Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell provided state and national Republicans with a useful and timely lesson in leadership when he vetoed the redistricting bill last week. Complaints emanating from disgruntled Republican House of Delegates members regarding the veto only serve to highlight their failure to pay attention and exercise leadership on their own behalf.
From the beginning of the redistricting process McDonnell signaled he was not willing to look favorably on business as usual where incumbents protect themselves at the expense of voters.
The strongest indication of McDonnell’s frame of mind came when he appointed a deeply flawed bi–partisan redistricting commission charged with drawing new lines independently of the Virginia House and Senate.
Although it completely ignored McDonnell’s commission maps, the House finally produced a truly bi–partisan design that attracted the votes of incumbent protectors from both sides of the aisle, including a majority of Democrats.
On the other hand, the Senate lead by Barack Obama, excuse me, Harry Reid, I mean Richard Saslaw (D–Gerrymander Republicans at all costs) gave birth to a bill that was so bad not one Republican supported it.
In his veto message McDonnell commented, “While the House plan keeps the number of split localities relatively static, the Senate plan significantly increases the number of times localities are split as compared to either other proposed plans or the current redistricting law.”
McDonnell’s veto of the combined bill meant both House and Senate plans were rendered null and void, but this was an imminently avoidable outcome. Del. S. Chris Jones (R–Suffolk) who was in charge of the House plan, admitted in an interview that he had initially wanted separate House and Senate redistricting bills, but Saslaw insisted on submitting a single, combined bill. Rather than resist, the House caved in to his demand. Somehow that sounds familiar.
The difference between the House and Senate approach is that Saslaw was prepared to fight for the interests of his party and Jones was not. Saslaw wanted a redistricting map that did the maximum amount of damage possible to Republican incumbents and GOP attempts to gain seats in November’s election. He knew that by submitting a combined bill to McDonnell it would be harder for the governor to veto the Senate plan, since it would also veto the House plan.
Del. Jones should have called Saslaw’s bluff and told him the House will run the House’s business and it will submit an individual bill. But as a leader he failed to lead, so his caucus is now paying the price for his failure.
McDonnell’s veto is not without risks for he — like Republicans in the US House and their recent budget bill — is facing a deadline with unpredictable consequences. If Virginia is going to adhere to the current timeline with qualifying closing on June 15 and the primary scheduled for Aug. 23, the redistricting bill must be submitted very shortly to the U.S. Justice Department for a 60–day approval review.
This is because 45 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act and 20 years after Virginia elected a black governor and almost three years after Virginia gave all its electoral votes to a black Presidential candidate, the feds are still watching whitey to make sure he is not keeping the black man down.
If Senate Democrats had continued to fight the governor the entire redistricting process would have been thrown into the courts where the final maps will be drawn by sharpie–wielding judges, the results of which will be unpredictable.
Larry J. Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics said in the Washington Post that possibly for the first time in history, “They are literally ceding their fate to an unknown judge or judges. Both sides have gone to the brink and they realize it’s equally dangerous for them.”
But is a risk McDonnell is, to his credit, was willing to take. And sure enough his veto was initially met with Saslaw blustering that the Senate wouldn’t change a comma on the bill, much less move a boundary line, and daring McDonnell to veto it again.
Saslaw crumbled when he saw McDonnell wasn’t going to be buffaloed and now he has produced an improved Senate map that attracted Republican support.
Political leadership is not a risk–free occupation. There was no guarantee that McDonnell would win this confrontation. But now Democrats know he is a man who intends to be taken seriously in a negotiation and won’t be stampeded by a bluff.
That’s a lesson Capitol Hill Republicans need to take to heart.
