WSJ: Wisconsin's Republican legislative leaders have said the voting district maps they drew last year were not aimed at political advantage, but new documents made public Tuesday show they discussed ways to increase the number of "safe" and "leaning" GOP districts and to protect conservative incumbents.
State Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa: "Western Wauwatosa — yes (more GOP)," "West Milwaukee — No (forgot to mention this part of current district — VERY Dem" and "Milwaukee — cop wards if needed."
Besides the outrageous way they gerrymandered in secrecy, having Republicans sign actual secrecy agreements, now we're told it's really what they "didn't say."
Sen. Scott Fitzgerald said political advantage was not the goal of the redistricting process. "My criteria was creating maps that met all of the federal requirements and I could get the votes for," he said. "I have never said there was not a consideration given for incumbents."
Oh, he never said that. Nothing to see here. For Rep. Robin Vos, it wasn't the "main criteria:"
And state Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said potential benefit to the GOP was not the main criteria.
But Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca said the documents show Republicans were lying to the public. "To me, it's sort-of the smoking gun that shows that all of their efforts were political, partisan and about protecting their power. It shows their deceitfulness.
I wonder what the Government Accountability Board (GAB) position was on all this happening. They're made to guarantee voter integrity, aren't they? Is gerrymandering voter integrity--I think not.
ReplyDeleteThe GAB obviously okays very questionable voting machine vendors (think Command Central) to operate freely in this state, so you might question the viability of election voter integrity, especially when you see brazen gerrymandering going on.