The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Today's Front Page

August 23, 2011

Local delegates call for veto of districts

By Taylor Kuykendall Register-Herald Reporter

Following the passage of a controversial bill redistricting the Mountain State, and specifically carving up one of southern West Virginia’s largest counties into districts of varying size and representation, at least three delegates are calling for a veto.

Delegates John O’Neal and Rick Snuffer, both Republicans, stood in front of Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley for a press conference urging acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to veto House Bill 201, which passed by a relatively narrow margin in the West Virginia House and Senate over the weekend.

“We call on the acting governor to veto this controversial piece of legislation,” O’Neal said.

Snuffer said Tomblin should have already done his part to stop the bill’s passage.

“It is understandable that Sen. Erik Wells did not vote, as he is on active duty serving in Afghanistan. Sen. Snyder from Jefferson County missed the vote; he had a six-hour drive,” Snuffer said. “But Senate President Tomblin simply had to walk about 100 yards from his temporary home in the governor’s mansion to cast the deciding vote to kill this awful bill. The acting governor has an opportunity to atone for missing this vote by vetoing the bill in his role as governor.”

He added that “the people of our state deserve better” and that the Legislature should resolve the bill during the September interim session.

Delegate Linda Sumner also called on Tomblin to veto the bill, but was not present for the news conference Monday.

While each of the delegates from the current five-member district encompassing Raleigh and a part of Summers County was in disagreement with the bill, the reasons varied.

Delegate Ricky Moye, D-Raleigh, has argued that he wanted Raleigh County to remain whole. Moye, the only Democratic House member who lives in Raleigh County, said he was not contacted about the news conference.

Delegate Virginia Mahan, D-Summers, was also not pleased with how the district had been carved. She did receive some concession from her colleagues in the House with passage of an amendment that would guarantee that the two delegates from the new three-county, two-delegate district where she would now represent could not be from the same county.

Snuffer and O’Neal both argue that the governor should not settle for a bill that doesn’t include equal numbered member districts. Both said that is on both constitutional grounds and because it’s “what the people want.”

“Not only was it a highly partisan bill that barely made it out of the Legislature, it has serious potential constitutional problems,” O’Neal said. “Our state Constitution calls for delegate districts to respect county lines as much as possible, and federal court rulings have directed states to provide equal representation, and to guarantee one person, one vote.”

The location of the news conference was no accident. Near Beckley Appalachian Regional Hospital and Woodrow Wilson High School is the point where three newly formed districts will extend into what was once the uncut 27th District covering all of Raleigh County.

 “The site of this press conference illustrates how this bill has violated both of these constitutional directives,” O’Neal said. “Not only has the Fayette County district reached all the way across county lines to the Beckley city limits to pull over 7,000 Raleigh County voters into the Fayette district, these same voters will vote for three delegates, while some in Raleigh will vote for two, and others will vote for only one delegate.”

Both O’Neal and Snuffer emphasized that despite being close enough one could throw a rock into all three districts, the people from each district will vary in how many delegates they are able to choose on the ballot. Additionally, O’Neal said, they are all in Raleigh County.

“Some voters are going to get to select three delegates out of Fayette County, some voters, in the city of Beckley, are going to get to select one delegate, and some voters toward the eastern end of the county are going to get to select two delegates,” O’Neal explained. “There’s a number of constitutional principles that are questionable about this bill.”

— E-mail: tkuykendall@register-herald.com

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