From Harford Campaign for Liberty:
Join us for our Monthly meeting on Tuesday, August 23, then join us for the fight at the redistricting hearing this Saturday!
Saturday, Aug. 27th at 11:00am at the Amoss Center.
200 Thomas Run Rd, across from Harford Community College, near corner of Rt 22
Senate President Mike Miller, House of Delegates Speaker Mike Busch and others will be at the hearing to.
Even if you do not want to speak, please attend and show your support for fair districts in Maryland.
The redistricting process is carried out every 10 years after the census to redraw maps based on the new census population data.
Prior to 2002 the eight districts in Maryland were made up of 4 Democrat held districts and 4 Republican districts. After the redistricting in 2002 the districts were changed to 6 Democrat and 2 Republican districts.
They now plan to redraw the districts to 7 Democrat and 1 Republican or possibly 8-0.
Our Founding Fathers rebelled because of a tax on Stamps and Tea.
HOW WOULD THEY REACT TO THE MODERN DAY TAKING AWAY OF OUR REPRESENTATION!!!
1. This redistricting represents Politicians picking their voters instead of voters picking their Representatives. We should be choosing our representatives and not the other way around.
2. The party in power will further reduce our ability to resist their hold on power.
3. Voting districts should be compact and comprised of communities with similar interests and goals.
4. This is an attempt at single party rule in Maryland.
5. The recent success of the petition to bring to referendum SB167 shows how out of touch the current state delegation has become. This is the petition that stops Illegal Aliens from getting In-State tuition at Maryland colleges until it is voted on by all Marylanders in November 2012 at the ballot box.
6. The current state assembly is more responsive to special interests than constituents.
Join us at Campaign for Liberty Meeting on Tuesday the 23rd at 7PM, then on Saturday, Aug. 27th at 11:00am at the Amoss Center.
200 Thomas Run Rd, across from Harford Community College, near corner of Rt 22
In Liberty,
Your Harford Campaign for Liberty Team
I think you were looking for the question mark key (?) when instead you hit the exclamation point key over and over again. That doesn’t make you any more important.
By the way, how do you feel about the Republicans controlling the redistricting process in Harford County?
I only count four exclamation points. Maybe you need to get your vision tested.
Have you forgotten Tom Delay and the gerrymandering he did? I did not hear a peep from any tea party group about that. And for your information the original tea party DID NOT rebel because of a tax on stamps and tea. They rebelled over being taxed WITHOUT representation, which we have now. Please read your history! By the way, as George Bush said, “elections have consequences.”
Hey Proud,
“Have you forgotten Tom Delay and the gerrymandering he did?” – This was in 2001, yes?
“I did not hear a peep from any tea party group about that.” – The Tea Party is generally believed to have formed somewhere in 2009, yes? As such, how could a person belonging to an organization not yet formed protestt something that happened 8 years or so before they were formed?
“And for your information the original tea party DID NOT rebel because of a tax on stamps and tea. They rebelled over being taxed WITHOUT representation, which we have now.” – The rebelled over both, though the main cause was the taxation without representation.
“Please read your history!” – Reading history is good.
“By the way, as George Bush said, “elections have consequences.”” – Many politicians have said this, including Bush and Obama.
Anyways, have a nice day.
Paul
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_delegations_from_Maryland#United_States_House_of_Representatives
Maryland has historically had a division of representatives that has varied widely. If we have more democrats then I would expect more democrat representatives.
This statement is misleading
“Prior to 2002 the eight districts in Maryland were made up of 4 Democrat held districts and 4 Republican districts. After the redistricting in 2002 the districts were changed to 6 Democrat and 2 Republican districts. ”
While from 1993-2002 we had a 4-4 split on many occasions our seats, which have numbered betweeen 5 and 9, have split differently on two occasions we have had ALL republicans!
The goal should not be party parity or equality it should be geography plain and simple and keeping neighborhoods intact.
Hey CDEV,
“Maryland has historically had a division of representatives that has varied widely. If we have more democrats then I would expect more democrat representatives.” – I completely agree.
“This statement is misleading, “Prior to 2002 the eight districts in Maryland were made up of 4 Democrat held districts and 4 Republican districts. After the redistricting in 2002 the districts were changed to 6 Democrat and 2 Republican districts. ”” – I don’t see this as misleading at all.
“While from 1993-2002 we had a 4-4 split on many occasions our seats, which have numbered betweeen 5 and 9, have split differently on two occasions we have had ALL republicans!” – I do, however, see this as misleading. The two occasions you refer to when republicans held complete control were 1897-1899 and 1901-1903, both well over 100 years ago. In modern times, which based on site you provided would be since 1963, there have been 25 congresses. One was 5/2/1 (D/R/Other), Three were 7/1, four were 5/3, seven were 4/4, and ten were 6/2.
The goal should not be party parity or equality” – Equality shouldnt be the goal? Hmm, interesting.
“it should be geography plain and simple and keeping neighborhoods intact.” I think the representation of the state should be based on the political makeup of the people combined with the geography/neighborhoods. Gerrymandering is a ‘bad thing’ that will always happen in politics.
Anyways, have a nice day.
Paul
The misleading part is the writer is attempting to make you think we had 4/4 by some grand design. we had 4 and 4 because the people of MAryland elected those people and that was the way it feel.
Equality of district representation is what I was refering to.
If we follow the logic of the material above then in a state in which republicans outnumber democrats by 3:1 and has 30 representatives 15 should still be democrats and 15 should be republicans. Thus the house of representatives should always be evenly divided. To go a step further since 15% of the state is not democrat or republican should we not make sure we elect an independent? You should not draw lines at all with the idea of what party most of the people belong to. Simply draw it in 8 districts with 3/4 of a million people in them.
County lines make sense when possible. Sometimes a county will have to be split and then nieghborhoods should be kept together. Our county lines in this state for the most part where drawn by following bodies of water. The water doesn’t care if you are a d or r when it runs it’s course, neither should redistricting.
Hey CDEV,
“The misleading part is the writer is attempting to make you think we had 4/4 by some grand design. we had 4 and 4 because the people of MAryland elected those people and that was the way it feel.” – I didn’t read or interpret that from what was written, though I can see where others may. I took it to be more of a message about gerrymandering.
“Equality of district representation is what I was refering to.” – I follow.
“If we follow the logic of the material above then in a state in which republicans outnumber democrats by 3:1 and has 30 representatives 15 should still be democrats and 15 should be republicans. Thus the house of representatives should always be evenly divided.” – I don’t think that is what the writer was stating. I think the writer, and I could be wrong on this, was saying that the representatives should be based more on a..representation of the state as a whole. In Maryland, we currently have 1.957 (56.44% of registered voters) million Dems, .925 (26.68%) million Repubs, .528 (15.23%) million unaffiliated, and .057 (1.64%) million ‘others’. With Maryland having 8 representatives, I think the writer was saying that Maryland should have 4 Dems, 2 Repubs, 1 unafilliated, and 1 other. Of course, the unaffiliated and other could vote Democrat, but I think the writer wants to make it so the districts are more apporpriately represented by the political makeup.
“To go a step further since 15% of the state is not democrat or republican should we not make sure we elect an independent? You should not draw lines at all with the idea of what party most of the people belong to. Simply draw it in 8 districts with 3/4 of a million people in them. ” – I agree, and on another article here, we discussed the redistricting, in which I stated basically that the districts should similar to what you say below.
“County lines make sense when possible. Sometimes a county will have to be split and then nieghborhoods should be kept together. Our county lines in this state for the most part where drawn by following bodies of water. The water doesn’t care if you are a d or r when it runs it’s course, neither should redistricting.” – I agree.
Anyways, have a nice day.
Paul
Maybe redistricting is not such a bad idea on some levels. Some of our politicians seem a little burned out or frazzled and need a rest. Senator Jacobs recently spoke to a group of young people, none over the age of 16, some as young as 11. She proceeded to talk to them about gay marriage, child porn and child abuse, and a lot of other items probably not appropriate for the age group. It was basically a listing of accomplishments without much thought to the audience. Maybe she was having an off day but if our politicians are on auto pilot for whatever reason, then maybe resdistricting to ensure some new blood might not be so bad.