Virginia GOP Pulls a Fast One on Dems

Redistricting plan pushed through split state senate while key Dem was at Obama inauguration

Virginia Republicans pushed through a redistricting plan that would make it easier for the party to take control of the state Senate in 2015 while a key Democrat was away attending the presidential inauguration festivities.

With state Sen. Henry Marsh, D-Richmond, a 79-year-old civil rights leader off to Washington D.C., Republicans got the measure passed Monday by a party line vote of 20 to 19. It will now have to go through the GOP-controlled House of Delegates and be signed by the governor, Talking Points Memo reports.

The new map, which reportedly took Democrats and even Republican Gov. Robert F. McDonnell by surprise, came as an amendment to a bill designed to make "technical adjustments" to House district boundaries. Debate was limited to 30 minutes, the Washington Post reported.

The measure's sponsor, Republican Sen. John Watkins of Powhatan, said it was an effort to create another majority African American Senate district. But Democrats say it would make at least five districts held by Democrats heavily Republican, the Post reports.

"It goes against every tradition," state Sen R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, told TPM. "It was a dirty trick."

Via Talking Points Memo and the Washington Post

Was passing this redistricting plan ethical?

[RobertJHarsh]

HAHAHAHAHA! Lowest common denominator wins the day! Maybe the GOP won't be dead, at least in the states.

[PoliticalSpice]

Obama needs do all he can to get D.C. Statehood, adding 2 senators its dem leaning electorate would help keep senate under dem control

[PNWest]

@PoliticalSpice Notice how the Tea Party screams about taxation without representation (even though they have representation) but doesn't want the people of DC to have that right at all. What a bunch of hypocrites!

[MarkJM]

@PNWest If you would study the Constitution and take a Civics Class, you'll learn that DC was never meant to have statehood and there was never meant to be such as thing as "DC Residents". If you notice today, half of DC is folded back into Virginia (now currently called Arlington/Alexandria/Crystal City or the Pentagon). If "DC Residents" want "Statehood" then the most Constitutional thing they can do is fold back into MD. Allowing DC Statehood means that we would have to allow "Statehood" to other major metropolitan cities such as San Francisco, NYC, Baltimore, Los Angeles, etc.

[scotta]

Finally pull a democratic trick out their own bag and now they are pissed. What goes around comes around. It is not P.C. for the republicans to use their tricks

[scotta]

@PoliticalSpice the reason it is not a state if I remembery history is because the capital is there. .so not to give any state a heads up over any other state.

[Knightkore]

Well, when your opponents are unreasonable and are unwilling to come together to discuss issues on any basic level of civility and treat you worse than actual terrorists and terrorist governments....you do what you can....not ideal....but....

[harold_lloyd]

The 'terrorists' are the teabaggers and anti-science idiots. The rest of us are trying to run a nation.

[Knightkore]

@harold_lloyd And there it is....the progressive liberal tolerance and vitriolic rhetoric....nice....to know that you think you fellow Americans are terrorists....

[SavageMazx]

@harold_lloyd run or have ruined?

[Realthinker]

The Republicns are learning to use the Democrats tricks. It's only 'unethical' and 'mean' and 'rotten' when the Republicans use it. When the Democrtas do such things at 2 am when the world is sleeping, it is always "bipartisan' or 'afirmative action' or 'for the children'. Both parties have been drawing districting maps to favor their odds for decades. Naturally, Politix will never cover an instance of Democrats favoring themselves, nor will they put it up for a vote.

[RobertJHarsh]

You can bet if that one Republican left town and the Democrats were able to pass law to grab guns or something like that, they'd done the same thing.

[Republican5001]

Agreed

[Realthinker]

@RobertJHarsh Yes they would. Did we not watch as all the Democrats in Wisconsin left the state to prevent a vote? Did we not all hear them howl when the Republicans found a way around that dirty trick? Democrats behave as though they have been granted the divine right of kings and I am sick of it. Now the plan is for every Democrat in office, and every news outlet including forums like Politix, to demonize Republicans into irrelevance, if they can. It is an all out medacious assault on every principal on which the country was founded.

[seedtick]

Ain't it funny...in one state liberal Dems leave the state to stop legislative action...then in another state they holler "foul" when they are out-foxed.

[UBU]

The GOP took a play right out of Obamas play book. How funny!

[ST_Louie_Sue]

Karma

[Chanel]

When did President Obama pass a law in this manner?

[Grubby]

The Democrats can community organize the national elections, but pretty hard to handle all the states. Thirty states now have fully Republican House, Senate, and Governorships. More coming. GOP is alive and well in about 75% of the states, and actually controlling the politics. Once the Democrats get finished crushing the US Dollar over the next 4 years, we will see how successful they are at convincing the public that we want more Socialism.

[harold_lloyd]

If you think all is fair in politics, then you are the problem.

I remember concepts like 'honor' and 'ethics'.

If you don't remember them, then please go ahead with your plans to secede.
Or at least go somewhere else to live.

The house of Delegates should stop it, and if it gets to
the Gov, I really hope he refuses sign it.

Who is going to be the one to return integrity to politics?

[HungryJoe87111]

Nope. I'm sorry. I'm an independent voter who voted for President Obama, but is FIERCELY against the POTUS,VPOTUS, & Senator Feinstein's and Schumer's Draconian Gun Control proposals, but this kind of thing is underhanded, and not ethically justified. It's also against the Golden Rule that is supposed to be the watchword of the Fundamentalist Christian Right, i.e., "Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You". Doesn't pass the smell test, folks. I'm on your side regarding Gun Control, but this kind of action by local Republicans stinks.

[AceLuby]

The response to this is absolutely unbelievable. Gerrymandering districts so your party so you can more easily win elections is about as unethical as you can get, and this from the so called party of 'morals'... Gerrymandering should be illegal and districts should be forced to be redrawn by independent 3rd parties based 100% on population... the fox shouldn't be in control of the hen house.

[cjdub]

You're all a bunch of partisan morons. Whether democrat or republican, this is not the way our founding fathers would want us to act ( read Jacksonian Era, Gearge Washington even believed a two party system would destroy the country). No one is willing to listen or compromise, even in the wake of a school shooting and a super storm, and that is disgraceful. No wonder the world laughs at us. Sure they have plenty of problems of their own, but at least they try to find middle ground that both sides can walk on. You all just insult each other and then have the nerve to call those insults "debate arguments". This country could be the greatest again if we'd just work together.

[mimi57]

Yes, it's time to get 'down and dirty' with the Dems... I mean Hey, can't everyone
be in the dirty 'Chicago Politic Machine' game? If not, why not?

[sittinduck]

The Dems would've done the same damn thing if they'd the chance.

[PNWest]

I notice that the GOP defenders of the American way are out in force cheering this. It just goes to show you the absolute moral bankruptcy of the right. If something benefits them they are all for it. They don't care if elections are fair. In fact they don't want them to be fair. They think that they are the only ones who should rule regardless of what the voters think. These same people denigrated the majority of Americans that voted for the President calling them 'takers' and cheered on efforts to disenfranchise voters through onerous voter ID laws that would hurt minorities and elderly voters. I am left to ask ..... Why do conservatives hate America?

[sittinduck]

I ask myself everyday why do liberals hate this country so much, so I guess we're even.

[PNWest]

@sittinduck Yet liberals fight for democracy and conservatives try to thwart it.

[sittinduck]

@PNWest This country is not a democracy, it's a constitutional republic!

[PNWest]

@sittinduck Anything to keep the majority of people from running things is OK with conservatives. Why do conservatives hate America?

[sittinduck]

@PNWest We don't, we just hate liberals. They're the worst thing to happen to this country.

[kathyparsell]

What a surprise!? Too bad this is now the nature of politics today.

[CaryNickel]

Bwaaaahaaahaaaahaaa! It's good to see Republicans fighting fire with fire for a change. It's great to try and be honorable in all things, but you cannot allow the opposition to continue to pull their dirty tricks and get away with it. I guess Henry Marsh should have been at work instead of partying with Obama!

[JoeJared]

Prostitutes have more ethics than politicians.

[DARSB]

When a party loses the popular vote in 5 of 6 elections the temptation to stack the deck, rather than reconsider policy positions, must be enormous.

[cpeter133]

I'm just waiting for when the sudden love of guns intersects with unethical politicians.

[albert]

typically republican thing ,why expect a change now.

[cleverusername]

why was everyone else at work for the vote but not this guy? maybe he should have been at work.

[ST_Louie_Sue]

Redistricting is done every 10 years to coincide with the Census. Which ever party has the majority in each state also has the power to redraw the new lines. For those of you who call this cheating by the GOP read up before you open your idiotic yap.(omg Kate is yap a racial slur?) If the majority is very close I'd think a Rep would prioritize their time for votes as important as this one. Otherwise shut yer mouth.