Districting plan would pit incumbents From Staff and Wire Reports AUSTIN — The chairman of the House Redistricting Committee Sat- urday proposed new state represent- ative district boundaries that could cause nine re-election races between incumbent legislators in 1982. A 10th pairing would put Speaker Bill Clayton and his close friend, Rep. • Pete Laney, D-Hale Center, in a single district, but Clayton says he won't seek re-election to the House. The committee held an afternoon hearing on the proposal and made plans to meet Sunday in hopes of sending a House redistricting bill to the floor for debate on Monday. "I think by the time we are through, we will have a bill that is fair and minimizes pairings and con- forms with the law," said Committee Chairman Tim Von Dohlen, D-Goliad. Von Dohlen's committee plan came under heavy fire from the rep- resentatives it would force to run against each other for re-election. Reps. Doyle Willis and Bobby. Webber, both Democrats, are the on- ly Fort Worth lawmakers pitted against each other. The plan, recom- mended to the committee by the Tar- rant County legislative delegation, eliminates Willis' existing district and places him in a minority slot with Webber. Willis opposes the plan. Willis, a member of the redistrict- posed district lines Continued from Page 37 "It is not fair to create your four Republican districts by cutting across census tracts and cutting across block," he told the committee Saturday. The bill would pair these other leg- islators in the 1982 elections if all seek re-election: Robert Valles, D-El Paso, against Paul Moreno, D-El Paso, chairman of the House Mexican-American Caucus. . . David London, D-Bonham, and Smith Gilley; D-Greenville. Bill Keese, D-Somerville, and Rep. Dan Kubiak, D-Rockdale, two lawmakers who have worked closely together for legislation encouraging the production of gasohol. Bill Heatly, D-Paducah, dean of the House, and Larry Shaw, D-Big Spring, a freshman best known for **** 67111 LEGISLATURE his advocacy of bills helping Vietnam veterans injured by the defoliant Agent Orange. Tommy Adkisson, D-San Antonio, a freshman, and Joe Hernandez, D-San Antonio. Steve Wolens, D-Dallas, a fresh- man, and black Rep. Paul Ragsdale, D-Dallas, in a heavily minority dis- trict. man, and Brad Wright, R-Houston, who has indicated an interest in run- ning for Congress. Ralph Wallace, D-Houston, best known as a crusader against child pornography, and black Rep. Ron Wilson, D-Houston, chairman of the House Health Services Committee. Von Dohlen said that in most cases, pairings were worked out in delega- tion caucuses. A number of pairings involve moderate-to-liberal lawmak- ers, but Von Dohlen said there was no deliberate attempt to politically dam- age representatives who did not hew to the Clayton administration's con- servative line. He accounted for the high propor- tion of freshmen in the pairings by saying that in the delegation cau- cuses, "seniority did come into play.". Tarrant County's strength would ing committee, said it's too early for him to know whether he will chal- lenge Webber for re-election if the plan is approved. "Nobody knows what they're going to do — except die," he said. Several representatives called the bill anything but fair and noticed a high proportion of the members who were paired had supported Rep. John Bryant, D-Dallas, in his unsuccessful speaker's race against Clayton. One of the most troubled areas is Bexar County, where San Antonio Democrats are displeased with the map because it increases Republican voting strength and radically alters existing district boundries. Rep. Matt Garcia, D-San Antonio, said the Bexar County delegation is working on an alternate plan to sup- plant the one proposed by the com- mittee. Please see Proposed on Page,39.; SUNDAY, MAY 24, 1981 M ®1981 FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM wouloiL , stay at nine representatives; plus a 10th shared with rural counties. Dal- las County's delegation would shrink from 18 to 16 members, plus a 17th shared with Kaufman and Rockwall Counties. Harris County's representation would increase from 23 to 25 House members, plus a 26th lawmaker shared with rural areas. Bexar County N,,iould drop from 11 to 10 representatives, plus one shared with Medina, Frio, Atascosa and McMullen Counties. The booming Plano bedroom com- munity in Collin County would have a representative of its own, as would the Potter County portion of Amaril- lo. The rest of Potter County would join a large Panhandle district. El Paso County would gain a repre- sentative, growing from four mem- makers bers to five, with an additional legis- lator shared with a vast area stretch- ing east to Odessa. Jefferson County in Southeast Tex- as, now represented by three legisla- tors of its own plus one shared with other counties, would have two rep- resentatives and share a third with Chambers County and part of Liber- ty County. Nueces County, along the South Texas coast, would continue to have 'three representatives, but would lose the extra legislator it now shares with two other counties, Rep. Leroy Wiet- ,ng, D-Portland. Hidalgo County in the Rio Grande Valley would get an additional repre- sentative, for a total of three. Travis County would continue to have four House members and would share a fifth with a Hill Country dis- trict. Lubbock County would have two representatives, as it does now, and would share a third with a rural area. McLennan County .(Waco) would have one representative and share a second with Falls County, instead of having two House members to itself as it does now. 1-4.16 Low.f..) Suburban Montgomery County, outside of Houston, would get a rep- resentative to itself and share anoth- er with Grimes County and western Harris County. • Lawmakers have •until midnight June 1 to agree on how to reapportion the state or they must turn the task over to a panel of officeholders elect-, ed statewide: Attorney General Mark , White, Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby,. House • Speaker Bill Claymn, Land Commis- sioner Bob Armstrong and Comptrol- ler Bob Bullock. All are Democrats. Paul Colbert, D-Houston; a fresh-