CHARLESTON — Minority Leader Tim Armstead isn’t turning a slow burn but said his outspoken support for single-member districts figured in his exclusion from a special House of Delegates panel studying redistricting.

“I’m not upset from a personal standpoint,” Armstead, R-Kanawha, said Wednesday, referring to the committee appointed by Speaker Rick Thompson, D-Wayne, to look at redistricting, mandated by the 2010 census figures.

At the same time, Armstead said the failure to make room for him breaks a tradition of naming the minority leader on the committee that goes back several decades.

Moreover, it’s the first time since he held the position of minority leader that one of his recommendations for committee membership has been shot down by Thompson.

“From the bigger picture, I think there are a number of our members who feel like that may be a sign of an effort to exclude the Republicans from the process,” Armstead said.

“In every other case, he (Thompson) has accepted the recommendations I made. And that’s been a practice that was in place before he was speaker or I was minority leader.”

Two freshmen in the House — Delegates Rick Snuffer and John O’Neal, both R-Raleigh — said they viewed Armstead’s exclusion as proof the Democratic leadership wants to avoid creating any more single-member districts to maintain the status quo and keep the incumbents in office.

Thirty-six of the 56 districts are single-member.

“I’ve been an outspoken supporter of single-member districts,” Armstead said.

“I’ve been very vocal about it. I believe that had an impact in the decision to not place me on the committee.”

Armstead said he sees the existing practice as unfair to both constituents and challengers alike.

An incumbent in a multi-county district can be outpolled by a challenger but stay in office since no rival lives in her or his district, he noted.

In the 30th District of Kanawha County, the minority leader said, all the delegates live in either Charleston or South Charleston but represent other areas whose residents haven’t had a delegate in their hometowns for decades.

Armstead contends that single-member districts provide fairer representation and delegates in them are closer to the people.

“You meet those delegates in the grocery store, in church and the schools,” he said.

“And the fact is, it also cuts down on the cost of elections, which have been under scrutiny over the past, especially for 10 years or so. There has been an effort to deal with the high cost of elections and the amount of money spent in elections. Single-member districts would cut down on that.”

Besides, he said, delegates in single-member districts are forced to defend their records while serving in the Legislature.

“There’s no excuse why we can’t have 100 single-member districts,” Armstead said.

“No excuse. The only reason, if that doesn’t happen, will be because they want to protect incumbent Democrats.”

Even though Thompson didn’t put him on the committee, Armstead said he will get his opportunity to speak out during the process and again when the redistricting bill hits the floor for a final vote.

“If anybody thinks being put on a committee or not being put on a committee will make me more or less outspoken on an issue I strongly believe in, they don’t know me,” he said.

“I personally don’t need to be on the committee to make my views known on this. I intend to be very vocal on this.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com