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Michigan redistricting makes John Conyers cry.

Elections have consequences.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  August 15th, 2011 at 12:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Or at least scream: it turns out that the redistricting map for Michigan signed off on by Republican governor Rick Snyder last week seriously discombobulates long-time Democrat and House Judiciary Ranking Member John Conyers.  The new map (which, incidentally, handles Michigan’s loss of a Congressional seat by effectively eliminating Democrat Gary Peters’ seat and making the rest more party-friendly) pretty much took Conyer’s MI-14 seat and redrew it until he had roughly 20% of the same constituents that he started off with.

If you’re wondering why the Republicans think that they can get away with that – particularly since Conyers is an African-American with a majority-minority district – it’s because the Michigan GOP was very careful in drawing this district (and, apparently, MI-13).  As I understand it, the new district is in point of fact drawn to reflect the racial gerrymandering requirements of the Voting Rights Act: which is to say, it’s still majority-minority.  It’s just no longer friendly to Conyers specifically… which is not the Republican party’s problem.  Or the courts’.  Or Michigan’s, really.  Or possibly even the Democratic party’s: Conyers may have run unopposed in the 2010 primary, but that’s apparently not going to happen now…

Speaking more generally: this sort of thing should show people the pitfalls of racial gerrymandering in the first place – even when it ends up benefiting your side.  Conyers is bawling because he has to actually participate in the democratic process for the first time in decades – and even then he’s just going to have to worry about the primary, not the general election.  Not to mention that Conyers’ likely opponents should not have had to wait until the GOP was in a position to redraw the map in order to get a shot at the seat.  In other words: while this situation is amusing, it’s also an affront to both republican and democratic principles (note lack of capitalization).  Put in still other words, this situation shows how Congressional races are often reflective of neither popular will nor good governance.

Which annoys.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

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  • http://www.laborunionreport.com LaborUnionReport

    And saw she is trying to get out…

    Conyers, wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is seven months into a 37-year prison term. Prosecutors filed a rebuttal to her motion to be released from prison, the Detroit Free Press reported.

    “This court did not commit any error in sentencing Conyers, and in any case, it lacks jurisdiction to reconsider a sentence that has become final and has been appealed,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Gaedeke said.

    Conyers pleaded guilty in 2009, admitting she took money from Synagro, a company seeking a $1.2 billion sludge disposal contract. She has since tried to change her plea and is appealing a court’s decision that it is final.

    http://www.blackradionetwork.com/rep__john_conyers__wife_seeks_release_from_prison

  • Finrod

    The only peculiar districts are the ones going through Detroit; the rest look fairly standard. Most of them would fairly easily pass my bounding box test for overly-gerrymandered districts.

  • lizfstone

    John Conyers of the “Good and Plenty”-clause-in-the-Constitution- fame when asked if the Healthcare Law was constitutional? Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

    Maybe Georgia can redistrict Hank Johnson of “Guam is going to tip over fame” too.

  • gawken

    Moe….just gotta ask. Inquiring minds want to know….

  • gawken

    Works for me…I’d take that trade any day, for the benefit of the country..

  • mustango

    Stripping Conyers of his precious Downriver and giving it to John Dingell is far more sadistic than I thought the GOP was capable of. And Farmington Hills and West Bloomfield getting Conyers thrown in their collective laps… I wish it didn’t practically take being a native of the area to appreciate how awesomely ridiculous that is.

  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    which is one more reason I hOpe *someone* in the Congress/House put’s together enough separate charges to impeach the O before he can do that.

    I sometimes wonder if the prospect of Biden becoming the new pOtus is the only thing holding back impeachment from being filed. But then again the O makes Biden is look better and better every day, which is a tough thing to do.

  • Joshua Persons

    nt

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    …and acquiring power to the point where you’re House Judiciary chair (which Conyers was, in 2010). In a district that’s effectively designed with your needs in mind. Then you give everybody in your party who thinks about running for your seat the Look. The I’m-memorizing-your-face-look.

    That’s how you do it.

    Moe

    PS Mind you, if Kilpatrick hadn’t been kicked out in 2010 and replaced with a freshman Dem the MI GOP might not have tried this trick.

  • ss396

    Gerrymandering, for any purpose, establishes a floor for representation of whomever the gerrymandering was intended to favor.

    What gets overlooked is that by installing a floor you also install a ceiling. The benefiting demographic can keep the seat, but they cannot gain another. Additional gains will require skill and talent, not just some special characteristic. But the person claiming that guaranteed seat gains neither skill nor talent simply because they don’t have to by virture of that guarantee.

    It’s tough having to earn your living by merit, isn’t it?

  • caboose

    States put up with courts ordering them to draw a district, no matter how stupid , for racial purposes. This is clearly a violation of the US Constitution. State governments need to tell the SCOTUS to screw themself. No lower Court even has the authority to hear a case if a state is a party to such suit. Reference Article lll, Sec. ll of the US Constitution.

  • michael_j_lambert

    They are throwing Conyers against Feiger. And a local state senator. And the mayor of southfield. All people who can actually point to things they have done in the last 2 years to get things done.

    For a minute I thought it was the suburban influx that was going to kill Conyers. Actually, that is probably what will happen.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    …Lincoln v. Davis. Grant wrote the majority opinion, with concurring ones from Sheridan, Sherman, Thomas, & Farragut; Lee, Stuart, Longstreet, & Jackson dissented.

    (I so totally stole this from somebody else, by the way.)

  • freemanja1991

    His district is D+12 now and was combined with Peter’s. What do we think it is D+ now? I know Rocky Raczkowski, is in the District with Sanders now. What would he be facing if he stays there?