Gerrymandering: A Proud Virginia Tradition

Your daily dose of political hypocrisy. Virginia-style.

Anyone remember last winter when Democrats in Richmond were whining about voting districts that had been gerrymandered by the majority GOP to favor Republican politicians?

Remember how they pledged their fealty to non-partisan redistricting and voted, along with the GOP, for a constitutional amendment that would create a ‘Nonpartisan redistricting commission”? That measure needs another vote in Richmond in the upcoming session. After that the proposed constitutional amendment will be put to Virginia voters who are expected to give it overwhelming support.

Yeah. About that.

Now that Democrats have secured a majority in Richmond, they’re rethinking that nonpartisan thing.

Color me unsurprised.

In a story headlined “Some Virginia Democrats want to hit the brakes on redistricting plan,” The Washington Post reported that some in the drunk-with-power party want to maintain the status quo, with politicians configuring districts as they do after every census.

Shoot, if they do a good enough job redrawing districts, they could retain a stranglehold on Richmond for the next decade.

As my dad liked to say, “Makes a difference whose kids have the measles.”

Well, the Republicans have the measles now. As they did for about 100 years until the Democrats briefly slipped into the minority in the Old Dominion.

Funny, I wrote a column about this very topic back in 2001, when Republicans got their first crack at redistricting after the 2000 census.

Democrats were howling back then, too. They were excellent at gerrymandering but weren’t used to that power being in the hands of their opponents.

In fact, at the time, UVA’s resident political pundit Larry Sabato declared that the new Republican maps had “decapitated” the Democratic Party.

The late Democratic heavyweight from Norfolk, Tom Moss, moaned that the GOP had “cut the guts out of Democratic leadership” with their first crack at redistricting. All across the commonwealth Democrats were retiring rather than fight for re-election in what were now competitive districts.

Could this be the same Tom Moss who was the majority floor leader in 1991 when, as a result of creative Democratic map-making, Republican Congressmen Tom Bliley and George Allen suddenly found themselves cheek-to-cheek in the same district?” I wrote.

Is this the same Tom Moss whose party plopped 15 Republican delegates and one GOP-leaning independent into eight House seats in 1991 that led to an awkward game of musical Republicans?”

Wasn’t Moss a member of the party that had wielded absolute power in Richmond for more than 100 years, that merrily stomped on every nascent move by the Republicans, slurped up every decent committee assignment and happily redrew voting districts on cocktail napkins at Richmond receptions?

Redistricting happens after every census. It’s the most partisan of exercises and the Democrats skillfully used it to solidify their base. True, they didn’t engage in decapitation. They cut their opponents off at the knees. Why would they expect the Republicans in their first outing to behave differently?

If GOP leaders are acting every bit as ruthless as - dare we say it - Democrats, it’s because they learned from the masters.

Fast forward 20 years and Democrats are back in charge of redrawing districts. Sure, it was tempting to flirt with good government last year, when they were still in the minority.

It’s damned unlikely they’ll follow through now.