MS Dem Third Congressional District EC Letter to DOJ: GOP Map Artist Pledged to Draw Racially Biased Maps

In a letter to the United States Department of Justice's Voting Section Chief Chris Herren, Jackson attorney Dorsey Carson, the chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party's Third Congressional District Executive Committee, recounts that during the 2011 legislative campaign Rep. Bill Denny (R - Jackson) pledged to "decrease the number of minority voters" within his House district.  Those who've followed Denny's career and studied the redistricting maps he drew this past legislative session won't be surprised, but the head of the USDOJ's Voting Division might be.

BREAKING: MARSHALL COUNTY ASKS DOJ TO REJECT REDISTRICTING PLAN

Here is the letter from the Marshall County Board of Supervisors asking that the Department of Justice reject the Republican-drawn redistricting plan as violative of Sections 2 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act:

REDISTRICTING: Rankin County Dems object to Republican plan, request DOJ reject maps

In a letter yesterday to the U.S. Department of Justice, Rankin County Democratic Executive Committee Chairman Ryan Brown lodged his organization's objection to the legislative redistricting maps passed by the Legislature this year. The objection points out some pretty interesting numbers.  For example, the target population for a House district this year was 24,322 people. Rankin County grew by 26,290 people since the last maps were drawn, yet did not receive a new seat wholly within Rankin County under the House map.  

SENATE PASSES HOUSE REDISTRICTING MAP

In a showing that the gentleman's agreement is now back in place under Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves (R), there was no debate over the House plan whatsoever in the Senate.

***BREAKING*** - SENATE MOVING TO HOUSE REDISTRICTING MAP

Sen. Merle Flowers (R - Southaven) is presenting it to the Senate now.

***BREAKING** - SENATE PASSES FLOWERS MAP 46-5

Vote report to come soon.

ANALYSIS OF FLOWERS SENATE MAP: Not a perfect plan, but not awful like the House map

After reviewing the Senate redistricting plan proposed by Sen. Merle Flowers (R - Southaven), I've got to say that it's not that bad of a map.  In fact, by comparison, this makes the House map created by Rep. Bill Denny (R - Jackson) look even worse.  The Flowers map shows that it is possible to redistrict the state without re-segregating it as Denny did.

Here are some notes:

• 33 of the 52 Senate districts lost African-American voting population when the state as a whole saw its African-American population increase by 0.7%
• That being said, only 4 districts saw any significant decrease in BVAP (black voting-age population), and those districts were 2, 14, 33, and 47.
• Depending on the definition of "districts of influence" one chooses, the number of lost districts of influence is either 2 or 4.  
• If a district of influence is one which has a BVAP of 25%-50%, then there are 15 districts of influence out of 52 under this map.  That's opposed to the House map, which has 19 out of 122. 
• The number of majority minority districts increases by 2 under the Flowers map.
• The reduction of the number of split precincts to 14 is pretty impressive.
• Sen. Bill Stone (D - Ashland) is the only Senator I see that's getting screwed pretty hard.  His district, District 2, is being moved to DeSoto County, and he's being thrown into Sen. Nicky Browning's (D - Pontotoc) district.

I don't think you'll see much rancor over this plan, but we'll see.  The plan is before the Senate right now.

HERE IT IS: The proposed Senate redistricting plan

Here is the map, followed by the summary.  Click on these if you want a bigger version to look at:

Flowers Senate Map



Flowers Plan Summary

***BREAKING*** - Senate redistricting map to be revealed at 4:00 p.m.

The Senate redistricting plan will be unveiled this afternoon at 4:00 p.m.  Furthermore, according to sources, all senators will be allowed to look at the map prior to it being released this afternoon.  This is, of course, in contrast to how the Republican House leadership handled the unveiling of their redistricting map, with Rep. Bill Denny (R - Jackson) ripping copies of the plans out of people's hands.

We'll see how Sen. Merle Flowers (R - Southaven) drew the maps shortly....

These are the Democrats who voted for the Denny map

Democrats who voted "yea" on the Denny redistricting map:
Rep. Preston Sullivan (D - Okolona)
Rep. Joe Warren (D - Mount Olive)
Rep. Randall Patterson (D - Biloxi)
Rep. Nick Bain (D - Corinth)
Rep. Jody Steverson (D - Ripley)
Rep. Tommy Reynolds (D - Charleston)
Rep. Jason White (D - West)

Also interesting, Rep. Tommy Taylor (R - Cleveland) voted present, even though his constituents are hopping mad over losing his district.  Rep. Chuck Middleton (D - Port Gibson) also voted present.

BREAKING - Denny map passes House 70-49

70 is a high number, meaning some Democrats voted for the Denny map.  I'll get the votes to you as soon as I can.

Rep. Bill Denny (R - Jackson) closes on the Denny map

Rep. Bill Denny: It's good that we can come to this podium and vent.  When I came here in the late 80s, we'd just completed redistricting.  The Speaker told me he couldn't get anyone to be chairman of redistricting.  I told that Speaker that he was making a terrible mistake in asking people to be chairman of redistricting and walked out.  The Speaker then told him he was to be chairman of redistricting.  Denies taking party into account when drawing the lines. Says the Denny map will pass Voting Rights Act muster.  Says nobody knows whether or not we'll run again, so you shouldn't base your vote on that.

Rep. Billy Broomfield (D - Moss Point) speaks against Denny map

Rep. Broomfield: Hat's off to Rep. Scott for putting a map together.  Doesn't take that long to draw a map if you're trying to do the right thing.  In all my time here, I've never seen such blatant disrespect as I've seen from Rep. Denny and other Republicans.  This plan accomplishes nothing.  It takes us back to an era we don't even want to remember.  I'm asking you to vote against this plan.

Rep. Bryant Clark (D - Pickens) speaks against the Denny map

Rep. Clark: If you vote for this map, you are guaranteeing that someone outside of this body will be drawing the lines.  Asks if members are really convinced that the Denny map will pass muster with the courts after wiping out influence districts.  Case law says it is fine to draw maps to increase Republican power, but it is not ok to dilute minority voting strength.

Rep. Alyce Clarke (D - Jackson) speaks against Denny map

Rep. Alyce Clarke (D - Jackson): This map would set minority representation back about 20 years.  Urges folks to do the Christian thing, the right thing, and vote against the Denny map.

Rep. Earle Banks (D - Jackson) speaks against Denny map

Rep. Earle Banks: Interesting that the lawyers involved in drawing the Denny map are at Butler Snow, Haley Barbour's law firm. Urges folks to think about rural Mississippi when voting.

Rep. Willie Perkins (D - Greenwood) speaks against the Denny map

Rep. Willie Perkins: This has been a closed process.  The Republicans are being hypocrites by looking to pass a plan that had less transparency than last year's map.  The only standard this map meets is that it doesn't violate "one man, one vote."

Rep. Cecil Brown (D - Jackson) speaks against the Denny map

Rep. Cecil Brown: Compares the time it took Rep. Scott to draw her plan versus the time it took Rep. Denny to draw his plan.  That's because the objective of Rep. Denny was to draw out white Democrats.  It's an inherently political process, so he has the right to do that.  But he did it by drawing out all influence districts.  To the white Democrats who might be afraid of what the Republicans are going to do to you, what more could they possibly do?  Courts will ultimately decide how this will end, and nobody in the world can tell you what will happen.  Your vote today has no impact on whether or not we will have legislative elections this year. Denny map will diminish African-American inflluence in Mississippi.

Rep. Percy Watson (D - Hattiesburg) speaks against Denny map

Rep. Percy Watson: I'm not going to try to convince anyone to vote any which way on the Denny map.  I can almost predict what the vote is going to be. I've been through reapportionment so many times I can't remember.  Recalls redistricting 20 odd years ago when the Speaker told him "you can have all the districts you want, so long as you give us those skinny-legged white boys." (Not really sure what this meant.) If we're going to have real and significant power in this body, we have to work together.  37 folks haven't ever passed a bill.  This map goes directly against white Democrats in an effort to diminish the power and influence of African-Americans.  You're not going to see another portrait (of an African-American chairman) downstairs in the Ways & Means committee room under this plan.

Rep. David Gibbs (D - West Point) speaks against Denny map

Rep. David Gibbs: My district has been drawn out of Clay County and into Monroe County for no reason.  Clay County is the only majority minority county in that area of the state.  The way the splits in West Point were made were strange.  Something is being proposed aside from just getting a fair plan.  If the districts had run as they do now, my district would make much more sense.  We talk about economic development, but there wasn't any economic development going on in this state until we began to integrate. Compare Mississippi State in 1966 to Mississippi State now.