The State: "Remapping plan OK'd by House." August 16, 2001
 The State: "House OKs changes to redistricting plan." August 16, 2001
 The State: "Parties draw lines over redistricting: Democrats say they're browbeaten; Republicans say their proposal is fair." August 15, 2001
 The State: "South Carolina Remapping plan criticized." August 14, 2001
 The State: "GOP goes extra mile to reshape map." August 12, 2001
 The State: "Plan gives congressmen safe districts: Five of the six incumbents in S.C. embrace proposal for reapportionment." August 8, 2001
 The State: "Plan adds senator for Richland County." August 7, 2001
 The Post and Courier: "Democrats try to avoid race-based redistricting." August 6, 2001
 The State: "House panel's redistricting plan favors GOP: Package also adds two districts with black majorities; partisan fight likely." July 31, 2001
 The State: "House panel approves congressional reapportionment plan." July 24, 2001
 Associated Press: "Redistricting work begins in the House and Senate." April 3, 2001
 The New York Times: "U.S. Sues Charleston County, S.C., Alleging Violation of Black Voting Rights." January 19, 2001 

The State
Remapping plan OK'd by House
By Valerie Bauerlein
August 16, 2001

As Democrats and Republicans angrily accused each other of racial gerrymandering, the S.C. House of Representatives approved plans Wednesday to redraw its own districts. The House passed its plan by a vote of 70-44, with 10 members not voting. Three Democrats voted with the GOP majority.

The plan:

• Collapses two districts in Richland and Charleston counties and rebuilds them in Horry and Beaufort counties to account for coastal population growth.
• Pits incumbent Democrats against each other in two districts, including Reps. Joe Neal and Jimmy Bales in Lower Richland.
• Creates 78 districts that are more than 75 percent white. The House now has 68 such districts.

As a result of the changes, Republicans hope to add six to eight new members to their majority.

Neal, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, said the House plan would take the state back in time. Blacks would be able to elect representatives from majority-black districts, Neal said, but representatives from "super-white" districts would not have to listen to them.

"You are taking South Carolina in a direction that will be disastrous for her ... in which the majority will care less and less and less about the minority," Neal said.

House Judiciary chairman Jim Harrison said his committee's plan was drawn with a close eye to legal precedent and to fairness. Harrison said he took offense at the accusation that he set a quota of 75 percent white.

Harrison argued that a Democratic counterproposal was worse for blacks.

Democrats drew 50 districts where the black voting-age population was lower than the Republican plan, making it more difficult for blacks to elect candidates or play a deciding role in elections.

"If there was ever racial apartheid, it's the Democratic plan that's doing that," Harrison said.

The General Assembly is obligated to redraw its lines every 10 years with new census numbers.

The procedure is contentious, especially in Southern states such as South Carolina, which must get Justice Department approval. In South Carolina, the courts have traditionally redrawn lines.

Wednesday's debate was significant because it laid out the grounds for a likely gubernatorial veto and a protracted court battle.

Attorney Richard Gergel, representing Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges, watched the debate. "They want black folks involved in picking black leaders, but not in picking white leaders," Gergel said.

Neal said he and the leaders of the Black Caucus had been "ominously silent" before his speech Wednesday.

Black leaders formed a coalition with white Republicans in the 1990s to maximize the number of majority-black and majority-white districts. But the Black Caucus cannot back this Republican plan, Neal said, because it minimizes black influence in almost all districts without a black majority.

"This plan goes far beyond what those of us in the Legislative Black Caucus have ever envisioned," Neal said. "It goes to the point that is threatening to the health and welfare of South Carolina."

Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, said the House plan followed historical district lines, county and precinct lines, and population growth.

"They can claim political partisanship all day long," Wilkins said. "This plan is the result of population shift."

It essentially leaves South Carolina's six districts intact, making the Palmetto State delegation likely to stay two Democrats and four Republicans.

The plan splits Georgetown County between the 1st and 6th congressional districts. It also takes Colleton County out of the 2nd District and puts it in the 6th.

Republican U.S. Rep. Floyd Spence represents the 2nd, and Democrat Jim Clyburn holds the majority-black 6th District seat.

Darlington and Lee counties are placed in the 5th District, represented by Democrat John Spratt.

Overall, the plan reduces the number of split counties from 13 to 8.

The House adopted the proposal on an 81-25 vote.

All six S.C. congressmen endorsed the plan.

The House defeated all efforts to amend the committee plan.

The Senate is considering a slightly different congressional reapportionment plan. The differences between the two plans will have to be ironed out in a Senate-House conference.

All of the congressmen, with the exception of 2nd District GOP Rep. Floyd Spence of Lexington, embraced the proposal.

It's essentially the same plan submitted by state Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, with minor adjustments.

"This plan comes closer to meeting the constitutional test than any I've seen," said U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Santee Democrat, who represents the majority-black 6th District.

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee bowed to pressure from Spence and put Colleton County back in the 6th and restored Orangeburg and Calhoun counties to the 2nd.

But the Senate staff undid it, much to the chagrin of Spence.

State Sen. Joe Wilson, a Lexington Republican who led the fight for Spence, said he will attempt to restore Orangeburg and Calhoun to the 2nd using the argument that the two counties have more in common with the Midlands than the Pee Dee.

"The fight is going to be a long-term struggle," said Wilson, a member of the Senate reapportionment subcommittee.

The Senate staff plan makes the congressional districts more compact, reducing the number of counties in the 6th from 16 to 12, and from 11 to 9 in the 2nd. The 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th would retain the same number of counties. The number of split counties would be reduced from 13 to 7.

The black voting age population in the 6th would drop from 61 percent to 53 percent. But Clyburn said he could live with that.

Federal courts have ruled that districts must become more compact, departing from the sprawling boundaries created to increase the chance of electing minority candidates. At the same time, the U.S. Justice Department requires there be no decrease in the number of elected minorities.

There is a long tradition in South Carolina of state lawmakers deferring to redistricting agreements worked out among congressional incumbents.

Early on, Ford circulated his plan among the six congressional members, and all said they had no serious problem with it, although Spence raised some concerns.

The redistricting committees in both of the state's legislative chambers have been working on separate tracks. Differences would have to be settled in a Senate-House conference.

If lawmakers fail to agree on new districts (--) or if the governor objects to their plan and the Legislature can't muster enough votes to override a veto (--) the job would fall to the courts. That last happened in South Carolina in 1991 when the courts drew up the current map.

Lee Bandy covers politics. You can reach him at (803) 771-8648 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Richland County would add John Land as a fifth senator representing its residents under a redistricting plan unveiled Monday.

Land, the leader of Senate Democrats from Manning, would join the Richland delegation under the plan proposed by the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee and backed by Sen. Glenn McConnell, the president pro tem.

Land's five-county district would stretch from his home in Clarendon County through parts of Calhoun, Sumter and Lee counties and to Eastover in Richland County.

This shift was among several changes proposed for the Midlands, including:

(box) Moving Nikki Setzler's District 26 somewhat out of Lexington County and farther into Saluda and Aiken counties.

(box) Having John Courson's District 20 pick up some of Lexington County, including the town of Irmo.

(box) Moving Andre Bauer's District 18 out of Union County and more solidly into Lexington, Newberry and Saluda counties.

Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, said he was "furious" about losing lower Richland areas a few miles from his home to Land.

The proposed plan wrongly compresses black voters into the same districts, Jackson said, and ultimately dilutes their voting strength. Jackson's district would be 53 percent black in its voting-age population. Land's would be 57 percent black.

"I am adamantly opposed to the map that came out," Jackson said.

Land, a senator since 1977, said he would happily represent Richland but wanted to check with other senators about their views on the plan.

Courson, a Republican, said district lines had to be moved because the majority-black districts represented by Jackson and Kay Patterson were not growing as quickly as other parts of the region.

Courson lost some of his district also, because his district grew too much.

"You have to look at this from a macro-perspective," Courson said.

McConnell, R-Charleston, released his staff's plan one week before the General Assembly returns to Columbia for a special session on reapportionment, the mandatory redrawing of lines every 10 years to ensure that districts have roughly the same number of people.

The plan was released on the Senate's Web site at 10 a.m. Monday. McConnell released the maps a few hours before his colleague and close friend, Sen. Ernie Passailaigue, D-Charleston, was hired as lottery director.

Passailaigue's current District 43 included the old Navy base and had lost thousands in population. McConnell's plan essentially drew Passailaigue's district out of existence, moving it northeast.

The new District 43, as proposed, would run from Mount Pleasant up to southern Horry County. It encompasses much of the area now represented by Sen. Arthur Ravenel, R-Charleston.

Ravenel said he is happy to shift his District 34 down to historic Charleston, Folly Beach and Kiawah Island (--) areas he has represented in the past either as a state senator or congressman.

Ravenel said next week's special session could be brutal, as incumbents battle to protect themselves and create districts where their parties could win.

But, Ravenel said, the population grew dramatically in the 1990s and most of the growth took place in the cities' suburbs and on the coast.

"The basic problem the white Democrats are having is we now have more than 4 million people, and most of the new people are white, and most are Republicans.

"The problem the Democrats are having is there are not enough blacks to go around," Ravenel said.

Jackson, of Richland, said the general problem is that the people responsible for drawing districts that best represent constituents are also politicians concerned about their own futures.

"When you deal with reapportionment, it's something that's deeper than partisanship," Jackson said. "It's about selfishness."

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a public hearing on the plan at 1:30 p.m. Monday in the Gressette Building at the State House complex.

Staff Writer Chris Roberts contributed to this report.

The Post and Courier
Democrats try to avoid race-based redistricting
By Warren Wise
August 6, 2001

When Republicans and black lawmakers forged the unholy alliance over redistricting in 1994, it guaranteed more blacks would get elected. It also set the South Carolina Legislature on a course for GOP domination.

Drawing blacks into more black districts had the opposite effect of creating whiter, more Republican districts.

State Democrats and political analysts say the odd coalition won't happen again.

"We are all on the same page this time," a Democratic aide to House Minority Leader Doug Jennings, D-Bennettsville, said.

"I would be very surprised to see that happen again," political scientist Bill Moore of the College of Charleston said.

He also believes Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges will veto the GOP-controlled House redistricting plan to be considered by the General Assembly Aug. 13. The federal courts will draw the lines for South Carolina, he said.

The House plan boosts minority voting districts from 25 to 27, but Black Caucus Chairman Joe Neal, D-Hopkins, said blacks didn't ask for the increase.

"We have no interest in creating additional black districts," Neal said. "We don't think at this point politically we need to do that. We don't think there's enough growth to justify it."

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Harrison, R-Columbia, said the plan added black districts to keep communities of interest together and to comply with the necessary population deviations under the new census figures.

He said some districts that crept close to being majority black under the last redistricting plan were pushed past 50 percent under the new plan while some that were over before are now less than half black.

"It was not done intentionally," he said. "Our goal wasn't to go out and create as many minority districts as we could. We wanted to keep communities of interest together."

Under the new plan, four districts that were less than 50 percent black by voting age population are now more than half black while two districts that had been higher are now under 50 percent. The net result is two new majority black districts.

The four districts now over are those of Reps. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken, who rose from 48.6 percent black to 54.4 percent black; Amos Gourdine, D-Pineville, who went from 49.2 percent black to 51.1 percent black; Walter Lloyd, D-Walterboro, whose numbers increased from 44.4 percent to 50.9 percent; and Thayer Rivers, D-Ridgeland, who increased from 42.9 percent to 50.7 percent black.

Districts falling below the 50 percent margin were those of Jennings who dropped from 50.3 percent black to 47.1 percent black and Harry Ott, D-St. Matthews, who declined from 50.9 percent to 49.2 percent black.

Jennings believes the plan approved by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee is GOP friendly and he will urge the governor to veto it unless it is changed.

With 71 Republicans and 53 Democrats in the House, that's unlikely. The bigger question is can Republicans pick up a dozen Democrats to override a veto.

"I am confident we have enough votes in the House to override a veto," Harrison said. "But I have no idea what will happen in the Senate."

Jennings, meanwhile, believes Democrats can sustain a gubernatorial veto.

Republicans lead the Senate by a more narrow margin, 24-22, but in the past, the House signed off on the Senate plan and the Senate did likewise with the House plan in what's known as a gentlemen's agreement.

Harrison foresees that happening again, even though the roles have switched now with Republicans in control of the Legislature and a Democrat in the governor's office.

He hopes the gentlemen's agreement would apply after a gubernatorial veto.

"Failure to override a veto is a violation of the gentlemen's agreement," he said. "You are impacting the other body's plan."

Nevertheless, if the Legislature doesn't override a veto, Harrison said all is not lost.

"If the House passes the plan and votes to override the veto even if the Senate does not, simply overriding in the House will give the plan considerable credibility in the court," he said.

The General Assembly returns Aug. 13 for a four-week session strictly to handle redistricting. They must adopt remap plans for the House, Senate and Congress by Sept. 7, or the courts take over.

Lawmakers return Sept. 19-21 to consider gubernatorial vetoes on redistricting.

The GOP-controlled panel also adopted a congressional reapportionment package that gives favorable districts to all six members of the Palmetto State delegation (--) two Democrats and four Republicans.

The S.C. House redistricting plan was adopted by voice vote after members, voting largely along partisan lines, rejected Democrat-sponsored amendments.

The panel redrew new political boundary lines for 124 House seats, accepting much of what the subcommittee proposed last week.

Because of population shifts, the plan strips Richland County of a seat and adds new ones in Beaufort and Horry counties.

Black legislators now represent 25 districts in the state House. They hope to add to their numbers after the 2002 elections, and new majority-black districts would make that likely.

House Minority Leader Doug Jennings, D-Marlboro, said unless the House makes changes in the current plan, he will encourage Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges to veto it. He accused the Republicans of engaging in heavy-handed tactics to keep Democrats from gaining any advantage.

"I think the Republicans have a political agenda here," Jennings said. "It's a very partisan plan that seeks to increase their numbers. We believe we can do better."

The General Assembly will convene in special session Aug. 13 to consider reapportionment issues.

Republicans hold a 71-53 majority in the House and a 24-22 majority in the Senate. However, it takes favorable votes from two thirds of members in both chambers to override an expected veto.

Republicans will need to pick up 12 Democrats to override an expected veto in the House.

"I think we can wrangle the necessary number of Democrats," said House Election Laws Subcommittee chairman Ron Fleming, R-Union. "Right now it looks pretty good. I'm not saying we have a lock."

Hodges spokesman Morton Brilliant said the governor is keeping an open mind. "What the governor is looking for are districts that make sense to their constituents. He would like to see districts that respect communities and neighborhoods, districts that are drawn for the people, not the politicians."

Under the House redistricting plan, six Democrats are pitted against each other: Jimmy Bales of Eastover against Joe Neal of Hopkins, Jennings of Bennettsville against Mary Beth Freeman of Cheraw, and Mickey Whatley against Seth Whipper, both of North Charleston.

"Three of our people will be out of here," Jennings said.

Democrats admit the two new districts in Beaufort and Horry are solidly Republican.

Under the plan approved, the GOP could pick up as many as six to eight seats, Jennings said.

"That's been their goal all along," the House Democratic leader said.

Democrats have the votes to sustain a veto, Jennings said. Their hope is the plan ends up in federal court, where Democrats think they will receive more favorable treatment.

Ten years ago, Republican Gov. Carroll Campbell vetoed the reapportionment plans of the Democratic-controlled legislature, and the federal courts drew lines for the General Assembly and the congressional delegation.

This year's congressional proposal passed by voice vote Monday, though Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Harrison, D-Richland, expressed some concerns about its constitutionality and questioned whether it measured up to the standards of the federal Voting Rights Act.

He thought the plan adopted by the House Election Laws Subcommittee was superior in that it went to greater lengths to avoid splitting counties. Harrison voted for the amended congressional plan, he said, because he wanted to keep the proposal moving.

"This plan has a long ways to go," the chairman noted. "It certainly will end in a conference with the Senate," which has yet to adopt a reapportionment package.

As the redistricting plan was adopted Monday, members rejected most amendments.

However, supporters of U.S. Rep. Floyd Spence succeeded in getting the panel to put the white areas of Orangeburg and Calhoun counties back into the 2nd District and place Colleton County in the majority-black 6th District now represented by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.

State Sen. Joe Wilson, R-Lexington, said he would work hard to keep the district plan intact in the Senate.

"I think we can. It all makes sense," said Wilson, a member of the Senate Judiciary redistricting subcommittee.

Lee Bandy covers politics. You can reach him at (803) 771-8648 or by e-mail at [email protected].