Speaker Morgan Sets the Record Straight on Redistricting!

Office of the Speaker

R I C H A R D   T .   M O R G A N

North Carolina House of Representatives

_______________________________________________________

November 18, 2004

Because I know of your ongoing interest concerning the issue of redistricting, I am delighted to offer you some information which you may find helpful. This information provides the truth that will dispel a great deal of misinformation spewed over the Internet.   

1.  You should know that at the time this historic session elected co-speakers, the North Carolina House of Representatives was evenly split (60 Republicans and 60 Democrats), and this is a fact that critics of the redistricting plan blatantly ignore in their propaganda. Because of this even division, it would be impossible to “ram through” any plan that absolutely gives either party a distinct and clear advantage.

2.  According to independent sources, the 2003 House Redistricting plan gave Republicans a better chance to gain a majority in the North Carolina House than any district alignment in more than a century.  When Republicans won control of the House in 1994 and 1996, we did so by working hard and adequately funding our candidates.  But the NCGOP leadership opposed me and the 2003 plan, and they failed to put forth the effort necessary to win in 2004.  

3.  Once the failed leadership at the NCGOP decided they did not like the plan, however, they set out to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Instead of recruiting enough candidates for all the races and raising money to support them, the Daughtry /Blount/Pope contingent put over $1 million into the lawsuit fighting the plan.  This money could have been much better used to recruit and fund candidates instead of fighting the plan merely because I supported it.

4.  The Remedial 14 plan cited by the dissidents was unconstitutional.  It also targeted incumbent Republicans, including the first Republican Speaker in over 100 years, Harold Brubaker.  Additionally, their plan would have moved me to a district containing all of Chatham County and less than one-half of Moore County . 

My letter is an effort to respond to you promptly and provide even more detailed information that you will find attached.

I trust this information will help you begin to set the record straight.  Please feel free to share this with anyone you wish.

Kindest regards,

Richard T. Morgan
Speaker

REPUBLICAN OPPONENTS TO SPEAKER RICHARD MORGAN, NOT REDISTRICTING, REASON FOR REPUBLICAN LOSSES IN NORTH CAROLINA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Morgan Opponents Put Self-Interest Ahead of Party in Legislative Races

Statement By:

 Speaker Richard Morgan

 919-715-3010

1.      Loss of Legislative Seats is Directly Attributable to Failed Recruitment and Lack of Funding by the NCGOP Establishment.    With the numbers clearly in favor of Republicans, the question that remains is how and why did Republicans fail to win the North Carolina House of Representatives in a year when Republican candidates did very well?  Political wisdom indicates two primary factors: 1) a lack of candidate recruitment and 2) a lack of financial support. 

The Daughtry /Blount/Pope prophets of doom want us all to believe that the only way to win control of the General Assembly is through a redistricting plan that gives Republicans an absolute advantage. This is a misguided fantasy with a hidden excuse designed to avoid the effort of a campaign and providing resources to candidates.  When the Republicans won control of the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1994, 1996, and 2002, we out-worked and out-spent Democrats. In 2004, control of the House was “there for the taking.”  Thus, the only plausible conclusion is that the NCGOP establishment and the Republican Executive Committee became the pawns of the Daughtry /Blount/Pope contingent.  Together they sold out our candidates for their own political and personal self-interest, and in the end, failed us all.

2.      The Daughtry /Blount/Pope Redistricting Plan Ignored the Mandate of the North Carolina Supreme Court to Minimize Splitting Counties When Drawing District Lines.  The critics of the 2003 North Carolina House of Representatives Redistricting Plan are upset that the plan fully complied with the North Carolina Constitution.  Our own North Carolina Supreme Court expressly held that the State Constitution requires the General Assembly to keep counties whole, to the maximum extent possible, when redrawing district lines.  The enacted plan splits only 47 counties while the critics' plan would have split 50 counties resulting in a clear violation of the court's mandate.  Moreover, in the only challenge to the plan, the North Carolina Supreme Court - made up of a Republican majority - ruled it was constitutional.  The Daughtry /Blount/Pope contingent was willing to ignore the mandate of the North Carolina Constitution to advance their own political and highly personal agenda.

3.      The Daughtry /Blount/Pope Redistricting Plan Targeted Loyal Republican Legislators.  Shamefully, these critics wanted Republican incumbents to lose through redistricting in both the primaries and the general election, and it was their redistricting plan that specifically targeted supporters of Speaker Morgan.   For example, Representative Debbie Clary, a five term loyal Republican Legislator from Cleveland County , was to be placed in a district so reconfigured that many of her long-term precincts were actually moved to another district.  In an even more egregious example, they attempted to redraw the district of the first Republican Speaker in over 100 years, Harold Brubaker, by removing the precincts he had held for over 14 terms. Finally, in a manifestation of their personal animosity towards Speaker Morgan, the Daughtry /Blount/Pope redistricting plan would have realigned his district to such an extent that most of his home county of Moore would have been placed entirely in another district.

4.      The Enacted 2003 Redistricting Plan Gave Republicans the Best Chance in Decades to Gain Control of the North Carolina General Assembly.  Contrary to the misinformation spread by a few dissidents with personal agendas, the enacted plans are better for Republicans. The non-partisan organization, NCFREE, quoted often by each side in this dispute, has produced an analysis of the districts showing Republicans with a clear chance to win a majority of seats in the North Carolina House of Representatives.  In fact, the numbers from NCFREE show that the enacted plan represented Republicans' best chance ever to win control of the North Carolina House of Representatives. For example, look at the chart below:

                   # of Districts Favoring
Year              Democrats     Republicans 

1999-2000            41             47
2001 Plan            59             47
2002 Interim Plan    52             49
2003 Enacted Plan    51             55 

The unmistakable conclusion is that the enacted plan favors Republicans more than any other in recent history.

Critics of the plan also conveniently ignore the fact that when the plan was enacted, the House of Representatives was evenly divided, 60 Republicans and 60 Democrats.  The proponents of the Daughtry /Blount/Pope plan are indulging in sheer fantasy to think that a plan that heavily favored Republicans would have ever passed the evenly divided House and the Democrat-controlled Senate.  Redistricting is a highly personal, contentious and emotional process.  Individual legislators care most about how a proposed plan affects their own districts and they worry about their party's fortunes.  The critics of the 2003 plan know this, but attempt to obfuscate reality with pie-in-the-sky assertions regarding the so-called Remedial 14 Plan.  In reality, Speaker Morgan showed great leadership in engineering and negotiating a plan that was favorable to Republicans.  No other legislator could have achieved such an accomplishment under these circumstances. 

5.      Daughtry /Blount/Pope Redistricting Plan Targeted Republican Incumbents in the 2004 Primaries.  Even though the North Carolina Supreme Court overruled the critics' plan, they were not dissuaded from their mission to tear down and permanently fracture the Republican Party to advance their own political and personal ambitions. When Daughtry /Blount/Pope were unsuccessful in persuading the North Carolina Supreme Court to declare the 2003 redistricting plan unconstitutional, they decided to target loyal incumbent Republican Legislators in an effort to make their predictions about the plan come true. Using an endless supply of money and with the backing of the NCGOP establishment, the Daughtry /Blount/Pope group funded challengers to unseat several long-term loyal Republicans.  Although a united effort would have resulted in Republican control of the House under the 2003 plan, the Daughtry /Blount/Pope faction set about their personal mission to divide and destroy the Republican Party as we know it today.  Furthermore, they were willing to sacrifice Republican seats to do so.