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| REP. TOMMY REYNOLD |
Committee Chairman Tommy Reynolds said intervening, or becoming a party in the lawsuit, will allow his panel to ensure the state House’s interests are heard. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People filed suit Thursday after the Senate failed to approve the House redistricting plan.
“We want to make sure that the interests of the state House are represented in this lawsuit,” said Reynolds, who led House efforts to redraw district lines based on the 2010 Census.
To handle the intervention, the House Apportionment and Elections Committee authorized the hiring of Jackson attorney Robert McDuff to represent its interests. Reynolds said that McDuff’s lengthy experience working on redistricting cases in Mississippi made him the ideal choice.
“Rob McDuff is well versed in redistricting cases, having worked on voting rights cases in the past – including the state’s congressional redistricting case following the 1980 Census and the congressional redistricting case following the 2000 Census,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds said that McDuff will be paid with private funds; the state House and the state of Mississippi will not pay for McDuff’s services.
The NAACP’s lawsuit asks the court to rule that existing legislative districts violate the one-man one-vote principle because of population changes that have occurred across Mississippi during the last 10 years, as reflected by the 2010 U.S. Census.
The House and Senate approved their own redistricting plans this month. While the state House approved the plan state senators drew for themselves, senators – under the leadership of Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant – refused to approve the plan House members drew for themselves. The Senate action marked the first time that one legislative body abandoned the longstanding tradition of each deferring to the other in the design of its own districts.
“It’s a shame that Lt. Gov. Bryant and other Senate leaders refused to approve a House redistricting plan that was developed by the House and that is fair to everyone,” Reynolds said. “The House plan, unlike most typical redistricting plans, did not target minority party members. In fact, of the four incumbents paired in redrawn districts, three were Democrats and only one was a Republican.
“We are disappointed that they have chosen to waste taxpayer dollars that would be better spent on our schools, our roads and our economic development initiatives. In addition, the Senate’s action could force taxpayers to cover the expense of two legislative elections – one this year and another election in 2012. This could have been avoided.”
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