“Lame Excuse”
Richmond Times Dispatch/ Saturday, Jun 09, 2007
GERRYMANDERING
For many years Republicans in Virginia deplored Democratic gerrymandering. The GOP argued that artfully drawn lines preserved General Assembly majorities for the Democrats. When out of power, Republicans happened to be right.
Yet no sooner did the GOP gain its belated Assembly edge than -- abracadabra -- it discovered the joys of the gerrymander. Republican maps after the 2000 Census distorted legislative elections as cynically as the maps drawn by Democrats. And Democrats returned the compliment by complaining that Republicans had the nerve to do to Democrats what Democrats had done to Republicans.
Certain individuals -- Tim Kaine, for example -- have called for non-partisan redistricting, but regarding gerrymandering, neither party collectively occupies the high ground.
Although the Times-Dispatch long has favored redistricting reform, we confess to a certain admiration for politicians who openly embrace the process as a partisan exercise. Then there are the trenchermen who come up with excuses -- the loyalists who, almost with tears in their sullen stares, would have innocents believe gerrymandering was forced upon them, that they had no choice but to create districts protecting their own.
The latest GOP dodge is to blame the Voting Rights Act. The federal demand to create so-called minority-majority districts inevitably translates into other districts that favor Republicans, or so Republicans say. A historical reference may be in order. Gerrymandering dates to 1812. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
Now, while it may be true that the act -- particularly as interpreted by Sandra Day O'Connor, the former justice of the U.S. Supreme Court whose ideal map would be drawn by Jackson Pollock -- requires race-based redistricting, partisanship does not have to affect the districts not affected by race. Moreover, Republicans generally did not invoke the Voting Rights Act as a justification for gerrymandering under Democratic suzerainty. Virginia Republicans, especially those on the right, have not rated among the VRA's greatest fans, either.
Nevertheless, invoking the VRA as a don't-blame-us reason for gerrymandering has become a GOP talking point. The trend grew visible a year or so ago as officeholders and activists began to bring up the Voting Rights Act when asked about redistricting. It is hard not to laugh.
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