A Breath of Fresh Air
April 15, 2011 - by
For the last ten years – girding their loins for this year’s redistricting battle – over in the State Legislature Republicans have been telling anyone who’ll listen that the Democrats should set up an ‘Independent Commission’ to draw new House and Senate districts. What they had in mind was simple: They didn’t want Democrats to use the fine art of ‘gerrymandering’ to stack the deck against Republican candidates as happened ten years ago in 2001.
But, then last fall, the completely unexpected happened: Republicans won majorities in both the State House and Senate and so, now, they get to draw the districts and suddenly they’re having trouble seeing the virtues of an ‘Independent Redistricting Commission.’
There just isn’t time, they say, to appoint one.
Senate Republicans, more bluntly, say once they’ve finished doing their own gerrymandering to the Democrats they’ll have locked in their Republican majority for the next decade.
All this – of course – is politics as usual but this time there’s an exception: Two Republican Representatives, David Lewis and Bill Current, have parted ways with the newly enfranchised Republican gerrymanderers. They say Republicans ought to still get the politics out of drawing State House and Senate districts.
They propose North Carolina adopt the ‘Iowa Model’ – a plan where districts are drawn by designated legislative staff who are told to draw the most compact districts they can, without favoring one party over another. It’s not a perfect solution it’s a step in the right direction.
Of course, the House and Senate leaders will probably lynch both Representatives Lewis and Current – but, still, it’s a breath of fresh air to see two legislators saying flat-out no to one of the oldest vices in politics.
A Breath of Fresh Air
April 15, 2011/
For the last ten years – girding their loins for this year’s redistricting battle – over in the State Legislature Republicans have been telling anyone who’ll listen that the Democrats should set up an ‘Independent Commission’ to draw new House and Senate districts. What they had in mind was simple: They didn’t want Democrats to use the fine art of ‘gerrymandering’ to stack the deck against Republican candidates as happened ten years ago in 2001.
But, then last fall, the completely unexpected happened: Republicans won majorities in both the State House and Senate and so, now, they get to draw the districts and suddenly they’re having trouble seeing the virtues of an ‘Independent Redistricting Commission.’
There just isn’t time, they say, to appoint one.
Senate Republicans, more bluntly, say once they’ve finished doing their own gerrymandering to the Democrats they’ll have locked in their Republican majority for the next decade.
All this – of course – is politics as usual but this time there’s an exception: Two Republican Representatives, David Lewis and Bill Current, have parted ways with the newly enfranchised Republican gerrymanderers. They say Republicans ought to still get the politics out of drawing State House and Senate districts.
They propose North Carolina adopt the ‘Iowa Model’ – a plan where districts are drawn by designated legislative staff who are told to draw the most compact districts they can, without favoring one party over another. It’s not a perfect solution it’s a step in the right direction.
Of course, the House and Senate leaders will probably lynch both Representatives Lewis and Current – but, still, it’s a breath of fresh air to see two legislators saying flat-out no to one of the oldest vices in politics.