Local parties digest maps
By Melinda Harrell
Published in News on August 31, 2017 5:50 AM
File photo
Wade Latham, Wayne County Republican Party chair, sits in the Wayne County Republican Party Headquarters.
File photo
Barbara Dantonio, Wayne County Democratic Party chair, sits in Democratic Party Headquarters.
Wayne County Democrats are none-too-satisfied with the newly-proposed N.C. House and Senate district maps.
Local Republicans, meanwhile, say the maps are likely to change and expressed concerns about the county's potential change in its delegation.
"We're not happy with the maps," Wayne County Democratic Party chair Barbara Dantonio said.
"I feel like these maps are disrespectful to the voters because they are not fair."
Wade Latham, the Wayne County Republican Party chair, said the new proposed maps are not finalized yet, and he believes the lines are subject to change.
"My guess, in talking with a lot of people, is we probably haven't seen the end of it yet," he said.
"This is the second time they have had to be redrawn, and every time somebody has some type of complaint or problem with it, and then they get given a new set of directives to redraw."
Dantonio said the Democratic Party's discontent with the proposal is multi-faceted -- it begins with how the General Assembly went about soliciting public comments.
She said there were too few public hearings on the matter.
Six public hearings were held across the state -- in Weldon, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Jamestown, Hudson and Raleigh -- and they all took place on the same day.
Citizens did also have the option to submit their public comments online on the N.C. General Assembly website.
Dantonio also questioned the validity of the General Assembly enlisting the help of Tom Hofeller to help redraw the districts.
Hofeller was one of the leaders in drawing the 2011 district maps that were ultimately ruled by a federal three-judge panel as having been racially gerrymandered.
Dantonio said it was insensible to allow the mapmaker who drew the 2011 districts -- these were the catalyst in having the redistricting process begin -- to be the person to help the General Assembly draw these proposed maps.
"I spoke with the young Democrats," she said, "and they said, 'first of all, why would use maps that failed the last time with the same mapmaker?'"
Another concern, she said, is that the proposed maps are unfairly partisan and, by default, it makes them racially gerrymandered as the Republican Party is predominantly white.
"If we stay with these maps, the GOP is going to continue to have the majority and that will continue on forever, and that is not right," she said.
"If you look at the statistics, there are more Democrats than there are Republicans. How can this happen? It's just not right. When they do (the maps) partisan, it is racist. When you use party affiliation -- which they did -- you are continuing to use a racially gerrymandered map."
The redistricting committees for the N.C. House and Senate did not factor in racial makeup when they considered the districts, according to criteria filed and approved.
The committees did agree to consider election results as a valid criterion, and through population consideration and county groupings, then drew the final district proposal on those criteria.
Viola Ryals-Figueroa, second vice chair of the Wayne County Democrats and a listed plaintiff on the court case that challenged the 2011 districts -- Covington vs. North Carolina -- said the maps remain unfair and will be appealed if they are passed by the General Assembly.
Allison Riggs, attorney for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and for the Covington case, said the new maps do not remedy the gerrymandering issues in the state. She said the coalition has already sent a letter to the General Assembly outlining the reasons they do not.
Riggs said the Senate map proposal includes the "same sort of racial gerrymandering."
"That is, they may have cleaned up the lines a little bit here and there, but some of these racially gerrymandered districts retain their original shape, so, the racial gerrymandering persists," she said.
Riggs also said that the General Assembly swapped one unconstitutional gerrymander for another.
"We think these maps represent gross partisan gerrymanders as well, and that could be unconstitutional just the same as racial gerrymandering," she said.
"You can't fix one constitutional problem by just introducing another constitutional problem."
In Wayne County, should the district map proposals remain as they have been introduced in the N.C. House, the delegation for the county would change significantly.
Republican Rep. John Bell of District 10 will take much of Wayne County as well as a part of Johnston County and all of Greene County in his territory.
Democratic Rep. Larry Bell of District 21 will take in more of Wayne County, as well as more territory in Sampson County.
Dropped from the county delegation would be Republican Rep. Jimmy Dixon, District 4. That district would encompass Duplin and parts of Onslow counties only, should the new lines pass.
Latham said that "Wayne County would be a little disappointed because we are losing Jimmy Dixon," if the maps stand.
"Jimmy Dixon has done a lot of good for this county as one of our state representatives, and it will be sad," he said.
"It'll be good for the people of Duplin County, but it will be sad for the people of Wayne County."
He also lauded Rep. John Bell's leadership, however, and said that Wayne County would continue to benefit from his representation.
"It looks like we are still going to have John Bell, and I think that is great because he is a rising young star in the Republican Party," Latham explained.
"He is already House majority leader. He is young and super sharp."
The N.C. House delegation wouldn't be the only shift for the county's representation to Raleigh. Should the district lines in the proposals remain, the county's delegation would lose Democratic Sen. Don Davis of District 5, with the Republican Sen. Louis Pate of District 7 taking the whole county and Lenoir County into his territory.
Latham said the loss of Davis as a representative in the county would be "a shame," citing the efforts Davis has made on behalf of the county and his efforts at bipartisan work with Pate.
"He is a good man, he has done a lot of good things for Wayne County, and it would be a shame to see him go." Latham said.
"He is a young rising star himself in the Democrat Party. He is a strong advocate for the people in Wayne County. I am sure the people of Wayne County will be sad to see him go. Obviously, he isn't a Republican, but there are certain things that have happened that he has reached across the aisle, and he and Sen. Pate worked hand-in-hand on things that were good for Wayne County."
As for the Wayne County GOP's reaction to the maps, Latham said in his capacity as the local party chair, he will support the representatives that are in the districts Wayne County is in.
"As far as the lines go though, as a local county group, our main job is to just to support our state representatives in our county, and we are going to do it regardless of how the lines are drawn," he said.
"I am not in the position to influence how things are drawn, my job is to support the representatives who represent our county."