HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) - A Republican-friendly Hispanic organization on Monday said Texas Hispanics deserve a refund from the eleven state Senate Democrats who fled to New Mexico to try to thwart congressional redistricting.

In a news release, the fledgling Center for Hispanic Advocacy described the holdout as tax-funded rest and relaxation in a plush hotel.

"You -- the minority population they claimed to be protecting -- paid for their $2.5 million, 44-day vacation and they gave you nothing," the release said.

The release lists e-mail links to the senators and urges recipients to contact the senators and "bill them" for the costs of their travel.

Jorge Uresti of Tyler, the 31-year-old founder of the organization, said the message had already gone to more than 1,000 contacts around the state and was now being sent to the media.

It was unclear if any of those contacts had followed through with requests for refunds, but Uresti said response was enthusiastic.

He accused the senators of mischaracterizing redistricting proposals that might have meant more overall representation for Hispanics because they wanted to preserve Democratic power.

Brownsville Sen. Eddie Lucio, one of the "Texas 11," said that he'd never heard of the group. He insisted that the senators used their own money or "office holder accounts," which come from campaign contributions, to pay for food and lodging in New Mexico.

"I'd like to know who funds this organization," he said. "He certainly I don't believe speaks for the people I represent ... I can show (Uresti) a few thousand e-mails that came from people around Texas supporting what we do."

The senators stayed at a Marriott hotel in Albuquerque this summer in an attempt to block a quorum in Austin, where a GOP-backed congressional map is on the drawing board. They reluctantly returned to the Capitol this month for the third special session after one of their own defected from the group.

Texas Democrats now narrowly outnumber Texas Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, 17-15.

Uresti said his months-old organization is nonprofit and nonpartisan, and is preparing the first issue of The Hispanic Advocate, a magazine.

Two staff biographies show strong Republican party ties.

Both of the organization's press contacts worked on the U.S. Senate campaign of Republican John Cornyn; one leads Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's Texas Women's Alliance, the other interned this year for the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence.

The group also has been invited to speak before the Republican National Committee.

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On the Net: Center for Hispanic Advocacy

http://www.hispadv.org