Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 20, 1991 TAG: 9104200158
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROB EURE POLITICAL WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Wilder signed the plan drawn by the House of Delegates with 11 black-majority districts - a plan that Wilder and civil rights groups agree meets the requirements of the federal Voting Rights Act for minority representation.
But the governor called the Senate's plan, with three black-majority districts among its 40 districts, illegal for under-representing black voting strength. The Senate now has two black-majority districts.
Virginia's population is about 19 percent black, according to the 1990 census.
"I have been informed that the Senate recognized that the bill in its present form was illegal even before I made any public statement to that effect," Wilder said in his veto message.
The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday to begin work on a plan with five districts, chairman Joe Gartlan, D-Fairfax, said Friday.
The full Senate and House may meet to consider a new Senate plan as early as the following Monday, said Lt. Gov. Donald Beyer.
Although Wilder says he has prepared his own Senate map that has five black-majority seats, he did not present his alternative. "I have concluded that the Senate should have the opportunity to demonstrate that it can and will adhere to the law," Wilder wrote.
Gartlan expressed regret that Wilder will not share his plan for five districts with the legislature. The day after the redistricting session ended, Gartlan sent Wilder a new plan with four black-majority districts, suggesting it as a basis for Wilder's review of the Senate plan, "but he has not responded," Gartlan said.
During the weeklong redistricting session, the Senate was reluctant to increase the number of black districts, largely because doing so would jeopardize the re-election of some senior white members, either by placing them in majority-black districts or into adjacent Republican-leaning districts that would be created as a side effect.
Gartlan admitted the chamber needed prodding to draw more minority districts at the expense of its own members.
"I think the Senate could move forward only to the extent that people realized the inevitability of these developments," Gartlan said. "It's a step-by-step process. But there is going to be a five-minority-district plan laid before the Senate committee Tuesday."
Beyer said he believes the Senate is ready to increase black representation. "It's a process of negotiation," he said. "They will come back with at least a working sense of what the minimum requirements are for each senator."
Beyer said he thinks most senators agree that the original plan would not have passed the U.S. Justice Department's review.
Because of its history of voting discrimination, Virginia is one of nine Southern states under the Voting Rights Act, which requires federal review of its political districts to ensure minority voting power is not watered down.
A gubernatorial veto of redistricting plans is not unprecedented. Gov. John Dalton vetoed a House of Delegates plan for multimember districts in 1981. That year, the House plan was rejected by the courts, the Justice Department and the governor, forcing delegates to run in temporary districts in 1981, in newly approved districts in 1982, and again for full two-year terms in 1982.
Gartlan and House Privileges and Elections Committee chairman Ford Quillen, D-Gate City, said the legislature does not yet face the prospect of special elections. "But time is becoming more of a factor," Gartlan said.
The black-majority districts in both plans are located in Richmond and areas south and east of the capital, where the largest concentrations of black Virginians live.
Keywords:
POLITICS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
by CNB