By Paul A. Anthony, Editor in Chief

Dear Mom and Dad,

I didn’t spend this summer at camp, so I couldn’t send any letters about wanting to come home. Instead, I spent the summer doing something much more harrowing than meeting lots of wannabe bullies going into the fifth grade.

I covered Texas redistricting.

You may laugh. You may think chasing politicians was easy for a political nerd like me. You may think you know of several dozen punishments worse than paying a journalist to write newspaper articles all summer. But you don’t know what torture I endured.

Let me give you an example of the torture that became two special sessions, millions of words of political rhetoric, and somewhere close to 3 bazillion map proposals:

One day started with a state senator set to release two proposals for redrawing the state’s district lines. After several futile phone calls to his office, news came that he had given up drawing the maps and stormed out of the room.

I know that I’m not the easiest person to talk to, but I thought that was a little extreme.

Two senators later, the Senate Jurisprudence Committee came up with a map that looked, exactly the same as the current one. Well, not exactly the same.

Apparently Travis County officials were still upset because the map split it into 17 parts and called for one of them to be shipped to Rhode Island. On the bright side, it would have solved ACU’s recruiting problem.

Although I ask only for a little pity, maybe some sympathy, and a few thousand dollars, I do feel sorry for some people.

I feel sorry for Rick Perry. The man has to somehow convince us he is not shilling for U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, when everyone seems pretty certain he is. Besides, I empathize with anyone whose hair draws so much ridicule.

I feel sorry for U.S. Rep. Charlie Stenholm, D-Abilene, who somehow managed to talk to me in his Washington office about tax cuts – all while DeLay kept measuring the doorframes to see if his couch would fit “after we take care of Charlie,” whatever that meant.

I feel sorry for my San Angelo Standard-Times editor, Jared Schroeder. “Jared, I have that story where the Republicans change the map … oh hold on, Jared, I’m going to have that story where the Democrats are threatening to walk out … I know the story is four hours late, Jared, but reports say Perry is about to use a new brand of gel ….”

Most of all, I feel sorry for the citizens of Texas, especially 17th District dwellers in Abilene and San Angelo. The citizens here, Republican and Democrat alike, overwhelmingly oppose splitting the two cities.

Yet it could happen anyway, as state House Speaker Tom Craddick of Midland wants his city in with San Angelo, which would push Abilene in with Lubbock.

I want to say, however, that I do not feel sorry for Bob Hunter, the university’s vice president emeritus and Abilene’s state representative. He was one of just five Republicans to vote against redistricting in the state House. Ever the model of diplomacy, Hunter told the press, “We just happen to differ in West Texas.” Going against the party line doesn’t worry him. Hey, when you’ve invented Sing Song, you can do just about anything you want.

Nonetheless, the Texas Legislature once prided itself on its bipartisanship; President Bush ran on that fact, remember. But now, ever-hyperbolic accusations of racism and cowardice fly across the aisle. I watched statesmanship disintegrate before my eyes, ears and pen.

When Eric Finley, who has taken over the Standard-Times’ redistricting beat since I left, called me to ask for source information, I had to resist gagging – this from the man who stayed up past his bedtime to listen to election results on the radio in 1994 (sorry about that, Mom and Dad).

This summer was a hellish one, and I fear the consequences it will have for both the state’s and the nation’s political atmosphere.

I guess the name-calling and bullying isn’t restricted to summer camp, after all.

Love, Paul