act, I realized this story had finally reached its tipping point. It appears Rep. Carter’s comments on the VRA reverberated with Mr. Kronberg:
Sorting through my father’s effects after he passed away a few years ago, I was startled to run across his 1963 poll tax receipt. Back then, most southern states actually required voters pay a tax to qualify to vote. It also was standard practice in the south to require African-Americans pass either a literacy test or a general civics quiz before registering.
There was never any pretense. It was about keeping the poor, and particularly African-Americans, from the ballot box.
That is why the comments of U.S. Sen. John Carter, R-Round Rock, were so startling last week when he objected to the planned renewal of the Voting Rights Act.
[...]
The Voting Rights Act guarantees universal suffrage. It states if you are a citizen the government can not throw barriers at your right to vote. The end.
Way to sum it up Harvey! By now most people know what Rep. Carter said. If you don’t, Pinkdome has a post on it here along with a link to QR where Rep. Carter’s press secretary, Amy Ellsworth, is quoted trying to remove Rep. Carter’s foot from his mouth.
His concern, according to Ellsworth, was that issues might be raised by the Court that needed to be addressed in the reauthorization bill. It would not a major delay because Carter and everyone else knew the ruling was due out this week.
Ellsworth reiterated that Carter had no other issues with the VRA. In a broad philosophical sense, he believes that voters should be comfortable reading, writing and speaking English because that was the best way to get all the information about candidates and issues. She said, however, Carter never meant to leave the impression that fluency or literacy should be a condition for voting.
She also said Carter does not believe racial bias no longer exists in Texas. However, compared to 1964 when the bill was originally passed, conditions in Texas are dramatically improved.
Finally, Ellsworth said that Carter did not oppose Department of Justice pre-clearance but believed that possible discrimination was not limited to the nine states currently in the VRA. She said he believed that all the states should be subject to DOJ review and pre-clearance.
When the tipping point is hit, it’s time to retreat, and take it back. It’s too bad they wouldn’t let Rep. Carter do it himself. I wonder if they’ll let the Judge talk to the media anymore, especially about his “broad philosophies”. This was already part of the plan as early as Saturday as this Taylor Daily Press story showed:
“I lived in Texas during 1964. Clearly, by any evaluation, it does not exist like it did back then,†he said. “In 1964, a person could make a valid argument that racial prejudice did exist in parts of Texas, but today those things don’t exist to [the] extent that [it] keeps people from voting.â€
So Rep. Carter has been backtracking for a few days now and there’s no wonder why. He’s been hung out to dry by his party, and the media is piling on. No Republican has come to help him on this. It’s lonely out there for Rep. Carter right now, maybe you should give his office a call and tell them how glad you are he, or his press secretary I should say, have clarified his words.
Eye on Williamson » The Voting Rights Act, John Carter & Redistricting said,
June 29, 2006 at 10:16 pm
[...] Last week, as the Austin Chronicle reminds us, Rep. John Carter made “jumbled” statements about his reasons for wanting to delay the renewal of the Voting Rights Act. It seems like just yesterday he made those remarks but since then he’s been doing he’s best to clarify his position. He, and his press secretary, have been saying he was “misquoted” and “taken out of context”. He also stated that there was a need to delay the renewal in order to wait and see how the Supreme Court rules on the Texas redistricting case. But with a new week comes more time for John Carter to speak on the issues. With the Supreme Court ruling on the redistricting case this week, and with it the only problem being an issue with the VRA, I’m sure Rep. Carter will have something to say about that. Well, let’s just say one man’s “troubling blend of politics and race” is another man’s “slight caveat”. What’s meant by that is that what Rep. John Carter called a slight caveat was a ruling by the Supreme Court that Congressional District 23 in South Texas violated the VRA. Here’s what he said: “The Supreme Court ruling is a huge victory for the people of Texas as well as the Republican Party,†said Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock. “We won on every major point of contention.†[...]
Eye on Williamson » A Few Items said,
August 22, 2006 at 12:42 pm
[...] I find it hard to believe that Harvey Kronberg could write an article about political foot-in-mouth disease without mentioning Mary Beth Harrell’s opponent John Carter. He’s definitely had a few. [...]