Redrawing lines for state House and Senate districts and the U.S. Congress to reflect new census data is always a hotly contested political fight, but this year may be among the worst in recent memory.

Several factors — including the record length of the legislative session — have those on both sides of the aisle decrying the process.

“Since 1999, from redistricting to the budget, it’s been one holy mess up there,” said Sen. Dan Robinson (D-Cullowhee) from his home in Cullowhee.

“This has just been a tremendous, tremendous disappointment because the people in the west are just not being treated fairly,” said Rep. Marge Carpenter (R-Waynesville).

The state legislative districts plans have already been approved by the individual houses of the legislature and should win final approval soon. The senate districts covering the area west of Buncombe County  the 29th, the 42nd — change very little. In fact, it becomes more compact.

“I think the senate districts in the west are actually better,” said Robinson.

The state House districts, however, have led to considerable debate. The proposal that looks like it will be approved changes WNC drastically, abolishing the two-member 52nd House district and creating two new districts  the 75th and the 112th.

The 75th would include all of Jackson and Swain counties and parts of Macon and Haywood. The 112th would include most of Haywood and all of Madison. The other WNC district, the 93rd, includes all of Clay, Cherokee and Graham counties and parts of Macon, Jackson and Transylvania.

Carpenter, the incumbent in the new 112th District, said at one point her home was going to be put in Rep. Phil Haire’s (D-Sylva) new district until she pleaded with the House speaker.

“I wanted to keep this a two-member district, but I couldn’t,” she said. “The leadership is way out of control.”

The new district takes Maggie Valley and parts of Allens Creek and puts them in the 75th, leaving the rest in the 112th.

Many long-time politicos in Haywood County are upset.

“I think Phil (Haire) has done a good job as a lawmaker, but I’m not for this plan,” said Democrat Charles Starnes of Waynesville, who has run for the 52nd House seat and was campaign director in James Ferguson’s bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor. “Haywood County is the biggest west of Buncombe, and your hurting the county by splitting it. Phil has assured himself of being in there for 10 years by giving Jackson County the key votes.”

“I am disappointed Rep. Haire has pulled four precincts out of Haywood County. If he needed more he could have taken them from southern Jackson County,” said Mary Ann Enloe, a Haywood commissioner who lost to Carpenter in the race for the second 52nd House seat last year. (Haire is out of the country and could not be reached for comment)

House Speaker Jim Black decided early on not to allow Republicans to offer amendments to the redistricting proposals. While compromise is usually a key component of redistricting, Black said this session has dragged on too long and he did not want to extend it by lengthening the redistricting debate.

“The battle lines were drawn when the Republican caucus got all its members to sign a pledge saying they would not vote for the budget or redistricting,” said Robinson. “That kind of drew the line, and we went downhill from there. When the session draws out, the party in charge gets blamed, so the leadership decided to not allow amendments.”

Robinson admitted that gerrymandering has taken place, but that is expected, he said.

“The party in the majority gets to draw the lines. Sure the Republicans are upset, why wouldn’t they complain and holler. But it’s legal, so what can you do?”

What should be done, say some, is to appoint an independent commission to oversee the redistricting process.

Don Carrington is vice president of the John Locke Institute, a conservative public policy organization based in Raleigh.

“It is the best public policy to have an independent commission do it without regard to race, political party or incumbency,” said Carrington. “The only other goal should be to keep districts as compact as possible.”

Carrington, however, said he is not sure things would have been different if Republicans had been in charge.

“How bad would it have been if the other party was leading the way? We don’t know. But now that it has descended to the gutter, expect it to stay that way for some time,” said Carrington.

Congressional plan
This week, state lawmakers will likely finalize new district lines for the U.S. Congress. The Democratic proposal for WNC, which is likely to be approved, is being widely criticized.

“The Democratic plan is asinine,” said Starnes. “To go from Murphy to near Charlotte is absolutely ridiculous.”

The proposal, known as the “Wright plan,” would drastically change the 11th Congressional District. The new district would reach into Gaston County — near Charlotte. Parts of Haywood and Transylvania counties would become part of the 10th District, which is represented by Cass Ballenger.
By adding heavily Democratic textile mill areas in the east, the intent was to increase the chances that a Democrat could win in the 11th District.

Taylor is, understandably, upset. He bussed a load of Republicans to Raleigh last week to attend a public hearing.

“Splitting mountain counties, and raising the prospect that the congressman for Asheville, Hendersonville and other mountain towns would be from the Piedmont, could leave many mountain residents, and in fact, the entire region, with ineffective representation,” said Taylor in a press release.
Sam Neill, who rain against Taylor in the last election, said the new proposal is not so radical. The proposed 11th District would be 51.4 percent Democrat and 32.14 percent Republican.

“You know, this is a diverse district,” said Neill.

He said the new areas in the east have a lot in common with Rutherfordton, Spindale and other areas in the eastern portion of the district. He said every congressional district has split counties. The Wright plan makes the four districts west of I-77 competitive for Democrats, said Neill.

“Taylor’s complaints are a lot more about him keeping the seat than concern for the people of the district,” said Neill.

While both parties are lobbing criticism, they also agree that it is impossible to determine how different things would have been under Republican leadership. Carpenter said what politicians need to remember is that the seats they hold are not “theirs.”

“This is not my seat, and the 11th isn’t Charles Taylor’s seat. These are seats representing the people, and it shouldn’t be done for the personal gain of the person holding office,” she said.

 

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