Outdated district maps in an election year? The Texas government doesn’t care
In preparation for equipping the volunteers of our campaign, I went in search of a printable map of our district yesterday. With the newly drawn lines from the 2010 census going into effect for the first time this year, Texas House District 56 looks quite different from before.
As I searched, I came across only two maps, neither of which were suitable for printing. Then it hit me, surely the state capitol website would have a copy of the new map on our district page. So I navigated on over to Representative Anderson’s capitol page, the man we are looking to unseat this November, and sure enough, there’s a PDF map available. There’s a problem though, it’s not a map of the new district, but the old one.
Wondering when they would be updating the map considering that it is an election year, I decided to give his office a call. A Mr. Welch answered the phone and I asked him how his day was, to which he replied “fine.” He didn’t ask me if he could help me with anything, he simply waited for me to continue. I told him that I was looking for an updated map and that I was on their webpage, that the map there was outdated, and inquired as to when they would be updating it. His response? He wasn’t sure, but probably some time later next year, to which I replied “Isn’t that a little late considering that the election is this year and people will probably want a map to look at?” Then silence.
He then said well if you go to Google and search for this keyword then click this website you can find the updated district map of Texas. I did find the map, but it was not a printable version. So I thanked him for his help and remarked that they really should get this map updated ASAP so that people wouldn’t be confused about what the district encompasses. He then responds that, well this really isn’t our job and that the speaker’s office takes care of all the website stuff. So I ask him for a number for the speaker’s office and then end the call.
I then place a call to the speaker’s office, to which the phone is answered by another unenthusiastic fellow, Mr Romano. I explain to him the conversation I just had and ask when they would be updating the map on the website, to which he replied, I really have no idea. In fact, he didn’t care enough to even make an effort to find out. He also stated that he wasn’t sure who takes care of the website. It really is amazing that the office that takes care of the website knows absolutely nothing about it.
Before ending the conversation I again made the remark that they should really get the maps on all of the district pages updated to which he replied “I’ll pass the message along” before hanging up.
We’ve got some real winners down there in Austin overseeing the Texas government. In no hurry to do anything, sounding completely bored when people call with legitimate questions with no answers for those questions, and if I had to guess, they probably didn’t attempt to get the issue taken care of after they got off the phone with me.
I want better representation and better service from my state government, I don’t think that’s too much to ask for, and that’s why I’m working to get a better candidate into office there. It was fun though to actually pick up the phone and work a couple of guys over for their lack of help. You should try it sometime.