Comments on: Barf Time: Redistricting Is Done

By: The_REAL_Elvis

The_REAL_Elvis — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:59:45 +0000

speaking of barf….where is Hilda Barf these days? retired after jacking up woodbridge and passing the torch to her little buddy (and jack it up even more) hope she’s satisfied with all the illegals living there….it’s a pigsty

By: Wineplz

Wineplz — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:59:31 +0000

Okay…so I’m not crazy in thinking that this is now the third time in the past few years that I’ve been shuffled around in districts even though I haven’t moved. I used to be the 13th…then the 11th, and now I’m in the 1st, too. Guess I’m glad to no longer have Gerry Connolly, but like you, Greg, it’s a bit disheartening to be lumped in with folks in the Tidewater area, and I would think they’d feel similarly. While we may have some similar needs (traffic comes to mind), it does seem odd to lump Gainesville/Bristow area with that of Williamsburg and Yorktown.

By: Hirons

Hirons — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:42:52 +0000

Greg and Jim Young - welcome to America’s 1st District!

Rob Wittman is a fine Congressman! I think PWC will be pleased with him representing them. The biggest danger in this crazy district is to have a Congressman who you will never see. I don’t think that will be the case with Rob. The man has the energy of the energizer bunny and he’ll be hitting as many things as he can in PWC.

He did lose PWC precincts to Ball in the last election, but let’s face it it’d lose those precincts to any Dem in any year. The area he gained in PWC will certainly not see him lose the county to any Dem., ever again.

By: steve

steve — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:18:38 +0000

Take a look at what happened with California’s recent “non-partisan” redistricting - the committee was so non-partisan it didn’t realize the entire process was being gamed by astroturf groups on the left.

A better model is Iowa, which akin to the BRAC process - the Legislature gets to approve, but only from 3 choices developed using 4 specific criteria - population equality, contiguity, unity with underlying jurisdictions (i.e. no splitting counties into 3 districts) and compactness.

http://archive.fairvote.org/redistricting/reports/remanual/ia.htm

By: The Real Disgusted

The Real Disgusted — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:57:49 +0000

This redistricting is a product of the very politicians you support, Greg! Redistricting is nothing but a power grab by the majority, in this case your conservative buddies running the GA! What did you want them to do? Redraw the lines so the “libitards” can take control? C’mon Man!!! (NFL reference you probably don’t understand) Take your Boy Scout uniform off and embrace the conservative consolidation you’ve worked so hard to bring about.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:02:28 +0000

Looks like our traffic problems will fall on deaf ears for ten years! Greg, you ought to be happy since the idea of a district in northern virginia becomeing a democratic one is uterly imposable! Yea, some clout we have! lol

By: Simon Oliver Lockwood

Simon Oliver Lockwood — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:08:05 +0000

Of course the students could do a nice, fair, job because they knew that there was no way their map would ever become reality. Thus they could concentrate on letting the chips fall as they would with no consequences. Whoever is drawing the real map knows that real political consequences will ensue, and will be motivated to make those consequences come out correctly.

By: Peter Sperry

Peter Sperry — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:42:43 +0000

I think the new maps are horrible. I am also pissed that this is the 3rd redistricting in a row that NOVA has been drawn into contortion like districts in order to keep Vienna in the 10th District. I like Frank Wolf. Frank Wolf has been a great Congressman. Frank Wolf should have moved to Leesburg 25 years ago. How long will we keep drawing half assed maps in order to keep Frank Wolf in the nice safe 10th district?

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:59:49 +0000

Just get rid of the districts and have at-large voting.

By: Loudoun Insider

Loudoun Insider — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:15:43 +0000

I went looking for the student map, but it looks like the website they had up is no longer active. Here’s a blog post with a sample map from the Bipartisan Advisory Committee, absolutely much better than the monstrosity that passed.

http://thewonksalon.com/archives/3171

By: Loudoun Insider

Loudoun Insider — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:06:55 +0000

I know there are limitations, but the students proved that a non-partisan group can do a great job. Having the redistricting committee members appointed by the judiciary could help mitigate some of the politics.

The problem with leaving it to the politicians is that they will be blatantly political, primarily because not enough people pay attention and/or give a damn about any of this. They know they can be ridiculously partisan and still get re-elected after most of the outrage subsides. I just don’t see voter apathy turning around enough to actually have measurable consequences over something as arcane as redistricting.

By: James Young

James Young — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:20:43 +0000

Where Riley lost, I won. I was moved from Connelly’s to Wittman’s.

‘Course, Wittman managed to lost the PWC portion of his district to Crystal Ball!

By: Riley

Riley — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:07:40 +0000

Greg, at least you’re not a few miles away in Fauquier County which is now in the 5th Dist. and stretches all the way down to Danville and the NC border.

By: Riley

Riley — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:06:41 +0000

Meanwhile, I’ve been moved out of the 1st and into the 11th. This is just plain insane. My southern PWC precinct (it still borders the 1st Dist. that it was a part of for the past 10 years) is now in the same district as Tysons Corner, Reston and Wolf Trap. I’ll miss having Wittman as my Rep. and now I’ll have to work on helping Chris Perkins bump off Connolly in a district made 5 points more Dem by redistricting.

The GOP own everything in Richmond and they had 2 months to come up with a different plan that would have made more sense and given us an even better shot at a 9-2 majority instead of trying to solidify an 8-3 one.

By: Greg L

Greg L — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:43:28 +0000

A “non-partisan committee” appointed by partisan elected officials. Anything binding is going to be co-opted by political interests faster than you can say “boo.” That’s awfully naive.

Voters beating up elected officials for bad decisions is the only proven way to ensure better performance.

By: Loudoun Insider

Loudoun Insider — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:25:12 +0000

Redistricting in this country has become a cruel joke. Non-partisan committees are the only real answer, you just cannot trust politicians with this stuff. The districts put together earlier by those college student groups were much much better than this garbage.

By: charles

charles — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:09:28 +0000

But on the good side, I’m no longer represented by Gerry Connally.

And it’s not like my state districts make any sense either.

I now have a completely different set of representatives than I had last year.