For your reading pleasure: PolitiFact Virginia

The Shad Plank is temporarily a bit understaffed. So until we're able to get back to full speed, please enjoy reading PolitiFact Virginia:

 

House of Delegates schedules Monday committee hearing and floor session on redistricting

House leadership is calling lawmakers back to Richmond on Monday to resume redistricting.

The meeting notice was just posted.

LEGISLATIVE INTERIM MEETING NOTICE
COMMITTEE ON PRIVILEGES AND ELECTIONS

**NEW MEETING**    

P&E Committee Meeting

Meeting Date: Monday, April 18, 2011

Meeting Time: 11:00 AM

Location: House Room C, General Assembly Building

Senate GOP applauds McDonnell veto, Saslaw vows not to surrender...

Senate Republicans are obviously pleased that they have an ally in the executive mansion, and Senate Minority Leader Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment, R-James City, continued to blast the redistricting plan after Gov. Bob McDonnell vetoed it Friday.

Here's Norment:

“Governor McDonnell has wisely decided to reject the Senate Democrats’ redistricting plan,” Norment said. “Since its introduction, the Senate Democrat plan has been the focus of nearly universal derision, and for good reason.

“The plan disregards the people of Virginia, splitting more communities – by far – than the current map, or the alternative proposals offered by the Governor’s Commission, William and Mary’s winning entry in the student competition, and the plan offered by Senators Watkins and Vogel. Other than the 22 members of the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus, it is impossible to find praise for Janet Howell’s hyper-partisan redistricting scheme.

“Senate Republicans are prepared to work with Senate Democrats on a reasonable plan.”

But Senate Majority Leader Richard "Dick" Saslaw, D-Fairfax, told Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post the McDonnell only gets one more bite at this apple.  

“The only thing he’s going to accept is absolute surrender on the part of the Democrats of the Senate of Virginia,” Saslaw said of McDonnell. “And he’s not going to get it.”

If McDonnell vetoes the plan a second time, Saslaw said the Senate will not adopt a third plan.

“That’s it — we’re not sending any more after that,” he said.

UPDATE: SENATE DEMOCRATS RESPOND:

The governor said a letter that the Senate maps were not compact and didn’t meet other legal requirements.

Senate Democrats said McDonnell’s allegations were unfounded.

“Governor McDonnell is clearly playing politics by vetoing this bill. We followed the same criteria that Republicans used to draw maps 10 years ago,” said Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw.

He said the Senate will override this veto and adopt the same plan again.

“The only thing Governor will accept is absolute surrender on the part of the Democrats of the Senate of Virginia and he’s not going to get it,” said Saslaw.

Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Mary Margaret Whipple said the redistricting plan passed last week by the Senate meets legal requirements.

“The redistricting plan we passed last week meets all federal and state legal requirements. It meets the criteria for redistricting as established by the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the U.S. Constitution and Virginia Constitutions. These criteria include but are not limited to, making sure districts are near the same size, do not dilute racial or ethnic minority voting strength, are compact and contiguous, and maintain communities of interest,” said Whipple.

Gov. Bob McDonnell vetoes Virginia redistricting legislation....

Gov. Bob McDonnell has vetoed the General Assembly redistricting bill.

Here's the letter where McDonnell, a Republican, saves his harshest critiques for the Senate Democrats plan. McDonnell compliments the House GOP for it's "bipartisan approach" but said they should use this opportunity to "strengthen its plan." 

We'll be back later - Download MCDONNELLVETOpdf

 

Republican George Allen speaks to students at Historically Black College Norfolk State...

The student center at a Historically Black College like Norfolk State University isn't fertile territory for many Republican candidates, let alone Virginia's George Allen.

But Thursday afternoon, the former governor and now 2012 U.S. Senate candidate was at the podium wearing a Spartan green tie in homage to the school mascot and laying thick sports analogies on the crowd filled with political science students.   

Allen's sports fetish runs deep, and he said he was at Norfolk State to talk about his book and not his campaign for Congress. Allen's book is all about how the rules, lessons and ethos of the sporting world could help improve politics in Washington.

And fittingly his 30-minute speech was draped in so many sporting metaphors, coaching lingo and locker room talk that one of the students, Nigeria Allen (no relation), opted to rework her questions into a sporting one just to make sure the former governor would give an answer.

The move drew snickering from the crowd, but George Allen loved it - calling Nigeria "pure gold."

But as Allen ramps up his bid for Senate even the familiar, well-plowed territory of sports talk is dangerous. Early this week, Allen caused a minor stir when he asked a tall black television reporter in Washington what position he played.

The reporter had never played sports and some took offense that Allen would assume that every tall, black man would be athletic. Allen apologized, and the son of former Redskins coach George Allen and a former football player at the University of Virginia explained that he simply uses sports as a good way to connect regardless of race.

Funny thing is I can vouch for Allen's explanation. When we first met years ago my sports background was one of the first things he asked. No offense taken, and he was right sports helped us get comfortable talking with each other.

But Allen is in heavily partisan territory in this 2012 race - and it's only going to get worse when Barack Obama and the Republican-to-be-named-later begin running in earnest in Virginia. State Democrats aren't going to let Allen or Virginia voters forget the way his last campaign ended.   

Allen, was up against Jim Webb in 2005, when his supposedly easy re-election campaign was derailed by a grainy video that caught him using an obscure racial epithet to describe his opponent's campaign staffer.

The little known term “macaca” is derogatory slang and has become part of the national political lexicon for a severely damaging political moment. Once a double-digit favorite, Allen ended up losing to Webb in the closest statewide election in Virginia history in 2006.

Allen spent five years in the political wilderness, but began his comeback last year. As the campaign gathers more attention, race is never going to be too far from the surface. Typically, Allen tried to tackle a race question by talking football.

"I grew up in a football family. Race doesn't matter," Allen told the crowd. "I believe everyone regardless of their race deserves the opportunity to compete and succeed."

After the speech, I asked Allen if he was worried that every word he says is going to be dissected to a level that most politicians don't have to worry about.

"When you have the ball everyone is going to be after you, you have to understand that," Allen said. "What I will endeavor to do is run a better campaign myself...talking about ideas."

But in the now famous video from five years ago Allen leads into the slur promising "My friends we're going to run this campaign on positive, constructive ideas..." from there the wheels fell off.

This time around an older Allen is hoping Virginia conservatives remember him fondly, but the instant and constant litmus test for Allen is going to last more than 18-months. Buckle your chinstrap.      

 

 

Political experts slam General Assembly redistricting maps for "making a bad situation worse"...

Political experts from the University of Virginia and Christopher Newport University have published a damningly critical analysis of the state redistricting maps passed by the Virginia General Assembly early this week.

The 17-page report, authored by Christopher Newport University Prof. Quentin Kidd and Dustin Cable of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at UVA, says that the maps passed by both Senate Democrats and House Republicans make legislative districts less compact, split more cities and counties and also separate communities of interest then the current maps.

"In short the maps presented to the governor by the General Assembly would make a bad situation worse for the coming decade," they wrote.

When Senate Democrats and House Republicans released proposals in early April the plans to redraw the state's political boundaries with fresh 2010 census data were slammed as unfair, overly partisan and rigged during public hearings in Hampton Roads, Richmond, Northern Virginia and western Virginia.

State lawmakers largely pushed ahead with their plans. House Republicans altered their plans enough to win the support of a number of Democrats. Their plans passed on a 85 to 9 vote over the objections of a handful of Democrats who found their homes drawn into different districts including House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, Norfolk Democrat Del. Paula Miller and Newport News Democrat Del. Robin Abbott.

There were multiple changes and versions of the Senate Democrats plans for the senate's 40 districts, and Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, faced tough criticism from Republicans and political observers. Howell's maps took a seat away from Virginia Beach and also drew Senate Minority Leader Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment, R-James City, into a rambling district from Suffolk to Maryland border.

Norment's district was changed so it only stretches to the Northern Neck, but he has still called the plans outrageous and said they probably aren't constitutional. Howell's maps passed the senate on a straight party line vote, 22 to 17,

The report, released Wednesday a day after lawmakers left Richmond for a extended break from redistricting, fuels political pressure on Gov. Bob McDonnell to singificantly rewrite the 140 districts that passed the legislature.

Further, the report offers significant evidence for potential court challenges to the maps drawn. Redistricting maps from previous efforts have frequently ended up in front of judges, and political insiders and experts have predicted that this year's redraw is going to face legal scrutiny. In previous years, state lawmakers offered up their proposals with little competition or alternatives that could be weighted by judges, political experts and voters.

But this year, thanks to the work of the independent, bipartisan commission appointed by McDonnell earlier this year and the college student mapping contest lawmakers cannot simply argue that the maps could not be drawn differently.

According to the analysis, the maps offered up by the independent panel would make significant improvement over the maps drawn up by Senate Democrats and House Republicans.

For example the commission maps split 72 cities and counties, while the Senate proposal that passed would spilt 135 cities and counties. In the House, the commission built maps split 153 cities and counties, while the House proposal would break up 194 cities and counties.  

This is really going to get ugly and there is no telling what McDonnell is going to do. But if his series of amendments and vetoes from earlier this year and the last second nature of some of the moves are any indication this could preface a drawn out battle. 

McDonnell's well earned reputation as something of a micromanager means he'll probably dig into the guts of redistricting too.    

 

 

Sen. John Miller responds to Sen Tommy Norment's redistricting attack...

Sen. Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment, R-James City, went on the attack Tuesday afternoon working to lay the blame for the entire package of maps passed by Senate Democrats at the feet of Sen. John Miller, D-Newport News.

Norment has been increasingly aimed at Miller since Senate Democrats drew the Senate Minority Leader a rambling district from Suffolk to the Maryland line. Norment's threats to move into Miller's district and spend $1 million on a campaign against the freshman Democrat this fall appear to have altered the district which shrunk down from the state line and now includes a portion of Williamsburg.

But when the maps officially passed, Norment blasted Miller.

After reading the press release sent out by Norment's team, Miller decided to have his say.

"I didn't realize that I was such a huge threat to the Senate Minority Leader,"" Miller said. "Unlike Sen. Norment I will not engage in personal attacks, but I wish he would get his facts straight."

Miller said that the only real communication between the two men during the redistricting process came when Norment asked Democrats if he could retain a portion of Williamsburg in his district. Miller said he agreed to the request because of Norment's longstanding relationship with the city.

Miller said he had little input into the redistricting process where Senate Democrats held all the keys, and pointed to Republican efforts that derailed a independent redistricting process in Richmond. Miller sponsored an independent redistricting bill this year that passed the Senate but got shot down by House Republicans. Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, appointed a bipartisan panel but gave it no power over the hyper-partisan process.

"If the Senate Minority Leader was so interested in bipartisan redistricting, he should have convinced the governor and his Republican friends in the House to support a bipartisan redistricting commission," Miller said.

Miller finished up by accepting a backhanded compliment that Norment's statement offered.

"If I'm as influential as the Senate Minority Leader says I guess my constituents will re-elect me easily," Miller said.    

Miller and Senate Democrats are not going to escape blame for the maps that they produced, and while Miller is only rounding out his first term in Richmond - his stance in the majority gave him influence over the process.

But Norment's work to make this all about Miller instead of Senate Majority Leader Richard "Dick" Saslaw, D-Fairfax or Senate Privileges and Elections Committee Chair Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, seem very selective.

Either way this increasingly contentious relationship is something to keep an eye on.

UPDATE: Miller called back to add a little something. "The minority leader certainly wasn't critical of me when he was trying to convince me to switch parties."

Like I said, something to keep an eye on.

 

Senate Minority Leader Norment blasts Democrats maps for splitting Williamsburg and James City...

Senate Minority Leader Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment, R-James City, has made no attempts to conceal his displeasure with the maps drawn up by Senate Democrats which he calls "outrageous" for splitting Williamsburg and James City County.

Norment has threatened to move into the district of Newport News Democrat Sen. John Miller, talked about raising $1 million (again) for a campaign and also questioned the constitutionality of the maps produced by Senate Democrats who hold the majority 22 to 18 in the chamber.

Now Norment is trying to lay all the blame squarely on Miller because he votes with the majority. Miller has introduced the maps put forward by college students, but it's not as if the maps had much of a chance in the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee, so it hard to give too much credit there.

But Norment's cries are also softened by the fact that his complaints sound a lot like the same made by House Democrats including House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong and Del. Robin Abbott, D-Newport News, and Del. Paula Miller, D-Norfolk, who all found themselves drawn into different districts by House Republicans.

Remember when you read Norment's comments that he happily took part in the 2001 redistricting led exclusively by Republicans. Amazing how partisanship is a terrible thing only when you're in the minority.

Norment said he spoke with the General Assembly’s Division of Legislative Services and that "for the 124 years that records have been maintained, the City of Williamsburg and James City have never been divided into separate Senate Districts."

Here's Norment;s release for the full text click below the jump.

“I will continue to fight this plan until Williamsburg and James City County are made whole again in the Senate of Virginia,” pledged Norment. “John Miller has already demonstrated how little he cares about our community. It doesn’t matter whether Williamsburg and James City are in a Democratic or a Republican Senatorial District. What matters is that they are in a district together, and not split into pieces like they were in the plan John Miller supported. I will not relent in the effort to reunite the Historic Triangle, and I am calling on Governor McDonnell to reject this brazenly partisan gerrymander.”

Sen. Mamie Locke's proposal makes major changes to Virginia's Congressional map...

Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, and black lawmakers have been talking for weeks about drawing a second minority majority district because with 19 percent of the state population black voters are getting shortchanged with a single district.

In fact, Locke and U.S. Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Newport News, have been talking about the need to give black voters a healthy shot in a second congressional district since at least 1991.

Locke's map have now gone up online - at the Virginia redisticting site - and they actually shrink Scott's current district down so it's almost entirely in Hampton Roads and it only includes about 40 percent black voters.

Meanwhile, the districting currently represented by U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake,would take on black voters in Richmond and Petersburg and end up with a minority majority. That would be a significant change for Hampton Roads and by taking black voters away from Scott the Senate Democrats run the risk of raising the ire of the U.S. Justice Department, which overseas redistricting and is supposed to be on the retrogression - where black voting power is diluted.

U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, would also seem some changes. He would still represent rural areas north of Hampton Roads all the way to Fredericksburg. But he would cut across the Peninsula in James City, no longer represent Newport News, and would now have a big chunk of Surry and also Smithfield.

There are a couple of proposals floating out there now. Sen. John Miller, D-Newport News, introduced the winning maps crafted by a team of undergraduates from William & Mary. The House Republican maps are also up on the site - under the name Del. Bill Janis, R-Henrico.

The plans are expected to get floor debate in the House on Tuesday at the same time that the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee works on their own plans across the square.

 

 

AG Ken Cuccinelli opines that Virginians can carry guns into church...

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has issued an opinion that Virginia gun owners can carry firearms in church.

Cuccinelli, a Republican in his first term in Virginia's AG office, issued the opinion on Monday in response to a official query from Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsyvania. On Monday afternoon, Cuccinelli's office released the following statement.

Delegate Mark Cole requested an official advisory opinion from the attorney general as to whether citizens are allowed to carry firearms for self-protection into places of worship. This was the third inquiry from a legislator about this statute in the last year.

Virginia statute § 18.2-293 generally prohibits carrying a firearm into “a place of worship while a meeting for religious purposes is being held at such place.” The statute provides an exception to this general prohibition when an individual has a “good and sufficient reason” for carrying the firearm.

It is the opinion of the attorney general, based on a thorough review of existing law and relevant prior court decisions, that carrying a weapon for self-defense legally constitutes a “good and sufficient reason” under the statute. This opinion assumes that the citizen is lawfully able to carry a weapon, and if carrying concealed, has the appropriate permit to do so.

For his opinion, the attorney general cited a 2010 court decision, Fullwood v. Commonwealth, where the court said, “[A] fundamental rule of statutory construction is that penal statutes are to be strictly construed against the Commonwealth and in favor of a citizen’s liberty.” He also cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion that the Second Amendment permits citizens to use handguns for the core lawful purpose of self-defense. Given these and other conclusions of the courts, the attorney general has advised that lawfully carrying a firearm for self-defense and personal protection constitutes a good and sufficient reason for the purpose of this statute.

The attorney general also notes that the Second Amendment acts as a restraint on government, not on private parties. And while the Constitution of Virginia protects the right to bear arms, it also recognizes the importance of property rights. Churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious entities – like any other owner of private property – can restrict or ban the carrying of weapons onto their premises.

You can bet that Cuccinelli's opinion is going to stir some extra controversy between Virginia gun rights advocates and gun control activists who consistently try to bar firearms from libraries and other public buildings. Cuccinelli is quick to point out that his opinions are not law, they are merely advisory, but that probably won't water down the debate too much.

With the General Assembly in session handling redistricting the opinion could spur so extra debate in Richmond.