The News & Observer (North Carolina) has an article with the particularly intriguing headling “Two NC Republicans say they accidentally asked the Supreme Court to end gerrymandering.” Accidentally? Are you kidding me? Well, it’s not April 1st, is it?
Two of the three North Carolina lawmakers who had joined with prominent national politicians to oppose gerrymandering have now backtracked, saying they didn’t mean to add their names on an anti-gerrymandering letter sent to the Supreme Court.
Rep. Mark Meadows and Rep. Walter Jones, both Republicans, signed on to the legal brief along with Democratic Rep. David Price.
Meadows blamed an “error” and Jones blamed “miscommunication” for their participation. Meadows also made a point to say he supports the N.C. General Assembly, which is in charge of drawing the state’s lines for its members of Congress.
Both of those guys should just resign right now. Either they’re incompetent fools who can’t manage their positions on one of the more issues of the era properly, or they’ve been told they broke party discipline and they’re scampering back into line, having been reminded that Party orders are more important than their own judgment on this issue. It’s lose-lose, boys, so you might as well just go hide in the underbrush.
It’s good to see this is not purely a Democratic effort.
Republican politicians including Arizona Sen. John McCain, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have been among those leading the anti-gerrymandering push, along with Democrats such as former President Barack Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder and government watchdog groups like Common Cause.
And if you’re still laughing from the Republican blunders, you can have a giggle over the statement proudly issued by the third member of the Congressional delegation to sign on to the anti-gerrymandering cause, Democratic Rep. David Price:
In a press release, Price was also quoted as saying “It is time we put an end to a system where politicians have the ability to cherry pick their voters. My home state of North Carolina has been ground-zero for hyper-partisan gerrymandering, and I am proud to add my voice to this effort.”
Despite that first sentence, that second sentence leaves me wondering if he really is in favor of hyper-partisan gerrymandering. Maybe he’ll split the difference somehow.
As I always hope, politics is entertainment.
