Posted on 03/07/2013 9:18:39 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
Democratic leaders in the Kentucky House won passage Wednesday of a legislative redistricting plan that could strengthen their majority by forcing 11 Republicans to run against each other next year.
The Democratic-controlled House voted 53-46 along party lines for the measure, which now moves to the GOP-led Senate, where it faces an uncertain future.
House Republicans made emotional pleas not to pass the legislation, saying it was born out of "purely partisan politics."
"Nobody did it to be punitive to anybody in this chamber; I can assure you of that," House Speaker Greg Stumbo said in his pitch for the measure, drawing guffaws from Republican lawmakers.
(Excerpt) Read more at wkyufm.org ...
Sure Mr. Speaker...drawing districts with the locations of GOP members' houses in mind to put them in the same district to affect more than a tenth of the chambers' members was done on accident - including one district with 3 incumbent Republicans now drawn into the same district. That goes way beyond partisan gerrymandering.
Kentucky?? How does a state like Kentucky end up with a scumbag-controlled House?Lemme guess - - they have a lot of lying rats who conned people into believing they are conservatives?
could make an interesting court case. i am certain that is where this is headed, and the senate repubs ought to do the same thing util the dems withdraw or lose the court case.
Anyway, I hope the GOP-controlled Senate has the balls to tell the housemice to go play in the street.
‘Rats redistricting for their benefit is fine, GOPe doing the same is evil.
Yes, they’ve been in control since the 1920s.
They have been getting chipped away at but we have not been able to get those last handful of seats. Looks like they are trying to get rid of all of the young new faces of the party in particular with this redistricting scheme...having 25 year olds in the House won’t fit with their template of calling the GOP the party of “old men.”
Thanks.
I just never thought of Kentucky as having all that many concentrated parasite nests (”cities”) and so I was curious about where all the Democrat votes come from.
Fine, have the GOP members move into the new districts thereby preventing them from having to run against each other.
Some very rural areas are still in yellow dog status when it comes to their local elections even if they otherwise vote overwhelmingy Republican. Frustrating to no end, as Stumbo is their leader they have setting the agenda and he is an unabashed leftist and Obama supporter. They used have a somewhat more moderate minded leader in Jody Richards that they tossed out a few years ago.
Not all of them, perhaps most, are wealthy enough to do that...and there would be a residency time period they would not be likely to meet in time for the election anyway if the plan is not passed into law this year.
The Senate GOP would not be wise in my opinion to take Stumbo’s word that he would make sure their own plan gets passed next year if they agree to the Dems’ House plan now. Normally, they get attached as being part of the same bill (the plans of both chambers).
That was exactly my first thought!
The Democratic-controlled House voted 53-46 along party lines for the measure, which now moves to the GOP-led Senate, where it faces an uncertain future.
Uncertain? What’s so difficult about R’s voting against this POS and moving on with important legislation like regulating the rate of paint drying?
KY is yellow-dog Democrat country for most of the rural folks that have slowly turned red over the left-wing bent of the national party.
However, Louisville, Lexington & Frankfort are totally blue and pretty much dictates how the House is going to rule for the rest of the state.
The Senate... not so much.
However, most folks here in the rural areas do not like change. In many places - no one but Democrats ever run on a ticket because that is just how it is if you want to win a public office. Generations of tradition do not fade away lightly and most of the older folks still buy the lie that the Democrats are for the little guy.
Often you will hear “My grandpappy voted Democrat, my daddy voted Democrat and so I vote Democrat”. The perversion of the social issues is the only thing that has helped swing rural areas to the Conservative side. There are still churches on nearly every hill and valley - and that is where the battle actually lies to take our country back.
Stumpy, of course, (as Attorney General) was the lead rodent thug in the coup d’etat of the Fletcher Administration (and was rewarded with the Speakership for paving the way for Beshear and the bad old rodent regime). Just like in TN, where the Dems similarly tried to reduce the majority-voting Republican strength down to 1/3rd of the seats a decade ago, it ultimately backfired, and now the Democrats can caucus in a bathroom. Republican realignment is coming, and even creative gerrymandering won’t hold it off much longer.
The Dems are too overrepresented in Frankfort as it is. KY & WV will be the last states to finally properly realign with the rest of the region. All the other Southern states did (even AL, AR, LA & MS, which had virtually no Republican party 35 or so years ago at the state/legislative level, and now all are majority GOP), and these two are just the stragglers. Few counties in KY voted for Zero and the national Democrats and not a single county in WV did.
Um, what? If it's not every house does it own maps and the Senate must approve it too then what is uncertain? Is Stumbo proposing a deal where he would approve a GOP gerrymander of the Senate in return?
Thanks for the insight.
Well, since the folks elected Democrats they get to control the voting districts, that is what Republicans do so why complain. Winning State governments get to do the drawing.
Until they change these laws we have to live by them...
I have a weekend home in Kentucky and the county it is located in, just two years ago elected the first Republican Judge Executive EVER in the history of the county. It is a slow process to convert residents to think Republican. It has a history of the good old boys network which takes time to break up. We keep tapping away at it and are making progress.
KY is maybe two election cycles behind Arkansas..
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