As you can probably imagine, responses to Republican redistricting plans have been less than enthusiastic.
Suddenly, compliance with the Voting Rights Act is no longer a virtue:
On Tuesday, Rep. Earline Parmon, D-Forsyth, who is black, criticized the GOP plan, saying although it could give blacks more seats, “they would still be in the minority party.”
The state NAACP issued a statement Wednesday saying that the proposed redistricting plans look like “an attempt to use purported compliance with the Voting Rights Act as an excuse for obtaining unfair political advantage.”
“To believe the ultra-conservative, extremist majority in the N.C. legislature is suddenly deeply concerned about upholding the civil rights and political power of African-Americans and minorities … is absurd,” said the Rev. William J. Barber II, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Meanwhile, the N&R’s unposted article ledes with the division between Republicans Billy Yow and Linda Shaw over redistricting, but concludes with an interesting (non) quote from Democrat Paul Gibson:
“There are going to be fewer at large seats now, in fact. And this board will be drawing the lines themselves. I have every confidence in the world they’ll do that in a fair way.”
Then, he rolled his eyes.
I wonder in which direction Gibson was rolling his eyes.