Up North Progressive

The effectiveness of REDMAP is perhaps most clear in the state of Michigan … The 2012 election was a huge success for Democrats at the statewide level in Michigan: voters elected a Democratic U.S. Senator by more than 20 points and reelected President Obama by almost 10 points. But Republicans at the state level maintained majorities in both chambers of the legislature and voters elected a 9-5 Republican majority to represent them in Congress.

Much like a child screaming at their mother it’s unfair they have to clean their room before they go outside to play, the Michigan GOP vowed to appeal the April 25, 2019, decision of the three-judge panel of the US Circuit Court which ruled the mess Republicans made of Michigan’s voting districts in 2011 must be cleaned up by August 1, 2019, or the court will clean it up for them. Naturally, Republicans are screaming loudly it’s not fair they are now ordered to redraw districts so gerrymandered they’re unconstitutional, so they’re going to Dad, ie, the United States Supreme Court and have them appeal the federal court order.

Two Northern Michigan state districts not listed by the US Circuit Court are controlled by Republicans. They talked to Cadillac News on April 29, 2019, about the upcoming appeal. State Senator Carl VanderWall (R – Leave No Pregnant Woman Unpunished) represents twelve county behemoth District 35 while Daire Rendon (R – Politics is our Family Business) represents State House District 103.

Rendon insists gerrymandering is just too hard to do more than once every ten years after the census, and why fix the problem Republicans created via REDMAP in 2011 when the new Citizens Redistricting Commission will take over redistricting Michigan’s voting districts for the 2022 election anyway? VanderWall doesn’t care that he may be running for reelection in 2020 as part of the circuit court’s ruling. He’s far too busy pushing legislation that dumps more pain and grief on expectant mothers and whatever it is self-employed landscapers do in spring.

Both state politicians can’t wait for the case to go before the Supreme Court, where they’re banking on the new right-wing tilt to the court to ignore the law and rule it’s perfectly fine to gerrymander districts when it helps the Republican Party maintain control.

What happens if SCOTUS doesn’t overturn the ruling? Lines for some districts must be redrawn to correct the partisan, political gerrymandering that took place in 2011 to ensure no election in the state was remotely fair for future elections. This means that districts that weren’t cited in the case as being gerrymandered might still be affected, and that is what has VanderWall and Rendon worried. What if State Senate District 35 shrinks from 12 counties to something smaller? What if Daire Rendon has to move to a new house?

That’s right. Daire Rendon’s biggest concern with redrawing the districts for the 2020 election is that it might push her out of the district she represents because she lives close to the western edge of State House District 103. She’ll have to move!

Ethical bankruptcy like this is why no Republican deserves any person’s vote ever. Rendon and VanderWall could care less their support of gerrymandering Michigan’s districts muted votes in favor of keeping control and power so they could serve their partisan agenda rather than the interests of their constituents.

So remember, Michigan Republicans want to maintain this:

AND This:

Because cleaning up the mess they deliberately created will require them to take responsibility for the unconstitutional acts their party committed against the people of Michigan.

And Daire Rendon might be forced to move.