THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 21, 1997 TAG: 9702210795
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY DENNIS PATTERSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: 134 lines
Senate Democrats unveiled a redistricting plan Thursday that makes the state's 12 congressional districts more compact, but eliminates one of two majority-minority districts.
Both districts sent black candidates to Congress.
While the 1st District, represented by Democrat Eva Clayton, would have a population that is 50.1 percent black under the proposal, registered voters in the district would be 55 percent white and 45 percent black.
In the 12th District, which forced the redistricting after being declared unconstitutional because of racial gerrymandering, blacks would represent 47.1 percent of the total population and 45 percent of the registered voters. That seat is held by Democrat Mel Watt.
Despite that, Sen. Roy Cooper, D-Nash, said the proposal should give incumbents ``a better-than-even chance'' for re-election. The political prospects of incumbents was a factor in designing the plan, he said.
``You could go a lot farther to make this an ironclad incumbent-protection plan,'' he said. ``We have not chosen to do that.''
Under the current congressional districts, 46 counties are divided between districts and six counties are in three congressional districts. The new proposal would split only 24 counties and none would be divided among three districts.
Cooper said the Senate proposal would divide about a dozen precincts, compared to several dozen precincts under the current plan.
Robinson Everette, a Duke University law professor who sued the state over the 12th District, said he found the Senate plan unacceptable.
``The 12th District still looks very strange to me,'' Everette said. ``Once again, it does not seem to put principle above politics.''
Everette said Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor had referred to the 12th district as ``bizarre.''
``The highest compliment I can pay it (in the new plan) is that it is less bizarre,'' Everette said.
Under the proposal, the new 12th District would follow Interstate 85 from Charlotte to Greensboro. The current 12th, which the Supreme Court rejected, extends from Gastonia to Durham.
``It's a real stretch to say there is a community of interest from Gastonia to Durham,'' Cooper said. ``That's what we, the state, tried to argue (in fighting a lawsuit over the redistricting).
``I don't think it's a stretch to say there's a community of interest in the two-hour drive from Charlotte to Greensboro,'' Cooper said.
Everett had offered a $2,000 prize to anyone who could draw a plan with two, compact majority-minority districts, and a $1,000 prize for a map with one compact majority-minority district.
``I don't think this wins any prizes,'' he said.
The proposal also reshapes the 1st District to make it more compact. It now stretches from the Virginia border almost to the South Carolina line.
Most of the bits and pieces of the coastal area now included in the 1st District are shifted to the 3rd District, which covers the entire coast from Virginia through Onslow County.
Wake County, which now is included entirely in the 4th District, would be split between the 4th District and 2nd District in the Senate proposal. All of Durham County is in the redrawn 4th District.
Democratic Congressman David Price, whose 4th District would be radically changed under the proposal, said the Senate plan ``is only a beginning point, not the last word.''
The House and Senate redistricting committees have scheduled a public hearing for Wednesday afternoon. Cooper said the Senate committee could vote on the plan as early as the following day.
Rep. Ed McMahan, R-Mecklenburg, the chairman of the House redistricting panel, said his committee could unveil a plan as soon as Tuesday.
``They have some very positive points in their plan,'' said McMahan, who attended the Senate committee meeting. ``It's more geographically compact. We do intend to look at their plan over the weekend and certainly will factor it into what we do.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color map
PROPOSED CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS IN NORTH CAROLINA
The Virginian-Pilot
Source: Staff research
PROPOSED DISTRICTS
Congressional districts, by counties, as proposed in a Senate
redistricting plan. Entire county included in district unless
otherwise designated.
DISTRICT 1
Granville, Vance, Warren, Halifax, Northampton, Hertford,
Gates, Bertie, Edgecombe, Martin, Greene; parts of Washington,
Beaufort, Craven, Pitt, Lenoir, Wayne and Wilson.
DISTRICT 2
Franklin, Nash, Lee; parts of Chatham, Harnett, Wake, Johnston,
Wayne and Wilson.
DISTRICT 3
Chowan, Perquimans, Pasquotank, Camden, Currituck, Tyrrell,
Dare, Hyde, Carteret, Onslow, Duplin, Jones, Pamlico; parts of
Pender, Lenoir, Pitt, Craven, Beaufort and Washington.
DISTRICT 4
Person, Orange, Durham; part of Wake.
DISTRICT 5
Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Surry, Stokes, Rockingham, Caswell;
parts of Wilkes, Forsyth and Alamance.
DISTRICT 6
Moore, Randolph; parts of Rowan, Davidson, Guilford, Alamance
and Chatham.
DISTRICT 7
Brunswick, Columbus, Bladen, Sampson; parts of Cumberland,
Johnston, New Hanover, Pender and Robeson.
DISTRICT 8
Cabarrus, Stanly, Montgomery, Union, Anson, Richmond, Scotland,
Hoke; parts of Robeson, Cumberland and Harnett.
DISTRICT 9
Gaston; parts of Cleveland and Mecklenburg.
DISTRICT 10
Mitchell, Avery, Caldwell, Burke, Catawba, Alexander, Lincoln,
Yadkin, Davie; parts of Cleveland, Iredell and Wilkes.
DISTRICT 11
Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Macon, Swain, Jackson, Haywood,
Transylvania, Henderson, Buncombe, Madison, Polk, Yancey, McDowell,
Rutherford.
DISTRICT 12
Parts of Mecklenburg, Iredell, Rowan, Davidson, Forsyth and
Guilford.
KEYWORDS: REDISTRICTING CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS