By now you should have selected which district and which member of the U.S. House or Texas Legislature (House or Senate) to analyze for your 1000 word paper.
In the previous assignment I asked you to figure out who represented you in these positions and to get some basic information about them. For 2305 classes, this was almost always either Pete Olson or Randy Weber. For 2306 this was either Ed Thompson or Greg Bonnen in the Texas House or Larry Taylor in the Texas Senate (I asked you to select one of these).
In my responses to most of you I asked that you continue to research what they do - what committees they serve on, what legislation they have introduce they have introduced and whatever else comes up. I need specific information about this. Not just "he wants to make jobs for the area," but what specific kinds of jobs, and how is this being done?
For this assignment I want you to look at the district itself. Try to find out what you can about the nature of the districts these people represent - their constituents. Ideally this will give you an idea about what the needs of the district are, and what types of things these office holders ought to have on their agendas. You might want to start considering whether the things the office holders do match up with the needs of their constituents.
- Click here to access maps.
This will allow you to make a reasonable judgement about the nature of representation in the local area. How democratic is it? What interests do the area representatives in fact serve?
This assignment is to be at least 150 words long. It will be due on July 19th at noon.