The Washington Post - USA (2021-10-26)

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26 , 2021. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 A

Harrell questioned whether an

independent commission devoid

of lawmakers could truly be “non-

partisan” either, believing it

would probably encounter many

of the same political problems

while at the same time lacking

expertise.

Sen. George Barker (Alexan-

dria), one of the main Democratic

architects of the bipartisan com-

mission, agreed. He stood by the

bipartisan structure of the com-

mission and said it deserves a

second chance in 2030. He said

one mistake was that lawmakers

should have included more ex-

plicit guidance in legislation on

what it means to have a map that

did not “unduly favor” one party

or the other, and he said l awmak-

ers can do that before the next

census.

One organization that lobbied

hard in support of the amend-

ment, however, has already seen

enough.

“I certainly don’t think this has

been an advertisement for having

legislators on a commission,” said

Liz White, executive director of

OneVirginia2021, which through

an offshoot, Fair Maps Virginia,

pushed for the amendment last

year.

Now, even though the state

Supreme Court is expected to

draw the maps, White said she

still considered that a better out-

come than allowing Democrats

unobstructed control of redis-

tr icting in the General Assembly

and doing nothing to overhaul

redistricting. Echoing the silver

lining that several commissioners

pointed to last week, White said

she hoped the court would take all

of the public comment and pro-

posals, and use them to create fair

maps.

“I still think that everyone in

Virginia agreed what the prob-

lem was, and the problem was

one party got to draw maps in

secret, with no transparency, no

oversight, no consideration for

the other party or for voters,”

White said, “and I think this is a

success in that it has moved

away from that. The real failure

would have been doing it the old

way.”

[email protected]

Colby Itkowitz contributed to this

report.

undermining voters’ pleas for a

fairer and less politically driven

process.

In Michigan, Democrats and

voting rights advocates have ac-

cused the new nonpartisan com-

mission of GOP bias, and the

congressional map it passed still

favors Republicans in a state

Biden won and that has a Demo-

cratic governor. In Colorado, a

solidly blue state, the independ-

ent commission drew a congres-

sional map that protects the four

Democratic and three Republi-

can incumbents, while intention-

ally drawing a new 8th District to

be a toss-up. Latino advocacy

groups have filed challenges to

the map, saying it doesn’t take

into account their g rowing d emo-

graphic.

Sam Shirazi, an Arlington resi-

dent who was outspoken in pro-

viding public comment and sub-

mitting his own proposals, said he

believed Virginia’s commission

erred by not considering more

public comment earlier in the

process. Lawmakers, he said, also

appeared to dominate the process

compared with the citizen com-

missioners, when that runs coun-

ter to the ethos of a redistricting

commission removed from the

legislature.

“The biggest issues were elect-

ed officials being on the commis-

sion who obviously have certain

interests and agendas,” said Shi-

razi, a lawyer with the Justice

Department who stressed that he

was speaking in his personal ca-

pacity and does not work on vot-

ing rights.

Whether there is any appetite

for a commission composed of

only citizens will probably form

the thrust of Virginia’s next redis-

tricting debate ahead of the 2030

Census.

The Democratic citizen com-

missioners either declined inter-

views saying they did not want to

publicly discuss the commission-

ers’ work before it was definitive-

ly complete or t hey did not re-

spond to a request. But two Re-

publican citizen commissioners

— Richard Harrell, a trucking

executive, and Virginia Trost-

Thornton, a plaintiff’s attorney —

said they found the inclusion of

lawmakers essential because they

personally did not have experi-

ence in redistricting.

much sway. But Wasserman ar-

gued that t he commission’s fatal

flaw was the decision to forgo

creating any kind of tiebreaking

mechanism, such as the inclusion

of third-party or self-described

independents on the commission.

(Virginia does not require party

registration.) Other states would

be wise to avoid that problem, he

said.

“It’s a fool’s errand to believe

that partisans appointed by party

leaders are going to get in a room

and hash out their differences to

draw a map that neither party

fully likes,” Wasserman said. “Un-

less there’s some mechanism for

breaking a tie in favor of one party

or the other, which New Jersey

has, which Arizona has, which

Montana has, there is never a

chance of success.”

Virginia is one of 10 states to

have passed initiatives shifting to

commissions to draw its congres-

sional lines. Many of the commis-

sions, such as those in Colorado

and Michigan, were created after

the extreme gerrymandering that

took place in 2011, as voters asked

politicians to remove themselves

from redistricting and cede the

responsibility to independent

commissions. Other states have

tightened redistricting laws, add-

ing requirements aimed at mak-

ing it fairer.

But like in Virginia, many of

those efforts have been mired by

partisanship and dysfunction,

What would it take for commis-

sioners to do that? “That’s a tough

question,” he said.

Stanley, for one, thought the

inclusion of citizen commission-

ers inhibited legislators’ progress

toward overcoming partisan grid-

lock, saying the citizens were not

used to political negotiating. He

also argued i t didn’t help that

some Democrats on the commis-

sion had opposed its creation.

One of them, Marcus Simon,

ascribed the partisan gridlock to

an innate “imbalance i n bargain-

ing power.” Republicans, he ar-

gued, had nothing to lose since

they were already in the minori-

ty, while Democrats hoped to

create a map that reflected gains

their party has made over the

past decade. Republicans ha-

ven’t won statewide since 2009

and currently hold only four of

the commonwealth’s 1 1 U.S.

House seats.

“I knew Democrats wouldn’t

stand a chance of actually being

able to negotiate a fair map be-

cause Republicans had a different

set of incentives than we did,” he

said. If negotiations failed, he

said, “they had no real problem

with it going to the Supreme

Court full of members they elect-

ed.”

The amendment also required

a supermajority of citizens and

legislators to pass a map, which

the architects intended to prevent

any one group from having too

along, saying the amendment and

legislation lacked more explicit

language to protect the interests

of minority voting populations.

Other Democrats opposed the

amendment arguing that it would

not take politics out of redistrict-

ing, since it was bipartisan rather

than nonpartisan.

Del. Marcia Price (D-Newport

News) — a member of both the

Legislative Black Caucus and Fair

Districts VA, one of the loudest

lobbying arms against the

amendment — said both sets of

concerns were on full display over

the past two months. The com-

missioners, she argued, failed to

agree on a map that fully reflected

Virginia’s changing racial and po-

litical demographics — and ulti-

mately agreed on nothing. She

said she favored an independent

commission composed of just cit-

izens.

“It’s frustrating but also pre-

dictable,” she said. “We did sound

the alarm for two years, or longer,

of what could happen if we went

with this model of a commission,

and I just think inherently when

you have a partisan and political

process you’re going to have grid-

lock. You’re going to have people

looking out for their own self

interests.”

The process was “doomed from

the start,” said the nonpartisan

Cook Political Report’s redistrict-

ing expert Dave Wasserman.

Early on, commissioners essen-

tially created two parallel uni-

verses to work within — one Re-

publican, one Democrat, choos-

ing to “cut the baby in half,” a s Del.

Marcus Simon (D-Fairfax) put it.

They couldn’t agree on one set of

map-drawers, so they picked two

sets: one Republican and one

Democrat. They c ouldn’t a gree on

one set of lawyers so they picked

two: one Republican and one

Democrat. And when it came

down to it, as commissioners

tried to reconcile the two compet-

ing sets of recommendations,

they never managed to.

“For me it was frustrating,” s aid

state Sen. William M. Stanley (R-

Franklin), who replaced state Sen.

Steve Newman (R) on the com-

mission after Newman resigned,

“because it just seemed like there

was never going to be a consensus

if we could not put aside partisan

divides.

drawing any state House and Sen-
ate maps, resorting to the amend-
ment’s fail-safe provision to let
the state Supreme Court draw the
maps in the event that they could
not agree on a final product. Last
week, commissioners gridlocked
again on a congressional map,
with Democratic co-chair Greta
Harris comparing their repeated
inability to transcend the impasse
as “the definition of insanity.” The
commission left open the possi-
bility that it could return to con-
tinue debating a congressional
map within a 14-day extension
period that ends Nov. 8. But sev-
eral commissioners say they con-
sider that very unlikely.
Now, as numerous states
around the country begin transi-
tioning to or consider creating
their own redistricting commis-
sions, Virginia’s experience un-
doubtedly offers lessons.
Stephen Farnsworth, a politi-
cal science professor at the Uni-
versity of Mary Washington, said
Virginia should start thinking
about substantial changes to the
process before the next redistrict-
ing in 2030 to regain the confi-
dence of voters who sought
change. The commission, he said,
“failed in every respect to do what
the majority of Virginians
thought would be the best way
forward.”
“Failure should not have been
an option, but that’s where this is
headed,” Farnsworth said. “It
seems extremely likely that there
will be a new system in place for
redistricting after the 2030 Cen-
sus. I cannot imagine anyone
looking at this process and say-
ing, ‘Let’s give it another try.’ ”
Republicans in the General As-
sembly pushed the creation of the
bipartisan redistricting commis-
sion just before losing the majori-
ty i n 2019. Under the amendment,
the commission is composed of
eight legislators and eight citi-
zens, evenly divided by party, and
its members are appointed by the
General Assembly’s Democratic
and Republican leadership. But
Democrats, while initially recep-
tive to the overhaul, ultimately
splintered.
Numerous Democrats on the
Legislative Black Caucus opposed
the bipartisan commission all

REDISTRICTING FROM A

Va. redistricting commission’s dysfunction offers lessons f or other states

BILL O’LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST

One member called the Virginia Redistricting Commission’s failure

to deliver new maps due to partisanship the “definition of insanity.”

*Limit one offer per household. Applies to purchases of 5 or more Classic or Designer Glide-Out™ shelves. Expires 11/30/

Lifetime warrant y valid for Classic or Designer Solutions. Learn more at shelfgenie.com.

Schedule your FREE design consultation

(703)258-

CALL NOW!

50% OFF

INSTALL

*

Simplify storage with custom shelf systems

for your existing cabinets

AUTUMN LEAVES AND ORGANIZED EASE

CD

C

SA

FET

YGUID

EL

IN

ES

W

E’

RE

FOLLOW

IN

G

Locally Owned and

Operated

The

KIS

TM

Lamp

© 16776 West Park Circle Dr.|Chagrin Falls, Ohio 44023

US PATENTS

10,378,

10,422,488 Lamp’sheight

adjusts from

43” to 58”.

Soft linen

lampshade

diffuses

ambient light

for less glare.

The Lamplight light

sourcefocuses light

exactly whereit’s

needed.

...I don’tknowhow Ireadthe

newspaper without this lamp–much

morethan Iexpected!”

--- John Winston, NY,NY

”This KeepIt Simple lamp spread

sunshine all across th eroom.”

• JeanKauffman

KEEPITSIMPLE!

MyLight hascombined

classiclampdesign

witharevolutionary

light source.The

combinationdelivers

exponentially

more lightfor

reading or any

othertask.

Underlighting

is over rated

In your lamps,the new

“retr ofit” CFLand LED

bulbsdonot producethe

same amountof task

lightasordinarybulbs.

Just aswe’vegottenolder

and our eyesighthas declined,

OURLIGHTHAS FAILEDUS.

YOU NEED:

•Upto300 footcandlesfor reading

but you’re gettingonly30to

footcandles.*

• Aquality of lightgeared to better
  contrastand clari ty for olde reyes.

•Less glareinyour fieldofvision

*Footcandles describethe amount of

light fallin gonyour reading material.

Only32 WATTS

Comparetoanylampat anyprice.

ht source

designed for lamps

This revolutionary lighting

solutionwill deliver up to 10

times more light thanthe

single bulb youare now using

• for only32 watts!

ItspatentedLEDbulb array

mayappeartobe“upside

down”–but the4bulb spread

of lightisa ctuallydownand

out, perfectfor task light.

Seeing is Believing

100% risk free trial and

3year guarantee

The patented KISlampand

Lamplightprojectsamassive

amount of illuminationon

your readingmaterial. Reader

bulbs andallcomponents are

unconditionally guaranteed

for 3years.

Take advantage of our30 day

riskfreetrial an dsee what

you’vebeen missing.

Also Includes

full range LED

Dimmer

Swing arm

extends 6”.

Light Source

Available in

SATIN BRASS

(shown)

GUN METAL

BRONZE

BRUSHED

SILVER

Visit us online atmorelamplight.com

or call 1-888-211-6 305

Now only$395 with FREE SHIPPING

andLED DIMMER

SPECIAL OFFERincludes

KIS lamp, (5) bulbs, lampshade

and LED Dimmer.

Easy assembly.Lamp column simply

screws into the base.

“...RageAgainstthe Dying of TheLight”

• Dylan Thomas