GOP Mulls Redistricting Alliances; Senate, House Panels Differ in Aims of Redistricting; Lawmakers to Try Again on Redistricting News Clippings

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I By WTLLIAM M. WELCH

The Arsoci.trd pr$3

_ North Caiolina Republican
Ipaders see themselves 

-facing 
a

difficult choice as state tegistat?ri
this week again take up t[e batfle
over how their districl lines are
drawn.

Do they join the majority Demo
crats in trying.to make as few
changes as possible in the district
maps. confining the issue to a
handful of districts moqt out of
balance? ir,'

_ Or do tley seize what many be-
lieve is the deeper issue behind a
federal lawsuit filed against the
state and join the call for estab-
Iishment of single-member dis-triets? ''.':

A debate over just that choice is
going on now within the state GOp
leadership- For now, the party
isn't pushing for single.me-mUei

' State GOP Ghairman David
Flaherty said thi party has decid-
ed. at least for now, not to file a
friendof-the+ourt brief support-
ing the NAACP Legal and trd-uca-
tion Defense Fund's federal suit

redistrictinU lt i

I

,1

A news analysis

a.gainst North Cirolina's legisla-
tiv_e reapportionment plans. -,., q.

But Flaherty :and 
-other 

GOp
slrategists say they also believe
the party - with just Z) percent
representation in the Gendral As_ '

sembly-- probably would gain un_
der sucb a radical change to dis.
tinct and separate distric-ts for ev-
ery House and Senate member.

"I think there's a reluctancrc.in' .

both parties to make that breal
with tradition and accept it," said
a Republican political consultant
who, for professional reasons.'1
asked not to be named. ..1 think
there would be a significant in-'. gfease in bolh black reiresenta-:l
tion and Republican reiresenta-ltion." ,{i

And, he added. Republicans areii
so wealr in the Geneial.Assemblv i
now any dramatic change wouti I

probably help the pa*y - partic- I

ularly at a time when state votins
patterns show a GOp vote fai

: morg significant than the party's
.numbers in the legislature.-
. .ftqhe{y says he's been doing a
lot of talking and thinking on ihe
subject, and it was with- mixed

\ feelings that he decided against.
| gn^tging the suit. He agre& the

GOP stood to gain ..treirendous- 
,

Iy" if a federal court ordered the
legislature to abandon the current
practice, where as many as eight
representatives are eleitea fr6m
a single district.

But, he said. there are draw-
backs, too. Such a change would
be a major disruption-for the
state, confusing next spring.s pri_
mary elections and maklng it
more difficult for the GOp to- re-
cruit new candidates. he said.



The Neu:s f/'nd, ObserCIer

TIBTAIUGLH Wednesdag, (lelobes 21, lg8l, page 23 Rntelgft, N.C.

Loe al, & sto t e new s/obituarie s/elas s ifie d ad s

Senate, House panels fiffer in aims of redistrictirg
ByDANIELC. HOOVER

Slaft ttrlirr
With state Justice Department

attorneys urging major changes,
reflistricting committees for the
N.C. House and Senate took differ-

House commit-
tee members
focused on the

that would be
nearly equal in
population - a
change that one
key legislator described as "major
surgery."

hx*. rr

Senate committee members ap-
peared more concerned about
avoiding excessive geographic
spread and not putting counties
that had little in common in the
same district.

The committees hope to make fi-
nal recommendations to the Gen-
eral Assembly, which has sched-
uled a special session be$nning
Oct. 29 to adjust legislative district
boundaries so they will meet a
pending federal court challenge by
the NAACP Legal Defense and Ed-
ucation Fund [nc.

State attorneys told legislative
leaders during the Oct. 4-9 budget
session that the current district
lines reflecting 1980 census figures
probably could not be successfully
defended.

Rep. Daniel T. tilley, D-Lenoir,
chairman of the House committee,

I

said in an interview that -"major ' professor at the' Univeisity lof
surgery" would be required. North Carolina at GreensLoro,

"It goes beyond the smaller ad- said the current system, built into
justment. It's more far-reaching," the state's Constitution, has .,a di-

The Senat0 committee rejected . blac[-representation."-
proposed redistricting plans that "' fire pioblem in redishictin6i is
would have narrowed the popula- , the .differences ,in populafion
tion differences among districts :_ among districts; with ltre Senate
but would have gone "strictly by having a 23,percent deviation be-
the numbers," said Sen. Kenneth " tween the largest and smallest dis-
C. Royall Jr., D-lurham, the-Sen- trict and the House having a 24
ate majority leader. He said the percent gap.
plans gave "no consideration to The tegal Defense Fund suit
anythingelse." charged that the newly drawn dis-

Earlier, the eommittees were . tricts were so out of balance that
told during a- pybl_ic hearing that most violated the U.S. Supreme
the number of blacks in the Gener- Court's one-man, oneivote princi-
al Assembly could be doubled by ple. i

""rrine 
;ut sngle'tne;bei. aiJ- "'b'ooer"rrionit,d6t idt tines also

tricts within the state's five larg- were cihallengd in the suit, but the
est urban counties. atto"n"V Ge-neral's Offiig said

Dr. .Paul 
Luebke, a 

3ociolo$I .T"yr*es could be defended.

Congressional lines are not expect-
ed to be an issue during the special
session.

Census figures show a statistical
ideal in which each of the 50 sena-
tors would represent 117,489 per-
sons and each of the 120 House
members would represent ,l8,9{i4

persons.
House districts redrawn last

June vary in size from 10.7 percent
below to 12.9 percent above the
statistical ideal, for a 23.6 percent
deviation.

In the Senate, the range is from
l0 below to 12.7 above, a 22.7 per-
cent deviation.

State attorneys have told legisla-
tors that no federal court has al-
lowed a state plan with a variation
higher than 16 percent and that 10
percent is the norm.

Seventeen of North Carclina's,14

,i

f

House districts, for exampl'e. fif
not meet the l0 percent deviati6rf
standard. - . :

Tiare B. Smiley, an assistant a(-1.

torney general,- lold the Houd-
committee that if its plan is unde('
the 10 percent deviation, the coui{
will assume that it passes constitui

SecSENATE,page26 l;i
.,.

Ttre kisure Living Calendar-in
Sunday's News and Observer list-
ed the wrong performers for the
Smng Room Lounge at Jung's Far
East Restaurant in Raleigh. Pia--nist Billy Farmer performs Fri-'
day. Steve Shearon performs Sat-
urday.

B*g your pardon:.

ry9d to _outtine Y,,,ffi
tighter districts ,r:: &.iir:

Lilley

n':b, '/.,



senate, House panels differ in redistrieting aims
:contirudf6go4'2' voting 6tr.enqth-and possible viola_ substantive discu$ion was post- ing in common ercept that they.rc member from Robeson countv' tioru of the federal voting Rlghts pohed until todey, when th€ aom- co-nGriiir'i.1"-" 

-^** "-'-"-' .' warned 
"s;-i;si'-;;;;;;-t':i.l'l#l-liif$"iil1#;,Xff* " HS;:" .- -. i'iu**iii rci,i n other options. ro iiins reiecea uy the com. $ourd ,,dilit";d ,il;'i;p"#;:

';I#ft:t{.#:5iixg,l"* :li#li3.:g$,*t".",i ";liit"H":iflrtl'jtrf*. #tr,i}'f,,tl"'#lJ rUru 3*fiim:*i;"Jffi"'tlE burden will be on the stite, membeis po6eo orstrrcls and compatibility During the public heafins that @r-or r-ommoD qause for North

'vou can drew up, then y-ou may viatioh, apiroached thi to percent ..while we're supposed to -n- lf1r5.*.B"-"", "ssistantsam; tT':T,jff ThXS'"Jl[1[j]"1:JGse your ...multimember dis- goal, bua it involved so many 6ider t-tre numUe*'.'mr" iriit son county mansger, sa

,lifi 

',a-{fliffi$,,Hg#.*ru;;m*5$'rtn*#Hl$ilipr'r"""*w':-xr;'sr*###*#it}H":i,H. rne also warned lhat enormous Me.kl.nburg County's niae House Chairman of ooe oI thr.ee subComl He ested that chrnle!multi-member dislricts are going seats and piaced Iiouse sp"r*"" .itil,"i-tiiaiJiir
to be somewhal of a pmurem:id i;itini. niamsey in a spriwring, ffi;i ;;;? i"-{,[*#d: **i*ifl,"ffi:n*ttt: #i* *:'"T*ili*3fi#".ffFifficause of tle ditutioD of minortv rhree-s€ar mountiiD disrrict. - "some irt th&i countiJi iai;i"ii6l 'i;;':l1ffi"H: 

" former House vatery.

t^g h.,/sJ 
'i:1,,



;... 1..

*L-:r"..4

,i*l

bserver',.r'.\5'r

Dally 25c, Sunday 50c,t 
i,i,:ria;rs"" 

1"orrri., 
r.**lixsr'? eln"rriidlr.i, suno"n 

C3i#rr, ,rr, 
l

116th Year

'i ? ' s'j:t.4

llaln Number 829.45{10 '
Glasslfled 8!g<{geQ . :i;::
Clrculatlon 829.4700

crwmahe,:iji#if
: . ByA.L.MAY
! I chlelcrpitolcorrrecorxtrnt
, North Carolina's.;[egislators
tmh a gamblgthis yeal.
t Ttrey lost J and as a result, tax-
payers again will pay the bill for
the lawmakers to return to Ra-
leigh.
i The first wave arrives this week,
rten House and Senate redistrict-
ing committees begin to try to fix
what some legislators concede
was the mess they mAde of
redrawing the General Assembly
and congressional districts in
Junei. The full Assembly returns
laterthis month.
, When they gambled on new dis-
trict lines last spring, the legisla-
tors hoped no one would call their
hand. The NAACP Legal Defense
and Education Fund saw the bluff
and filed suit in federal court last
month. Not waiting for the court to
act,' the lawmakers folded their
cards and decided to ded again.
' "I admit we appeared to have

made an emor," Sen. Marshall A.
Rauch, D-Gaston, chairman of the

'Senate Redistricting Committee,
said in an interview last week.
'iBut we're in the process of cor-
r,€cting it, and nobody should be
srprised that we're not perfect."

Rep. Robert A. Jones, D-Ruiher-
ford, cechairman of the House
crmmittee, said: ,

Scc l^AW MAKE RS,t page 2 2

4..



-t ' ' t \

l{ews and 0bserver. Ealeigh. I. C., Sun..Ocl. 18, 198.|

t page one

'old ostrich head in
tbackfiredonus." ..
ired was the adoption
the legislators'legal
tely told them would
rt test.
imply hoping nobody
nge it," said Rep.
illey, D-Lenoir, the
ommittee leader.
Jones had warned

:.ee in June that they
decisions that would
ncumbents. But like
vice, they were ig-

nt to say, 'I told you
k the tapes will show
:y and I were saying
vere too high," Jones.. . .:

vere supposed toad-
,use and Senate dis-
ies to the population
980 census. Districts
d to be made as equal

as possible to con-
I.S. Supreme Court's
,vote principle.
las never spelled out
ual the populations
has become clear to

s that the overall dif-
populations .between
,eir plans - 23.6 per-
ruse and 22.7 percent
) - are a long way
r. one vote.
:ts are telling the leg-
to be relatively sure
court test, the devia-
: cut by as much as

. as Sen. James B.
Stanly, said, "lt's
lamn battle."
starts Tuesday with

e meetings, a prelude
redistricting session.
cnes said they would
public hearing at 1l
r and they hoped to
mmittee work done

iy costs taxpayers
a day for the Legisla-
: in regular session
ly staffed. In the re-
,ession, the staff was
he cost estimate was
a day.
tors also are talking
leton crew for the
session. Terrence D.
ctor of legislative re-
the daily cost should
ly less than $25,m0.
r}/€fs of€ paying the
'obably don't like it,"
:r Liston B. Ramsey

interviews, Ramsey
James C. Green said
e the session could be
ys.
instrumental in call-
,n after N.C. Justice
lwyers told them the
'edistricting plans
ible on the one-man.

I

tion has been to use whole coun-
ties.

The defense fund's lawyers have
said the requirement to use whole
counties prevents the Legislature
from creating single-member dis-
tricts advantageous to black can-
didates.

Many legal and legislative ana-

umakers head back, to redi.sf,
-t

,.:i

,'drauting board:
The lawyers werE Urougtrt into

the redistrieting matter when they
had to defend the state against the
defense fund's suit filed in early
September on behalf of four black
residents.

. When asked why the lawyers
had not been asked to give a read-
ing on the plans, Ramsey said, "It' never occurred to me." Green ah-
swergd: ,"It wasn't for me to say.
I'm a trember of the executive
branch."

. The suit alleges that the redis-
tricting plans violate the one-man, -

one-vote principle and discrimi-
nate against blacks by diluting
their voting strength, abridging
their constitutional rights and the
protections of the 1965 Voting
Rights Act.

It also claims the congressional
iedistricting plan adopted by the
Legislature this year discrimi-
nates against blacks because Dur-
ha'in County and its politically po-
tent black community were kept
out of the 2nd Congressional Dis-
trict of U.S. Rep. L.H. Fountain.

, The state attorneys told the
lawmakers they could defend the
congressional plan and the legisla- .

tive plans against charges of dis-
crimination.
_ Legislators, gve'rwhelmingly
Democratic, deny any discrimiia--
tion against blacks or Republi-
cans. The chief problem, they say,
wris their desire to protect incum-
bints.

j'I think one reason (for the high
deviaiions) was they were too
fair," Ramsey said.

He said one proposal to reduce
population deviation in the House
plan called for putting Randolph
County, rthich has two Republican
incumbents, into a new district
with Chatham and Orange coun-
ties;'which have two Deirocrats.
Ramsey said that idei was
dropped after the Republicans
complained. . :,i:!,.,,;'. 

.

fhe suit also challengeS two sec-
tions in the state constitution that
require the legislators to use whole
counties in building districts.

fhe sections were adopted in
1968 amendments. Legal experts
say the amendments only re*ord-
ed constitutional provisions that
generally barred county splitting,
and they note that the itate tradi-

*l

Pg. 2

fus

.;:I,Ni(+Igtn|f.

'. :-. s r*i.ifil,



lysts say the whole thrust of the Even if that happens. legislative;iwatla-ce said, would be. whether' possrbilrty.-- -'T'l-= 
-:th'" I

lawsuit is to force that fundamen- leaders said they'<iouUteA iouniie5 
'counties were arranged to get the - I Adding Halifax County, which

til change in the *rv tf,"-iiit" would be abancioned as the basis lowe-stposs.ibledeviation. has a.representative of its own, to

elects its"legislators. the state's fordistricts. "-If thq judge can go iome at the district of Nash, Edgecombe

current districts are a mix of mul- ' ..I think tradition more than night and draw a plan with a lower and Wilson counties, which has

ti-member and single-member dis- anything would keep counties,;; deviation, then iou've got prob' 
- four House members.

iri"G. tn"." is no?istrict smaller Cr-een.siid. .,And I think the coun- lems," he said.. :r i , ', i r Rebuilding a district that cov-

I,eslieJ.-Winner,aCharlottesiiatorswouldresistl.thatofabout16percentprobably.wou|d
tawyei foi the plainiiffs, said last change." j, .' . bethebesttheHousecoulddo.
*eel that the suit likely would be Jon"es said, "single-member dis- ' . Rauch said he,was determined

bus counties *itt -i"igt 
bo.ing

counties.
r Putting Forsyth and Guilford

counties into a super Senate dis-
trict that would elect five senators.
Guilford is a district to itself with
three senators, and Forsyth is a
single district with two senators.

pressed until all the issues, includ- tricts might come,-but I don't think tobring in a Senate plan with devi-
ing the single-membei districts, it will bdvoluntary by the General ation under 10 percent that still
wire resolvJd by the courts or the Assembly." '. preserves county lines.

Legislature. 
- 

James M. Wallace, a special Jones and Rauch agre-e-q on one
-6;p"irtconcededbythestate, deputy attorney general' dnd a thing: -the..tendency will be to

the deiense fund found that the m6m5er of th! itate's defense make the districts cven larger to
1968 amendments were never'" team, said that based on redis- bring the numbers down'

cieared by the U.S. Justiee'De-'. tricting case law, the legislato6 ' -Sope- examples mentioned by
paitmentis required by the \rot- would-risk losing a court-.test en thechairy:1Y:ry'
ing Rights Act. ' , the one-man, on6-vote principle if r Proceeding with the combined

The state has since submitted ',ttreyatlo*overall popuiationdgvi- Randolph, Chatham. and.Ora-nge

those amendments to the Justice , atidns among districti to exceed 19 County House .district with four
Uepartment and has asked for a .'.percent., members despite Republican op
iulingbeforetheOct.ZSilttlon.A:,j If'deviations are above 10 per- position'..

pineiof three judges - Franklin cent,Wallacesaid,thestatehasto r Finding ? Yay to reduce the
t. oupiue and iv. Earl Britt of the justiiy them. population of the three-rrie-mber

U.S. Iiastern District Court and J. " 
He laid the highest deviation 169 Senate district covering Wake,

Di"k"on Phillips of the lth Ciicuit Supreme Court-has allowed in a Harnett and .I,ee -counties- D|op-

Court of Appials - *ir nimea ' lejislative redistricting case was. ping Lee would solve the problem,

Fridaytohddrthecase. 1614 percent in Virginiiin 1973. In but adding that county to other
If the 1968 amendments are in- that case, Wallace"said, the court neighboring districts would make

validated, legal experts said the recognized a state's desire to fol- them too. large. Building a new

Ggi"ratuie ciutA ilnor" it" 
"on- 

low Eounty lines, but he said 16sg five-mempel Senate district using

ititlilonif provisioni requiiingthe might notirold for North Carolina. ii wake and Durham counties with
use of whole counties. fhe test for a whole county plan, i" one or.more smaller counties is a

10 -18r91
Raleigh News & Observer
Pg. 3