Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 22, 1991 TAG: 9103220967
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: ROB EURE POLITICAL WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
In all, 19 Republicans - about half of the 39 Republicans in the House - are placed in districts with other incumbents in the plan released Thursday and tentatively approved by the House Privileges and Elections Committee. All but one of the 19 cases involve new districts that pit Republicans against each other in what one GOP operative called the "buddy system."
The one exception is a district including Bedford independentLacey Putney and freshman Del. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo of Fincastle.
"Democratic scum," groused Del. Vince Callahan, a senior Republican from Fairfax, who would be lumped with another longtime Republican from his county, Del. Robert Andrews.
Democrats defended the plan against the charge of gerrymandering. Republicans had to be lumped together because of declining population in rural Virginia, they said. The map includes eight new districts in the Northern Virginia area and one new one in Virginia Beach.
They also said some odd districts in Richmond and around Tidewater were drawn to increase the number of black-majority districts from nine to 11.
Del. Glenn Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach, who presented the proposal as a "working document," said "incumbency draws the lowest priority."
"And Brutus is an honorable man," snapped Steve Haner, executive director of the Republican legislative caucus, noting that no Democrats seemed unhappy with the plan.
Only one pair of Democratic delegates landed in a single district. In far Southwest Virginia, Dels. Jack Kennedy of Norton and Clarence "Bud" Phillips of Coeburn are grouped together, but Kennedy has expressed an interest in running for the state Senate against Republican William Wampler of Bristol. Senate Democrats propose redrawing Wampler's district to make it significantly more Democratic.
Six Northern Virginia Republicans are placed in three districts, but the majority of the targeting occurs in rural areas. It is an apparent attempt by Democrats to shore up their rural numbers as Republican-leaning suburbs around Washington and Tidewater gain in population - and legislative seats.
Besides Putney and Trumbo, the plan dumps the two Republicans from the New River Valley, Dels. Thomas Baker and Barbara Stafford, into one district. It places four Shenandoah Valley Republicans into a pair of districts and draws Chatham Del. Charles Hawkins into a district with fellow Republican Joyce Crouch of Lynchburg.
Several Republicans who were targeted say they may move into adjoining districts, an event that prompted Del. Thomas Forehand, D-Chesapeake, to joke that the plan "is designed to jump-start Virginia's real estate market."
House Minority Leader Raymond "Andy" Guest of Front Royal produced an alternative plan he said was drawn to "preserve rural districts to the extent we can."
Although his map was not complete, leaving out populous and minority-influenced areas, it provides a glimpse that Republicans might draw their own partisan map. Guest's plan includes at least four districts that lump incumbent Democrats together, including one placing House Speaker A.L. Philpott of Bassett in a district with Democratic Del. Roscoe Reynolds of Martinsville.
Trumbo said he may move to a newly created district made up of Alleghany County, where he went to high school, Bath County, where he taught and coached high school, Highland County and portions of Rockbridge and Botetourt counties. That district has no incumbent.
"There are about six ways I could go," Trumbo said. He said he might consider running for the Senate against Sen. Dudley "Buzz" Emick, D-Fincastle. "Emick's district looks pretty good," he said.
Apparently wary of challenging the Roanoke Valley's sole Republican, the House plan leaves Del. Steve Agee, R-Salem, alone. Agee's district still includes southwestern Roanoke County and extends further into Montgomery County, down the Interstate 81 corridor.
Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, traded several voting precincts in northern Roanoke County to Del. Victor Thomas, D-Roanoke, and picked up southern Botetourt County. Thomas and Del. Clifton Woodrum, D-Roanoke, who live within a half-mile of each other in South Roanoke, maintain their districts as the plan expands Thomas' district in the north end of the county and Woodrum's district in the south. Woodrum picks up several heavily Republican districts in Hunting Hills, Cave Spring and Penn Forest, but he maintains a solid Democratic base, with all but one of the city's black-majority precincts.
The strangest-looking Western Virginia county is Pittsylvania around Danville. Under the plan, the tobacco county is sliced into six pieces that are portions of districts centered in surrounding counties. That puts Pittsylvania on the political fault line of the map preserving Democratic incumbents in Southwest Virginia and Southside.
"It shows how difficult it can get to get enough people" to reach the average district population of 61,800, said Del. Lewis Parker, D-South Hill.
After several Republicans on the Privileges and Elections Committee argued that the plan was designed to punish them, the committee voted 13-7 to tentatively approve the plan and take it to public hearings around the state next week.
A hearing is scheduled at Wytheville Community College Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Several Republicans said they are not worried, because they expect the plan will be scuttled when it is reviewed by the U.S. Justice Department.
"We'll never run under this plan, take my word for it," said Del. Clinton Miller, R-Woodstock, who was placed in a district with Republican Del. Phoebe Orebaugh of Broadway. "There is no reason to get exercised about it. I'll not go beyond that."
He said the partisan elements of the plan "make it incumbent on Republicans to take it to court. This is blatant political unfairness. The problem is that the courts have been fairly vague" on whether partisan lines are enough to throw a redistricting plan out, he said.
Croshaw said the court has never ruled against a redistricting plan based solely on partisan districts. If the plan meets the standards of the federal Voting Rights Act for black-majority districts, Croshaw said it plan should win approval.
Several Republicans have said privately they have been assured that the Justice Department will reject the plan on civil rights grounds. Although Democrats control the legislature and the governorship, Republicans under President Bush run the Justice Department, they said.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY POLITICS
by CNB