Guilford Redistricting: Cries of Victimization

I had the opportunity to attend the redistricting hearing held last evening at the Old County Courthouse.

Of course, the big news has been that the state legislature passed a bill establishing a new district map for the Guilford County Board of County Commissioners; and also making it impossible for Skip Alston to engineer a referendum.

This is a classic example of retributive justice.  The Democrats did it to Republicans-- over and over again-- and now Republicans are responding in kind.

The fact is that local Democrats engineered a massive expansion of the board and gerrymandering of seats during the 1991 redistricting.  And then they gerrymandered again during the 2001 redistricting.  They shut Republicans out of the process both times.

The legislature made one previous attempt within the last couple of months.  Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger met with Skip Alston; and it was reported that an agreement took place.  The board would reduce to nine seats, and Skip would get to manage the process of drawing the lines.

The ink was hardly dry on the new legislation, and Skip was already back in Guilford County, looking for ways to gerrymander; talking about a referendum to reverse the legislature's action; and discussing Justice Department challenges.  Clearly, he was not respecting the understanding that had been reached.

And now with the General Assembly's action this week, Skip Alston was dealt the comeuppance he richly deserves.  He had behaved dishonorably. 

But now, we are hearing cries of victimization from local liberal Democrats.  Don Vaughan was quoted in the paper saying that "the citizens of Guilford County should be outraged".  Vaughan neglected to mention that he has been the beneficiary of one of those gerrymandered seats.

Last night, Bruce Davis, Alma Adams and Skip Alston issued howls of consternation over the gerrymandered nature of the map passed by the state legislature this week.  But Alston's utter shamelessness was astonishing.  He had proposed his own map that was just as severely gerrymandered as that passed by the legislature.  But now we were to believe that the legislature had committed an unacceptable violation.

Another interesting thing that happened last night is that a couple of local Democrats-- Bruce Davis and Kay Cashion-- began to say positive things about Keith Brown's map.  It turns out that Keith's map is the best among those submitted that I have seen.  But I somehow doubt that Democrats would have been permitted to consider Keith's map had the legislature not taken action.  All of a sudden, it began to look like a good alternative to some of them.

The News and Record's coverage continues to be tilted to the Democrats, but I suppose that is to be expected.

The Republican map, even though it is gerrymandered, has some good features.  It restores competitive districts.  It increases the percentage of seats that are majority-minority to make Voting Rights Act compliance more likely.  It also turns out that Democrats are in the majority in all seats except, I believe, one.  Correct me if I am wrong about that.

The matter is now going likely going to be considered by the Justice Department and the courts.  It is still possible that the Republican plan will be reversed.  There are partisan Democrats in the Justice Department willing to find ways to stretch the Voting Rights Act beyond recognition.  And there are liberal judicial activists in the courts.

One thing is clear.  This is primarily a partisan dispute between Republicans and Democrats.  I think it would be highly inappropriate for Skip Alston to use county legal staff-- funded by the taxpayers-- to fight his partisan legal battles.  If Alston and his cronies want to challenge what the state legislature has done, it needs to be on their own dime. 

Comments

[KeepYourHandOutOfMyPocket]

If Alston and his cronies want to challenge what the state legislature has done, it needs to be on their own dime.

I agree totally but when was the last time Skip & Company did anything on their own dime. They have bilked the tax payers of Guilford County and the state for years and they just do not know how to use their own money. Look at the money pit downtown that the tax payers have supported for years. Maybe the Southern Coalition will help them out; they like to stir the pot.

[Joe Guarino]

Ah yes, the Southern Coalition for Socialism. Another cause waiting to be adopted.