Free Republic

This is the second of a three-part series on the redistricting process that was dictated by a Proposition voted by the residents of California to take the politics out of the process.Republicans believe that they were hoodwinked by the Democrats in the new redistricting process in California – principally because the Republicans played by the rules specified in the initiative. What they obviously didn’t understand was that the process itself – specifically, how the commission’s members were selected – undermined the Republicans from the outset. The first problem facing the Republicans was finding people willing to sit on the commission,...

Madison - A three-judge panel on Thursday told Republican lawmakers to turn over 84 documents to a group of Democrats in a blistering order that said Republicans had engaged in an "all but shameful" effort to keep its efforts hidden from the public. The court promptly released the documents that showed, among other things, that Republicans who drew new election maps last year largely orchestrated the public testimony given in support of them. The three federal judges - two of them appointed by Republicans - were unanimous in their decision. It came after a string of orders against the Republicans...

The Connecticut Supreme Court today adopted a congressional redistricting plan that makes minimal changes in the state's five U.S. House districts, and it ordered the legislature to pay the court-appointed special master who produced it a fee of $36,400. The only news was the fee charged by Nathaniel Persily, the Columbia law professor chosen as special master in December after legislators failed to draw new districts. He precisely followed the court's instructions in producing the new map, leaving no doubt as to the court's acceptance. "The Supreme Court's adoption of the congressional reapportionment plan comes as no surprise, given the...

Redistricting fuels high N.C. political turnoverU.S. Rep. Watt said he's also considering whether to retire By Jim Morrill Modified: Thursday, Feb. 09, 2012 One governor. Three members of Congress. Thirty state lawmakers. And counting. That's how many North Carolina elected officials have announced they're not running for re-election. Before candidate filing ends Feb. 29, there are certain to be more in what's shaping up to be a year of historic change. Democratic Rep. Mel Watt said Wednesday that he's considering retiring after 20 years in the 12th District - a day after Republican U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick said she won't...

TX Redistricting Deal Rejected - NO Apr 3 Primary - Apr 17 Unlikely – Split Election Likely – TX Should Stand Up to Feds & RNC Monday, February 6th, was the deadline for a Texas Redistricting agreement to be made in order to have a one 2012 Primary Election in Texas on April 3rd. There was an agreement made between Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and some of the minority groups who are plaintiffs in the Redistricting Lawsuit, but then a Federal US District Judge, Orlando Garcia, in San Antonio struck down the deal. Yep, this is the same...

Madison - Republicans in the state Senate did not use talking points that told lawmakers to ignore public comments about new election maps, their leader said Tuesday. "I've never seen that and no other member of my caucus has seen that," Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said Tuesday when shown a copy of the talking points. "It wasn't put together for me." The talking points appear to have been produced in June by Adam Foltz, an aide to Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) who helped draw new election maps. The talking points said Republican lawmakers should ignore comments other...

Allen West has decided to switch to the newly proposed 18th district in Florida for reelection. Here is his statement below: “After much prayer, reflection and discussion with my close friends and family, I am announcing today my decision to seek reelection in Florida’s proposed 18th Congressional district. I have always believed the state of Florida would be best served by having both Congressman Tom Rooney and myself in the House of Representatives working to solve our nation’s most pressing problems. I have never waivered from my vision; to work to create jobs, restrain federal government spending, reduce America’s ever...

Jacksonville,FL- After last night’s Republican Presidential debate, the candidates’ respective spinmeisters made their cases to the media as to why their guy won the debate. One of Governor Mitt Romney’s spokesmen was Florida Representative Will Weatherford, and during the course of his remarks in the “Spin Room�, he shed a very dim light on the ongoing redistricting process in the Florida Legislature. Over the past several weeks, many Republicans have voiced their disappointment towards the Republican legislature after the release of the preliminary redistricting maps. Much of the ire concerns the proposed boundaries of Congressman Allen West’s 22nd Congressional District...

A California Supreme Court ruling Friday significantly raised Democratic Party prospects of gaining the supermajority needed in the state Senate to pass tax or fee increases. The high court decided that Senate maps drawn recently by a 14-member citizens commission will be used for this year's legislative elections, even if a pending referendum qualifies for the ballot. The decision brought certainty for dozens of prospective Senate candidates awaiting final adoption of the maps as they begin their campaigns. And it offered the commission at least temporary validation that it performed its job as the voters intended. Political analysts of both...

The Texas state attorneys defending the state’s GOP-drawn redistricting plans from court challenges have reached out to settle litigation, according to sources in the state. The settlement would give minority groups and Democrats what they’ve been demanding from the start: more heavily minority, Democratic-leaning House seats. The result would likely mean at least four more Texas Democrats in Congress as of next year, a good start on the 25 or so seats Democrats need to win to retake control of the House.

Breaking News: U.S. Rep. Brad Miller said Thursday in a statement released to his supporters that he will not seek another term in Congress. ...Miller said his decision comes in the wake of the voting map redistricting battle...

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected elections maps drawn by a federal court in Texas that had favored Democratic candidates there. The unanimous decision said that redistricting is primarily a job for elected state officials and that the lower court had not paid enough deference to maps drawn by the State Legislature, which is controlled by Republicans. The justices sent the case back to the lower court, extending the uncertainty surrounding this major voting-rights case.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a senior House Democrat from the Catskills, is retiring at the end of this year — a move that could end up saving the congressional seat of either Rep. Kathleen C. Hochul, D-Amherst, or Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo. Hinchey’s spokesman, Mike Morosi, told the Poughkeepsie Journal on Wednesday that the 10-term lawmaker will announce his retirement today in Kingston. Hinchey, 73, had surgery last week for colon cancer, and Morosi said the lawmaker is now cancer-free. Because New York will lose two congressional seats in a reapportionment that the State Legislature must approve this year,...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has thrown out electoral maps drawn by federal judges in Texas that favored minorities. The unsigned opinion Friday left the fate of Texas' April primaries unclear.</p>

The Republican-led Senate on Wednesday approved its version of the congressional district lines, setting up negotiations with Democratic House leaders over how to rectify the two different approaches to those six districts. (snip) The upper chamber also approved the new 38 state Senate districts that essentially drew at least three Democrats out of jobs, including Sen. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington. It passed the Senate, 21-14 with Democratic Sen. Joey Pendleton of Hopkinsville joining the Republicans...(snip) The map placed together Democratic Sens. Dorsey Ridley of Henderson who represents the 4th Senate District and Jerry Rhoads of Madisonville who represents the 6th District....

U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, R-York, announced this afternoon he will not seek a seventh term in office. During his time in office, Platts developed a reputation as a political moderate, who strongly supported the military and veterans. He routinely advocated more transparent government. In 2010, Esquire magazine named him one of the top-10 members of Congress. In the last year, Platts has drawn fire from the York 912 Patriots, a Tea Party group that criticized Platts for supporting the bank bailouts and the stimulus program. Platts, 49, is stepping away before a new district map for the state goes into...

Madison - A Democratic group suing election officials over new election maps asked a federal court Monday to sanction the state for not telling it about inaccuracies with the maps. Once a decade, states must draw new boundaries for legislative and congressional districts to account for population changes recorded by the U.S. Census. Republicans who control Wisconsin's government were able to draw those lines last year to favor themselves. Even before the GOP maps were revealed, a group of Democratic citizens sued over them, arguing they violate the U.S. Constitution and federal Voting Rights Act. On Monday, the group said...

The Wisconsin State Journal is reporting that a glitch in the state elections database is causing some Wisconsin voters to be listed in the wrong wards, municipalities, or school districts following the switch to the new, Republican-drawn maps in the state voter registration system. The GAB has known about the potential for error since at least Nov. 18, when the board sent a memo to county clerks saying it was related to the Census Bureau data by which voters’ locations were tracked. Previously, districts were assigned based on ranges of street addresses, which could be a problem if communities had...

The three-pronged battle over which state Senate districts will be used for this year's elections is reaching a climax that will determine whether Democrats can achieve a two-thirds majority in the upper legislative house. The state redistricting commission released maps for Senate, Assembly and congressional districts last August. It immediately became evident that with a little luck, Democrats could gain two seats in the 40-member Senate, thus reaching the two-thirds threshold and empowering them to pass tax bills without Republican support. Republicans filed suit to block the Senate maps, only to be rebuffed by the state Supreme Court, but also...

Former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement told U.S. Supreme Court justices Monday that lower federal courts cannot redraw state-approved election district maps unless they can point to concrete "identifying specific statutory or constitutional violations." Instead, Clement said during oral arguments on Perry v. Perez, two federal district judges have nullified the will of the people in Texas. The evident frustration of at least some of the Supreme Court justices suggests they agree with Gov. Rick Perry that state sovereignty must be restored. Clement represented Perry and the state of Texas in an appeal of lower court decisions throwing out new...

U.S. Congressman Allen West responds to the statement " I just can't believe a Republican State Senate is stabbing you in the back" made by an audience member at the Boca Raton Chapter Palm Beach County Tea Party meeting. (VIDEO)

TALLAHASSEE — Florida's new redistricting standards, coupled with the 10-year shift in population, have forced Republicans to do what is rarely done in politics — sacrifice incumbents — and that is not going over well with some Republicans. The possible casualties include U.S. Rep. Allen West, whose Broward to Palm Beach-based district would become more Democratic in every map proposed by both the state House and Senate. Broward Republicans have launched a website — "saveallenwest.com." — and are mounting a campaign to pressure legislators to revamp the maps to make them more in line with what they believe are the...

GOP Sen. Sam Blakeslee has started publicly signaling that he might not run for re-election this year. The San Luis Obispo Republican told Bee sister paper The San Luis Obispo Tribune that his decision is tied to the fate of the new district maps drawn by the independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Democrats now hold a 16-point registration edge over Republicans in the central coast swing seat Blakeslee won in a 2010 special election. But critics of the new Senate maps have collected hundreds of thousands of voter signatures in an attempt to ask voters to reject the districts next fall....

Sacramento – Over the summer, the website I edit, CalWatchdog, published a series of articles documenting the way that the political Left exploited the redistricting process in California to assure strong gains for the Democratic Party. The report included an exclusive interview with a redistricting commission member who alleged partisan behavior by his supposedly nonpartisan commission colleagues. The series didn't cause attract attention in the media, the Capitol or among the public. Apparently, no one was surprised that a commission formed with the best of intentions – i.e., taking backroom political deal-making out of the process by which political boundaries...

SEATTLE (AP) — With less than two hours to spare, members of the Washington State Redistricting Commission signed off on plans Sunday night that will reshape legislative and congressional maps for the next decade.

Redrawing the congressional maps will likely produce a few headaches to start the session — but gridlock could produce an interesting political result, House Speaker Greg Stumbo said. Stumbo, a Democrat from Prestonsburg, said if the courts have to intervene over the new congressional maps, Kentucky could end up with all the congressional candidates running statewide and the top six vote-getters go to Congress. That happened in 1932 when lawmakers clashed over redrawing the lines. “What the court would do likely is require what they did once before is that there be an election this cycle and the top vote-getters...

A recent exposé that shows how Democratic Party operatives manipulated the California Citizens Redistricting Commission must have the politicians and their henchmen chortling in Sacramento and in Washington. The report by ProPublica, a non-profit New York-based news operation, proves conclusively that one of the two major parties used less-than-honest means to influence a public hearing process that determined how congressional district lines were drawn in California. What a shock! The key nugget on which the ProPublica story relies is a clutch of emails obtained from a congressional aide who convened a meeting in Washington last spring to discuss how to...

A state district judge has adopted a redistricting plan that will establish slightly different boundaries for New Mexico’s three congressional districts. Judge James Hall issued his ruling Thursday afternoon. Hall is adopting a plan that makes the fewest changes to the existing districts. It has the support of Gov. Susana Martinez, other Republicans and a group of Democrats that include Rep. Brian Egolf of Santa Fe.

Madison - An aide to a top lawmaker gave sworn testimony last week that new legislative maps approved this year were not meant to increase the Republican majority in the Legislature, but were nonetheless provided to the Republican National Committee in advance. The seemingly inconsistent testimony came in a deposition from Adam Foltz, an aide to Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horizon) charged with drawing the new maps for lawmakers. A copy of the deposition was filed with a federal three-judge panel late Tuesday. Every 10 years, states must draw new boundaries for legislative and congressional districts to account for population...

ANNAPOLIS — Black voters and lawmakers said Thursday that a proposed state-level redistricting map provides too few majority-black districts and would lead to continued underrepresentation of minorities in the General Assembly. The testimony was given during a public hearing held by Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, and his appointed redistricting panel, which remapped Maryland’s 47 state Senate districts to account for population changes in the past decade. The panel submitted the map last week and touted the strides it would make toward improving minority representation by increasing the number of majority-black districts from 10 to 12 and increasing the number...

Many Democrats are giddy about a recent proposal by Florida’s Republican leadership to drastically change the boundaries defining Congressional District 22, now represented by the high profile Republican Congressman, Allen West. But the decision has left some in the Republican Party scratching their heads. Broward Republican Executive Committee Vice Chairwoman Colleen Stolberg has sharply criticized the Reapportionment Committee proposal to change District 22 boundaries in a way that would jeopardize West’s chances for re-election.

California's congressional Democrats ran a secret effort this year to manipulate the independent citizens panel that drew the state's new political districts, foiling the intent of those who sought to remove the redistricting process from the control of party bosses. Democrats met behind closed doors at the party's Washington headquarters, hired consultants, drew their ideal districts and presented maps to the panel through proxies who never disclosed their party ties or “public interest” groups created specifically for the purpose. In many cases, the panel responded by doing just what the Democrats wanted. The New York-based nonprofit investigative foundation ProPublica released...

California's congressional Democrats ran a secret effort earlier this year to manipulate the work of the independent citizen's panel that drew the state's new political districts, foiling the intent of reformers who sought to remove the redistricting process from the control of party bosses. Democrats met behind closed doors at the party's Washington, D.C. headquarters, hired consultants, drew their ideal districts and presented maps to the panel through proxies who never disclosed their party ties or "public interest" groups created specifically for the purpose. In many cases, the panel responded by doing just what the Democrats wanted. The New York-based...

California's congressional Democrats ran a secret effort this year to manipulate the work of the independent citizens panel that drew the state's new political districts, foiling the intent of reformers who sought to remove the redistricting process from the control of party bosses. Democrats met behind closed doors at the party's Washington, D.C., headquarters, hired consultants, drew their ideal districts and presented maps to the panel through proxies who never disclosed their party ties or "public interest" groups created specifically for the purpose. In many cases, the panel responded by doing just what the Democrats wanted. The New York-based nonprofit...

There have been a lot of good candidates for the "gerrymander of the decade" award this cycle. North Carolina, Illinois and Texas have all dreamed up district lines that have gone... --snip-- Republicans in Pennsylvania, however, took a state that is two or three points more Democratic than the country as a whole, and created 12 districts (out of 18) that are more Republican than the country as a whole. They did so by creating what can only be called a group of Rorschach-inkblot districts in southeastern Pennsylvania. The net result is a map that shores up their vulnerable incumbents,...

Dems Release Their Own Congressional Map Democrats have strongly criticized the congressional map unveiled yesterday by Harrisburg Republicans. Well-grounded accusations of partisanship fill the air. So Senate Democrats have released their own version. The caucus will introduce the map below as an amendment to SB 1249 at some point Wednesday. Since Republicans have the Governor’s mansion and majorities in the Pa. House and Senate, it’s unlikely to go anywhere. But it’s interesting to look at.The full map is below. Bless them for including municipal breakdowns. It raises an interesting question: can Dems still complain about gerrymandering when their maps looks...

Republicans notched a major redistricting win on Tuesday with the unveiling of a Pennsylvania congressional map that deals a sharp blow to Democrats’ prospects in the state. The GOP-drawn plan, released by a state legislative redistricting panel, forces two Democrats into an incumbent vs. incumbent face-off for a southwestern Pennsylvania-based seat and shores up more than a half-dozen House Republicans.

Reporting from Washington— The Supreme Court granted an emergency appeal Friday night from Texas Republicans, putting on hold a redistricting map drawn by judges that would give Democrats a good chance to pick up at least three seats in the next Congress. In an unusual move, the justices announced they would schedule special arguments on Jan. 9 to decide whether Texas and other Southern states may proceed to hold elections under new redistricting plans that have not been approved under the Voting Rights Act.

MADISON — Lori Compas said she is ahead of schedule in her campaign to recall Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. As of Monday morning, Compas said she and her fellow petitioners had collected 5,350 of the 16,742 signatures that would, if validated, help trigger a recall election for the Juneau Republican. But if Republicans win in the state legal system, Compas’ efforts largely may be moot. A group of Wisconsinites has filed two lawsuits, one with the state Supreme Court and one this week in Waukesha County, that seek to use newly redrawn legislative district maps for any recall efforts...

A somewhat bitter U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said today he will not seek re-election in 2012 in a move he said was triggered by redistricting that left him with too many new constituents to serve as a “lame-duck” legislator. “There are too many constraints,” Frank said about his life as a politician and the energy it would take to meet new voters so late in his tenure. “People are skeptical about incumbents,” he added. “There was also this — I don’t like raising money.”

Republican activists trying to overturn some new voting districts cleared a significant hurdle toward putting the issue on the ballot by turning in petitions bearing hundreds of thousands of signatures. [...] Secretary of State Debra Bowen has said that vetting all the signatures could take until mid-March, after the Feb. 23 deadline for some candidates to file for the June primary. The timing could mean that the maps drawn by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission would be used until voters could weigh in on the November ballot. The referendum would allow voters the final word on the Senate maps. Dave...

In 2001, the Democratic Party in Georgia barely clung to power. The state, at that time, was moving ever closer toward a Republican majority. When the Democrats began the redistricting process, they knew the only way they could attempt to retain power was to gerrymander the districts in such a way that Republicans would have a difficult time getting elected to office. Well, it didn’t work. After weeks of work during a special session – a session where secret maps were drawn and unreleased until well into the process – the new districts looked outrageous. Lawsuits followed and the process...

Why your vote for Congress might not matterBy James Polk, CNN updated 10:19 AM EST, Fri November 18, 2011 **SNIP** Gerrymandering is the term for the way politicians draw boundary lines for legislative districts in a way designed to keep one party or the other in power in that particular district. In the last 10 years, 78% of the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives -- almost four out of every five members of Congress -- did not change party hands even once. In California, with 53 seats -- the most in the nation -- incumbents were kept so...

1. There is no confidence in our judiciary when a Supreme Court Justice does not bother to recuse herself when she had direct involvement in the issue before the court.

DENVER -- That 2012 statehouse battle between Reps. Andy Kerr and Ken Summers, their two House districts drawn together by Colorado's Reapportionment Commission, is on hold. For now. On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court rejected the new map of Colorado's House and Senate districts approved by the commission in September. Several state lawmakers saw their seats become a lot more competitive under the new map, drawn by Entravision CEO Mario Carerra, the unaffiliated chairman of -- and swing vote on -- the 11-member commission. Now, after a 4-2 vote by the state's highest court, the Commission will have to reconvene...

If you’re not a political junkie, the redistricting process can be about as thrilling as an afternoon of C-SPAN. Unless you're paying attention to Arizona. This year, the state's redistricting efforts are rife with personality clashes and political intrigue. In 2000, Arizona voters approved a ballot measure that made redistricting the responsibility of a panel comprised of two Democrats, two Republicans and an independent chair, which was supposed to tamp down the partisan warfare that retooling political boundaries invites. (This year, California’s political lines were drawn for the first time by a similar independent panel.) But Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission...

The last time California redrew its congressional districts, Republicans and Democrats cut a deal to preserve all the incumbents, essentially erasing the country’s biggest electoral fishing ground from the map in 2002. But voters weren’t amused. In the intervening years, they established a citizens commission to redraw the lines. In the process, they declared open season on incumbents and set up what political analysts say could be a dozen races to watch next year.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina's journey toward new political boundaries for the Legislature and Congress for the next decade is about to detour again into court. Civil rights, election reform and union groups are planning to file a lawsuit Friday challenging the recently approved boundaries in state court. The groups' moves come even after the U.S. Justice Department announced late Tuesday it wouldn't object, for now, to the maps based on a portion of the federal Voting Rights Act. North Carolina's redistricting maps are subject to prior approval by the Justice Department or federal courts because of past discrimination.

Two issues plague Democrats when it comes to congressmen representing swing districts: The moderates don’t get heard in Washington, and centrist districts are rapidly becoming extinct because of the way congressional lines are being drawn. Main Street America’s ability to be represented fully is diminishing, according to U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire of Southwestern Pennsylvania. “I have a district which is pretty evenly divided politically, so I hear from a variety of voices with their concerns,” the three-term Democrat said. He follows those concerns when voting, he insisted, rather than following the party line. That is not the case, he said,...

Gov. Martin O’Malley has signed legislation outlining Maryland’s congressional redistricting map The Democratic governor signed the measure on Thursday, shortly after the state Senate took a final vote to correct about 24 typographical errors in the bill. The House of Delegates passed the bill on Wednesday. Maryland has eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The districts were being redrawn for the next 10 years in response to the 2010 census. Democrats who control the General Assembly say the map reflects population growth in the suburbs of the nation’s capital and along the Interstate corridor northwest of Washington. But...