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RI Republican Party may sue to throw out ‘Keablemander’ map

WPRI.COM

Ted Nesi

Updated: Jan 27, 2012 1:52 PM

The Rhode Island Republican Party says it may go to court in an effort to overturn what the GOP sees as a blatant attempt to save a vulnerable incumbent Democrat in Burrillville by redrawing his legislative district.

What has Republicans riled up is “the Keablemander” – the redrawing of House Districts 47 and 48 that would move Donald Fox, the Republican who lost to State Rep. Cale Keable by 196 votes in 2010, out of Keable’s district. The plan would shift four times more people than the 360 required by the Census, said Patrick Sweeney, the GOP’s executive director.

“From the testimony last night, it’s a purely political move with no independent basis,” Sweeney told WPRI.com. “There’s no natural, historic, geographic or any other consideration. It’s just, ‘We’re going to shift 1,500 people.’ It just doesn’t make sense.”

Kim Brace, the consultant drawing Rhode Island’s new maps, told lawmakers the changes are being made to keep fire districts together, but House Minority Leader Brian Newberry said the map actually splits some of those up, the Projo reported. (Brace’s testimony has not been posted online.) The House and Senate judiciary committees approved the maps this week, and the full House will debate them Wednesday.

Sweeney said Republicans know redistricting is a political process and aren’t upset about most of the maps, but are prepared to challenge Brace’s justifications for the redrawn Districts 47 and 48 in court. “We’ll sit down and see what our options are,” he said. “But litigation is definitely an option,” adding that the party could cover the cost.

While Texas is the poster child for legal fights over redistricting, with the U.S. Supreme Court intervening there just last week, there are active cases challenging the maps in 24 states, according to Loyola Law School.

“I strongly feel that the outpouring of criticism against the ‘Keablemandering’/gerrymandering that has taken place is indicative of a larger sentiment in Rhode Island that ‘enough is enough,’” Fox said in an email. “We need to stop conducting business as usual in Rhode Island if we ever hope to claw our way out of the economic doldrums that have puts this once great state at the bottom of every new business ranking survey that comes out.”

• Related: How a redistricting nip-tuck would redraw Burrillville politics (Dec. 9)

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