Cooperation evaporates, credibility gap widens, gerrymandering continues

A week ago the North Carolina Supreme Court rejected the congressional and legislative voting district maps enacted by the General Assembly as unconstitutional, extreme gerrymanders.

Quickly following that ruling, Republican and Democratic legislative leaders issued a joint statement pledging bipartisan cooperation:

“Over the next few days, Republican and Democratic legislators will work together in hopes of reaching a negotiated end product. Legislators will share that end product with the public and the court as early as practicable. Given the workload and complexity of the mathematical analyses required by the court, this work will likely continue into late next week,” said Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham and Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue, D-Wake.

After the revelations on Wednesday as the Senate and House partisan majorities steam-rolled their latest redistricting plans maps through the legislature, it seems to be that a “credibility gap” has emerged.

Berger offered a glossy assessment of the process. “After a week of working with Senate Democrats on a collaborative map-drawing process for the Senate map, we have not been able to reach a consensus. I met with Sen. Blue on several occasions to hash out details, but at the end of the day yesterday it was clear we were not going to reach an agreement on how to respond to the court’s directions.” 

 Blue bluntly differed. “This process has not been collaborative, and it is clear to me that Senate Republicans had no real interest in finding a legislative solution.”

 There you have it.

Based on past performance and the new maps offered up Wednesday it doesn’t take Solomon to assess the veracity here.

New state House maps appear to give Republicans a 55-41 edge with another 24 districts termed “competitive” and just shy of a guaranteed veto-proof majority. The new maps appear to give Republicans a 28-22 majority in the Senate – also just shy of veto-proof. The latest congressional map would give Republicans 9 of the state’s 14 seats.

As the state House and Senate moved their latest gerrymandered maps toward a final vote today, the leaders of the General Assembly offered their rationalizations that will be scrutinized by the courts. Their explanations are more aimed at splitting legal hairs in courtrooms justifying their partisan gerrymandering than offering up truly fair voting maps that assure every voter gets a voice in their representative branches of government.

The truth is in the eye of the beholder:

• A congressional district snakes from Union County in the west to Johnston County in the east.
• A state Senate district wriggles from Carteret County north to Pasquotank County.
• State House of Representative districts in Wake, Forsyth, Guilford and Mecklenburg counties appearing to be modeled after Rorschach inkblot tests.

 
The legal wheels will spin some more. The partisan majority in the legislature will continue the desperate efforts to gain a veto-proof House and Senate in the next election, regardless of the will of the people.

The ultimate goal is not to give North Carolinians a true voice in their General Assembly and U.S. House of Representatives. The objective is to amass enough justifications so somewhere along the trail of courts asked to determine the constitutionality of these maps, some judges will have an excuse to support them.

Three former state judges – Tom Ross who also headed the University of North Carolina system along with two former state Supreme Court justices Bob Orr and Bob Edmunds – will oversee and review the legislature’s work to see if it adheres to the state Constitution. It is no small assignment for this trio to bring credibility to a process now so sorely lacking it.

If ever there was demonstration of the desperate need for North Carolina to have a non-partisan criteria and process to draw election district maps, these last few days have most clearly shown it.

Our legislative leaders don’t care even broadly to reflect the will of North Carolinians. They only are interested in doing all they can to turn up the volume on their own partisan megaphones.