Partisan Hypocrite Eric Holder is Trying to Kill Redistricting Reform

WSJ: Holder was for reform in Virginia before he was against it

Raleigh, N.C. — Partisan hypocrite Eric Holder almost succeeded in killing the very redistricting reform he previously supported in Virginia. The redistricting reform movement is consumed by the intramural fight between phony advocates like Eric Holder and true believers who want genuine nonpartisan reform.

Holder supported an independent redistricting commission when Republicans controlled the Virginia legislature. Now that Democrats control the Virginia legislature, he’s not supporting it.

The same sad saga is likely to play out in North Carolina.

Senator Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell), who chairs the Senate Redistricting Committee, said, “Redistricting reform is and will continue to be part of the conversation. But phony advocates like Eric Holder are revealing the true motives behind some ‘reformers’ on the left. Their goal is to sneak in partisan advantage for Democrats while pretending to support nonpartisan goals.”

The Wall Street Journal published a devastating editorial about Holder’s hypocrisy. Here are some excerpts:

“Responding to our editorial last November on his court redistricting coup, [Holder] wrote that he supported ‘citizens or nonpartisan commissions to draw electoral lines so neither party benefits.’ Interesting, then, that he’s not supporting such a reform in Virginia now that Democrats control the Legislature.

“Last week Virginia’s House of Delegates voted 54–46 to place a referendum on the November ballot to establish an ostensibly nonpartisan citizen commission to draw legislative and Congressional maps after the 2020 Census. A majority of the General Assembly must vote in two successive sessions to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot.

“Friday was the second vote, and it’s notable that the referendum passed because nine Democrats joined all 45 Republicans. Most Democrats supported the referendum last year while in the minority but did an about-face after winning control in November.

…

“Now Mr. Holder is refusing to support the Virginia referendum, which he says lacks protections for minorities. Yet the referendum states that ‘every electoral district shall be drawn in accordance with the requirements of federal and state laws that address racial and ethnic fairness.’ Mr. Holder supports ‘nonpartisan’ maps only if they favor Democrats.”