JCC Redistricting Vote Raises Hackles

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The gloves were off Tuesday night as James City County’s Board of Supervisors made a decision to choose a redistricting map that cut the two Board Democrats out of their districts.

Arguments centered on School Board member Joe Fuentes’ post-deadline suggestion to draw boundary lines that would return him to his district as well as the voting strength of county minorities and whether their voice is being diluted. Several citizens turned out to endorse the seven-district map option that would offer minorities a district with a higher population concentration and a few spoke out in favor of the Fuentes option. Two spoke in favor of the option selected by the Board.

The two Democrats supported the seven-district map option, as well as the five-district option that also created a similar district with a higher minority concentration. Neither map offered a true majority-minority district.

Over the course of the meeting, Supervisor Jim Kennedy accused Fuentes of unethically offering him political endorsement in return for support of Fuentes’ map option. He also accused citizen committee member Debbie Kratter of calling him a racist.

Citizens can view the meeting in its entirety on the county’s website here.

The Fuentes Option

The option Fuentes created is based on the committee’s chosen map, which drew Fuentes out of his district. It would restore his Windsor Forest neighborhood to his current Powhatan district and swap a few other neighborhoods from Powhatan to Jamestown to compensate.

Several School Board members came to the meeting; most of them had already submitted emails to supervisors in support of Fuentes’ map. Keeping Fuentes in his district and therefore keeping two incumbents out of the same district would cause less disruption and instability to the School Board, they argued.

Fuentes said supervisors can legally consider “legitimate governmental interests” and that disrupting the School Board falls under that category.

He also said his option “does not unnecessarily move out of his district a minority, the first Hispanic Latino Puerto Rican” to serve on the School Board and that “he is the only minority out of the ten elected officials.”

According to Kennedy, Fuentes gave him the proposed changes in the hallway during a meeting that was after the deadline for submitting new redistricting maps. Fuentes also called him a few times to discuss the map, he said. Kennedy said Tuesday that Fuentes offered him “an endorsement” for his possible upcoming political campaign. “That’s inducement in my mind. I can’t tolerate that,” Kennedy said.

“My vote is not for sale,” Kennedy said, and he abstained from voting on Fuentes’ option because “I don’t want to imply agreeing with what you said to me.”

Fuentes said Wednesday, “I was shocked by Mr. Kennedy’s unwarranted and vitriolic attack on me during last night’s meeting.” He said he did call Kennedy to thank him for accepting the suggestion and to ask for his support.

Added Fuentes, “I indicated to Mr. Kennedy that I considered my proposal to be better for the County and all concerned and that if he supported the revised map, I would give him my overt support. In other words, my endorsement. I made this statement because I recognized that over the last few years Mr. Kennedy has been more supportive of the school system and because support for the revised map would be in the best interests of the entire County and would be better than the map under consideration for the reasons stated in my comments” at the meeting.

“At no time did I do anything unethical. Mr. Kennedy’s attack on my character and integrity are baseless and absurd.”

Supervisor Bruce Goodson said he’d looked at the definition of gerrymandering before the meeting. He read it to the audience at the meeting from his cell phone and said it was exactly what Fuentes was asking the county to do. He said people who spoke in favor of the option “didn’t give me any other reason to support this” other than to protect one school board member.

Supervisors voted 2-2 on Fuentes’ option with Kennedy abstaining.

Minority Voting Strength

Kratter offered two maps to the citizen committee, one with five districts and one with seven. Both aimed to increase the voting strength of minorities by making the Roberts District an unusual shape.

Many county residents came to speak in favor of both options, arguing that not only minorities but people of similar incomes were a community of interest. Some also argued that residents of the Grove community and Kingsmill had little in common.

County resident Craig Metcalfe said the unusually shaped district is a lifeline for minority residents and for “those struggling to keep their head above water.” This did not describe Kingsmill residents, he said.

Citizen committee member Heather Cordasco, clearly irritated, defended the committee’s decision. She said people should be more involved in issues important to their community. Grove and Kingsmill share a school and residents don’t have a problem with that, she said.

Kratter echoed Metcalf. She said minority and low-income residents “don’t feel their voices are heard” and their “votes have been diluted.” In the options she submitted the minority population density is significantly increased, Kratter said.

Kennedy singled out Kratter at one point in the evening and said she had been “implying things I didn’t like. Never imply that I am a racist in any way, shape or form.”

Kennedy was referring to an email Kratter sent to various people in the community interested in a civil rights talk titled “A Hard Row to Hoe for Injustice.” She urged them to attend Tuesday’s meeting “to support fundamental civil rights” during the redistricting process. The committee’s option “dilutes minority voting rights,” she wrote. “Make it a hard row to hoe for injustice, this time.”

A redistricting option could face a challenge if it purposely dilutes a minority vote. Roberts District resident Edith Heard has suggested she will present a petition to the Department of Justice stating that Grove residents feel neglected.

Supervisor John McGlennon had sharp words with county attorney Leo Rogers over the issue of a possible justice department challenge. Rogers said the chosen option was most defensible from a legal standpoint, and that the Kratter five-district map was less defensible because the communities of interest were strung together by roadways and thus not very compact.

Rogers also pointed out that trying to use criteria such as marital status or income as communities of interest are not generally recognized by the courts.

McGlennon said he understood there are many ambiguities in the process but whether an option is defensible “is in the eye of the beholder.”