New York Times doesn't understand Texas politics

In this "Texas tribune" preview of fallout from midterm elections, we get this totally wrong statement, contrasting state legislative redistricting with Congressional reapportionment:

Legislative redistricting works differently. The number of seats is set, and the people who occupy them in January are the people voting on the changes. A partisan breakdown over the last redistricting maps resulted in a very deliberate work stoppage, with House Democrats leaving the state for Ardmore, Okla., at one point and the Senate Democrats bailing out to Albuquerque at another.

Plain wrong over why state senate Democrats left the state.

As well as being full of omissions.

First, it was Tom DeLay's attempted mid-decade redistricting of Congressional boundaries that caused Democratic walkouts.

Second, note that the story never tells how DeLay's state-level henchmen abused power, in conjunction with him, and sicced regional FAA on the Dems' plane.

Third, the story totally overlooks the role of sellout, turncoat Democrats such as Helen Giddings in undermining the Democrats' flights in the first place.

That said, the story does note that a Democratic Department of Justice, namely the Civil Rights Division, will clamp down on the worst gerrymandering.