Opinion

Editorial: Legislators, not 'residents,' made redistricting 'veto proof'

Monday, Jan. 10, 2022 -- It was the legislature, not the people of North Carolina nor anyone else, who determined specifically what is or isn't subject to a gubernatorial veto. North Carolina voters weren't offered any choices of what legislation the wanted the governor to have a direct role in.

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CBC Editorial: Monday, Jan. 10, 2022; Editorial #8728
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company.

There’s been a wide gap between the truth and the North Carolina legislature’s defense of the hyper-gerrymandered congressional and legislative districts it enacted.

An open and transparent process was promised, has been repeatedly defended as more-so than any previous process. The comparison is incremental, at best, but fails when considering any objective notions of transparency and openness.

In a startling revelation, Rep. Destin Hall of Caldwell County who oversaw the map-drawing process in the state House of Representatives, confessed in court and under oath that he used secret maps, prepared by one of his aides, to guide his map drawing. Phil Strach, the lawyer for the legislators, dismissed the astonishing disclosure as “irrelevant.”

What is not irrelevant and what should not be ignored IS what would mildly be termed a misrepresentation of the General Assembly’s power-grab to be the sole actors and arbiters of election district map-drawing.

Strach, in a taffy-esque stretch of the truth, said it was the people of North Carolina who conferred upon the General Assembly the sole authority over determining congressional and legislative districts.

“Map drawing in North Carolina is committed to the legislature, not to some nonpartisan committee. It is committed to the political body of the government of this state. Indeed, when the residents of North Carolina had an opportunity to amend the Constitution and decide whether the governor is able to veto redistricting plans, they voted to keep it veto proof, meaning they wanted their elected representatives, not a sole, individual executive to decide.”

That is NOT what voters were asked, or what they did. In November 1996 they voted on a text specifically set out by the General Assembly – in legislation that obviously at the time – was not subject to any review or veto of the governor. “The question to be used in the voting systems and ballots shall be: ‘[ ] FOR [ ] AGAINST Constitutional amendments granting veto power to the Governor.’" That's it.

It was the legislature, not the people of North Carolina nor anyone else, who determined specifically what is or isn’t subject to a gubernatorial veto. North Carolina voters weren’t offered any choices of what legislation THEY WANTED the governor to have a direct role in.

North Carolina “residents” did not “decide whether the governor is able to veto redistricting plans.” North Carolina’s voters got a take-it-or-leave-it deal that made the state’s governor the last in the nation to have any kind of authority to veto legislation. The state’s governor still remains ranked among the nation’s weakest.
Who has the power to draw and determine North Carolina’s legislative and congressional districts is solely in the hands of the General Assembly. It is a power it conferred upon itself – not one that anyone else and most significantly NOT the “residents” or voters of North Carolina.

There was plenty in Strach’s closing statement that stretched the truth and twisted reality.

But the suggestion that anyone -- other than legislators themselves – granted the General Assembly the sole power to handle redistricting is false.

Perhaps Strach assumes the panel of judges hearing his argument – two Republicans and a Democrat – would abandon their obligation to the law in favor their political affiliations.

We choose to believe otherwise.

Most directly, regardless of Strach’s twisted logic, if it is the legislature’s task to draw congressional and legislative district election lines, it is obligated to follow the Constitution. No one approved of unconstitutional gerrymandering.

We can sympathize with the weak set of facts Strach faced in trying to make a convincing argument for his clients.

But desperation is no excuse in a court where truth is the paramount currency.

Strach must correct the record and apologize to the court for this false statement.

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