• Little Bang for Bucks • UNCW Banishes In Public Schools C A R O L I N A College Republicans Security at N.C. Ports ‘Life at the Bottom’ Volume 13, Number 1 A Monthly Journal of News, January 2004 Analysis, and Opinion from JOURNAL the John Locke Foundation www.CarolinaJournal.com www.JohnLocke.org Redistricting Commissions Aren’t ‘Silver Bullets’ Twelve states employ appointed panels but partisanship remains By PAUL CHESSER Associate Editor RALEIGH wo years ago, state Rep. Russell Capps, R-Wake, complained that T his newly redrawn, Democrat-lean- ing district resembled the main course at a holiday dinner — sort of. “If you hold it upside-down,” Capps said at the time, “it looks like a turkey.” But odd-shaped, gerrymandered dis- tricts are not unique to North Carolina. Reapportionment in Pennsylvania two years ago enraged state senators because of a resulting redistricting plan that was said to resemble a “mutated starfish.” Lawmakers in Nevada likened their new 2001 legislative districts to: a battered Carolina Journal photo by Jon Sanders cowboy boot; “one of those old telephones;” Storm clouds have hovered over North Carolina’s Legislative Building ever since the General Assembly undertook the task of redistricting. a Gila monster; a “big, ugly [coyote] that’s biting at itself;” and “a poodle trying to turn around and bite The Spaghetti Bowl” (a Las Iowa’s Success: Nonpartisanship and Relocation Vegas-area transportation project of en- tangled highway ramps and flyovers). By PAUL CHESSER If the legislature doesn’t approve the Gov. Tom Vilsack on a later plan may have Capps’s district was changed after a Associate Editor first maps, the bureau gets two more cracks motivated legislative Republicans to accept successful GOP court challenge and he was RALEIGH at it, and lawmakers are not allowed to the second plan instead of taking its chances re-elected in 2002. However, the North Caro- f any redistricting procedure should be amend those plans, either. with the court. lina General Assembly is again causing ag- viewed as exemplary, Iowa may be the gravation, mostly for the majority of its Ibest model for other states. History of votes The effect of pairing incumbents Republican members, with maps it drew in After the state Supreme Court struck November. Judges will review districts down its districts in the 1970s because its The first Assembly vote on districts Iowa hesitates little to pair incumbents again soon to determine whether they meet population variance was too great, the Iowa under the new process was in 1981, when in existing districts, and because of that, the criteria for constitutionality laid out by General Assembly turned redistricting re- the bureau’s third plan was adopted. The lawmakers feel free to move about the state. the state Supreme Court in 2002. sponsibilities over to legislative staff. 1991 Democrat-led legislature approved the Leach, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. House, The Legislative Services Bureau, which first plan presented to it, which appeared to relocated to the 2nd District after his pair- No silver bullets draws both legislative and congressional throw elections wide open. Two years later ing with Nussle. The move to the Demo- maps, is required by statutory authority to Republicans held four of Iowa’s five seats in crat-leaning district made more sense for Trying to avoid the tussle for power, disregard political affiliations and incum- Congress. the liberal Leach rather than his conserva- some North Carolina legislators have pro- bency when designing new districts. The In 2001, with both chambers under GOP tive counterpart. posed the establishment of a nonpartisan only demographical information it may use control, the legislature overwhelmingly Likewise, decennial redistricting moti- commission to handle redistricting duties. is population (Iowa is not subject to the adopted the bureau’s second offering. The vates several state legislators to uproot. They argue that such panels minimize po- Voting Rights Act). plan paired 64 incumbents in state legisla- Despite the changes in 2001, Republicans litical considerations such as incumbency, The bureau must draw districts with tive districts, and Republican Reps. Jim still held a 54-46 advantage in the Iowa and instead endeavor to follow constitu- the following considerations, in order of Nussle and Jim Leach were thrown together House and a 29-21 lead in the Senate. tional guidelines such as compactness and highest priority to lowest: in the 1st Congressional District. Even with the ever-changing districts, communities of interest. • Population equality Iowa’s lawmakers also face strict dead- litigation has been avoided since the 1970s. But a review of the practice in other • Contiguousness lines to get new districts drawn. If the As- “They’ve had no suits, and got the job states shows that commissions are usually • Respect of county and city unity sembly doesn’t pass one of the three bureau done,” said Peter Wattson of the National still partisan, and are rarely the silver bul- • Compactness plans, it must draw its own plans by Sept. 1, Conference of State Legislatures. Once the districts are drawn, the legis- or the state Supreme Court decides on the But unlike North Carolina, in Iowa no lature must vote up or down on the plan. new districts. lawmaker is forced to move from his Continued as “Redistricting,” Page 3 No amendments or changes are permitted. The prospect of a veto by Democratic beachfront home or mountain abode. CJ Best Way to Cut Business Taxes The John Locke Foundation NONPROFIT ORG. Contents 200 W. Morgan St., # 200 U.S. POSTAGE Rate Reduction 55% Raleigh, NC 27601 PAID Targeted Credits 31% RALEIGH NC PERMIT NO. 1766 Not Sure 14% Calendar 2 State Government 3 Education 6 Higher Education 10 Local Government 14 Books & the Arts 18 Opinion 20 % of N.C. Respondents in Oct. 2000 JLF Poll Parting Shot 24 C A R O L I N A Contents ON THE COVER • The latest changes in test reporting from • The Durham City Council adopted a JOURNAL the College Board are gathering both ap- tough new ordinance that restricts where, • Is the appointment of an independent re- proval and protest from education policy how, and what people can sell at intersec- districting commission the solution to analysts and test takers. Page 8 tions in the city, and panhandling is also breaking North Carolina’s unrelenting con- covered by the ordinance. Page 16 flicts over the process in the General Assem- HIGHER EDUCATION bly? A look at other states with such panels • An interview with Virginia Postrel, New Richard Wagner doesn’t produce optimism. Page 1 • On Nov. 10 the University of North Caro- York Times economics columnist. Page 17 Editor lina at Wilmington derecognized the Col- NORTH CAROLINA lege Republicans student group, freezing its THE LEARNING CURVE Paul Chesser, Michael Lowrey funds and disallowing its use of campus Donna Martinez • A precedent set in July by the N.C. Su- facilities. Page 10 • A review of the book Life at the Bottom: Associate Editors preme Court enabled a Lumberton family The Worldview That Makes the Underclass by to win a quick resolution in a dispute with • College textbooks published in the United Theodore Dalrymple. Page 18 social workers. Page 4 States but exported to booksellers overseas Karen Palasek, Jon Sanders are in many cases cheaper for students to • Reviews of the books Economics for Real Assistant Editors • Allyson Duncan, a former member of the “reimport” than it is for them to buy from People: An Introduction to the Austrian School North Carolina Utilities Commission who domestic booksellers. Page 12 by the Ludwig Von Mises Institute by Gene Andrew Cline, Roy Cordato, left in 1998, a year before the end of her Callahan, and Houston Freeways: A Histori- Charles Davenport, Ian Drake, eight-year term, represented a newly • Jon Sanders writes about an ethics com- cal and Visual Journey by Eric Slotboom. Tom Fetzer, Nat Fullwood, formed gas authority before the commis- plaint against Sen. Edward Kennedy by Ju- Page 19 John Gizzi, David Hartgen, sion within months after resigning. Page 5 dicial Watch, which alleges that Kennedy Summer Hood, Lindalyn Kakadelis, obstructed the confirmation of a judge un- OPINION Kathleen Keener, George Leef, EDUCATION til after racial-preferences cases concerning Kathryn Parker, Marc Rotterman, the University of Michigan and its law • Richard Wagner asks whether a recently R.E. Smith Jr., Jack Sommer, • The Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll on pub- school were decided. Page 13 approved package of “incentives” for cor- John Staddon, George Stephens, Jeff Taylor, Michael Walden, lic attitudes toward public education hinted porations is about the economy, or about Karen Welsh at it, and two studies now confirm the LOCAL GOVERNMENT stupidity. Page 20 Contributing Editors public’s intuition about school spending: We aren’t getting the achievement “bang • Accessing North Carolina’s seaports in • Donna Martinez writes that for those who for the bucks” we’re spending. Page 6 Wilmington and Morehead City will get believe government programs are the an- Jenna Ashley, Paul Messino, more complicated over the next few swer to solving social problems, the 2003 Andrew Symons • Under the federal No Child Left Behind months, but the short-term inconveniences North Carolina Child Health Report Card Editorial Interns law, teaching professionals must meet spe- will lead to physical and technological im- is a reason to celebrate — at least that’s what cific criteria for their credentials. North provements state and local officials believe its authors want you to think. Page 23 Carolina hasn’t met its own targets for 2003- are necessary for long-term security from 04 yet, but it has made substantial progress terrorists.