Tuesday, March 15, 2011

House consensus plan passes House again with 57% of the vote. What will the Senate do?

Today, the Mississippi House again passed its consensus redistricting plan, this time with 57% of the membership voting for it.  The House also approved the Senate consensus plan by the same margin.

So back we go to the Senate now, where the only vote will be to either concur with the House vote or to invite conference.  If the Senate concurs, then the redistricting battle is essentially over.  If the Senate invites conference, that means there most likely will be not be enough time for the U.S. Department of Justice to review the plans in time for this year's elections.  That means there will be legislative elections this year and next year as well, and without doubt a lengthy court battle as well.

Here's the whole thing in a nutshell: Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant thought he had enough muscle to push the Senate Republicans around, and force them to accept his partisan redistricting plan.  Bryant failed, and now he wants to blow the whole thing up.  In order to do that, Bryant is going to have to sacrifice millions in taxpayer dollars to pay for lawyers and a second round of elections.

But what does Phil Bryant care?  After all, it's not his money.  It's yours.

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