Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 26, 1991 TAG: 9103260287
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
Stafford has represented Giles, Bland and parts of Tazewell County Stafford in the House since taking the seat held by her late husband, C. Jefferson Stafford, in a special election in November. She would be put into a district with fellow Republican Del. Tommy Baker of Radford in a plan put forward last week by House Democrats.
The new district would include parts of Pulaski and Giles counties, Bland County and the city of Radford.
Stafford and Baker are not alone. The Democratic redistricting plan puts 19 of the House's 39 Republican incumbents into districts with other incumbents, and 18 of those Republicans go into districts that pit them against other Republicans.
"The Democrats in the legislature have taken it upon themselves to divide many communities unnecessarily," Stafford said during a Monday press conference at the Giles courthouse. The split of Stafford's home county of Giles has united residents in their opposition to the plan, she said.
"I have spoken with our Board of Supervisors, our county registrar and many of our citizens and have not found one person who wants our county divided in this way," Stafford said. The supervisors, who run for office without a party affiliation, unanimously passed a resolution opposing the Democratic plan.
Hub Brown, vice chairman of the Giles board, said he would attend a hearing by the House Privileges and Elections Committee at the Wytheville Community College this afternoon to speak against the redistricting plan.
"There ought to be some way to handle this without tearing everybody up," Brown said.
Giles has been in one district throughout its history and has never been divided, the supervisors' resolution says. The county, with a population of 16,366, ought to be compact enough to be included in one district, it says.
The county's Democratic registrar, Freddie Williams, said he opposes the breakup of the county and wishes the legislature would put it all within either the 7th legislative district or the 12th. The Democratic plan would add the Eggleston, Pembroke, Newport and Hatfield voting precincts in Giles County to the 12th district of Del. Joan Munford, D-Blacksburg.
Stafford, a member of the Privileges and Elections Committee, said she and other Republicans on the committee didn't get a look at the Democratic plan until Thursday. Republicans will develop a plan to keep Giles within one district, she said.
Stafford said she agrees with many of the plan's critics that it may not pass the scrutiny of the U.S. Justice Department, but she said the plan's greatest shortcoming is that it divides many communities unnecessarily.
Also, Stafford said that in the interest of fairness, Republican incumbents should not be placed in districts with other GOP incumbents.
If she and Baker eventually wind up in the same district, one of them probably would step aside to avoid a split in the party, Stafford said. Baker, however, said it was premature to talk about that happening.
Baker also doesn't think the Democratic plan, as it is, would pass "Constitutional muster" when it is reviewed by the Justice Department. He said he is approaching this fall's elections as if he and Stafford will be in separate districts.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY POLITICS
by CNB