Travesty in the House - DINO Alert

By: James Martin
Published On: 1/13/2007 7:58:59 PM

Yesterday, the Privileges and Elections Committee in the House of Delegates considered HR 620, a constitutional amendment to create a non-partisan redistricting commission. It is a bill that has gotten a significant amount of support from the Democratic caucus and I didn't know of any Democrats who were against the idea.

Anyway, the committee voted on whether or not to pass the bill along for further consideration.
The committee votes of the Democrats present were (a Yes vote would send it along, a No vote would kill the bill):

Phillips: Yes
Brink: Yes
Joannou: No
Sickles: Yes
Dance: Yes
Englin: Yes
And this isn't the first time that Delegate Joannou has voted against the ideals of the Democratic Party, he voted for the Hate Amendment and all other gay-bashing bills that came before the House (that i could find)… well maybe he lives in a swing district where bucking the party on social issues is political survival? Except Tim Kaine, Leslie Byrne, Creigh Deeds, and Jim Webb all won his district by more than 30 points…

Via VB Dems Blog we learn that Delegate Joannou has a primary opponent, Henry Light, a lawyer who is heavily involved in the community… I wish Mr. Light the best of luck, and he certainly has the endorsement of this blogger.

… This is the video from the committee (otherwise we wouldn't have known about Joannou’s vote to kill the bill).

Crossposted on the Virginia Progressive

Comments



Do you *Support* Non-Partisan Redistricting? (James Martin - 1/13/2007 8:19:14 PM)
Thats what i meant :-P


Committee (Waldo Jaquith - 1/14/2007 2:05:42 PM)
I do believe that this was the P&E committee, not one of its two subcommittees, meaning that the vote was recorded.


Not that I can tell... (James Martin - 1/14/2007 2:12:24 PM)
http://leg1.state.va...


won't happen (hrconservative - 1/14/2007 3:06:59 PM)
Good luck defeating Joannou. . .in Portsmouth!

Won't happen.



low turnout primary ... (Rob - 1/14/2007 5:18:19 PM)
you never know.  Nobody thought Lieberman could ever lose his primary.


Republicans should support this based on (Lowell - 1/15/2007 9:23:02 AM)
self-interest, according to an editorial in today's Washington Post:

Virginia remains in most ways a majority-Republican state. But after successive Democratic victories in races for governor and senator, plus Democratic pickups in the state legislature for most of this decade, the GOP majority is starting to look shaky. Hence the party's dilemma: If it insists on leaving redistricting in the hands of the majority, as it has in recent years, it may wake up after the 2010 Census startled to find the Democrats in charge of redrawing the political map. If, on the other hand, the Republicans agree now to create a bipartisan system, they may end up with an electoral map more to their liking than if they were left to the Democrats' mercies. The result will be better government and better politics.

The Post also notes that, 15 years ago, "a certain Del. William J. Howell of Stafford County" co-sponsored a resolution introducing a "constitutional amendment to establish a bipartisan redistricting commission."  Of course, back then Republicans were in the minority.  What about now, when they are - at least for the next 11 months - in the (narrow) majority?