A ruling is expected before 4PM this afternoon on whether or not to grant an injunction against the Stumbo/Williams/Beshear redistricting plan that disenfranchised voters across the state, most notably in our area, Ms. Kathy Stein, Senator of Lexington’s Fighting 13th. From the Herald:
Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd also allowed Sen. Kathy Stein, a Democrat whose Lexington district was moved to northeastern Kentucky, and several Fayette County residents to intervene as plaintiffs in the GOP lawsuit. The suit challenges the constitutionality of newly drawn legislative districts that Gov. Steve Beshear signed into law earlier this month.
Judge Shepherd indicated any injunction would be temporary with hearings taking place immediately.
As for the Fayette County residents who joined the suit with Ms. Stein:
Shepherd allowed three Lexington residents — Dr. David B. Stevens, Jack Stevenson and Marcus McGraw — and David O’Neill, who was chairman of the Fayette County Democratic Party at the time of Stein’s election, to intervene in the suit as plaintiffs.
Greg Stotelmyer delivers possibly the clearest and best explanation of the current state of play in the redistricting battle as House Republicans and Senate Democrats get set to join forces against their opposite leadership:
Democrats divided 28 counties with the new boundaries, and Republicans say their plan would have split only 24. The constitution requires lawmakers to carve up as few counties as possible when redrawing the boundaries every 10 years after the newest census.
“The plan that was passed, signed by the governor, split more counties than was necessary, and we think we will be able to show that to the court,” Hoover said.
Sen. Kathy Stein, a Democrat whose Lexington district was moved to northeastern Kentucky, said it’s “highly likely” that she and some Fayette County residents will join the lawsuit.
“I’ve had several constituents — Democrats and Republicans alike — say they would be willing to be a plaintiff in a lawsuit. This may certainly well be a vehicle to get it in front of the court as expediently and efficiently as possible,” she said.
House Republicans contend the Democratic House plan is unconstitutional because it splits six counties in addition to the 22 counties which have populations in excess of the average of House district — requiring they be split.
But House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, said Wednesday he expects House Republicans to file suit sometime this week, and no later than next Tuesday’s candidate filing deadline.
“We’re going to show the court the plan adopted by the House Democrats is unconstitutional,” Hoover said. “It divides too many counties, it’s not contiguous; there’s an issue with regard to that. It disenfranchises some people in the commonwealth of Kentucky and we’re going to show that to the court.”
The coming suit could be joined by “private citizens” in affected counties. Some expect Kathy Stein and other Democratic Senators to join Hoover’s suit or possibly to file their own (More on that below).
Meanwhile, both Greg Stumbo, who is responsible for the House plan, and Damon Thayer, who is responsible for the Senate one, defended their maps against scrutiny:
“I don’t think that the Republicans will be successful,” Stumbo said of the suit….
“The Senate map is constitutional, legal and it’s a good map,” Thayer said.
On the prospect of Stein joining the suit, WFPL reports:
Democratic state Senator Kathy Stein says she and many of her Lexington supporters are strongly considering getting involved as well. A handful of House Republicans filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Circuit Court today challenging the House redistricting map. And Stein says she is likely to join those Republicans.
“Well I’m certainly very intensely studying the pleadings that they have and I believe that chances are very good that we will attempt to intervene in some manner,” she says.
A request for an injunction is expected Monday morning.
Steve Beshear’s former Lt. Governor, Mr. Dan Mongiardo, came out hard today against the State House and Senate redistricting maps:
The redistricting plans recently passed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor was an exercise in hyper-partisanship that disenfranchises hundreds of thousands of citizens and should be overturned. It is this type of unnecessarily divisive partisan politics that further weakens our political system’s ability to solve the difficult problems confronting our state and nation.”
Mongiardo is throwing his support behind an independent commission:
“After such a raw display of rank partisanship, it is time the people of Kentucky assign the responsibility for redistricting to an independent commission that puts the interest of the citizens of this Commonwealth before the self-serving interests of the politicians or either political party.”
He goes on to blast David Williams — calling him “petty and vindictive” — and one of Fayette County’s other Senators, Republican Alice Forgy Kerr:
“For Senator Alice Forgy Kerr to place her loyalty to David Williams above her loyalty to the people of Fayette County and vote to eliminate the only other state senator from Fayette County is shameful. The fact that she didn’t have the courage to publicly and openly cast her ‘yea’ vote at the time is even more shameful. Senator Kerr’s decision to eliminate the only state senator representing Lexington’s downtown core and the UK campus area is mystifying. Her constituents, those citizens living in Lexington’s suburbs, are inextricably linked to the success of Lexington’s downtown and the University of Kentucky.”
Less than a week after Steve Beshear declined to challenge Damon Thayer’s redistricting plan which disenfranchised the voters of Fayette County — Beshear’s base of party support — Steve and Damon are back with a new deal:
Senate State and Local Government Chairman Damon Thayer of Georgetown said Wednesday he is “strongly leaning” toward sponsoring Gov. Steve Beshear’s constitutional amendment to expand gambling.
Thayer is a Republican, and the governor is a Democrat.
The hate-filled organization that also opposes gambling says:
“By the time the governor and his friends in the gambling industry finish divvying up all the millions of dollars they think they’re going to pocket through this legislation and come out of their smoke-filled room over in the Capitol building, this whole thing will be over,” said Martin Cothran, spokesman for the group. “In fact, the gambling bill may already be dead.
Beshear has been coy about whether he has the votes to pass the amendment this session and Thayer admits that getting enough votes will be difficult.
“But I will say that I think it’s going to be close,” Thayer says. “I think 23 votes is a big step on a very controversial issue and I do think its close.”
Many possibilities have been discussed by supporters and others. They include a straightforward question of whether voters favor allowing casinos or a question with more specifics. Variables could involve specifying that the casinos be at racetracks, at racetracks and other sites, or not specifying potential locations.
David Williams has apparently pledged not to stand in the ay of the amendment.
In other gambling news, casino gambling has already expanded in Illinois and now the race tracks are trying to build mini-casinos on site while some in the government are instead pushing them to take a slice of revenue from the existing casinos. The Governor is opposed to the race track gambling, apparently, but is meeting with those folks and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and, well, it’s possible the casino industry and the race track folk may just go their own way:
On Wednesday, about 35 lobbyists and lawyers met in a private conference room in the Capitol with another meeting scheduled for next month. One idea being discussed is a contractual “impact fee” from the casinos to the racing industry that avoids the Legislature altogether.
Tim Carey, president of Hawthorne Racecourse, a thoroughbred track in Cicero, said he would prefer to come to an agreement directly with the casinos because it would be more enforceable. “Let’s do it by contract,” he said. “What do we need the Legislature for?”
We see casino gambling coming to Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Florida… and with this absolute glut of competition:
And that could mean that the tourism promise of the casinos largely goes unfulfilled, as the gambling tables and slot machines are played predominantly by locals taking revenue from other parts of the economy, rather than out-of-state visitors bringing in new dollars, said the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington D.C. research group that advocates for progressive tax codes.
“Gambling may simply shift money from one tax to another, limiting the net gain to the state,” it said. “Consumers spend more money on gambling activities, they will spend less money on other items, such as recreation and even basic needs.”
This is funny. Not like funny-ha-ha, more like funny-what-a-bunch-of-morons.
The whole whinging excuse for passing the State House and State Senate redistricting bill and signing it without a veto or a conference to work out differences was that they had to maintain the filing deadline and because the Governor thought it was time to move on to gambling where they were all going to work together in a nonpartisan, cooperative way.
Negotiations between the state House and Senate have stalled over the redrawing of Kentucky’s six congressional districts.
….Thayer said Monday that he had no idea when the two sides might meet again, making it likely that the Jan. 31 deadline for congressional candidates to file for this year’s election will have to be pushed back.
“I’d say quite likely that the General Assembly is going to be required to move the filing deadline for congressional districts,” Thayer said.
….In the meantime, Thayer said the slow work on congressional redistricting probably will mean a delay in considering expanded gambling in the state.
So Governor Steve Beshear signed the insane redistricting bill to move us toward gambling, in the process disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters across the state — not least of which is the heart of the Democratic Party that funds and supports him – and right now it looks like that was a total failure.
The Herald-Leader also has a bit more previewing coming legal challenges from the State House of the state redistricting and forthcoming bills to restructure redistricting in the future (which Greg Stumbo is opposed to because he’s really happy with how he stuck it to Fayette County… never forget, Greg, never forget).
*ALSO: There’s more from CN|2 on the redistricting stalemate, including chats with Thayer and Stumbo*
“I considered vetoing the bill, quite honestly, but it would have been a useless act because my veto just would have been overridden by the House and Senate and then there would have been precious little time for anybody to get filed and run for office,” Beshear said Monday.
Alrighty. Let’s consider that…
Why would both Houses have overridden it? Could you not have put political pressure on them to work out their differences on the two plans in conference? The House Republicans didn’t like Stumbo’s lines and the Senate Democrats didn’t like Thayer’s. That’s grounds for compromise. That’s kind of the basis of politics. That and using your political muscle to get your way. As it is, Beshear is claiming that he got outmuscled by both Williams and Stumbo. If that’s true, that’s pathetic.
If Steve was so sure his veto would be overridden, then they likely would have overridden it pretty quickly, which means little if any time would have passed before the bill went back into affect and everyone who wanted to run would still have had time to file. Especially if Governor Beshear had vetoed the bill immediately instead of waiting nearly 24 hours. If he was so concerned about time, why did he waste that extra day?
And then do you know what the Governor did? He poo-pooed the grounds of the lawsuits that will inevitably come and may well find an injunction, pushing back the filing deadline if not throwing off the calendar and reverting the districts. All of which wastes money the state doesn’t have and time the Governor claims to be so concerned about. That’s absurd.
The Governor says he’s heard talk of possible lawsuits to fight the redistricting plan, but added that those are difficult to win. He now wants lawmakers to focus on the budget and approving a measure that would allow the public to vote on expanded gaming.
I’ll bet he does.
If you can make it to Frankfort tomorrow you can join protests for voting rights in the morning at 8:30 and a rally against the insane redistricting plan at 2PM — details at KFTC and Facebook.
Next up, we plan on taking this rally to Frankfort! – on Tuesday, Jan 24th
Who: You, Lexington Residents, Supporters of Democracy
What: Protest the disenfranchisement of Lexington
Where: Frankfort, KY Capitol Building and Annex
When: Tuesday January 24th
Why: Because your right to vote on who represents you is a fundamental part of American Democracy!
Participants at Sunday’s so-called “Rally Against Insane Redistricting” primarily blamed Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, and Senate State and Local Government Chairman Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, for Stein’s predicament.
….Debra Hensley, a former Urban County Council member, said she was upset that Beshear signed the bill into law.
Beshear said Friday he didn’t like the bill but signed it because a Jan. 31 deadline for legislative candidates to file to run is looming.
Stein’s husband, Alan Stein, told the crowd that all three Democratic women in the state Senate were adversely affected by redistricting as well as the only Jewish member of the legislature, his wife.
Sen. Stein said she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and pledged to work with Ridley in representing the people of Lexington.
We have obtained exclusive video of Steve Beshear teaching the Senator from Henderson County how to take Kathy Stein’s seat:
For anyone who thinks Lexington’s new State Senator is not a good match for the folks of the TRUE 13th District, you will notice toward the end of the above exclusive video that he enjoys laughing at Ronald Reagan. So obviously he’s one of us.
Let’s get a round-up of news and reaction from around the state, shall we?
The House, Senate, and Gov Beshear have passed re-districting plans that are vindictive against specific lawmakers, leave at least one incumbent lawmaker without a district to run for re-election, give constituents in another district a new senator who lives halfway across the state from the district he will now represent, and creates very oddly shaped districts that unnecessarily divide coherent communities and constituencies.
If you haven’t seen Rep. Kelly Flood’s floor speech in opposition to Greg Stumbo’s spinelessly engineered vote in favor of the Senate redistricting plan, here it is:
Added bonuses: Greg Stumbo laughing heartily at the description of everyone in Fayette County as total idiots; and, Greg Stumbo fake-clapping after Kelly Flood’s speech.
You’re a real stand-up dude, Stumbo. The 13th will never forget.
“If the governor truly believed that HB1 is such an egregious piece of legislation, he should have the courage of his convictions to veto the plan,” Williams said in a statement.
“As usual, though, he prefers to cast aspersions instead of taking responsibility for his own actions or inactions, thereby continuing to make Frankfort more partisan than it already is.”
Sen. Damon Thayer, a Georgetown Republican and chair of the Senate state and local government committee, again defended moving Stein’s district, saying all open districts were assigned odd numbers because those seats will be on the ballot in November.
“…District 13 was moved to the open seat in northeastern Kentucky to ensure that the people of that district would not be left unrepresented until after the 2014 election,” he said in a statement.
“… This was a responsible decision, not one based on personality.”
The voters of Fayette County aren’t the only ones getting screwed here, of course, and that’s important to keep in mind. The voters of Henderson County are also being dis-served, writes David Dixon in the Henderson Gleaner, as their elected official is also being removed:
We, along with Sen. Ridley, have got to wonder: What did we do to deserve this?
Apparently Sen. Stein had been an outspoken opponent of state Senate President David Williams for too long. She is the main target of these machinations. Ridley and his constituents back here in western Kentucky are just collateral damage I guess. I don’t like getting caught in the shrapnel of exploding political egos.
Legislative redistricting is supposed to be done to maintain population balances among the districts. What is actually done is to rearrange districts and elected representatives to give your party the best chance of winning the most elections in the future. And punish some enemies along the way.
The Democrats did it to Republicans in the state House of Representatives redistricting plan.
And the Republican-dominated state Senate did the same, in even more spectacular fashion.
Meanwhile, Ronnie Ellis highlights the fact that the Democrats are equally complicit in this whole thing, with Stumbo having screwed Republicans in the House… and to what end? What did either Williams or Stumbo achieve? Ellis also points out about Beshear:
Gov. Steve Beshear was criticized during the campaign for avoiding discussion of serious issues.
He talked about how he’d steered Kentucky through tough times but there was light at the end of the tunnel.
He declined to discuss tax reform and said as little possible about expanded gambling, both of which he now says we need.
Well, that light turns out to be a roaring budget locomotive. Beshear is offering a budget which will force 8.4 percentcuts on agencies which have been cut 25 percent in the past four years and retards educational progress.
We all knew it was coming but Beshear said hardly a word about it during the campaign.
It wasn’t about what is best for Kentucky, it was about what would get him re-elected which he obviously believed were one and the same. Just like those gerrymandering legislators of both parties.
Al Cross calls the House and Senate redistricting a “monstrosity” and “politically objectionable.” Stumbo’s House plan, in particular, appears primed for court override, which Jeff Hoover, Republican House Minority Leader is already preparing:
An injunction from a judge could block the bill from taking effect, forcing a delay in the Jan. 31 filing deadline for legislative seats, and perhaps in the May primary elections. And then maybe a special legislative session to pass a plan that meets constitutional muster.
All this because House Democrats thumbed their noses at Section 33 of the Kentucky Constitution, which says a county not large enough to make its own district can’t be divided by a district line. The House divided six such counties: Harlan, Lawrence, Letcher (three ways), Lewis (three ways), Mercer and Trigg.
In an email, Hoover tells Barefoot & Progressive:
We are pursuing legal action as far as the House plan. It will be up to someone affected by the Senate plan to challenge it.
You hear that, Fayette County?
It will be up to someone affected by the Senate plan to challenge it.
SHE WON'T GO!
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