Report Details GOP Bids For U.S. Aid in Texas Redistricting Fray

By Edward Walsh
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 13, 2003; Page A25

Texas Republicans tried to enlist the help of several federal law enforcement agencies in May during their unsuccessful attempt to force missing Democratic state legislators to return to Austin to vote on congressional redistricting legislation, the Justice Department said yesterday.

In a report on the findings of an internal investigation, the department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said that it documented nine instances in which GOP or state officials had sought federal law enforcement assistance. In all but one of those cases, federal officials quickly concluded that they had no role in the state political dispute and declined to help, the report said.

The exception involved an FBI agent in Corpus Christi who, at the request of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), called a Democratic legislator and verified that he and another missing lawmaker were in Ardmore, Okla. The agent relayed the information to the state law enforcement agency.

The report said the agent should not have provided the assistance but did not violate FBI policies.

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