Revealing Quotes about Redistricting

July, 2001

CVD west coast director Steven Hill is writing a book about winner-take-all elections. Following are quotes he has collected about legislative redistricting. Not all are provided with citations, but these will be added in the future.

Quotes about:

The Importance of Redistricting:

"The winners are going to determine the political landscape in at least the first decade of the next millennium, because they are the people who are going to preside over the process of reapportionment and redistricting of their respective states as a result of the 2000 census."

-Jim Nicholson, then-chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC)

"The way you draw district lines...really controls or directs the advocacy of the representative,''

-Rep. Vernon Sykes (Democrat, Akron, OH)

"Long term, redistricting may be the most important issue of this campaign."

-John Morgan, GOP consultant and redistricting expert. From "Redistricting Is the Stealth Issue" By Ron Fournier, The Associated Press, 8/25/98

"It's the hidden national election of 2000."

-Tom Hofeller, redistricting director for the Republican National Committee

"This is the political system at its most competitive. Everything is at stake with this one."

-Alan Rosenthal, Rutgers political science professor

"The balance of power is incredibly even between the two parties at this moment,"..."The party that does the best down the ballot in this cycle is going to do the best in the next 10 years," he says.

-Republican National Committee strategist Tom Cole

"In so many ways, redistricting will determine the future control of Congress,"..."It makes it very disconcerting for members of Congress that their future rests in the hands of 400 to 500 state legislators that they don't know."

-Kevin Mack, who heads the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee

"Whoever sets up the legislative districts for the 2002 election basically sets up the elections for the whole decade."

-Thad Beyle, political scientist, University of North Carolina

Condit's (Redistricting) Dilemma. The official line among California Democrats last week was that "no one's really thinking about" how Rep. Gary Condit's (D-Calif.) woes will affect redistricting in the nation's most-populous state.
"Don't believe that, not for a second. It's all we're thinking about. It's all we're talking about," said a top state Democratic official, speaking on the condition of anonymity

-Roll Call, "Between the lines" by John Mercurio July 16, 2001

"Legislatures are as even now as they have ever been. "But if current trends continue, Republicans could lock in a strong advantage for the next 10 years"..."It's very, very difficult to get a handle on it. It's way behind the scenes, and it's hard to figure out what kind of money is being moved out to those campaigns. But it's a very sophisticated operation"..."The Republicans are still in considerably better position for redistricting now than they were 10 years ago"

-Tim Storey, policy analyst and redistricting expert with the National Conference of State Legislatures

"It's a titanic struggle."

-Rusty Hills, chairman of Michigan's GOP

"A total redrawing of political lines will change electoral politics in California for decades to come."

-Leslie Goodman, a Republican communications consultant

In whose Interest?

"Our ultimate goal is try and draw districts that will give Democrats a chance of winning Senate seats."

-Ron Maxwell, former director of intergovernmental affairs for the Arkansas Secretary of State in "Priest removes staff member from redistricting duties." The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 21, 2001.

"Those with the best relationship with the Senate . . . would have the best chance for survival."

-Jim Tilling, chief of staff to Ohio Senate President Stanley J. Aronoff

"I would attribute about 60 percent of the gains Republicans made [in the House since 1990] to redistricting."

-Mark Gersh, Washington director of the National Committee for an Effective Congress and a consultant to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

"Redistricting is an issue that affects the voters, but as a community, we have not been consulted about the plans."

-John Wang, Asian American Business Development Center

"You have Democrats in charge of both houses and a Democratic governor-- which guarantees that the next reapportionment will have absolutely no bipartisan restraint whatsoever."

-California Assemblyman Tom McClintock, Republican from Granada Hills

"The intrinsic motivations of the Republican leadership are utterly devoid of idealism or egalitarianism. When we redistricted in 1990, we used a scalpel. They're wielding a battle-ax."

-Bill DeWeese, Pennsylvania state House Minority Leader

"We're telling Murtha that if you screw with us, we'll screw with you."

-A Republican statehouse aide, warning a senior Democrat about the Pennsylvania redistricting

"This is a life and death struggle for survival. It just gets ugly."             

-Ken Khachigian, veteran GOP strategist in California

"We are in the business of rigging elections."

-State Senator Mark McDaniel, North Carolina

"We're very opportunistic. You have to think of us as the great white shark."

-Darry Sragow, Democratic strategist who masterminded Democratic campaigns for the California Assembly

"I've studied reapportionment and redistricting for 30 years, and I've never seen an atmosphere so poisonous as it is today in Pennsylvania."

- Terry Madonna, political science professor at Millersville University in Harrisburg

  

"If you're in total control, you can force the other party to take both losses."

-Kimball Brace, president, Election Data Services

"Under the current electoral system, choosing not to vote is a rational decision by people who do not identify with either of the two parties, or who live in congressional districts or states in which one party has an overwhelming majority. When the system is rigged against you, a boycott makes perfect sense."

-Michael Lind, "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," Mother Jones, March/April 1998

"Coming soon to a ballot box near you, courtesy of both Republicans and Democrats: the no-contest, no-choice election"..."While politicians talk up the virtues of democracy and voter participation, the hard-nosed reality they pursue is quite the contrary"..."The politicians contrive to give themselves and their colleagues maximum job security while depriving the voters of meaningful choice."

-USA Today, editorial 11/03/99

"If Democrats control the executive and legislative branches of government it will guarantee a jury-rigged process of line drawing. They can't help themselves. It's human nature. And the stakes are so high because Republican control of the Congress is going be decided in how California handles this."        
    
-Leslie Goodman, a Republican communications consultant

"I am not going to lie to you. We want to maximize Republican seats.... We're not planning to do anything now the Democrats didn't do in 1990, when they cut two Republican seats."

-John Perzel, state House Majority Leader (Republican)

Safety of Incumbents:

"Have you noticed, people, that some voters are way more equal than others? The presidential candidates are running ads already, trying to win the hearts of Americans in some state other than yours. Campaign committees in Washington are planning to pour millions of dollars into a handful of Congressional races in districts where you don't live. Your representative, who was supposed to be devoting his or her time to licking your local-voter boots, has been re-assigned to collect cash for the wooing of people in San Pedro, Calif., or northeast Oklahoma"..."First they gerrymander us into one-party fiefs. Then they tell us they only care about the swing districts. Then they complain about voter apathy"..."Given my neighborhood's electoral history, I've resigned myself to having Jerrold Nadler as my Congressman until one of us dies."

-Gail Collins, New York Times columnist

"The GOP did not recruit candidates in districts where Democrats are shoo-ins for re-election."

-Rep. John Linder of Georgia, then-head of the Republican campaign effort in the House (Frost's counterpart for the Republicans)

"Vote? Why vote? I know who's going to win, everybody knows who's going to win, Pelosi always wins-- with 80 percent of the vote. Nobody else has a chance."

-San Francisco resident

"[Redistricting] is not supposed to be an incumbency protection plan. What we want to do is encourage competitive elections if the demographics dictate."

-Barry Kauffman, Executive Director, Common Cause in Pennsylvania. From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Monday, June 01, 1998, By Frank Reeves and Peter J. Shelly, Post-Gazette Harrisburg

"We didn't want to go into districts where there was no hope of winning."

-Bob Sparks, Florida Republican Party spokesman, explaining why Republicans only fielded challengers against two of eight Florida Democrat incumbents in 1998

"I think the strategy of both parties is to target resources, and rather than run a lot of races where you have less chance of winning, you want to target the few where you have more promise"..."The reason is the slim number of seats to swing the House of Representatives"..."The flip side of that is presumably some incumbents who do not have challengers can shift funds to people who are in more problematic districts"..."What you are going to see in 1998 is that incumbents are going to be reelected in the usual trend line. You'll probably have between 95 and 98 percent who are reelected."

-Marshall Wittmann, director of congressional relations at The Heritage Foundation

"This is near the end of the decade. Traditionally, you have more unopposed incumbents."

-Rep. Martin Frost, Democrat-Texas

"Give me the check so I can give it to them."

-Mike Burke, an aide to Democratic Rep. Peter H. Kostmayer and a bundler for state candidates

"I don't have any second thoughts. A little more money would not have changed my own circumstances."

-Rep. Doug Walgren, D-?, defeated incumbent

Campaigning:

"For the candidates, there are other things they can be doing with their time than campaigning."

-Mark White, executive director, Massachusetts Democratic Party

"I can be more generous in supporting other candidates around the country."

-GOP Rep. Chip Pickering of Mississippi, running for re-election without Democratic opposition. From "House Members Face Few Party Rivals," May 28, 1998 By David Espo Associated Press

"Politically, the less money you have to spend on defense, the more money you can put on offense."

-Peter Roff, GOPAC's political director

"If you put an 'R' beside your name and you run in Durham County, you can forget it."

-Tommy Hunt, one-term Republican commissioner in North Carolina

"Both parties, I believe, have made a decision to concentrate on really competitive districts."

-Rep. Martin Frost of Texas, then-head of the Democratic campaign effort in the House

"The amount of money being poured into these races is unbelievable."

-Kevin Mack, director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee

This will be one of the few competitive races in the state. It could go either way."

-Bruce Cain, political science professor, University California-Berkeley

Redistricting Litigation:

"States may find it extremely difficult to avoid litigation flowing from decennial redistricting. On the one hand, States will risk violating the Voting Rights Act if they fail to create majority-minority districts. If they create those districts, however, they may open themselves to liability under Shaw and its progeny."

-Justice Stevens in his dissenting opinion in Bush v Vera

"Litigation can be expected on [redistricting] plans in virtually every state."

-Rep. Ken Bentsen (D-TX), who is chairman of the House Democratic Caucus' watchdog group

"Because the Supreme Court has taken such a hands-off view on political redistricting, but such a finger-in-the-pie view of race, everyone has an incentive to claim that every political gerrymander is now a racial gerrymander. There's going to be a race to the courthouse. And so the redistricting process following 2000 is going to be more of a litigation-driven process than it was in the past."

-Stanford Law Professor Pam Karlan

"There'll be a flood of litigation, because there are some unclear (areas) in the law"..."The redistricting wars will now begin in earnest and it appears that the election had little effect on who will have the upper hand"..."Both parties can claim victories by virtue of holding on to the status quo in some critical states"..."The 2000 elections were the first battle in the redistricting war that will take place over the next two years"..."Even though a party controls the whole process in a state does not mean that they will get their preferred map. The courts will inevitably play a key role before all is said and done."

-Tim Storey, policy analyst and redistricting expert with the National Conference of State Legislatures

Race and Redistricting:

"It's not just a districting process. It's a preview of how New York is going to react as a government to its population. The city is majority people of color...there will have to be a shift in power.''

- Esmeralda Simmons, director of the Medgar Evers College Center for Law and Social Justice in Brooklyn

"The plan is a clear and total grab of power [by blacks]. You're hearing that from someone who's worked very well with African Americans and firmly believes in the Rainbow Coalition. But this rainbow is too dark.''

-Ruben Franco, executive director, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund

"There are no Jews here. You should go where your people are. You should give a Puerto Rican a chance to win."

-A voter to Jewish congressional candidate Stephen Solarz in New York, quoted in Richard Bernstein, "Wandering Jew: Rep. Solarz goes Latino." New Republic, Sept. 21, 1992, Page 12

"Is the Republican Party so frightened of a single African American woman that they are willing to remove her completely out of the running for a seat in the 4th District?" said Sen. Yvonne B. Miller (D-Norfolk)..."My God, this is all very surprising. They used a scalpel in the spring to redo House and Senate seats, and they took a machete to this doggone congressional redistricting," said Del. Kenneth R. Melvin (D-Portsmouth), a black legislative leader.

-R.H. Melton, in "Va. Draws House Districts to Aid GOP" from the Washington Post, July 11, 2001

Other Redistricting Quotes:

"This is all about controlling the reapportionment process. They want to guarantee themselves a favorable vote on the Supreme Court,"..."This is all about the Republicans from affluent parts of the state-- the suburbs around Pittsburgh and Philadelphia-- controlling the General Assembly. What they want to do is eliminate a Philadelphia seat or a Pittsburgh seat in exchange for a new seat in the wealthy suburbs. It's all about control."

-Pennsylvania State Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow, D-Lackawanna (PA) (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Monday, June 01, 1998, By Frank Reeves and Peter J. Shelly)

"Did you see that bug district? It looks like a bug splattered on the windshield of a fast-moving vehicle."

-Thad Beyle, political scientist, University of North Carolina, quoted in "North Carolina Computer Draws Some Labyrinthine Lines," by Beth Donovan, Congressional Quarterly, July 13, 1991

"You've got two minority parties right now. Neither party has a majority of the national electorate on their side."

-Ron Faucheux, former Louisiana legislator and editor-in-chief at Campaigns & Elections magazine

"If 660 people, ballpark, had voted differently, we would have held the House."

-Mark Brewer, Democratic chairman in Pennsylvania

"None of the really large states changed. In a way, it's an echo of the presidential race, in that (the balance between parties) got closer and closer."

-Karl Kurtz, election analyst for the National Conference on State Legislatures

"You cannot take the politics out of redistricting. Even a computer-generated plan is full of politics. I'll say it over and over again-- there's no such thing as a non-partisan redistricting process. It's never been done."

-Jeff Wice, Democratic redistricting expert

"I think one thing is [redistricting] is an issue that few people in the general public are aware of or interested in. It's something that's very novel in the American political system."            

-Jim Tilling, chief of staff to Ohio state Attorney General Betty Montgomery

"We hope that Assembly Speaker Silver follows through on his commitment to keep Chinatown and Sunset Park together."             

-Margaret Fung, executive director, Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund

"I was telling people that this process was very important, that the legislature would control the reapportionment process and that from a Democratic point of view the election in Pennsylvania was very important."

-Rep. Robert A. Borski, D-Pa., encouraging his contributors to give to IMPAC 2000 as he set an example by giving $10,000 from his own campaign funds

"It became pretty clear that as an insurance policy it was important to maintain control of the Senate. With minor exceptions, the congressional delegation has been very supportive."

-Jim Tilling, chief of staff to Ohio Senate President Stanley J. Aronoff

"Why would you give money to the Republicans [in California]? So they can win 17 seats instead of 15? What is that going to accomplish? No matter what happens, the majority is out of reach for them in either house."

-John Burton (D-San Francisco), President, California State Senate

"Watch Al Gore on guns and you can see the issue has not had the universal appeal some people had anticipated. It's not a national issue. It's a regional one."

-Rep. Thomas Davis, chair of the House GOP's campaign arm, who supports stricter gun laws.