I wonder what could have brought this on?
As states get ready to redraw their congressional maps for the first time in a decade, two Democrats in Congress are resurrecting proposals they say will inject more transparency into the process and prevent the new boundaries from being drawn in a way that gives a lopsided advantage to one political party.
U.S. Reps. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, and Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, N.C., said the bills they intend to file this week would lead to more evenly balanced districts and ultimately a Congress that better reflects the will of voters.
“We think it’s what the American people deserve and need,†Shuler said Monday…
What did bring this on? How about not just the loss of so many House seats, but, much more important, the loss of so many State legislatures and governorships. Democrats will not be the ones making most of the decisions after this past Census, and, they just don’t like that, so, time to change the rules. Elections have consequences, chumps, as does out of control spending, unsustainable deficits, insane social programs, and all the other garbage Democrats push.
Via Blogs For Victory.
Governor Perdue has been pushing that meme as well, my district has parts but not all of eleven counties. It was gerrymandered in order to keep Etheridge in office I imagine. Shuler has one of the only two fairly homogeneous districts (the farthest west triangle shaped part) in NC. I believe NC is the most efficiently gerrymandered state in the country. We need to fix that then pass reform and leave the US Congress out of the matter. Shuler voted against Health Control last year and may have run on that but he voted against repeal which means Pelosi let him vote against HC. He should be worried about 2012.
You’re right, I remember her discussing that right after the election, and how she wanted the redistricting to be all bipartishanshipy. Though she’s not as far left as some Dems, I have a pretty good feeling her tune would be different if Dems had held the NC Assembly.
The beauty of this is NC is one of the few states where the Governor can’t veto redistricting. I’ve read that the Republicans have been pushing reform for years undoubtedly thinking they’d never get control again. I imagine the Dems had some good laughs at these efforts. If the Republicans are smart they wont get too cute lest it backfire the way it has in PA, after they are done “redistricting” and then pass reform.
I think the states just need to redistrict in a geographic pattern instead of that snaky look it usually produces. I used to live in Shuler’s district. It would be hard to gerrymander his district in any way.
Mike
Mike: you are correct that Shuler’s District is currently a reasonable shape and size. But they use computers to calculate how to reshape districts so gerrymandering is a piece of cake. The problem arises when the party attempting to gain an advantage cuts the margin too close as they did after the 2000 census in PA.
Sometimes the bizarre shapes are a result of minority set-asides mandated by the feds. This can actually hurt the democrats. If an urban district is carried by 70 or 80% this may guarantee a minority candidate wins but is a waste of a lot of Democratic votes.
The Republicans would have to be morons not to take this opportunity. The Dems have been able to control redistricting for 112 years it’s the Republican’s turn to abuse the system. According to an article I read I believe at RCP last Nov after the election Republicans received 55% of the votes but comprise only 45% of the Congressional delegation. That’s what makes NC the most efficiently gerrymandered state in the country.