Redistricting bill advances
Wednesday, January 30, 2008

RICHMOND (AP) — The General Assembly would still have the final say over redistricting even with legislation endorsed by a Senate committee to establish an independent panel to redraw Virginia's political map after the 2010 census.

By allowing lawmakers to amend the final product, the bill would not prevent the partisan gerrymandering that allows the majority party to strengthen its grip on power and discourages voters from participating in noncompetitive elections.

The only way to eliminate gerrymandering is to give an independent commission full authority over reapportionment, but the legislature repeatedly and soundly has rejected proposed constitutional amendments to establish such a system.

"This is a compromise," Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, Bath Democrat, said of his bill, which the Privileges and Elections Committee unanimously approved yesterday. "The whole idea is you create political pressure on the General Assembly to adopt the plan proposed by the bipartisan commission."

Whether that pressure would be enough to overcome legislators' self-preservation instincts is an open question. If the majority party didn't like the commission's recommendation, it could offer a sweeping amendment rewriting the entire plan.

Although the bill stops short of taking politics out of redistricting, it received broad bipartisan support. Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Republican, and the measure's co-sponsors from both parties talked up the proposal at a press conference.

The Virginia Redistricting Coalition, which includes an array of business and community organizations, also produced statements of support from former Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat, and former U.S. Sen. George Allen, a Republican who also served as governor.

Mr. Allen knows the sting of partisan redistricting firsthand. In 1991, the Democratic majority forced him out of Congress by putting Mr. Allen and the more senior U.S. Rep. Thomas J. Bliley in the same district. Mr. Allen deferred to Mr. Bliley, but was elected governor in 1993.

"Having been the 'target' of creative cartography in partisan redistricting, I know how people in the communities are unnecessarily divided; placed into far-flung communities which do not share similar interests, and elected incumbents are placed into the same district to knock one out without a vote by the people," Mr. Allen said.

Mr. Bolling said that while partisan gerrymandering is constitutionally permissible, it should not be the driving force behind redistricting. He and other supporters of the bill said this is the ideal time to take a step toward bipartisan reapportionment because Democrats control the Senate, Republicans the House.

However, he said he already has heard from some House members who oppose the bill.

Mr. Kaine said he supports the bill primarily because partisan redistricting results in noncompetitive seats and depresses voter turnout.

"Citizens feel they don't have a choice and decide not to participate," he said.

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The House yesterday overwhelmingly passed another version of the repeal of high, punitive fees on bad drivers.

In the Senate, however, a final vote on a similar bill was delayed again amid legal concerns over whether the state can void fees a court already has assessed.

The bill sponsored by Delegate Timothy D. Hugo, Fairfax Republican, passed the House 96-2 yesterday.

The fees on egregious driving can easily top $1,000 over three years. Virginians were livid when they took effect in July because they don't apply to nonresidents.

Judges had assessed about $13 million in fees through December and collected about $4 million of that. That is well below the $65 million a year in revenue the fees were expected to generate for highway maintenance.