For it before they were against it

Published February 10, 2015

by Gary Pearce, Talking About Politics, February 9, 2015.

Uncovering hypocrisy by politicians is as easy as finding sand at the beach. But the turnabout by Republicans on redistricting reform is noteworthy for its cynicism. Here’s what four key GOP Senators say now and did then.

 

“God bless ’em, I can’t wait to get it over here. It’s dead. It’s not going anywhere.” - Senator Tom Apadaca, who sponsored redistricting reform three times (2007-08 S1122, S1093) (2009-10 S25).

 

“It doesn’t need a new commission, it’s unnecessary….The Supreme Court made it clear how to draw these maps, it eliminates the gerrymandering that they’re talking about.” - Senator Robert Rucho, sponsor of Senate bill 283, Independent Redistricting Commission, 2001.

 

"Some feel like it should, some feel like it shouldn’t. You know, the other side had a chance to do that for what, a hundred and some years, never did and there’s some pressure to do it. Again, I’m not sure where our caucus will be on it, but we’ll have that conversation." - Majority Leader Sen. Harry Brown, who sponsored redistricting reform legislation three times. 

 

“I have yet to see a so-called independent redistricting commission that is truly independent. ... I'm still out there looking for that nonpartisan soul that really has no opinion about politics one way or the other that has an informational background in politics. So I believe that (state Supreme Court) decisions provide North Carolina with a set of criteria that removes many of the problems that folks have complained about with reference to redistricting. I don't see an independent redistricting commission or any of the proposals that have been floated as improving on the system that we have now.” - Senate President Pro-Tem Phil Berger, who five times sponsored redistricting reform legislation (2001-02 S283) (2005-06 S430) (2007-08 S1122, S1093) (2009-10 S25).

 

Then there is Governor McCrory, who said last November: "I think the gerrymandered districts where we have no competition in the general elections make all of our jobs difficult." Unless I dozed off during his State of the State speech, he did not mention it Wednesday night.

 

In fairness, some Republicans have not let where they sit change where they stand on reform, like Rep. Skip Stam of Wake County. He still supports it.

 

Also in fairness, Democrats could have passed redistricting reform long before now. They didn’t see the light until they lost the power.

 

There is one difference: Democrats didn’t promise to end gerrymandering. Republicans did. Will they break their promise?

 

If they do, Democrats should make them pay. They should make Republicans the poster boys for corrupt machine politics. Then, when they get back in power (the wheel always turns), Democrats better keep their promise.

 

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February 10, 2015 at 8:13 am
Frank Burns says:

The Republicans should state very clearly that they intend on ending gerrymandering,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, in 20 years after they have the opportunity to take advantage of it for a while like the Democrats did.

February 10, 2015 at 11:14 am
Norm Kelly says:

Another rant from a lib who was probably silent about this issue until, like demons in the legislature, being in the minority. 'They should make Republicans the poster boys for corrupt machine politics'. How does continuing to do business the way demons did it for about 100 years the 'poster boy for corrupt machine politics'? Why is it that when the finger is pointed at demons they have only 2 responses? First response: 'that's racist'. Second response: 'you are part of a corrupt political machine'. What part of this makes sense? Since libs will be preaching to the choir, it probably does not need to make sense!

The author is obviously a lib. An entire post about Republicans not wanting to mess with gerry. One little blip about libs having done the exact same thing.

So, once again, you first. If you get back in power with your racism rants and tax&spend policies, then let's see how serious libs are about removing gerry from the districting process. If libs continue to do what they've done in the past, a very long past, they'll stop thinking about gerry also. This is not new, it's just hypocritical of the libs. But that's not new either. They have 2 strikes against them. All pols are more concerned about self-preservation than any other thing. Second, they are libs, prone to hypocrisy, lies, distortions, ignoring laws, obfuscating, redirecting attention.

February 10, 2015 at 1:32 pm
Richard Bunce says:

Not really as when the Democrat majority in the NC Legislature was gerrymandering districts for over a Century they made no effort to end the practice and as I recall were critical of Republican minority calls to do so. Now that that the majority party has changed the Democratic minority is suddenly concerned. I also find the Democratic party support for straight ticket voting to be of concern as it has a similar effect as gerrymandering on down ballot contests.

On the other hand voters have the power to change all this in a single election cycle by participating in the major and minor party candidate nomination processes including voting in primaries and voting in the general elections for something other than the status quo. As long as that does not happen the major parties have no reason to stop doing what they are doing.