Interesting way to handle redistricting

[LarryN]

Ivan--

And we had a chance to overturn it, but didn't.

We never had a chance, as innocuously as that referendum was written.

[ivanbalt]

We never had a chance, as innocuously as that referendum was written.

Not to mention I think a lot of people just vote "Yes" regardless based on the margins by which things were passed. Gay marriage and tuition for illegals being the exception.

[Mike Evans]

Mike--

Why do you hate Calamari?

She is not a tea maggot

[Baltimatt]

Mike

Uhh, you said you hated Republicans and did not specify what you, ahem, call tea maggots, whatever they are.

[Spot72]

Just another example of a blatant power grab by banana republicans trying to turn our great nation into a banana republic. Disgusting. This is a mid-census redistricting right out of the Tom Delay play book. Shameless, anti-democratic maneuvering that makes Virginia look like a third world nation taken over by coup. Those who cheer this type of behavior show how little they care about the democracy or the principals underpinning the American Constitution. At some point, people have to place loyalty to country above loyalty to party or the future of this nation really is in serious trouble.

Also, not enough attention is paid to the fact that this isn't a redistricting based off new populations numbers from a recent census. The census-compelled process was done all of one and a half years ago for the 2011 elections. Now, without notice or public date, to propose new districts for purely partisan reasons, in contravention of the Virginia constitution, less than two years after already doing it, while an equally divided senate had one missing member on a national holiday, really is too much. Maryland's redistricting, while highly politicized and unreasonably gerrymandered, was at least done with notice, voter approval, and was based on the constitutional requirement to re-balance districts after a decadal census.

[Baltimatt]

Spot--

That's the weird thing. They had already done the redistricting. Seems like dirty pool to me.

[EmDot]

Imagine, a legislative body in the majority changing the way things are done, in efforts to thwart the minority party.

Irony is so lost on the leftinistas.

You should be more informed. When Senator Marsh is in attendance, the Senate is evenly divided. There is no minority. They waited until he was attending the inauguration and passed in within 40 minutes with little or no debate. Back in the fall, the Republican had promised to give the Democrats a heads up if they were ever planning to do something of this sort. That's honesty and integrity for you.

[EmDot]

Yet you (shocker ) see not hypocrisy in the Senate Dems using their bully position to thwart the minority party by changing the rules.

The potential for filibuster didn't occur until 1806. Before that, there was no chance of a filibuster. Maybe they should go back to the original rules.

[ms maggie]

ms maggie==

Have you seen the roadkill that passes for Maryland's congressional districts?

Hey here's an idea: read what I say before you respond. I am sure MD like most states has been gerrymandered beyond belief. Now was I saying anything negative about gerrymandering specific to Republicans? No. I was talking about the efforts to change electoral distribution to not reflect the vote.

[jtowne-swim]

"MARYLAND’S NEW congressional district map won’t shift the U.S. House of Representatives to Democratic control. At most, it could add a seventh Democrat to the six who dominate the state’s eight-member House delegation. Nonetheless, it may make Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley a candidate for what might be called the Tom DeLay Honorary Gerrymandering Medal, named for the former House majority leader whose brazen manipulation of the electoral map in Texas made roadkill of incumbents from the rival party.

The map, drafted under Mr. O’Malley’s watchful eye, mocks the idea that voting districts should be compact or easily navigable. The eight districts respect neither jurisdictional boundaries nor communities of interest. To protect incumbents and for partisan advantage, the map has been sliced, diced, shuffled and shattered, making districts resemble studies in cubism.

A fountainhead of reliable Democratic votes, Montgomery County, was carved into three jagged pieces, each used to offset and outweigh Republican territory elsewhere. This may fortify the county’s clout, enabling it to send two residents to Congress rather than one. But the resulting cartological contortions are comic."

Yes both parties do this

[jtowne-swim]

Imagine, a legislative body in the majority changing the way things are done, in efforts to thwart the minority party.

Irony is so lost on the leftinistas.

You mean the fillibuster change? In that case they are trying to work together to change them. Also here there was no majority it was a 20/20 split

[ms maggie]

It's ok because Maryland is forever a blue state.

Gerrymandering is not ok by me regardless of which party is in power. Only a moron would support the practice.

[jtowne-swim]

The "will of the voters" is represented by their Senators in the US Senate.

(Yes, even those dastardly Republicans, who are currently in the minority.)

Yet you (shocker ) see not hypocrisy in the Senate Dems using their bully position to thwart the minority party by changing the rules.

But when the shoe is on the other foot, you whine.

Of course.

so 1 person should be able to anonomouysly stop something? The changes that seem to be on the table would require the minority to get the 41 votes.

[jtowne-swim]

We never had a chance, as innocuously as that referendum was written.

Whose fault is that? The petition writer?

[ms maggie]

so 1 person should be able to anonomouysly stop something? The changes that seem to be on the table would require the minority to get the 41 votes.

Give it up. This poster has a real comprehension problem. Watch his reply.

[Mike Evans]

Mike

Uhh, you said you hated Republicans and did not specify what you, ahem, call tea maggots, whatever they are.

I will play your game. Calamri is a General Powell Republican. They are no longer accepted in the party of teahidst. In my eyes they are not republicans

[cprenegade]

This is why I hate Republicans.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobile...n_2528519.html

“I was outraged and I was saddened yesterday afternoon to learn that the Senate Republicans had used my absence to force through radical changes to all 40 Senate districts,” Marsh, a 79-year-old civil rights veteran, said in a statement Tuesday. “I wanted to attend the historic second inauguration of President Obama in person. For Senate Republicans to use my absence to push through a partisan redistricting plan that hurts voters across the state is shameful.”Republicans, like the redistricting bill's sponsor, Sen. John Watkins, say the new plan's purpose is to add an additional majority-black Senate district. Democrats counter the changes would pack African Americans into certain districts so that the surrounding districts would become more Republican.

That's funny. Then you should hate democrats as well. Maryland democrats did the same thing to Roscoe Bartlett. They redrew his district so that he ended up with part of Montgomery county, all democrat. He lost re-election. They did the same thing with the Eastern shore that put part of that district into Baltimore county. It allowed Frank Kratovil to win. Both moves were done to take away republican seats in mostly democratic Maryland. I don't believe it is right in either state. But if you are going to hate republicans for what they did in Virginia, you should hate democrats in Maryland for the same reason.

[ms maggie]

That's funny. Then you should hate democrats as well. Maryland democrats did the same thing to Roscoe Bartlett. They redrew his district so that he ended up with part of Montgomery county, all democrat. He lost re-election. They did the same thing with the Eastern shore that put part of that district into Baltimore county. It allowed Frank Kratovil to win. Both moves were done to take away republican seats in mostly democratic Maryland. I don't believe it is right in either state. But if you are going to hate republicans for what they did in Virginia, you should hate democrats in Maryland for the same reason.

Again gerrymandering happens all the time. The issue here is the underhanded method used. Don't think anyone defends gerrymandering in red or blue states. It is the major reason we have such a polarized Congress.

[cprenegade]

Again gerrymandering happens all the time. The issue here is the underhanded method used. Don't think anyone defends gerrymandering in red or blue states. It is the major reason we have such a polarized Congress.

No doubt it was underhanded and done to push through redistricting that would benefit republicans in Virginia. It won't stand. The governor will kill it. But the bigger question is the entire process of redistricting. What Maryland did with it's redistricting is no less underhanded. They carved out certain portions that would make it nearly impossible for republicans to win that district. The bigger problem is the process that allows the party in power to gerrymander districts so that they benefit at the expense of the people being represented. Change that process and you will stop things like this from happening. Districts should be drawn to best represent the people within the entire district. Not lumping a small, but highly democrat/republican area in with a district for the sole purpose of insuring that district will elect a representative of a certain party. Issues like these are the reason people routinely lump politicians with car salesmen and lawyers as the most sleazy of professions.

[EmDot]

I believe WI has a committee of independents draw their districts. I'd like to see all states adopt this method in some form.