House Republicans Kill Bipartisan Redistricting

By: Lowell
Published On: 2/15/2008 12:11:36 PM

Will anything good pass the General Assembly this year?  Doesn't look likely at the moment, not with Bill Howell et al. in charge of the House.  The following press release from Sen. Deeds sums up the situation.

Republicans Defeat Bipartisan Redistricting on Party-Line Vote

After 33-5 Passage in Senate, Deeds' SB 38 Killed with Three Votes in House Elections Subcommittee

RICHMOND-Senator R. Creigh Deeds' redistricting reform proposal was defeated early this morning in the House Elections Subcommittee on a 3-2 party-line vote. While the proposal was supported by a bipartisan coalition of four Virginia Governors, the sitting Lt. Governor, and a litany of legislative, community and business leaders, it took just three Republican Delegates to effectively kill a bill that had passed the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support.

"A bipartisan redistricting process isn't good for legislators; it's good for Virginians," said Deeds following the vote. "I'm disappointed that my Republican colleagues in the House didn't recognize the groundswell of support for a bill that would make it so that voters chose their elected officials-not the other way around."


Senate Bill 38 was supported by Governor Tim Kaine and former Governors Mark Warner, George Allen and Linwood Holton; Lt. Governor Bill Bolling; the Leagues of Conservation and Women Voters, among others; and, a large contingent of business leaders throughout the Commonwealth. As chairman of the Senate Constitutional Amendments, Reapportionment and Referenda Subcommittee, Deeds merged the work of Senators Ken Cuccinelli (R-Fairfax), Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) and Ken Stolle (R-Virginia Beach) to report out a consensus proposal that won the unanimous support of the Privileges and Elections Committee as well as an overwhelming bipartisan majority of the full Senate.

This is the sixth year that Senator Deeds has carried a proposal to reform the partisan process where legislative districts are drawn to protect incumbents and maximize the strength of the ruling party. SB 38 would create a commission with an equal number of members appointed by leaders in both political parties. A seventh independent member would be chosen by a majority vote of the six appointees. The commission would be bound by criteria for drawing legislative districts that excludes the use of previous voting results, demographic data, or the addresses of incumbents. [See: SB 38, 2008]

For the last six years, Deeds has proposed the creation of a redistricting commission-chaired by a non-partisan member-that would remove partisanship and incumbent protection from the drawing of legislative and congressional districts. Last year's proposal, Senate Joint Resolution 352, made history when for the first time a bi-partisan redistricting proposal passed a chamber of the General Assembly. SJR 352 passed the Senate with the support of seven Republicans but was defeated in the House of Delegates Elections subcommittee. [See: SJR 352, 2007]

Comments



Unfortunately, the Senate was never the problem... (FxbAmy - 2/15/2008 12:31:39 PM)
Del Brian Moran has introduced literally the same piece of legislation authored by Bill Howell (when he was in the minority, of course)for years. Yet another example of Republican hypocrisy.

When the Speaker had his committee purge this session, it wasn't just Democrats that he attacked. Del Bob Marshall was also removed as chair of Privileges and Elections, replacing a supporter of non-partisan redistricting with the beneficiary of the most gerrymandered district in VA, Mark Cole.

There is absolutely no way this passes the House until we remove Bill Howell as Speaker.



So, when they whine about getting screwed in (Sui Juris - 2/15/2008 12:43:16 PM)
redistricting, the sole response should be "well, you had your chance, and you blew it."


Exactly (Eric - 2/15/2008 1:20:43 PM)
If this is how they want to play, we Dems need to win the Gov and take the House next time, and then redraw the districts so they can win at best 20% of the available seats in Virginia.

They asked for it, I say we give it to them.  



Redistrict Fairly Now or Pro-Democratic Later (Mark Levine - 2/15/2008 2:18:58 PM)
I firmly agree with Eric.  Democrats need to make clear that they will agree with Republicans to pass redistricting on a non-partisan basis now, but that the offer expires as soon as we take the House.

Carrot and stick.

And if the Republicans say no and we take over, we should gerrymander the heck out of Virginia, making clear all along that they had their chance.

Let's warn everyone now so no one's surprised when it happens.



Why would Dems EVER want bipartisan Redistricting? (SW Democrat - 2/15/2008 3:05:32 PM)
With Dems controlling the Senate and Dems picking up House seats each of the last 6 years and positive trends for us every day, why in the world would Dems ever want bipartisan redistricting?  We just need to take the House and Gov in 2 years.  Then we Redistrict Republicans out of existence.  I'm glad it failed.


Because we believe in doing what's right (Sui Juris - 2/15/2008 9:34:21 PM)
not doing what's best for Democratic political dominance.

But hey, that's just me.



some one please enlighten me (Alter of Freedom - 2/15/2008 9:14:38 PM)
as to exactly what the heck everyones efforts were last Fall in the elections if so far this is the return on our efforts.
As this General Assembly accomplished what it was sent to do. I thought with all the pickups being made that the results would/should be different. Some of these votes (counts) are obscene.
Is the Virginia General Assembly planning mimicking the "do-nothing" Congress ushered into offcie on the wave of change in 2006. Long on promise....short on results.


This Bill Is Not Bipartisan (Flipper - 2/15/2008 10:25:34 PM)
The bill called for 3 Democrats and 3 Republicans to be appointed by "leaders" in each politcal party.  A 7th "independent" member would be chosen by a majority of the 6 appointees.

The commission would be bound by criteria for drawing legislative districts that excludes the use of previous voting results, demographic data, or the addresses of incumbents.  So exactly how would the 7 memebers of the commission draw district boundaries?  I can see excluding voting results and the addresses of incumbents but how do you re-draw district lines without any demographic data?  

How does the Justice Department, based on The Voting Rights Act, approve a plan NOT using demographic data?  The bill states that the commission can use political party or voter history data to ensure that the new redistricting proposal complies with the Civil Rights Act and that the districts are as compact and competitive as practicable.  But this just doesn't cut it.  Trying to protect black voters using old voting data leaves the potential to exclude tens of thousands of black citizens throughout Virginia not being taken into account when drawing district lines.  Remember, district lines are drawn based on POPULATION data from the U.S. Census Bureau, not voting history.    

But the one reason this plan is NOT bipartisian?  Regardless of the plan created by the commission, the GA still has to sign off on the bill.  And if memebers or the GA as a whole decides to trash the plan and come up with their own, they have the power and ability to do so and can simply overide the recommendations of the very commission they would put in place.  So don't be fooled, there is nothing "bipartisian about this plan - and I am glad the bill was defeated.

The best thing we can do is keep buidling the netroots and the party going forward to again capture the governors seat in 2009 and keep control of the state senate, and, perhps, take over the House of Delegates - and draw lines so that we dominate across the state.  It's all part of turning Virginia blue.