Sen. Merle Flowers announces resignation

Sen. Merle Flowers (R-Southaven) has announced his intention to resign from the Mississippi Senate.  A portion of his note to constituents is available here.

***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....

Redistricting 2012: "This is no way to govern"

Last night, I had an opportunity to speak with a person from the Mississippi Gulf Coast who asked how things were going at the Capitol and where things stand on redistricting.  After I explained that Republicans claim to have "drawn" the maps but weren't ready to show their work, he responded, "This is no way to govern."  It think he has a fair point.

As Republicans continue to hide the maps, more and more questions emerge.

1.  Who drew the maps?  There has been some talk of certain individual legislators being brought in to see their districts.  Based on the reports I've received, this exercise involves an indivudal member being shown a proposed map of the district they currently represent.  While this seems to be happening with more and more regularity, particularly in the House, there is very little information regarding who did the actual drawing.  We all know that Rep. Bill Denny (R - Jackson) and Sen. Merle Flowers (R - Southaven) didn't sit down at a computer and put the maps together themselves, so that leaves the question: who drew the maps?

2.  Who paid the cartographer?  Last year, Republicans arranged for a Louisiana consultant to help them draw their redistricting maps.  Did they bring in another consultant to help with the process this time?  If so, who paid for this service?  Were these folks paid with public or private funds?

3.  Whatever happened to the end of the gentleman's agreement?  Last year, then Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant got a lot of press for calling for an end to the "gentleman's agreement," the term applied to that process whereby one chamber accepts the work of another chamber without scrutiny.  It would appear that the gentleman's agreement is back in effect as most members of the legislature have not seen their own chamber's plans much less the maps being proposed in the other chamber.

4.  Transparency anyone?  Transparency was the Republican rallying cry for years, as they fought to gain a stranglehold on state government.  Now that they have it, will they practice what they preached?
If Redistricting 2012 is the measuring stick, we already know the answer is no.

Redistricting statutes being ignored by Republican legislators?

Rep. Bill Denny (R-Jackson)

If you were like me, you thought Friday's article in the Clarion-Ledger regarding the current state of redistricting signaled that something fishy was going on.  In short, neither Rep. Bill Denny (R-Jackson) nor Sen. Merle Flowers (R-Southaven), the chairmen of the House and Senate committees on redistricting, would say a word about the process used to draw the new district lines.  Rep. Denny did say that the plans had been submitted to experts, but said he didn't know who those experts were (Sounds like he's got total control of the situation, if you ask me.).  Sen. Flowers wouldn't comment at all, and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said that the plans would be revealed in the next few weeks.

Does Bill Denny saying, "Take my word, I've drawn something" count?

It seems like the only bit of news the Republican leadership wanted to get out was that the maps were drawn.  Why would that be important?

Let me introduce you to Section 5-3-93 of the Mississippi Code:

The members of the committee shall draw a plan to apportion, according to constitutional standards, the membership of the Mississippi Senate and the Mississippi House of Representatives no later than fifteen (15) days prior to the scheduled adjournment of the next regular session of the Legislature following the delivery of the 2000 decennial census data to the state and every ten (10) years thereafter and at such other times as they may be directed by joint resolution of the Mississippi Legislature.

Provided, however, the committee shall not be required to present a plan to the Legislature prior to four (4) months after the publication of census data.

Well guess what Saturday was?  The 15th day prior to the scheduled adjournment of this legislative session.  That means that the plans had to have been drawn by the committee no later than Saturday.  The question then becomes, what it means for a committee to draw a plan?  This opens several lines of inquiry: Does it mean that the chairman of the committee can just put pen to paper?  And if that's the case, how do you know that the law has been satisfied if the maps are not released?  Or does it mean that a plan has to be voted upon by the committee?  It's almost a nonsensical requirement to force a committee to draw a map and not vote on it. And how does a "committee" draw a plan, anyway? By voting on it, I would presume.

So that's why Republicans were rushing to get the word out that they'd "drawn" maps.

111 Days and counting...

But the question of whether last Friday's dog and pony show passes the drawing test is not the only problem Republicans are facing with statutes governing reapportionment.  Check out Section 5-3-103 of the Mississippi Code:

Upon completion of apportionment plans, the committee shall present its plans to the Mississippi Legislature, which shall act on the plans not later than the next regular session of the legislature. The committees to which the plans are referred shall report their recommendations to their respective houses no later than the forty-fifth day of the legislative session.

This language would seem to give legislators another session in which to pass new maps, but the language of 5-3-93 mandates that a plan be passed this year.  (The statutory scheme seems to contemplate that the maps would have been drawn last year and voted on no later than this year.)  The problem 5-3-103 holds for Republicans is in the second sentence.  The 45th day of the legislative session was February 16, which was the deadline for making requests that general bills and constitutional amendments be drafted.  On that day, the House was busy tabling the motion to reconsider on the ALEC-style "Sunshine" Act, and the Senate was busy welcoming foreign investors interested in opening charter schools.

So with no maps voted on by the committees 14 days before sine die (the last day of the session), the new Republican leadership in the Legislature may be on thinning legal ice with regard to redistricting.  But as this group has shown time and time again, laws are for Democrats.

State Sen. Merle Flowers (R-Southaven) jumps into House politics

State Sen. Merle Flowers (R-Southaven), has decided he has enough free time to devote to House Speaker's race politics.  After dabbling in a neighboring district's Republican Senate primary to defeat Senate Appropriations Chair Sen. Doug Davis (R-Hernando), Flowers has now decided to solicit money from across the state to spend on other candidates.  Here's the letter that went out last month:
Merle Flowers Letter

Anyone else notice the line about "a larger role in the leadership of the Senate"? Was it Flowers' intention to depose Sen. Davis so that Flowers could take the role? That could set a dangerous precedent....

Tuesday Afternoon Mississippi Republican Party Propaganda Update

The Mississippi Republican Party has been issuing "Liberal Democrat Alerts" on Tuesday mornings, taking aim at legislative Democrats.  You might expect them to accuse folks of voting for abortion on demand or socialized healthcare (you know, actual liberal things), but instead they generally just call some proposal to entice social workers to underprivileged areas or a bill to make sure Mississippi gets its share of stimulus money "liberal."

They also seem to have a bent towards talking about how elected officials get paid for their jobs. Well, this morning, they went after Sen. Debbie Dawkins (D-Pass Christian) and Rep. Dirk Dedeaux (D-Perkinston) for the "shocking" amount of money they've made from their "part-time jobs" as legislators over the last four years.  I agree that it would be shocking if their compensation was somehow inexplicably out of line with Republican legislators.

Of course that's not the case.

The Republican hit piece says "Since her last election in November 2007, Deborah Dawkins has taken in just shy of $190,000 in taxpayer dollars for her 'part-time' job as a State Senator." (Emphasis in the original.)  So how much did Sen. Dawkins earn during that four-year period? $189,641.90.  That total includes her salary, travel, and per diem.

Well, what about Sen. Merle Flowers (R-Southaven)? $211,093.20.

Or, say, Sen. Terry Brown (R-Columbus)? $202,656.75.

Then how about Sen. Tom King (R-Petal)? $204,962.06.

And what about Sen. Nolan Mettetal (R-Sardis), who is now leaving the Senate and running for the House? $213,085.60.

Or, maybe, Sen. Billy Hewes (R-Gulfport), who is now running for Lt. Governor? $248,923.53. (His salary is higher because he served as President pro tempore of the Senate for the last four years.  That, too, is a part-time job.)

So, on average, those four Senators drawing the same salary as Sen. Dawkins brought in $18,307.50 more than her apiece during that four year period, or $4,576.88 more each year per senator.

Now let's get back to Rep. Dedeaux who the Republican hit piece said "took in over $208,000 in taxpayer dollars for his 'part-time' job as a State Representative." (Emphasis in the original.) In fact, Rep. Dedeaux earned $208,194.46 over the last four years in salary, travel, and per diem.

Now, by statute, representatives and senators draw the exact same salaries.  So while Rep. Dedeaux drew more money in travel and per diem than Sen. Dawkins, he did have more in expenses.  That, of course, is understandable, given his position as Chair of the House Medicaid Committee, which has been more than a little busy over the last four years.  By comparison, Sen. Flowers and Sen. Mettetal, who chair the Senate Ethics and Public Utilities, respectively, both got more in compensation than Rep. Dedeaux.  Sen. Brown, Chair of the Senate Fees Committee, got slightly less than Dedeaux, as did Sen. King, Chair of Senate Transportation.

So, I wonder: since Hewes, Mettetal, King, Brown, and Flowers all got more than Dawkins, shouldn't they be the ones on the Tuesday Morning Liberal Alert from the Mississippi Republican Party?