Post by revirdsuba99 on Sept 30, 2021 19:58:11 GMT
This guy Foltz made a huge mess in Wisconsin, he is now working his possible illegal magic in Texas?!!
Republican redistricting operative whose clandestine work helped drag Wisconsin into a legal morass last decade appears to now be on the payroll of the Texas Legislature as lawmakers work to redraw maps that will determine the distribution of political power for years to come.
The operative, Adam Foltz, was part of the team that helped craft Wisconsin's legislative maps after Republicans took control of that state Legislature in 2010. Foltz played a key role in a tight-lipped and questionable redrawing process that shut out Democrats and drew the condemnation of federal judges who described it as "needlessly secret," according to court records.
Foltz may now be playing a behind-the-scenes role in Texas. The Capitol's internal staff directory, to which The Texas Tribune obtained access, shows Foltz is working for the House Redistricting Committee. His office and phone number in that directory match those of the committee's staff office in the Capitol basement, but at least one Democrat on the committee said they had not been advised of his involvement. Foltz has not been a visible part of the committee's public-facing work.
Though Foltz is assigned to the House Redistricting Committee, state employment records show that Foltz is actually on the payroll of the Texas Legislative Council, a nonpartisan state agency that supports the Legislature in drafting and analyzing proposed legislation — and manages the internal mapping tool lawmakers use to redraw political maps. During the redistricting process, the council also plays a crucial role in providing demographic and election results for lawmakers' proposed maps.
Records show Foltz was hired by the agency under the title of "legislative professional" on May 17 at a $120,000 annual salary. But Kimberly Shields, the council's assistant executive director, said in an email that Foltz reports to state Rep. Todd Hunter, the Corpus Christi Republican who chairs the redistricting committee.
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A federal court that considered the state's maps eventually found violations of the Voting Rights Act in two assembly districts where map drawers improperly diluted the vote of Latinos. In that ruling, the court said the drafting of the maps was "needlessly secret, regrettably excluding input from the overwhelming majority of Wisconsin citizens."
As the case dragged on over legal squabbles about emails Republicans had not initially turned over, the court criticized the secretive process in which Foltz was involved while he worked on the maps from the offices of the private law firm.
"Without a doubt, the Legislature made a conscious choice to involve private lawyers in what gives every appearance of an attempt —
albeit poorly disguised — to cloak the private machinations of Wisconsin's Republican legislators in the shroud of attorney-client privilege," the court said in a 2012 ruling. "What could have — indeed should have — been accomplished publicly instead took place in private, in an all but shameful attempt to hide the redistricting process from public scrutiny."
www.rawstory.com/texas-appears-to-be-paying-a-secretive-republican-political-operative-120000-annually-to-work-behind-the-scenes-on-redistricting/
There is a whole lot more. Doing this on my phone is hard and it has erased twice...
Republican redistricting operative whose clandestine work helped drag Wisconsin into a legal morass last decade appears to now be on the payroll of the Texas Legislature as lawmakers work to redraw maps that will determine the distribution of political power for years to come.
The operative, Adam Foltz, was part of the team that helped craft Wisconsin's legislative maps after Republicans took control of that state Legislature in 2010. Foltz played a key role in a tight-lipped and questionable redrawing process that shut out Democrats and drew the condemnation of federal judges who described it as "needlessly secret," according to court records.
Foltz may now be playing a behind-the-scenes role in Texas. The Capitol's internal staff directory, to which The Texas Tribune obtained access, shows Foltz is working for the House Redistricting Committee. His office and phone number in that directory match those of the committee's staff office in the Capitol basement, but at least one Democrat on the committee said they had not been advised of his involvement. Foltz has not been a visible part of the committee's public-facing work.
Though Foltz is assigned to the House Redistricting Committee, state employment records show that Foltz is actually on the payroll of the Texas Legislative Council, a nonpartisan state agency that supports the Legislature in drafting and analyzing proposed legislation — and manages the internal mapping tool lawmakers use to redraw political maps. During the redistricting process, the council also plays a crucial role in providing demographic and election results for lawmakers' proposed maps.
Records show Foltz was hired by the agency under the title of "legislative professional" on May 17 at a $120,000 annual salary. But Kimberly Shields, the council's assistant executive director, said in an email that Foltz reports to state Rep. Todd Hunter, the Corpus Christi Republican who chairs the redistricting committee.
****
A federal court that considered the state's maps eventually found violations of the Voting Rights Act in two assembly districts where map drawers improperly diluted the vote of Latinos. In that ruling, the court said the drafting of the maps was "needlessly secret, regrettably excluding input from the overwhelming majority of Wisconsin citizens."
As the case dragged on over legal squabbles about emails Republicans had not initially turned over, the court criticized the secretive process in which Foltz was involved while he worked on the maps from the offices of the private law firm.
"Without a doubt, the Legislature made a conscious choice to involve private lawyers in what gives every appearance of an attempt —
albeit poorly disguised — to cloak the private machinations of Wisconsin's Republican legislators in the shroud of attorney-client privilege," the court said in a 2012 ruling. "What could have — indeed should have — been accomplished publicly instead took place in private, in an all but shameful attempt to hide the redistricting process from public scrutiny."
www.rawstory.com/texas-appears-to-be-paying-a-secretive-republican-political-operative-120000-annually-to-work-behind-the-scenes-on-redistricting/
There is a whole lot more. Doing this on my phone is hard and it has erased twice...
