Former Colleyville Mayor Richard Newton provided LNO with a copy of the following email from State Representative Vicki Truitt

Thank you for contacting me concerning the redistricting process, and the important role that the City of Colleyville had in this process.

As of result of this collaborative effort involving the residents of Colleyville, their state representative, the balance of the Tarrant County delegation and members of the Legislative Redistricting Board, the plan formally was formally adopted by the Legislative Redistricting Board at 9:30 a.m. today improves on the current House plan by keeping the City of Colleyville wholly a single Texas House district. If the Legislative Redistricting Board's House plan is acceptable to the courts, Colleyville will be wholly within the 98th Texas House district..

The Legislative Redistricting Board convened last night, July 24, 2001, and this morning, July 25, 2001, to adopt a redistricting plan for the Texas House of Representatives.

Since the Texas Legislature failed to adopt a redistricting plan, and the task of House district reapportionment fell to the Legislative Redistricting Board, other members of the Tarrant County Delegation and I have worked extensively with Attorney General John Cornyn and his redistricting staff to address the concerns of Colleyville residents about the potential of being split among three different House districts as was previously proposed under General Cornyn's original plan as submitted Monday of last week.

I aggressively lobbied the Board for my constituents in Colleyville, because I do not believe it to be in the city's best interest for the community to be split among three districts when it currently lies almost entirely (96%) in the 98th Texas House District.

Redistricting is supposed to maintain the integrity and representation of "communities of common interest." The portion of Colleyville that was to have been split off obviously has more in common with the balance of its own city, as well as with other cities in District 98, such as Southlake, Grapevine, etc., than it does with cities to the south. Therefore, in order to be represented as a part of a district with common interests, issues and opinions, it was important to me to keep Colleyville "whole."

My efforts were supported by a last-minute barrage of contacts from Colleyville who expressed their concern regarding the issue to members of the Legislative Redistricting Board.

The Tarrant County Delegation submitted an amendment, at the request of Attorney General Cornyn, that addressed a variety of concerns of the delegation, including maintaining the representative integrity of Colleyville.

Thank you for your active participation in this process. It did make a difference.

Sincerely,

Vicki Truitt
State Representative