I’m really over the redistricting stuff. I don’t want to see any more proposed maps. I don’t want any more speculation. I don’t want any more polls showing what people want or don’t want. I don’t want any more public hearings. I just want to see the maps.
This whole process is just sham. The Republicans controlling the legislature don’t care what the people think and Democrats have no influence. The GOP leadership is going to decide what the maps look like and then they are going to approve them. As Nike says, just do it.
We need more certainty as we head toward 2022. The March primary is in four and half months. Candidates need time to raise money and organize campaigns. Voters need time to figure out in which district they live. Maybe Republicans will move the primary to May.
With a number of announced candidates, donors need to know where to spend their money. For instance, Rep. Charles Graham has already announced his candidacy with a smart video and now has an active email program. He’s fundraising off of Dan Bishop’s right wing nuttery. Unfortunately, none of the maps available put Graham in Bishop’s district. Robeson, Graham’s home, won’t be in Bishop’s Mecklenburg-based 9th Congressional District according the four Congressional maps released yesterday.
The only thing that is certain in any of these maps is that House Speaker Tim Moore is going to get a District. The grift in Washington is far more profitable than the grift in North Carolina. I’m sure he’ll be a much richer man when he leaves Congress than he is right now. Maybe he’ll get a bridge named for himself.
So let’s get on with it. Republicans need to just pass their maps out of committee and quit pretending there’s anything going on here other than raw politics.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Mills spent 20 years as a political and public affairs consultant.
