RALEIGH, N.C. The first legislative committee meeting to consider North Carolina’s once-a-decade redistricting was marked by House delays and complaints by Senate Democrats the deck was being stacked against them by the Republican majority.
The House didn’t participate Wednesday in what was billed a joint House-Senate committee meetings because its members were stuck in a floor debate over the state employee health insurance plan.
Then Senate Minority Leader Martin Nesbitt argued that Republican leaders in his chamber wouldn’t allow two members involved heavily in previous remapping to serve on the Senate Redistricting Committee. Nesbitt said the GOP’s stand indicates the party doesn’t want a fair or open process.
Committee chairman Sen. Bob Rucho of Mecklenburg County told Nesbitt membership was set in place for geographic and racial diversity on the panel.
The Associated Press Published in: Wire – North Carolina
