Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 5, 1991 TAG: 9104050363
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROB EURE POLITICAL WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The action brought threats of lawsuits from the ACLU and the NAACP. The committee passed over three plans that included four or five districts with strong black majorities.
"I'll see you in Section 5," said Linda Byrd-Harden, executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as she stormed from the Senate committee room. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires Virginia's redistricting plan to undergo review at the U.S. Justice Department.
Byrd-Harden argued bitterly outside the committee room that the senators flouted the law.
"Justice in Virginia, as it pertains to the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee, is blind, dumb and deaf," Byrd-Harden said, charging that the committee is "a bunch of cowards . . . trying to cover their own behinds."
The two civil-rights groups were much happier with the House of Delegates plan, which also was approved by committee Thursday. That plan draws 11 black-majority House districts out of 100, as recommended by the seven-member House black caucus.
"This is a vast improvement" over the original House Privileges and Elections Committee plan, said Kent Willis of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. "I think it's likely to meet all the requirements of the Voting Rights Act."
The House plan, which pairs Republicans with Republicans in seven districts and lumps independent Lacey Putney of Bedford in a district with Botetourt Republican Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, is more likely to face a lawsuit from the GOP on the charge of gerrymandering.
A pair of Republican delegates from the New River Valley, Thomas Baker of Radford and Barbara Stafford of Giles County, also are in the same district.
With the committee actions Thursday, the plans for redrawing Virginia's legislative map reach the floors for debate today. In each of the final plans, Roanoke-area legislators saw no changes in the districts drawn for them earlier.
Sen. Granger Macfarlane, D-Roanoke, failed in his attempt to switch nine voting precincts with Sen. Dudley "Buzz" Emick, D-Fincastle. The Senate panel rejected on a voice vote Macfarlane's plea to give up five Republican-leaning precincts in exchange for four Democratic ones in Roanoke County.
Although self-protection motivated preparation of each plan, black-majority districts became the overriding concern in the final committee debates Thursday.
Because of its history of racial discrimination in voting, Virginia is one of 10 states under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which requires redistricting plans to be approved by the U.S. Justice Department.
The black-majority districts are in eastern Virginia, from Richmond across Southside and in South Hampton Roads.
Thursday, the Senate backed away from its original plan for keeping just the two current black-majority districts by adding a third. The Privileges and Elections Committee, however, watered down one district to about 53 percent black.
Sen. Joe Gartlan, D-Fairfax, chairman of the committee, warned that reducing the black majority in the third district, in Southside, would jeopardize the plan. But he said the weak district might pass Justice Department scrutiny because the plan also includes five districts in which blacks have 30 percent or more of the votes.
There are 40 Senate districts.
Pressed to explain how the so-called black "influence" districts better represent black needs, Gartlan said the final plan "is the most superior one I can get through the legislature."
The House committee, meanwhile, adopted a modified version of its original plan giving the 11 black-majority districts larger numbers of blacks. "We are talking about real districts," said Del. Kenneth Melvin, D-Portsmouth.
In contrast to the Senate plan, each of the House majority-black districts has a voting-age black population in excess of 55 percent.
Although the NAACP reserved approval of the House plan, Willis of the ACLU said he has no objections. "It's vastly improved," Willis said.
Keywords:
POLITICS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
by CNB