VA AFL-CIO Urges Opposition to Sneak Senate Redistricting Plan
Friday, January 25, 2013
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)The Virginia State Senate on Monday “jammed through a new redistricting plan
without hearings, without notice, and without public input,” reports the
Virginia State AFL-CIO. Legislators were allowed only 30 minutes to consider a
36-page “purely partisan redistricting plan” the Virginia state fed says.
The plan, which moves over 2.7 million people into new state senate districts,
“could theoretically flip seven seats,” the state fed adds. The bill –
SB259 – now goes to the House of Delegates and if successful, to Gov.
McDonnell’s desk for consideration. "The GOP action disgraced the Martin
Luther King Jr holiday" said NoVA Labor President Dan Duncan (right),
explaining that the vote took place on the holiday to keep Democratic Senator
and civil rights activist Henry Marsh, who was attending President Obama's
inauguration, from tipping the balance of the votes. The state fed is urging
Virginia residents to contact
House delegates urging them to "oppose this mockery of our democratic
process." - photo by Chris Garlock
NOTE: This report has been updated
to reflect the correct spelling of Senator Marsh’s last name; we had
misspelled it March.