Walking a Convoluted Legislative Path

Legislative News by Nelda Holder –

Let’s start with one of the most unsavory games legislators play.

Redistricting, Anyone?

The redistricting game as played by state legislatures happens in more than half of the states, including our own. Let’s call it the Redistricting Frenzy. We’ve watched it on the national news recently in Texas and California. Remember?

In the most recent (2020) cycle, the breakdown in control was:

• Legislature …………………………….. 26 states
• Politician Commission ……………… 3 states
• Independent Commission …………. 8 states
• Backup Commission …………………. 3 states
• Advisory Commission ……………….. 4 states
• N/A (only one district) ……………… 6 states

In North Carolina, a recent survey by Opinion Diagnostics (as reported by WUNC Public Radio) gives a clear picture of the negative reaction that residents of this state have to gerrymandering—manipulating electoral boundaries to favor one party or class. According to the October 3 article, Opinion Diagnostics is a “Republican-leaning polling firm,” and/but the results of this poll pointed clearly to a wish for bipartisan redistricting via a “citizens commission to draw voting maps instead of legislators.”

Bravo/brava to those state residents! Legislative manipulation of state districts is one of the ugliest failures in state government. It’s when we citizens get slapped in the face with the fact that our “representatives” are not all on board with representative government.

Note this quote from the Opinion Diagnostics report: “Republican leader of the NC Senate Senator Phil Berger recently said he might attempt to again redraw congressional districts in order to give GOP candidates an advantage in the 2026 elections.” This despite the obvious feeling of the electorate (via the Common Cause poll), expressed as a “Net Confidence” totaling negative 35.4% that “our congressional and legislative voting districts were drawn in a fair and transparent way.”

The same clear feeling applied to the poll question of whether our voting districts “fairly represent all communities and political viewpoints.” A large majority (93.6%) saw this as “very important” (83.9%) or somewhat important (9.7%).”

You may reach Sen. Berger, President Pro Tempore, at 16 West Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601. His office phone number is (919) 733-5708, and his email address is [email protected]. Do let him know what you think of his redistricting idea.

As backup for your communication with him, here are some more facts.

• 90% of those polled found it “very important” or “somewhat important” that our voting maps are drawn with transparency and meaningful public input, including multiple public hearings across the state.
• 93% found it “very” or “somewhat important” that our maps are drawn with meaningful public input, “including multiple public hearings held in communities across the state.”

Pretty simple, isn’t it? Tell Berger that.

While the Mice Are Away …

The US Congressional mice seem to be indefinitely away as this is being written, having walked out on budget negotiations. So, too, are the Raleigh legislators missing in action, having failed to wrap up their business on behalf of the state—also including budgetary action.

Meanwhile, Gov. Josh Stein is still in town, and used Friday, October 3, to sign a new criminal justice bill into law that will potentially revive this state’s death penalty. Called “Iryna’s Law,” the bill was created in response to the recent stabbing death of Ukranian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte commuter train. (Sadly, that violent death was soon followed by the random shooting deaths of three diners at a Southport waterfront bar and restaurant.)

The man accused and charged in Zarutska’s death, Decarlos Brown, Jr., is known to have a long criminal history, with more than a dozen other arrests. The situation drew immediate legislative attention with bipartisan support for a bill called Iryna’s Law (HB307/SL2025-93) which makes first-degree murder in both state and federal court punishable by the death penalty. It would additionally restart the possibility of executions in North Carolina for the first time since 2006.

In announcing his decision to sign the new law on Friday, October 3, Stein said, “I use one simple test: does it make people safer? HB307 or Iryna’s Law alerts the judiciary to take a special look at people who may pose unusual risks of violence before determining their bail. That’s a good thing, and why I signed it into law.”

The law fails, Stein added, to focus appropriately on the threat that people pose instead of their ability to post bail. And “most alarming,” he stressed, was a last minute amendment in the General Assembly “that aims to bring back execution by firing squad to North Carolina. It’s barbaric. There will be no firing squads in North Carolina during my time as governor.”

Beyond those specific concerns, Stein added that he was troubled by the bill’s lack of ambition and vision. “It simply doesn’t do enough to keep you safe. That’s why I’m calling on the Legislature to come back and pass my comprehensive public safety package,” the governor said, enumerating the following elements:

• More cops on the beat
• Violence prevention measures
• Acknowledge role of guns and mental health
• Comprehensive background checks
• Power to temporarily remove a gun from someone dangerous
• Mental health progress (fully fund Medicaid)

“It’s time to get real about the causes of violence. Let’s get to work!” Stein stressed.

The Growing Shame in America

Because I think anyone with a voice should be screaming in protest about this, I will close this column by expressing my horror—as a citizen of the United States of America and as a human being—at the inhumane, uncalled for, brutal, shameful raid perpetrated in Chicago on behalf of this country’s Department of Homeland Security in the middle of a cold night on September 30. The raid was a violent invasion of a five-story residential building, where sleeping residents were awakened by federal agents breaking through their apartment doors. And it is a part of the escalation against citizens of the United States occurring across the country.

It is impossible to read the reports of this raid and reconcile the violence perpetrated against a building full of sleeping people—detaining many of the residents (men, women, children) outside, some without benefit of clothing against the cold. Men, women, and children—some of the latter separated from their mothers as people were shoved into U-Haul vans. Meanwhile, apartments were left with broken doors and with ransacked belongings.

I recommend that you read the Chicago Sun Times report from October 1, and/or any other reporting you can find on this raid. Ask yourself if this is how you want this country’s Department of Homeland Security to act. Ask yourself why such a violent night was deemed necessary. Ask yourself how you would feel if you had lived in that apartment building and your own door was busted down—awakening you to such a suddenly violent world.

Silence as these raids increase across the country is permission for their inhumane treatment of the people they target—people they deem guilty of some fault or crime without benefit of the legal system that is supposed to exist in this country. “Illegal aliens?” Is that their excuse.

The numbers didn’t work out all that well in this raid, and how does arresting 37 people “believed to be involved in drug trafficking and distribution, weapons crimes and immigration violators” justify physically ripping apart an entire apartment building of homes for multiple families, traumatizing small children, destroying precious belongings, and violating so many lives based on speculation and not careful policing.

I am ashamed. We should all be ashamed. We must find a way to stop this in our country. Here’s a start. Write to these people.

President Donald Trump
www.whitehouse.gov/contact
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500

The Honorable Kristi Noem
x.com/sec_noem
Secretary of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528

Nelda Holder is the author of The Thirteenth Juror – Ferguson: A Personal Look at the Grand Jury Transcripts.