Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 12, 1991 TAG: 9104120348
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROB EURE POLITICAL WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The Senate plan has three.
Wilder said he "sensed in the plan a turning back of the clock." He said Virginians "will not accept it. . . . They want to move forward, even it they have to drag some of their leaders along behind them."
In a speech to the Richmond chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists, Wilder blamed a "lack of leadership in the Senate" for not denouncing the plan.
He ridiculed an alternative plan - sent to him Wednesday by Privileges and Elections Committee Chairman Joseph Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax County - that calls for four black-majority districts.
Wilder has said he will either amend or veto the Senate plan, but has not said which route he will take. He has until the end of next week to act on the House and Senate redistricting bills, which use 1990 census results to redraw election districts for the next decade.
But the governor made it clear Thursday that he believes the Senate plan violates the federal Voting Rights Act, which targets Virginia for special scrutiny because of its history of racial discrimination at the polls.
"They sent me something that was dead before I got to it," he said.
The plans for five black-majority districts generally place Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews of Hampton, Wilder's chief antagonist in the legislature, in a black-majority district with Sen. Robert Scott, D-Newport News. Scott is the only black in the legislature who represents a majority-white district. Most observers believe that in a district with a black majority, Scott could defeat Andrews.
But Wilder said he is not targeting Andrews in the redistricting plan. "It is possible for five districts to be drawn without that occurring," Wilder said, indicating that he may in fact be working on a plan of his own.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People released a proposed redistricting plan Thursday with six black-majority districts, including one pairing Andrews with Scott.
NAACP state Executive Secretary Linda Byrd-Harden proposed five districts with a black population of at least 56 percent. The sixth has a black population of 52 percent but a voting-age percentage of blacks of 48 percent.
Byrd-Harden said that district may not qualify as a majority district, but said "we will accept nothing less than five."
All of the proposed black-majority districts are located in Richmond, eastern Southside or south Hampton Roads. The Senate now has two black-majority districts out of 40, in a state with a population that is 19 percent black.
The House of Delegates has nine districts with black majorities, but only seven black members. Its redistricting plan creates 11 districts.
In the speech, Wilder also attacked the Senate for the defeat of his budget amendments last week. Wilder has maintained that by denying the cuts he wanted, the Senate killed his plan to restore $15 million of the cuts in education.
Although the Senate rejected most of Wilder's ideas for trimming the budget, the chamber did approve his additional school spending - leaving a gap. Andrews argued that the additional money could come from Wilder's $200 million reserve fund.
Wilder characterized his cuts - mostly in higher-education funding and environmental programs - as "proposals to . . . cut wasteful spending.
Wilder has avoided saying how he plans to deal with the budget, now that his amendments have been rejected. Among his options is a total veto of the second year of the budget, a move that would leave the original two-year spending plan in place without the traditional mid-term modifications. He has already cut more than $1 billion from the $26 billion 1990-92 budget and shifted another $1 billion to make up a $2.2 billion revenue shortfall.
Wilder also could exercise his line-item veto power, but that would require deeper cuts than Wilder wanted.
Keywords:
POLITICS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
by CNB