Rhode Island Republicans intend to file a lawsuit opposing a redistricting bill signed into law Feb. 8 by Gov. Lincoln Chafee '75 P'14. The law reorganizes the state's districts "in a blatant political manner," said Patrick Sweeney, state GOP executive director. The legislation redraws the line between districts 47 and 48, controversially placing Republican Donald Fox's residence in the 48th district, which is currently represented by House Minority Leader Brian Newberry, R-North Smithfield and Burrillville. Fox came within 200 votes of Rep. Cale Keable, D-Burrillville and Gloucester, in the 2010 election and is likely to run for office again this year.
Rhode Island law required the legislature to redraw many of its district lines to reflect the changes in population following the 2010 census. But Republicans are accusing the Democrat-controlled legislature of using this opportunity to solidify their dominance.
"What happened after the census is that each district had to lose or gain around 300 people — 48 needed to lose people, 47 needed to gain people," Sweeney said. "Instead, their proposal shifts around 1,500 people."
Kimball Brace, a consultant paid $700,000 by the state to advise the project, defended his plan in front of state legislature by saying he determined the line between districts 47 and 48 based on established fire districts.
But Sweeney challenged this assertion. "We follow the fire district, which they didn't do," Sweeney said of the Republican's alternative proposal.
Sweeney said he did not file the lawsuit to defend any particular candidate but because the bill would cause disruption for the district's residents.
"We're defending a lot of people whose district changed for the worse," Sweeney said. He said the law could inconvenience voters. "Some people now might be driving 20 minutes to a polling place, so maybe some people won't vote," he said.
The bill may not succeed in preventing Fox from competing for Keable's seat. Some Republican leaders believe Fox will try to move back into the new district 47 in order to challenge Keable again, according to GoLocalProv.
Some activists also view this change as political gerrymandering. John Marion, executive director of the nonpartisan advocacy group Common Cause Rhode Island, said he did not see any reason why the alternative Republican proposal was less valid than the Democrats' and said the realignment of districts 47 and 48 constituted gerrymandering.
Common Cause supported legislation in spring 2010 that would have lent credibility to the redistricting process, Marion said. The bill, which did not pass, would have prevented the redistricting committee from considering the addresses of candidates when redrawing the map.
The Republicans recommended shifting the town of Spring Lake into district 47, a change that would have moved a much smaller number of people overall, but no Democrats voted for it. An amendment to the bill offered by House Minority Leader Brian Newberry, R-North Smithfield and Burrillville, would have only affected this specific debate, but it was voted down, GoLocalProv reported.
Keable defended the reorganization of his district. He said the previous incarnation of district 47 was itself the result of gerrymandering, and this redesign was actually "de-gerrymandering," according to WPRI Eyewitness News.
This controversy is only one of many that arose following approval of the redistricting bill. A group of Rhode Island agencies, including Common Cause and the Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union, has expressed concern that Brace did not release data demonstrating how the establishment of these new districts would affect minority populations, according to the Providence Journal.
