Loudoun Dems Balk at Redistricting Bill

The Loudoun County Democratic Committee on Monday issued a rebuke of a bill and its sponsors that would redraw five districts in the state Senate.

Republicans voted on the measure Monday and Loudoun Democrats offered the following statement:

"While the eyes of Virginia were fixed on the Second Inauguration of President Obama,

Republicans in the Virginia Senate quietly, and without any prior notice or public review, introduced and passed an act (as an amendment to a House bill) to redistrict Senate seats, attempting to gerrymander the Commonwealth to ensure the election of more Republican Senators. The surprise bill passed the Senate 20-19, while one Democratic Senator was in Washington, attending the Inauguration.

LCDC Chair Evan Macbeth reacted strongly to the move by the Republicans in the Virginia Senate: “This blatant power grab – taken on a day of national unity and celebration – flies in the face of Virginia’s values of cooperation and restraint. It is the worst kind of brazen and crass gamesmanship. It demonstrates to all of Virginia the true colors of the Republicans in her Senate: Power at all costs, without regard for the public’s will and without respect for due process.”

The LCDC calls upon our elected Republican Senators – Jill Vogel and Dick Black – to explain their votes in favor of this bill. Why was redistricting needed now, again, so soon after the 2011 agreement? Why was this vote taken without public notice or review? Why on a day when the public’s attention was diverted elsewhere?

We also call on our representatives in the House of Delegates to reject this act, and to speak out against this kind of politics."