Comments on: Spruill on redistricting: right and wrong

By: Reginald

Reginald — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:23:18 +0000

Redistricting is less torturous when you let computers do the decision making.

By: Nevermore

Nevermore — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:49:39 +0000

Spruill – is that the same bonehead calling for a ban on genitalia gangling from a truck and who took shots at Muslims last week? Looks like Brian Moran, who has Spruill on the dole, has a real winner there.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:01:08 +0000

Vivian,

I’ve been watching your blog and enjoying the posts. I’ve submitted a couple articles to the political news website PopRule, which I co-founded, including this one: http://poprule.com/story/redistricting-pros-and-cons-democrats-stop-playing-blame-game

We’d love to have more of your political posts on our site. Feel free to check it out, vote for your story, and sign up for an account here: http://poprule.com/user/register

If you’re interested, we also provide a submission widget to make it easier for your readers to submit your stories to PopRule: http://poprule.com/poprule-tools

Let me know if you have any questions.

Best,
Andrew
PopRule

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:41:38 +0000

Did Democrats ever call for bipartisan redistricting when they controlled both houses of the GA?

By: Gene Magruder

Gene Magruder — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:37:42 +0000

Del. spruill’s approach doesn’t have any relief for us dems stuck in a minority district or help any african americans in those districts either, however on the flip side it does mean I at least have representatives such as Del. Spruill and Bobby Scott in their repective offices that open their doors to my opinion even though I am not one of their constituents. So there is as Viv says two sides to this coin I suppose. I belief I will just have to put up with Oder until, he chooses to leave or a miracle happens.

By: Art B. Green

Art B. Green — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:17:59 +0000

Del. Algie Howell does not represent any of South Norfolk, Del. Spruill, Sr. & Del. Melvin do, Del. Howell has part of Indian River district in Chesapeake. Fact Check

By: vjp

vjp — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:34:26 +0000

This really has nothing to do with his son. I don’t pretend to speak for him but I can tell you that when I was working with the Redistricting Coalition last year, we got pushback from legislators with similar views.

By: vjp

vjp — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:31:45 +0000

I believe that data is provided now. The issue of race is, AFAIK, related to the VRA of 1965.

The worst part of the partisan redistricting process is that of incumbent protection. To me, that shouldn’t be a consideration.

By: Rick Caldwell

Rick Caldwell — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:17:23 +0000

I can’t watch YouTube Videos at work, so I haven’t heard the comments from Spruill. But the timing seems odd, because (if I’m not mistaken) his son is running for the nomination for delegate in the 90th district. The 90th, which is mostly comprised of NSU and the South Norfolk section of Chesapeake, is one of those districts designed to be minority-majority. The incumbent is Algie Howell.

Having, again, not heard the statement, I could be wrong, but it seems likely that Spruill would prefer that his son was not running against a black incumbent in a mostly black district. Did Spruill have any such concerns before his son’s political aspirations were affected?

By: Anon E. Mouse

Anon E. Mouse — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:13:05 +0000

A simple proposal:

The Us Census provides data down to the neighborhood level (smaller than voting precincts). Take this data, and optimize the district boundaries to equalize population within districts, and to minimize the total perimeter of the districts (most contiguous).

All done by computer, no racial data involved. What could be more fair?