For years, the John Locke Foundation has supported redistricting reform, joining other groups across the ideological spectrum as part of the North Carolina Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform. On Monday evening, Jane Pinsky, who leads the coalition, spoke about the need for reform at a town hall meeting with Rep. Chuck McGrady.

“We are one of the weirdest groups in North Carolina,” Pinsky began. He said the coalition has support across the political spectrum, from groups like the North Carolina AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) to the John Locke Foundation.

“They don’t agree on much, but what they do agree upon is that the state of North Carolina deserves open, transparent government that’s accessible to the people,” she said. “And our government is not ever going to be accessible till we end gerrymandering in this state.”

It’s not an issue of one political party or another, Pinsky said, it’s about the people in power keeping themselves in power and wanting to dictate who serves in the legislature or on the bench.

“The issue for us,” she said, is that “we should be choosing our elected officials; they should not be choosing us.”

Ready for a change? Ready to curtail the endless tug-of-war?