West Virginia Blue
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In a second development on Friday, the justices blocked a decision of a federal court in West Virginia in another election case while the justices consider an appeal. The West Virginia case concerns whether that state's three House districts must be absolutely equal in population.
There was some Texas stuff in there, too, now that Gov. Perry is ba-a-ack. But back to us here in the Mountain State.
Isn't it sweet that Cheif Justice Roberts is our federal court overseer? He puts a new meaning to one-person-one-vote, huh?
In its second ruling Friday on courts' power to draw new election districts, the Supreme Court in a West Virginia case raised doubts about the authority of federal District Courts to require states to achieve absolute equality of population in drafting new voting boundaries.
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The District Court had not adopted a substitute plan of its own, and, in fact, stayed further proceedings after state officials had gone to the Supreme Court for a stay of the ruling.
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One of the goals of the legislature's plan was to assure the state's two Republican members of the House - Reps. Shelley Moore Capito and David McKinley - that they would not have to run against each other in the GOP primary for the same seat.
So for those of us living in the district that looks the most like a salamander, it is staying the same, minus Mason County.
According to a 3-judge Federal panel, WV's Congressional Districts must be adjusted because the Legislature's redistricting plan did not adequately adjust for the approximately 60,000 more residents in the WV-02 then in WV-03. Minimal adjustments to WV-01 (northern West Virginia) are also necessary. The judges ruled that the WV legislature must pass a redistricting plan, with an equal number of residents in each district, by January 17 or the judges will implement a plan and have suggested the "Perfect Plan" or Cooper Plan 4. As the judges noted, they chose not to decide the issue of WV-02 compactness in their decision.
The logical solution would be to move 30,000 residents from WV-02 into WV-03 and make the necessary minor adjustments to WV-01. Solutions based on this would conform to the need to balance the population between the districts. Yet most of the solutions being offered, including the "Perfect Plan" and Cooper Plan 4, involve splitting WV-01 (northern WV) in half.
Legislature is back in session on Wednesday. This should be an interesting session. Will there be a new and proper redistricting plan in place before the Jan. 17 court deadline? edit: forgot the appeal gives the legislature more time. I'm hoping for a WV-02 that makes geographical sense.
What other issues are you looking forward to this session?
Since the West Virginia legislature screwed up the print in their redistricting plans and are re-doing it, they should scratch the simple one-county move that made no sense either a nonpartisan or partisan stand point and draw Congressional boundaries that fixes the geographic mess that is WV-02. The plan originally put forward by Sen. John Unger makes the most sense from any standpoint.
WV-02 is one of the most ridiculously drawn districts in the nation. It's a fair criticism to point out that Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito very rarely pays attention to the Eastern Panhandle and has little understanding of the place, but in her defense it's so far away - five to six hours of driving - from her home base in West Virginia.
But what the redistricting mess has shown is that redistricting can't be left to the politicians who by nature focus on winning re-election and how redistricting will effect them rather than how it effects people in the districts carved up by them.
Ideally the redistricting fiasco has shown that redistricting can't be left in the hands of the politicians but rather a law should be passed to change the process so a citizen's committee is set up to draw the boundaries. It is too late to set up such a process this time, but there is plenty of time for the legislators to address the issue before the 2020 census.
The plan that would have made the most sense geographically, politically and rationally was of course the plan that was not chosen. Roll Call:
Why didn't the Democratic Legislature tweak the districts to be more favorable to Democratic candidates? The votes weren't there.
"The other plan that we looked at, that would have helped a Democrat in the 1st district, we couldn't get enough Senators to vote for that plan because it affected the counties that they represent," state Senate Majority Whip D. Richard Browning (D) said. "I'm the Whip, and I judged the support for the bill that would have given the Democrats a little better edge in the 1st district" to be lacking, he added, noting he was "a little bit displeased" with the final outcome of the process. He said he had hoped the final map would have made the eastern panhandle of the state whole, instead of leaving it split between the 1st and 2nd districts.
Early on Clem and I had pushed the redistricting plan that was very much like the one that Senator John Unger came up with because it was the one that made the most sense from an obvious, nonpartisan standpoint. Clem and I talked about it and thought if we pushed it, that would make it look like a partisan plan (and it made sense for partisan reasons too. It was a two-fer). WV-02 is a horribly shaped district, the longest east of the Mississippi. The fact that the senators made the minor tweak instead of redrawing the lines is proof you can lead them to an intelligent plan, but you can't make them think.
Mr. Messina and I messaged about hashtags this AM. I think he gets it.
So look at this, a hearing about the new congressional districts, that are, surprise, surprise, compact.
@lmessina Lawrence Messina
#WV #redistricting: Senate cmte takes up congressional draft plan. AP: http://apne.ws/r7LN18 | Audio: mms://live.wvlegislature.gov/SENjud
Glad to give up the title of "widest district east of the Mississippi River". The DeLay games have begun. Remember to bring good cheese for all the whine.
We in the eastern panhandle have a very rare opportunity tonite to participate in the conversation of how the new lines will be drawn for the upcoming elections. Sen Unger is the chair of the redistricting committee and will hold many meetings throughout the state over the coming months, tonite is the first such meeting and it will be at the old courthouse on the square in Martinsburg at 7pm and will run til 8:30. This is your chance to voice your opinion on how WV02 can be redrawn in order to be more consistent with the population centers. Personally I think we need to move away from Charleston in our congressional representation, what do you all think about that? Please come out, tell your friends, let's pack the place!
In March, 2011 the official census numbers for redistricting will be delivered to each state. At that point the West Virginia legislature can officially begin its job of creating new districts.
Presumably, work will begin during the January/February, 2011 session to map out a process for the rest of the year so the new congressional, state house, and state senate districts will be ready for the January, 2012 candidate filing deadlines.
About a year ago, I played around a little bit with Dave Redistricting Application and developed a set of potential scenarios for new congressional districts. This week, I revisited those and tweaked one of them slightly. Before I show you the three scenarios I think provide the most realistic viable alternatives, here are two other maps for comparison.
It is that time again. As you well know each time the decennial census is completed we prepare for changes in political district boundaties. As you also know the majority party redistricts.
Our current political district situation (Mercer County) is confusing to voters, confusing to candidates and confusing to the general public. Fortunately we have two recently elected members of the majority party in Senate District 10, Mark Wills and Ron Miller.
The basic question in the Senate will be,should all of Mercer County be in one district? If so, should it be District 10 or District 6.
Unfortunately we do not have a member of the majority party in Delegate District 24. We (Mercer County) will have no impute in any decision relative to redistricting that effects District 24.
In Delegate District 25 John Frazier is in the Majority party. He and the House leadership will have impute into any boundry changes relative to District 25.
My opinion is that, as nearily as possible, all of Mercer County should be in Senate District 10 and Mercer County should have one three delegate district that follows county boundaries.
There's been some discussion around the blogosphere this week about recent advertising in W.Va. by both John McCain and Barack Obama.
One of the questions that keeps coming up is, how much W.Va. media money is spent to influence surrounding states? Ohio is an obvious battleground state, with PA and VA not far behind.
This map provides a hint:
There are 8 media markets that include parts of West Virginia.
The Wheeling / Steubenville, OH market includes 6 counties in W.Va. and 5 in Ohio.
The Parkersburg market includes 2 W.Va. counties and 1 Ohio county.
The Charleston / Huntington market covers 16 W.Va. counties, 6 in Ohio, and 10 in KY.
The Bluefield / Beckley-Oak Hill market spans 9 W.Va. counties and 1 VA county.
The lone self-contained media market in W.Va. is the Clarksburg-Weston market. Ironically, it is also the only market to include at least one county in all 3 W.Va. congressional districts.
The Pittsburg, PA market includes only 2 W.Va. counties, 1 MD county, and 13 PA counties.
In the eastern part of W.Va., Pendelton county joins 2 VA counties (and 3 cities) to make up the Harrisonburg, VA market.
The remaining 7 counties in W.Va. are part of the vast DC / NoVa / Hagerstown-MD market that includes Wasington, DC, one county in PA, 8 counties in MD and 15 counties (plus a handful of cities) in VA.
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