REDISTRICTING INFORMATION CENTER

THREE MINORITY-OFFERED MAPS FIGHT TO PRESERVE THE INTEGRITY OF RURAL COMMUNITIES AND CONTAIN THREE MAJORITY-MINORITY DISTRICTS

From the Office of:
Senator Nancy Jacobs
Minority Leader (R-Harford/Cecil)

I’m heading to Annapolis on Sunday to put the finishing touches on my testimony for our Special Session that begins tomorrow. Our Republican Caucus will meet at 9 am to discuss strategy for each day of the special session.

The redistricting bill that I’m sponsoring in the Senate is being sponsored by Delegate Tony O’Donnell in the House. Our bill is a Good Government Redistricting Plan because Marylanders deserve fair and accurate representation of their interests We will do our bill presentation together at 1 pm Monday before the Senate and House Committees hearing the redistricting bills.

Earlier this week Senator Joe Getty and Senator E.J. Pipkin also introduced maps. All three proposals operate under a simple fairness doctrine that complies with existent federal laws. Our proposals will keep people with similar interests together, preserve the integrity of rural areas and allow for accurate representation of minorities communities by creating three majority-minority districts.

The Governor finally released his plan on Saturday (yesterday). In stark contrast, his redistricting bill tears these communities apart. The O’Malley plan may be politically satisfying to the backroom dealmakers of Annapolis, but it disenfranchises the very people it is meant to represent. The plan lacks discernible criteria for boundaries such as communities, school districts, or even county lines.

We want our constituent's voices to be heard this week.

• If you can, come to Annapolis for the hearings at 1 pm on Monday. There are other ways to have your voice be heard as well.
• Call your senator and delegates offices and let them know your opinion on the Governor’s redistricting plan. Tell them that you support the Good Government plans being offered by the republicans that keeps communities together. Let them know that redistricting shouldn’t be about reducing the number of republican congressman in the state or denying minorities’ representation.
• Call in to radio talk shows.

The redistricting process was never meant to be an incumbent retention exercise. Marylanders should be ashamed that the byproduct of the backroom deal-making resulted in ridicule from national media including one newspaper holding a naming contest for the redrawn 3rd Congressional District. O’Malley’s plan isn’t about the people; it’s about the self-serving politics that have come to define Annapolis.

Until Thursday night none of these alternative plans were going to be considered by the Maryland General Assembly. The Governor’s bill was the only one that would have a hearing. I called the President’s office and shared my concern that doing that would look like blatantly backroom partisan politics. At the bare minimum, Marylanders at least deserve to be heard and to offer their opinions on the multitude of plans. To his credit, the President of the Senate agreed that all of our bills deserve a hearing. ALL of the redistricting bills will be heard on Monday.

I believe that decision-making processes should be taken out of the back rooms and we should have open, honest and transparency from our leaders. I have no delusions that any of our bills will truly be considered throughout this process. What we gained by calling on the democrat leadership to do the right thing was making them realize that the process they created was neither open nor fair.

The democrats control Annapolis, so much so that they don’t even acknowledge that republicans and independents in this state deserve to have their voices be heard too. Rural Maryland and minorities are totally ignored as well.

It’s as though they are the democrats are the only ones whose opinions matter. That is part of what is wrong when one political party controls an entire state.

All three of the republican plans create a majority minority district, allowing for all minorities to have accurate and fair representation in D.C. Our governor chose partisanship over doing the right thing for the citizens of Maryland. Let your voice be heard this week.

Click here for a PDF of the Map

Sponsor: Senator Nancy Jacobs
* Respects existing county and municipal boundaries to keep communities of common interest together.
* Splits counties as infrequently as possible
* Creates three Minority-Majority districts