Lawmaker Defends Redistricting Plan (Charlotte Observer)

    OBSERVER

CHARTOTTE, N' C'

D-226,?42

I

By KATHERINE WHITE
Obt.farr R.l.{gh Bunau

RALEIGH - State Sen. Mar-
sball Rauch, D-Ga.stoE, defeuded
the Senate's 1982 redistricting
plan as nonracial Monday, ex-

, plaining that "there was a definite
protective 'feeling among the
members to protect their ability to' get elected."- Rauch satd that was the outy
problem tltat surfaced as he
chalred the 1981-82 Senate redls-
tricting committee.

Rauch, a senstor since 1967, ap.
peared Monday as a witness for
the state in a lawsuit t}st chal-
lenges the way N.C. voters elect
t}teir legislators.

The suit, brought by the
NAACP Leesl Defense and Educa-

Tfon Fund InffiEEilTts second
week in U.S. Dtstrlct Court Mon-
day before a three-Judge panel
that must decide whether tie pre.
sent system dllutes black votes

, and thus violates the federal Vot-
:ing Rigbts Act and the U*s. Con-
stituUon.

II the Legal Defense Fund pre-
. vailg the lawsult's outcome could'shlft Meckleaburg Coulty elec-
tion procedures for House and
Senate members from multl-

member to single-member dls'
tricts.

Rauch, who will testifY today'
also sajd that ln the earlY detnte
over redistrictlng, ao blacks
sought a change from t}le mull'
member system. He said he first
hesrd such a proposal Feb. 9,
1982, from Sen. Henry Frye, D
Guilfor4 s bl8ck. Frye's ProPosal

But on cross-examluatloa,
Rauch vaguely remembered black
political leaders suppordng tl-
change 8t I Feb. 4 public hearing.

@n8
with Republican intervenors, has
challeaged the legislature's 1982
multimember districts, allegtng
that they reduce mlnoritY voting
strength.

In Mecklenburg County, lor ex'
ample, legjslstors are elected at'
large. Had the legislative redls.
ticting created slngle-member dis-
tricts, sone Mecklenburg CountY
areas could bave been Predoml'
nantly black and had a better
chance of elecdng black le$sla'
tors, the sult alleges.

A Legal Defense Rtnd attorneY'
Leslie Wnner of Charlone, said ln
aa intervlew that "taklng E @E'

G- a'f a!EE-E-- aD

,State Senator flefends
N.C. 

-Redistricting 
Plan

Continued From Page lB

centratlon of:-black voters- and
combining them with a larger
area to mlke them a minoritY' di'
lutes minority votlng strength."

In her Portion of the case'
which ended last week, she said:
"With a history of dlscrimination
in houslng. edu-cation and employ'
ment - ill of wtrich have a resid'
ual effect - and a hlstory of ra'
cially charged Politics, that sub'
merience (ot ttre black vote) has

resulted in denYing blacks the
abilitv to elect representatives."

Leial Defense Fund testimonY
last ieek included Charlone Po-
litical scientist Ted Arrington' an
associate Professor at UNCC and
the Repubtican rePresentadve on
the cou-nty elections board.

Arrinsion studied 1980 and
1982 election results for eiSht

House seats in Durham, ForsYth'
Mecklenburg and Wake counties
and two Senate electlons in Meck'
lenburg. He testitied ThursdaY
that if blacks had run under a Pro'
posed' Republican siuBle'district
btan. tZ blacks instead of seven
wouia have been elected in those
'races.

Said James Wallace' dePuty at'
torney general fur legal affairs
and one of several attorneYs de'
fending the sYstem: "Our Point- is
we've done it the same waY for
200 vears."

HE said isolatlng blacks ln elec-
tion districts could "dlmlnish the
influence they would have over
other disrict! and abolish coali'
tion politics smong the races'"

Oie black senator and l0 black
House members sit in the Present
General Assembly of 50 senators
and 120 representatives.