Rep. Tommy Reynolds: Republicans asked us to protect Rep. Russ Nowell, and we complied

In an affidavit filed as an exhibit to the House Election Committee's Response to the Order setting the hearing in NAACP v. Haley Barbour, et al, Rep. Tommy Reynolds (D-Charleston) discusses some of the behind-the-scenes dealings that led to the creation of House Consensus Plans 1 and 2, otherwise known as the Joint Committee House redistricting plans.

The most interesting part to me? Republicans asked that party-switcher Rep. Russ Nowell (R-Louisville) be protected, and he was.  Instead of collapsing his district, Rep. Mary Ann Stevens (D-West) was thrown into Rep. Ferr Smith's (D-Carthage) district.

There are also some pretty strong rebuttals to oft-repeated Republican complaints regarding drawing challengers out of districts and splitting municipalities.  (One instance of that's already been noted here.)

Read the affidavit for yourself here:

Reynolds Affidavit

Russ & Margaret, we hardly knew ye...

Representatives Margaret Rogers and Russ Nowell announced that they were switching to the Republican Party today. Of course both of them had been voting with Republicans all along, including votes for Jeff Smith in the Speaker's race. Interestingly, Nowell voted for Smith after giving Speaker Billy McCoy his word that he'd support McCoy, which prevented Nowell from being effective in any way for his district over the last 3 years.

In reality, this is no big deal, as neither held any great power. Reaction from elected Democrats seems to be a collective yawn. Steve Holland, in a comment that typified the mood around the Capitol said, "It's good for them to finally embrace who they are."

Predictably, Majority in Mississippi, a Republican blog, has a post up that fixates on race. But are we surprised by that? Surely not.