Frinks v. North Carolina Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

    CHAMBERS, FERGUSON, WATT, WALLAS,

ADKINS & FULLER, P.A.

ATTORNEYS AT LAW

SUITE 730 €AST INDEPENOENCE PLAZA
95I SOUTH INDEPENDENCE BOULEVARD

CHARLOTTE. NORTH CAROLINA 2A2O2

LESLIE J. WINNER TEL. 1704t 375-A461



CHAMBERS. FERGUSON. WATT. WALLAS. ADKINS & FULLER. P-A-

SUITE 73O EAST INDEPENOENCE PUZA

95] SOUTH INOEPENDENCE BOULWARO

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA 24202

Ms. Lani Guinier
NAACP Legal Def
Suite 2030
10 Coh:mbus Circl
New York, New Yo

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Washington

A report to ttre people from U.S. Senator

"Putting North Carolina ideas to work in Washington.,, IOHN EA'T

Dear Friend:

I want to ask you two questions.

Do you think a federal law ought to apply to the
tobacco farmer in Greenville, the mill worker in
Lumberton, and the office worker in Greensboro but
not to a millionaire in Boston, the suburbs of
Cleveland, or the mansions of Grosse Point, Michigan?

Do you think a select racial or ethnic group --
whites, blacks or Hispanics -- ought to be entitled to
a certain number of seats on the County Commission
or in the State Legislature regardless of whether or not
the majority of the people want them there?

I think the people of North Carolina believe the
law ought to apply equally to everybody. And I think
the people of North Carolina reject the notion that cer-
tain racial groups ought to have a quota of elected of-
ficials just to satisfy the whim of a federal judge or
a bureaucrat in Washington, D.C.

That's why Senator Jesse Helms and I fought so
vigorously against the so-called "extension" of the
Voting Rights Act.

Let's get one thing straight about the Voting
Rights Act. It really doesn't have anything to do with
tlgfltglllq vo!g. That right is already fully protected.

The so-called Voting Rights Act is nothing more
than a radical departure from our legal and political
traditions to appease pressure groups. It guarantees not
the right to vote but the right to win based on quotas.

Sadly, the debate in the U.S. Senate was not a
calm discussion of the issues raised by this bill. In-stead
a chorus of emotional, unfounded charges caused this
extreme legislation to pass the Senate rvithout careful
examination.

You haven't read the truth about the Voting
Rights Act on the editorial pages of liberal major
daily newspapers in North Carolina. And you haven't
heard both sides from the million-dollar anchormen
at CBS, NBC, and ABC in New York.

I think you have a right to know what the so-called
Voting Rights Act is all about.

The worst aspects of the Voting Rights Act cover
40 of North Carolina's 100 counties. Nation-wide, the
particularly burdensome features cover l3 states and
parts of 9 others.

If your county is covered by the Voting Rights,
you can't make one change in election procedures --
no matter how trivial -- without getting it approved
by the bureaucrats at the Justice Department in
Washington.

The NAACP and other liberal groups say that 40
counties in North Carolina have been guilty of racial

discrimination in phst elections -- not now, but some
time in the remote past. Yet Senator Kennedy, one of
the leading supporters of this law, was not able to show
a single voting right violation in seventeen years from
any of the 40 counties in North Carolina covered by
the law.

So, if the county election board wants to move
a polling place around the corner or dorvn the street,
they first have to get approval from the bureaucrats
in Washington. Seems silly doesn't it?

Well, it's not. It's part of a liberal effort to rig
the electoral process to suit their desires and their pet
causes.

The liberals behind the so-called Voting Rights Act
want racial minorities to hold office in direct propor-
tion to their numbers -- a kind of affirmative action
program or quota system for elected officials!

In the Columbia Srare of October 25, 1981, Opera-
tion PUSH leader Jesse Jackson stated the purpose of
the so-called Voting Rights Act as well as anybody:
"Blacks conrprise one-third of South Carolina's
population and they deserve one-third of its represen-
tation." (This "right," based on race alone, is ap-
parently without regard to a candidate's philosophy
or ability.)

And Jesse Jackson knew what he was talking
about. The idea of a quota system in elections isn't far
fetched at all. . . at least not now that the new law is
on the books.

Even under the old law we have seen the quota
system at work. For over a year, the North Carolina
General Assembly tried to draw legislative districts to
please the Voting Rights bureaucrats in Washington.
They drew a district in Northeastern North Carolina
that was 5l9o black.

But 5l 9o was not enough. The magic nurnber rvas
550/o -- and countless hours of legislative time and at
least $82,000 of the taxpayer's money later -- the
bureaucrats in Washington finally allowed North
Carolina to have a primary election.

The editors at the News & Observer will tell you
that the so-called Voting Rights Act doesn't have
anything to do with racial quotas in election results.
They'll tell you that a Senate "compromise" eliminated
that threat to representative democracy.

Don't buy the News & Observer's pig in a poke.
The chief quota system lobbyist, Lawyer Joseph Rauh,
said this about the so-called compromise, "It was no
compromise at all. We got everything we wanted." (ln-
cidentally, Mr. Rauh is the lawyer who instigated the
NAACP suit against the University of North Carolina
System that led to HEW's attack on UNC, thus wasting
North Carolina taxpayers millions of dollars.)



The liberal editors at the News & Observer will
tell you that the Senate expressly prohibited federal
judges from ordering racial quota schemes in election
results. Since when have the federal judges paid any
attention to Congress or the will of the people?

What the News & Observer won't tell you is that
the late Senator Hubert Humphrey assured the Senate
in 1964 that racial quotas would never be imposed if
the Senate passed the Civil Rights Act.

Today, racial quotas are a fact of life in everything
from education to jobs.

Now, the majority in the Senate has rammed
through this Voting Rights Act that sets the stage for
judges and bureaucrats to drarv election districts that
favor particular racial groups at the expense of other
citizens who are excluded.

As the Greensboro Record put it, "The way the
Justicb Department thinks, we probably better hope
a black candidate carries the district vote or else we
can expect to see Washington lawyers descending upon
us in indignation."

The so-called Voting Rights Act has wide-ranging
implications for everybody in North Carolina. But the
newspaper editors of most North Carolina major dai-
ly newspapers have failed to explain its real effect to
their readers.

For example, did you know that the annexation
plans of the city of Creensboro were struck down by
the federal bureaucrai.s because they said it would dilute
the black vote?

Former Senator Sarn Ervin told Jesse that he's
tricd to inform the pcoplc of North Carolina about the
dangerous consequences of the so-called Voting Rights
Act. But his letters to the editors of the major daily
newspapers have been thrown in the wastebasket.

The Ricirmond Virginia Times Dispatch did,
publish this statement by.S_gn4!ql Eryin "The Voting
Rights Act is the most atrocious rape ever committed
on the Constitution of the United Srares. The truth is,
they passed the Voting Rights Extension on account
of political expediency and timidity. It's not necessary.
And yet a lot of Southerners voted for this thing which
reduces their states to second-class statehood."

But the Iiberal editors in North Carolina who talk
about fairness haven't printed a word from Senator
Ervin, even though he is recognized as one of the coun-
try's leading authorities on the Constitution and
citizens'rights.

Senator Helms and I decided to take the heat from
the major news media -- and it's been hot -- so we
could stahd up for the people of North Carolina by
opposing the so-called Voting Rights Act. It was tough
to stand up against the pressure groups -- but it was
right, and I am glad we did.

Jesse and I asked the Senate to allow the 40 coun-
ties in North Carolina to get out from under the Voting
Rights Act. We wanted to give those counties the op-
portunity to prove that they haven't discriminated
against anybody. But our opponents even refused
North Carolina a day in court to seek relief from the
control of the federal bureaucrats. That's right -- they
won't even give us an opportunity to prove in court
that there is no discrimination.

Again, the liberal editors at the News & Observer
didn't tell you that. Nor did they tell you that rhe state
of Massachusetts has the second lowest percentage
registration of eligible black voters of any state in the
country. Yet the burdensome provisions of the Voting
Rights Act do not apply to Massachusetts. They didn't
explain that, nor did they explain that North Carolina's
percentage of black voter registration is much higher
than Massachusetts yet the law applies to us. Were they
afraid you might think that was unfair?

Senator Sam Ervin maintained that the 1964
Voting Rights Act was punitive and unconstitutional.
He has not changed his mind, and neither have Jesse
and I.

Let me conclude with a quote from an unbiased
Nortli Carolina newspaper, the Castonia Cazette.
"Meantime, in Washington, Helms takes aim -- at the
Voting Rights Act and food stamps. He might feel
alone in his battle among the liberals in the Senate, but
he has a lot of constituents back homc wishing him
well." I hope you'll agree.

I'd appreciate receiving your thoughts on the so-
called Voting Rights Act, and I thank you for allow-
ing me the time to outline why I feel the law is so bad
for our state. But we need your ideas, let us hear from
you.

Sincerely,

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WASHtNGTON, O.C. 205r0

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